Classically trained marketers have, for decades, focused on the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. That is how many of us were taught to think.
But the problem is that 90% of buyers are not in market, and the 10% who are looking to do something in your category are already overwhelmed by channel noise, from digital ads and event invites to “personalized” emails driven by intent data.
So, the modern marketer should be less focused on outbound promotion, less focused on intent data, and much more focused on intent triggers that suggest buyers may actually be in-market.
Here are six ways to move beyond intent data to identify intent triggers around purchasing behavior for in-market customers.
1️⃣ New to role
The first strategy is to think about about target persona in an ICP segment and who is three-to-six-months into their role. In the first couple of months, people are usually just getting up to speed, but by months three to six they are starting to think about how to put their stamp on new initiatives and new directions. That is usually where openness to change starts to show up.
2️⃣ Previous experience with your product
This becomes even more interesting when it comes in combination with previous experience with your product. Somebody in a new role that has previous experience with your product, well that is a beautiful combination. Maybe they used it at a past company, maybe they are already familiar with your software or solution, and that familiarity makes adoption much more realistic.
3️⃣ New functionality, competitive offering
Also, on your product, your product team is regularly rolling out new features and functionality relative to your competitive set. If your category of company in something that can be surfaced from a website search, then use these product rollouts to look for competitive displacement opportunities. Send an email and/or content campaign in a observation-solution-impact format with the observation on the cost of missing functionality. Those that engage with this campaign at any level may be considering replacing their current providers
4️⃣Willingness to engage in thought leadership
The next thing I would look for is whether somebody is demonstrating a willingness to engage, not necessarily to buy right away, but to learn. Will they write a guest blog, join a peer roundtable, participate in a conference session with a subject matter expert, or take a step toward you in a way that says they are open to engaging with ideas? If they are willing to learn, that usually suggests something important.
5️⃣ Buying committee engagement
The final point is that most marketing automation systems and CRMs still measure contact engagement, and I do not think that is a very good measure of an intent trigger. What matters more is account-level engagement, where two or three contacts are engaging at the same time, because that is often a much stronger signal that a buying committee is forming.
So again, the modern marketer needs to stop thinking first about promotion and start paying closer attention to the actions that suggest a company is actually in market and looking to buy.
