How to use 'intent marketing' – to win a customer!!

Pick on a customer’s ‘intent’

In marketing and public relations, identifying the INTENT of a customer can give a whole new dimension to your campaigns and also bring you success since the campaigns are more informative and focused.

A regular marketing or PR plan focuses on creating mass awareness or creating an intent. While an intent driven marketing and PR plan focuses on reaching out to those who already have the ’intent’ with the exact information they are seeking. 

A successful marketing/PR campaign would be one, that’s a mix of both these techniques. 

Identifying the intent of a person might be a long and tedious process in the offline world but online –there are many techniques which help you know, understand and use the intent of a possible customer to your advantage. 

In a recent study Ruder Finn a public Relations agency, focused on surveying the users’ intent when going online. It found – the seven most important reasons that people go online today in order of priority are- 

1. To learn
2. To have fun
3. To socialize
4. To express themselves
5. To advocate
6. To do business
7. To shop 

Intent Idex

From a marketing point of view, this result broadly sheds light on four things

-  The reason why a person would be reading up about your client or using his product online

- Where possibly you can find your target customers

- The channels you can use to reach out to them with information on your client and

- The approach you should use for each of these segments, because they are here with a certain intent

However, to build a detailed plan around this would require some deeper analysis on an individual client level. Certain processes that can help you understand the intent of a person online with respect to a specific client could be - 

-  The search keywords he used when looking for your product or something similar

- Details given on the source of the link which brought him to your site – for example – if it is after reading some content you posted on an article site, then probably you need to evaluate the content to find out what exactly the visitor was looking for. The content was close to his query which is why he came to your site seeking more information on the same

- Today there are very many tools available online, which help you evaluate the behaviour of a visitor to your site. For eg: Which were the pages where he spent most of his time? Did he watch the webinar or video on your site or download a whitepaper document? These behavioral patterns in most cases indicate the stage of decision making a person is in. It could be the research stage, it could be the price comparison stage or it could be the purchase stage. 

To turn a prospect into a sale it is important to identify at what stage of decision making he is and provide him with the right information, using the right approach. 

Now that you have some idea on what is the intent of your customer how do you incorporate this input to build a successful marketing campaign? 

Here are a few simple steps 

Step 1 

Find out where is your target audience present – where is it that they look for information the most. It could differ from segment to segment – if your target are teens – the kind of sites they visit for information are very different from the kind of sites a boomer would go to seek information. So research the places your target customer haunts and device a plan to share your information there. This process might involve all measures from press releases to creating social network profiles to getting traditional/online media coverage

Step 2 

Based on the intent research done by your team (you can use methods suggested on top), zero in on keywords that imply a stage of decision making. Create a grid 

Researched keyword	Stage of Decision making implied	The kind of information to be shared	The page URL to be linked to on your site	How will you engage the user once on this page
‘The best Blue ray player’	Research stage	Positive reviews for your product	Page where the user can read this information	There could be Q&A to know his exact preference, some video etc.

Step 3 

Now use this grid to plan all your content push activities – ensure you use these researched keywords and phrases and link them to different content pages on your website or other places (review sites, forums) which will provide a prospect with the right information (he is looking for) about your product and help the customer with his decision making process. 

Step 4

Ensure your website is optimized to answer all the queries, a prospective customer may seek information on. Keep him interested in your site by engaging and intriguing him at the onset, with third party endorsements (product reviews, testimonial, news coverage etc.)

Give him the impression that you want him to get unbiased information – you will have a more convinced customer. 

Step 5

Ask the customer to participate – Ask him to leave comments on your product offerings, any feedbacks to improve, his view on the product, ask him if he is seeking any more information, product updates – it all gives a better idea on his intent and also connects him to your brand.  You can use some of this information (if good) to woo other customers.

Follow –up on email (if shared) to nurture the lead.. 

Intent marketing does not require drastic changes in your marketing or PR plan. All it requires is some change in your approach.

If done properly, intent marketing helps you understand your customers and their wants better. It helps you relate to them at an individual level and make a personalized sales pitch in the virtual world.

So go for it, surprise your customer with this psychic phenomenon

How to successfully use word of mouth marketing in a B2B set up

In my last post I had shared with you the importance of Word of mouth marketing and why it should be an integral part of every Company’s PR and marketing plan.

In this post I share with you some statistics to prove this. In a recent report by Nielsen Global Online Consumer survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries, it emerged that “Recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising. Ninety percent of consumers surveyed noted that they trust recommendations from people they know, while 70 percent trusted consumer opinions posted online.”

These results are quite significant as it reaffirms the power of Internet/online media and in particular the growing influence of social media. Today as marketers we are dealing with a more aware, informed and inquisitive consumer, who has several channels and mediums to seek information about a company, its products and the quality delivered, before making a purchase.

While WOMM is critical to any business, it is hard to generate, especially for B2B clients where the target audience is niche. In a B2C scenario, some success can be expected, by ensuring a quality product which caters to a significant need of the end consumers; by creating awareness and excitement for the product among the target group using various media channels; by listening to their suggestions and feedbacks and improvising on the products if required and foremost by keeping the channels of communication always open between the company and its end consumers.

In B2B since the stakes are higher, referrals are not easy to come by, also clients refer your services or products to other businesses if they themselves have tried, tested and are completely satisfied with your services over a period of time. In such cases the gestation period for generating leads through referrals can be a lengthy and uncertain process. Following some of the B2C procedures mentioned above might speed up the process and might ensure a more satisfied customer but may not result in a referral.

So how do you ensure that your customers in both B2C and B2B type of businesses give you referrals?

It is simple – incentivise their referrals! Combine a referral with a reward program, it could be discounts, it could be entering a sweepstake program, giveaways, any reward program that you can link to your product or service and your customers can benefit from.

Giving incentives for referrals – HELPS

By initiating such a marketing activity, you give your customers an added incentive to refer you, in the process ensuring both parties involved are happy.

When planning such a program ensure you are present in every medium which your end customer uses – these might vary for B2C and B2B companies.

The marketing and PR should be well planned and coordinated, so that you reach out to all your customers. For the time period the program is running, all your messaging should work towards promoting the program, on your website, on your ads, billboards, on your press releases, on social media forums, wherever you expect your customers to be.

It is only a matter of time before the technique starts finding you success!

Such programs are not new, have been tried and tested by several companies over the years, and have found success even offline.

I am sure most of you will remember the simple referral campaign run by the magazine Reader’s Digest. Fill in 14 addresses of people you know and win an interesting book in return. They would then reach out to your contacts with a personalized letter stating you thought your friend would like subscribing to Reader’s Digest. Simple but effective way of referral marketing and it did help the magazine to a great extent in becoming one of the most read magazines in the world, even though it was circulated only through subscriptions(not sold on stands), until some years ago. I have filled many such forms as a teenager in lure of the books and have seen many of my family and friends subscribing to the book….see I told you it always works

In a world where there are so many voices and opinions some times it helps to raise the stakes……..