As digital business moves forward, every business must find better ways to produce and analyze its marketing. Every so often, new buzzwords will come into the lexicon that seem to solve all the problems and inefficiencies that our profession is having. Most of the time, these buzzwords flutter out of style just as quickly as they came into our periphery.
Intent marketing is a buzzword that has maintained its relevance for a few years now, and with good reason. The idea behind intent marketing is one that simply cuts to the chase – what is it that your customers want? Give it to them. We now have the technology to dig into the actual intent of customers as they browse the web, giving us much greater insights into what drives their behavior patterns.
No longer do we have to rely on generic demographic information to guess at what a particular buyer profile may actually want. We now have the ability to combine that demographic information with patterns of behavior online to get the true psychology of a person. Yes we know that Jake is 35, in middle management and makes around $90,000 a year. What we didn’t know before this generation of intent marketing is why Jake likes to read Harry Potter books.
We know now! And with this information comes a new level of marketing possibilities.
If a middle-aged man wants to read Harry Potter books, then we will not only be able to help them do that, but we can also help in find other reading material that you may enjoy! We can put this reading material in his face so that he does not have to go outside of his normal routine in order to discover the work. We can also relate this reading material back to Harry Potter, so that if Jake does not know about this new fantasy author, he will find out very quickly!
Why Marketers Should Understand Intent
Marketers must pay special attention to intent marketing because it is now being invoked in the gatekeeper algorithms on the major search engines. Google, and by proxy all other search engines, are taking great pains to invoke intent marketing into search results. Not only must your products and services now meet the content of a certain query, but it must also meet that query’s intent as well. If it does not, you are much more likely to get bounced down in ranking. This phenomenon will only become more prevalent as Google becomes better at recognizing the intent of its visitors. At the rate of improvement Google is showcased over the past few years, it won’t be long before it’s algorithms can discern quite precisely what the intent of a Google search is.
Intent Means Conversions
There is also a quantifiable link between better intent and higher conversions. The right intent causes certain content on the Internet to rise even more over time. As these posts gain solid ranking, they tend to drive more traffic and higher conversion rates.
The old-school traffic drivers – promotion, clickability, keyword volume – still make a difference. However, the intent of the post is becoming more important than any of these factors. For best results, you want to have great keyword volume, good promotion and high clickability with meaningful intent as well. However, if you have to make a choice, meaningful intent comes first.
There is no turning back when it comes to intent marketing. Marketers should do a deep dive into what their content really evokes from the target market. Even if it does not make a huge difference now, over time, it will. Put the time in now and make the investment into intent marketing before it is too late to start!
