Guessing who might need your products or services can drain your time and marketing budget. To find the right customers, you need to focus on users who are actively searching for what you offer. 

And that’s why intent based data changes everything.

It tracks online behavior to show businesses who’s interested in what and when — and how seriously they’re considering a purchase. 

Let’s take a closer look at how you can use intent based marketing to target the best leads and get better campaign results.

How does intent based marketing help businesses target the right leads?

Intent data helps you approach marketing with an ultra-strategic eye. You’ll uncover what leads are searching for, what they need, and if they’re ready to buy your product or service.

What a difference this can make when you have marketing dollars and resources on the line!

For example, a marketing team promoting a historical museum in Normandy wouldn’t blast ads to random travelers.

Instead, they’d use intent data to target people actively researching World War II sites, searching for “best historical tours in France,” or reading articles about D-Day. These aren’t casual browsers. They’re potential visitors who are already considering booking a trip.

Benefits of using intent data for marketing campaigns 

With intent data, you can:

  • Build better relationships. Tailor your messaging based on intent to create more relevant customer experiences.
  • Save money on marketing: Stop spending your marketing budget on low-quality leads who aren’t yet ready to buy.
  • Improve conversion rates. Market to those actively considering a purchase to increase the chance of a sale.
  • Increase engagement: Send the right message at the right time to encourage customer interaction.

How to use intent based marketing to target the right leads for your business 

Here’s how you can start targeting the right leads with intent data.

Step 1: Get clear on who you want to target 

Before you can use intent data, you need to know who you’re targeting. Outline your ideal customers and understand their needs. 

Use this checklist to get focused:

  • Who are they?
    • Define your target audience by their:
      • Demographics or firmographics
      • Interests, needs, and behavior
  • What problems do they need solving?
    • Based on what you already know about your customers, pinpoint your leads’ pain points at different stages of the buying journey.
  • What questions do they have?
    • Create a list of questions customers may ask in each funnel stage. For instance, piggybacking on our historical tours example from above, that might be:
      • TOFU (Top of Funnel): What’s the best tour for history lovers in France?
      • MOFU (Middle of Funnel): What are the most popular World War II sites in Normandy?
      • BOFU (Bottom of Funnel): What’s included in the D-Day tour package?

Once you know their questions, you can start to match your solutions to their needs and guide them through the sales cycle. We’ll explain how in Step 3. 

But first, collect some more data. Head to Step 2.  

Step 2: Collect intent based data 

Now that you know who to target, it’s time to collect intent-based data. 

Here are some ways you can collect it:

Perform keyword research based on search intent 

Start by researching keywords based on what your potential customers are searching for. (Use Ahrefs, Semrush, or Google Keyword Planner to identify relevant search terms.)

Look for keywords that indicate strong interest and buying intent. For instance, “buy,” “purchase,” “best,” or “reviews.” These keywords show that people are further along in their decision-making process and are actively looking to make a purchase.

For example, if you offer RV rentals in San Francisco, you might find search queries like “best RV rentals in San Francisco.” Or “affordable RV rentals near me.” These people are already looking for what you offer and are great leads to target. 

Review first-party data you’ve collected (and data from your online presence)

Look through the first-party data you’ve gathered directly from your customers. 

You might’ve collected this via surveys, website forms, polls, or social listening tools. 

Review things like:

  • Subscription campaigns for email sign-ups
  • IP addresses from visitors on your website
  • Form submissions for content downloads

These signals show people who are already interested in your business.

Pull data with a Sales Intelligence Platform

Use sales intelligence tools to save time pulling data. 

For instance, with Ampliz, you’ll get accurate, real-time B2B contact data and powerful intent data. We track buying and search history to uncover search intent so you can target the right prospects at the right time.

Ampliz also gives you a complete view of your audience — including demographic, technographic, and firmographic insights. 

Need more? Access a detailed tech stack and financial data on request.

Try Ampliz for free now.

Collect third-party data from authoritative websites and industry reports

Pull audience data from business research and insights firms, consultancy websites, and thought leadership sources. 

Look for in-depth reports, industry analyses, and market trends that businesses use for strategic decision-making. 

Some great sources for third-party data include:

  • Harvard Business Review
  • Pew Research Center
  • Mckinsey & Company
  • Forrester Research
  • Statista
  • Gartner

To speed this up, consider scraping third-party intent data and collect insights from authoritative sources like McKinsey, Statista, and other industry reports and market trends.

A web scraping tool like Bright Data can scrape through business research platforms, consultancy websites, and thought leadership sources to gather data on company size, industry, revenue, and geographic location. This information helps businesses segment their audience and tailor marketing efforts based on firmographics.

In addition to this, data collected from sources like McKinsey, Gartner, and Forrester can provide valuable insights into general industry trends and competitor performance 

Companies can refine their lead-scoring models by aggregating and analyzing data on how businesses interact with different industry reports and research papers. With this intelligence, marketing teams can create hyper-personalized outreach campaigns based on verified interest and research behavior.

Step 3: Target your leads across marketing, sales, and product development

Once you’ve collected the data, it’s time to take action. Use the insights you’ve gathered to target your leads across marketing, sales, and product development. 

Let’s take a look at some specific intent-based marketing strategies.

Strategy 1: Develop and innovate products and services based on valuable insights from targeted leads

Use your intent data to hyper-personalize your product and service offerings.

This might mean tweaking a product or service — or introducing new features to solve customer pain points. For example, if your target customers are asking for more flexible RV rental options, consider offering customizable rental packages.

You can also introduce entirely new concepts, features, or technologies that disrupt the market or create a new category. Think creatively to provide solutions that haven’t been explored before. (Make sure they’re highly relevant to the intent data you’ve pulled!) This can give you a competitive edge like nothing else can.

Strategy 2: Target leads with tailored marketing campaigns 

Tailor entire marketing campaigns based on your audience’s needs and pain points. 

Create options that target leads at various funnel stages — but double up on ones that target BOFU leads. (Especially if you’re looking to boost conversions.)

You can also use a tool like Dynamics 365 Business Central to segment your audience. This is perfect if you have customer groups! Its integration with Microsoft’s Power BI lets you analyze intent data to create highly personalized marketing campaigns tailored to specific pain points.

For instance, your segmented campaigns might look like this:

  • Industry-specific campaigns: Target specific industries with content or offers that speak directly to their unique challenges. For example, if you’re marketing to the healthcare sector, focus on how you can improve patient care or streamline operations. If you’re marketing to the HR industry, share how your solution can optimize HR processes.
  • Behavior-based campaigns: Create campaigns based on how customers have interacted with your website or past communications. For instance, target customers who’ve shown interest in a particular product feature with detailed product information. Or share success stories related to that feature.
  • Geographic segments: Tailor campaigns to different geographic locations. If a certain region is dealing with specific issues, customize your messaging to address those concerns.
  • Customer needs segments: Focus on specific customer needs. For example, if a customer segment prioritizes cost-saving solutions, create messaging around your product’s affordability and value. If another values convenience, highlight how your product streamlines processes or saves time.

Strategy 3: Ask your sales reps to target leads with high lead scores 

Have your sales teams use lead scoring to focus on high-quality leads first. When leads show high intent, reps should reach out with calls, emails, and demos. 

These leads are already interested. (So your sales team can spend their time on the ones most likely to convert, instead of wasting energy on low-quality leads.)

Strategy 4: Create highly targeted and relevant content at all sales funnel stages 

Use intent data to refine your content strategy at every funnel stage. Tailor your messaging to where the customer is in their buying journey to support them every step of the way.

For instance …

At TOFU (top-of-funnel): Support individuals who are researching content topics related to your product or industry. Create awareness-focused content that speaks to their problems and introduces your solution.

At MOFU (middle-of-funnel): Cater to users who are considering solutions. Offer educational content, such as case studies or product comparisons. This should help move them closer to making a decision.

At BOFU (bottom-of-the-funnel): Tailor content to leads who are ready to buy. Offer product demos, pricing guides, or customer testimonials to help them finalize their decision.

Strategy 5: Create highly targeted ads 

Refine your ad targeting as strategically as possible. 

Use lookalike audiences to find people who mirror your best customers. Focus on relevant topics and firmographics to narrow your reach even further. (You may need to adjust your reach by one to three percent in your ad targeting. Test this out to see what range gets you the best return on ad spend.)

When you target traits that define your ideal customers (like their job titles, industries, or online interests) you encourage more conversions!

You may also want to try A/B testing your ads to encourage an even better ROAS.

Wrap up 

Intent-based marketing helps you reach potential buyers when they’re the most receptive. 

With intent data on your side, you can create highly personalized campaigns that speak to leads at all funnel stages. And prevent wasting time and money on campaigns that aren’t relevant enough to your ideal customers.
Need support while you pull data? Try Ampliz for free today and start targeting the right leads.