AI vs. Intent Data: Only One Knows Your Intentions

The number one goal of most companies is to reach their customers. They want to connect to their customers and prospects because that’s how sales happen. It’s why technology vendors spend more than $300 billion annually on marketing and sales.

The problem is that there is a lot of noise. Your customers are being overwhelmed with information, solutions, and experts everywhere they turn. Somehow, out of all this, they have to find trusted vendors who can help them make the right purchase decisions. And you have to position yourself as the right business for them.

That’s where customer targeting comes into play.

The Importance of Customer Targeting

Too often, B2B marketers approach marketing as a “see what sticks” tactic. They simply hope that some of their marketing campaigns will reach potential buyers who are in the market and ready to purchase. Unfortunately, this just wastes a lot of time and means that the biggest challenge most marketers face is generating leads, driving conversions, and acquiring new customers.

The good news is that data can change all of this by helping B2B marketers identify, engage, and nurture potential customers at the right time. The key is the marriage of artificial intelligence and intent data.

AI vs. Intent Data

AI and intent data are often confused, but they are not the same. They are both used to uncover buyer purchase intent and to analyze the right signals when it comes to buyer needs, but how they do so is very different.

AI Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics (AI) uses data mining techniques, statistics, modeling, and machine learning to make predictions about unknown, future events. The problem is that this relies mostly on historical information, which may not accurately predict what’s happening now. At the same time, AI must be kept completely up to date using complex models and algorithms or it could be obsolete.

Intent Data

On the other hand, intent data looks at what is happening online right now—it’s fact-based. It tells you what is actually going on with the customer so you can accurately gauge what is happening.

When used correctly, intent data can alert B2B marketers in real-time about what specific customers are doing—what topics they’re reading, what websites they’re visiting, what devices they’re using, etc. Then, based on that insight into the customer, organizations can immediately determine what customers are a good match for their product.

With intent data, a B2B marketer can monitor their target accounts on a daily basis. Then, when one of those targets suddenly starts searching for certain keywords, downloading resources, or reading blogs on a specific topic, they are highlighted as a strong potential buyer. Marketers are then alerted to the activity spike so that they can reach out right away while the opportunity is hot.

Using AI and Intent Data Together

Both AI and intent data help you better understand your customers in a way that goes beyond basic content engagement. The key is using them together for the best results.

Aberdeen captures best-in-class intent data that’s 91% accurate in predicting purchase intent. It can be calibrated to your unique business via 480,000 keywords and then implemented into your B2B marketing plan based on your funnel priorities. By tracking over a billion daily web interactions and using machine learning, Aberdeen can more accurately predict purchase intent based on real buyer journeys.

Combined with AI, Aberdeen’s intent data can help you move beyond static target account lists to dynamically target prospects based on their behavior. You can automatically advertise to those customers ready to buy, and you can research content and tailor it to address known market pain points. It’s a strategic way to spend your marketing and sales dollars effectively.