3 smart ways of using Intent Data during COVID-19 (that will blow your mind)

The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused a major shift in our economy resulting in most B2B companies changing their focus to retaining key customers and their spending. This may be considered to be the most ethical and conservative strategy during this time, but does this guarantee businesses to be in a solid position when the bounce transpires?

It’s more important than ever, to ensure your Sales and Marketing teams adjust to the new norm but also to find innovative, smart strategies that your competitors are not already utilising. One of them is certainly Intent Data. Why? Because it can tell you who is actively researching your solutions within and outside of your key customers and key accounts.

We’ve listed some examples of how Intent Data could help with the survival of your business during the COVID-19 crisis.

#1 – ABM

Intent Data tells you which of your key accounts is in-market for your solution but also shows you the people doing research at those accounts, the topics they are researching on, and the technologies they have installed. You can then use these insights to personalise your communications via ads, phone and/or email. 

This works already for any ABM strategy but during this time of uncertainty using Intent Data translates to: 

• Knowing which ABM accounts are safe to target because have a need for your solution/s

• Identifying which division or buying team to go after without undermining relationships

• Offering something that is relevant, valuable and does not get filed as “COVID-19 spam” 

• Knowing if you are wasting time and resources on the wrong, inactive accounts  

#2 – Net New Business

There are plenty of accounts you’re not aware of that are currently in-market for your solutions. You can find them by adopting a spray-and-pray approach but it is highly unethical and there is more risk to create damage than positive outcomes.

On the opposite, Intent Data could help you generate new marketing qualified leads (MQLs), book meetings and even create opportunities from accounts that are currently in market for your solutions. 

This will remove the “unethical” label of undertaking cold prospecting during this crisis because you are targeting people that are actively searching and in NEED of your solution. 

You are potentially helping them to quickly solve an existing problem. Not only is this ethical, but it’s also smart. In turn, it will generate more business and keep you ahead of the bounce and competitors. 

#3 – Progress active pipeline opportunities

There’s no shortage of information out there telling us that business is on pause and deals are not progressing, but what if Intent Data could tell you which of your accounts with active deals are now looking at your competitors?

Not only can Intent Data do that, but it also helps you identify new, active people within those accounts that can help you progress deals faster. 

This use case alone could safeguard or even generate positive cash flow that will keep your business thriving during and after the crisis.

Where is the evidence that projects are still happening?

In a recent article by TechTarget, they found evidence that as soon as the current global situation began to cause widespread shutdowns, there was a dramatic spike in research on tech that supports remote workers (of course) but also on a wide range of other technologies. Kyle Donley said;

“In fact, 24% of our overall network traffic right now is dedicated to researching technologies that will support secure, reliable, and productive remote work environments, including traffic growth on topics around unified communications, video conferencing, VPNs, cloud services, virtual desktops and more. But it’s not just remote working technologies that are still active right now. In fact, we are actually seeing surges in research on technologies like disaster recovery/business continuity, digital transformation, cloud security, endpoint security, enterprise content management, social networking, HR software, and more.”

Kyle Donley, Product Marketing Manager. April 10.2020.

Companies are even more determined than ever to make it through the crisis and will continue to spend on solutions that ensure that they succeed during lockdown.

Don’t fall behind your competitors. Get ahead. Get insights. Get intent data.