If a content strategist starts a discussion with “I think this will work,” or “I like this topic,” you need to stop them before any content is created. Relying on gut feelings won’t be effective in an account-based marketing (ABM) campaign. A successful digital marketing strategy depends on data and analytics to properly engage high-value prospects. In contrast, if a content strategist begins with “I’m writing this because the intent data is showing us…,” pay attention; their content plan is based on solid information and is more likely to engage target accounts and help achieve your campaign’s goals.
According to a 2020 Demand Generation Benchmark Study, 51% of marketers are using intent data to shape their campaigns. This means nearly half are missing out on this important information. If your company is among those not using it, consider adding an intent data provider to your ABM tech stack. This way, you can start benefiting from intent data in all areas of ABM, beginning with content creation.
Here are five ways to use intent data to guide your ABM content strategy.
- Find out the types of content your prospective buyers are consuming.
If you’re serving the same types of content to each of your different buyer personas, you’re not doing ABM. That said, this is an area where intent data immediately proves its worth as an ABM tool. Should you be spending time creating longer-form pieces or short, snappy blogs and infographics? White papers for the CMO buyer persona and detailed product one-sheets for the CFO buyer persona? Intent signals will let you know the types of content that are resonating with specific buyer personas.
- Pinpoint relevant content topics.
Use intent data to develop a thorough understanding of the content topics your target audience is currently reading, downloading, and consuming. Are they more interested in the security your tool offers or the ease of its integration? Are they surging on a certain topic, giving you the perfect chance to serve them a follow-up guide to your service? Knowing your target accounts’ specific concerns and pain points—rather than just a broad understanding of them—will make your content that much more effective.
- Discover where there are content gaps.
How will you know you haven’t yet produced content your target buying committees actually want to read? Intent data, of course. Having this knowledge will increase the efficiency of your content team, as they’ll be able to concentrate on what content needs to be created and determine if older content can be recycled in order to nurture the account based on intent signals. It’s not uncommon for content resources to have limits, but intent data relieves some of the pressure to produce content for content’s sake.
- Determine sales funnel placement and prioritize efforts.
If intent data gives you insight into what your target audience is searching for, you’ll also be able to comprehend where they are on their buying journey. If awareness-level content is being consumed, you know your sales and marketing teams need to reach out as soon as possible—and to prepare your next-stage content. If they’re already in the evaluation stage and haven’t engaged in a meaningful way with your company yet, save your content creation efforts; it’s best to cut your losses and move to the next target.
- Build stronger relationships with personalized content.
The idea of personalizing content is simple, but the execution is often harder than expected. With intent signals, you can personalize content (landing pages, articles, case studies) by specific accounts or segments. If you know the topics or categories these are accounts are interested in, you can customize content accordingly. Plus, this added effort is worth it; 74% of marketers find that targeted messaging and email personalization boosts customer engagement rates.