Intent marketing: how to reach your ideal audience

Having a low conversion rate or a high bounce rate can destroy even the best marketing campaign. How can you prevent this? By getting inside the heads of your audience and answering the exact question they’re asking. That’s where intent marketing comes in.

What is intent marketing?

Intent marketing aims to know what customers want before they know themselves. The most basic form starts by understanding the intent of purpose behind searches and brand interactions. What are people looking for? What brought them to you?

To fully achieve intent marketing, your team needs to know:

• what stage of the customer journey a person is in
• what specific problem a potential client is trying to solve
• what are a person’s ultimate goals and how can you get them there

You can discover this by collecting data and insights from your target audience. With the answers in hand, you’ll be prepared to create personalized, relevant information for each user.

This will give them a positive brand experience, and keep them coming back because you respect their time and can solve their problems.

Why is intent marketing important?

Intent marketing must be included in any effective marketing strategy. It allows your team to:

• Target accurately – Point users directly to the answers they’re looking for
• Enhance customer experience – Address each customer’s specific interests and needs so they feel as though your company was made just for them.
• Improve retention – Keep customers engaged by providing content that is ultra-relevant to their current place in the sales funnel
• Optimize marketing spend – When you quickly identify and act on searcher intent, you put energy into the most qualified leads and improve your marketing ROI
• Decrease bounce rate – If people find what they’re looking for, they are far more likely to stay on your site

Keeping searcher intent at the forefront of your marketing makes your campaigns far more effective. Without it, your ideas are destined to fail.

How does intent marketing work?

Delivering the right message at the right time is easier said than done. However, if you take the time to understand your audience and zero in on their intent, you can create an effective and efficient marketing funnel.

There are three major steps involved in intent marketing.

1.    Data collection and analysis

At its core, intent marketing is about data-driven decision-making. The more information you have about your customers and what they want and when, the easier it will be to give it to them.

Look at your existing customer base and discover their:

• • • • Search behaviors – Find out which keywords folks search when coming to your site, and get specific about what they mean
      • Browsing patterns – By tracking which pages users visit and what holds their attention, you can deduce their interests and needs
      • Purchase history and behavior – Past purchasing data can show you what people are invested in. For example, if someone buys new runners they might be persuaded to buy some fresh socks

As you gather more and more data, you’ll start to notice patterns that can be used for the next step.  

2.    Segment your audience

Splitting your audience into groups allows you to give them personalized recommendations and content without starting from scratch every time. You can form segments based on a plethora of things including:

• • • • Behavioral – How they interact with your site, social media, and other touchpoints
      • Psychographic – Their lifestyle, values, and interests
      • Customer Journey – How close are they to making a purchase

Personalization based on each of these segments will lead to different tactics.

For example, if you’re focusing on a client because they like mountain biking, you might show off videos that tie your athleisure wear to popular biking trails. However, if you’re targeting them because they interacted with a reel you posted, you will want to continue showing them similar content to create a rapport.

Choosing how you segment your audience is vital to understanding your brand voice.

3.    Create relevant content

Once you have a clear understanding of your audience and have segmented them into smaller groups, it’s time to create content and experiences that align with their intent. This means tailoring your messaging and delivery to meet their specific needs and interests.

For example, if a customer is in the research phase of their purchasing journey, you may want to provide informational content such as blog posts, videos, or webinars that address their questions and concerns.

Examples of intent marketing

Depending on the type of segmentation you do, and the search intent of your regular customer base, your intent marketing can look like many different things. Here are some examples from real campaigns to help you design your own.

How-to guides

One of the most straightforward forms of intent marketing is through guides and blog posts about topics your clients care about. A great example of this is Kaltura’s blogs on planning and executing engaging webinars.

Anyone looking to spice up their webinars will find these guides with tips and tricks for interactivity. They will find answers to their questions, and in the process see how effective Kaltura’s platform is in helping them achieve their goals.

Targeted videos

Another way to meet your clients where they are is through specific video content. Dove knows that their target audience is on the hunt for self-care videos and positivity content.

They’ve created countless videos and campaigns to fill this niche from their “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign back in 2013 to their recent break-down of AI-generated images called “The Code”.

While these videos don’t break down the benefits of their products or sell anything outright, they fulfill a need and create brand awareness. This means that searchers end up on their site, even when they aren’t specifically looking to buy anything.

More touchpoints mean more opportunities to make a sale, and more of a chance that customers think “Dove” when walking through a store.

Remarketing Ads

Remarketing ads, also known as retargeting ads, use cookies to track website visitors and show them ads for products or services they have shown interest in. These ads can be targeted to specific audiences based on their browsing behavior, such as items they have added to their shopping cart but haven’t purchased.

For instance, if a customer added a pair of shoes to their shopping cart on an online retailer’s website but didn’t complete the purchase, you could use remarketing ads to remind the customer about the shoes and offer a discount code to entice them to buy.

 This helps drive conversions from customers who have already shown intent to purchase but may have gotten distracted or changed their minds.

How to successfully implement intent marketing

Effective intent marketing is targeted and to the point. There are several ways you can ensure your campaigns fit these descriptions.

Use targeted keywords

Go thorough keyword research to understand the intent behind the searches of your target audience. Using relevant and targeted keywords in your content can help your brand appear in those search results and attract the right audience to your website.

Solve people’s problems

Intent marketing is all about addressing the specific needs and problems of your target audience. Make sure your content offers practical solutions, helpful tips, and actionable advice. This will build trust with potential customers and establish your brand as a reliable source of information.

Make sure content adds value

Giving searchers information they already know, or an experience they can get anywhere else isn’t going to hold their attention for long. Make sure every detail of your content connects back to the searcher’s intent. Keep it informative, engaging, and on-topic.

Stay as up-to-date as possible

Be aware of industry trends, and consider tying your content to current events. For example, during the Olympics, more people use search terms related to sports. This leads to commercials, articles, and campaigns revolving around athletes and physical activity.

Everyone from Mcdonald’s to the Kids Help Phone comes out with sports-related content at this time. This shows a deep understanding of what customers are invested in.

FAQ

What metrics should be tracked in intent marketing?

Intent marketing aims to directly answer questions and fill the needs of potential customers. Your team needs a full understanding of its target market, and statistics about how effectively it meets those needs.

Consider tracking:

• • Bounce rate – What percentage of people instantly leave your page after finding it? This is a clear sign that you aren’t matching their search intent
  • Source – How do people find your site? Find the channels that most often bring in engaged, qualified leads
  • Keyword success – How often are people searching for the keywords you’ve chosen? Are there more effective keywords you could build your content around?
  • Conversion rate – If you’ve answered every question, can you make a final sale? How effective is your content at both meeting search intent and moving customers down the sales funnel?

Collecting this data gives you the chance to zero in on the customer intents that lead to conversions.

How do you determine consumer intent?

Intent marketing is an ongoing process, as customers’ needs and interests can change over time. You can track their intent in several ways, including:

Analyzing search queries

Specific keywords and phrases often point to specific intents. For example, if someone searches “colors to make a room feel larger” they are probably on the hunt for new paint, supplies, or a contractor to improve their home.

 Study consumer behavior

Oftentimes, you can predict user intent based on historical data and common sense. In late summer before school starts, there will be more college students looking for ideas to decorate or furnish their dorm rooms. In February, folks will be searching for romance.

Ask them 

Conducting surveys and hosting live Q&As is an excellent way to gather direct feedback from consumers about their intent. You can ask questions like “What are your plans for the upcoming holiday season?” or “What brought you to our website today?”

Meet Kaltura – industry-leading video solutions for webinars, events, hubs & more

Kaltura takes marketing above and beyond other video hosting software. With advanced analytics, simple content creation, and fully integrated AI solutions, you can:

• Easily create personalized videos that address the needs and desires of different audience segments
• Utilize quizzes, polls, and CTAs to gauge viewer interest and intent
• Engage users right off the bat with product demos, tutorials, testimonials, and more

If you want to answer every one of your customers’ questions in a fun and eye-catching way, look no further than Kaltura. Start a free trial today.