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Demand Generation Experts Speak - Linda Duchin

Aug 24, 2019 | Author Linda Duchin

Occasionally we'll highlight guest contributors who bring a real-world perspective to the activation of intent data. 

Linda Duchin brings the perspective of years of VP and director level marketing and demand generation roles in Boston area tech and software companies. She has been involved in intent data applications for account-based marketing and general demand gen purposes. So she's had lots of conversations about lead quality and fit with sales colleagues on the receiving end of intent data "leads." Here's her take.


The 3 C’s of Intent Data

Intent data is one of the more promising demand generation techniques available to companies that sell to the enterprise market. I’ve seen it play a significant role in an account-based strategy. When powered by a complete data set and the crucial intent context, it can provide the “who, when and why” necessary to drive effective outreach by a sales development function.

By complete data set, I mean company, location and last -- but certainly not least -- contact information. Too often marketing will flag intent signals for sales but only provide a company name, without contact level data, location or context. Now put yourself in the shoes of an SDR who is pursuing dev ops managers at IBM based in the US headquarter location. Knowing only that IBM demonstrated intent but not the location or specific individual isn’t very actionable when you consider that IBM employs more than 380,000 people in 170 countries. Trying to chase down that intent signal becomes frustrating, futile and may keep your SDR from getting to a more qualified lead.

Similarly, some of the software peer review sites also offer intent programs that track which companies visit your company page or your competitors.’ While potentially interesting, this also falls short because there is no contact level data captured and the inferred intent location isn’t always reliable. 

Company level intent alerts are better suited to account scoring or used for outbound prioritization rather than immediate outreach. Accounts that are showing interest in terms or keywords that map to your value prop can be scored to reflect that insight. The higher score can then be used for  campaign segmentation for both marketing and sales programs. You could also add those companies to a nurture program before having sales act on them to generate contact level interest. However you decide to handle intent signals, be careful not to label these companies as being “in market” as some of the commercial data solutions frequently claim.

As you start incorporating intent marketing into the mix, keep in mind the best way to capitalize on intent signals is when you're able to deliver the company, the contact and the context to your SDRs.

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