Jeff Kalter — April 17, 2018 — April 17, 2018
Unless they filled in a form on one of your organization’s landing pages or called your sales department, it used to be impossible to identify who was in the market for products and services your company offers.
But of all the people looking for a solution like yours, how many actually give you a direct signal of interest?
Sadly, the leads you receive are likely the tip of the iceberg; a large majority of the market remains hidden from view. That’s because many potential buyers may not find your site or leave before registering for your latest e-book. If you sell technology products or solutions, however, your prospects probably seek information on third-party publisher and review sites.
Wouldn’t you like to know who the rest of these people are?
That knowledge would enable your company to communicate with them and customize your message depending on where they are in the buying cycle. If they are early in the buying cycle, as indicated by the articles they read, you have a chance to reach them before your competition. That’s an advantage because the early bird gets the worm. If they are further along, which is likely if they are reading review sites, you have the benefit of connecting with someone who is ready to buy.
Through the wonders of today’s technology, you can outfox the competition and find buyers they may not be aware of.
The secret is buyer intent data.
What Is Buyer Intent Data?
Typically, when buyers want to solve problems, they start by typing a few words or a question into Google or another search engine. It’s often the most efficient way to access and sift through copious amounts of information. When they perform these searches, they are likely to land on publishers, analysts, and review sites. These might include Forbes, CIO Insight, Aberdeen Group, Capterra and G2Crowd, all of which collect data on their sites’ visitors. These companies sell visitors’ data to businesses like Bombora and The Big Willow that aggregate it for use by marketers.
Some of the information is on the Internet Protocol (IP) level, which identifies visitors by the company they represent. Also, when visitors register for premium content, individual-level data is available. Finally, cookies track online behavior — the footprints people leave across the web as they search for answers, read articles online, watch videos and webinars and download e-books, case studies and more.
Another category of intent data is the activity your marketing automation platform monitors on your website and your email nurturing programs. By understanding the pages a prospect visits, how long they linger on each page, the emails they open and which premium content they download, you have an idea of what they are interested in and their level of buying interest.
Gaining the Full Value of Buyer Intent Data
By matching this internal and external buyer intent data with firmographic information that represents your ideal account profile, you can laser-target your sales and marketing initiatives. Once you discover which companies, and sometimes individuals, are in the market and fit your profile, it takes a little sleuthing to engage on an individual level with buying decision-makers and influencers. Thus, you need to work with data tools, such as InsideView, to find the names, email addresses and telephone numbers of key people. Alternatively, you conduct searches on LinkedIn.
With this personal information, you can gain a competitive edge by adding a human touch to your marketing. Reach out via a one-on-one phone call. Then continue to nurture the lead using a variety of mediums — emails, LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator platform and additional phone calls when appropriate. By doing so, you gain insights that enable you to customize messaging to increase its relevance and thereby boost prospect interest.
Score your leads and when they are hot, have your business development reps call them to schedule sales appointments. Thus, by marrying buyer intent data with firmographic data depicting your ideal account and drilling down to amass personal contact information, you’re empowered to focus your energy where it will yield the best results. If you put all these pieces together, you’ll enjoy shorter sales cycles and increased deal win-rates.
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