# How to Implement Intent-Based Demand Generation Campaigns
In the modern B2B landscape, waiting for prospects to find you is no longer enough. Intent-based demand generation allows you to identify businesses actively researching your services before they ever fill out a form, giving your Brisbane business a significant competitive advantage by engaging prospects at the peak of their interest.
By focusing your marketing spend on accounts showing "active intent," you reduce waste and significantly shorten sales cycles. This guide will take you through the practical steps of setting up a sophisticated intent engine for your B2B operations.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure you have the following:- A clearly defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
- Access to an intent data provider (e.g., 6sense, Demandbase, or even Google Search Console for first-party intent).
- A CRM (like HubSpot or Salesforce) to track account engagement.
- Ad accounts set up (LinkedIn Campaign Manager is essential for Australian B2B).
- A list of 10-20 high-value keywords related to your service.
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Step 1: Define Your Intent Data Sources
First, you need to decide which "signals" you are going to track. There are three types of intent data:- First-party intent: Data you own (website visits, email clicks, webinar attendance).
- Second-party intent: Data from review sites (e.g., G2 or Capterra) showing who is looking at your category.
- Third-party intent: Data from across the web (articles read, research conducted on industry publications).
Step 2: Map Your "High-Intent" Keywords
Intent is driven by topics. Create a list of keywords that signal a "buyer's journey" phase. For an Australian accounting firm, "What is payroll?" is low intent (educational), whereas "Best payroll software for Australian SMEs" is high intent (consideration).Pro Tip: Don't just focus on your brand name. Focus on your competitors' names. If a prospect is researching a competitor, they are in-market for your solution too.
Step 3: Set Up Your Tracking Infrastructure
You cannot act on intent if you can't see it. Ensure your website has the LinkedIn Insight Tag and the Google Tag Manager (GTM) installed correctly. Screenshot Description: In Google Tag Manager, you should see a list of active tags with green "Success" indicators, specifically for conversion tracking and remarketing pixels.Step 4: Identify Your "In-Market" Accounts
Use your intent tool (or Google Analytics 4 'Tech' reports) to see which companies are visiting your site. In Australia, many B2B tools can identify company IP addresses. Look for clusters of activity—if five people from the same company are visiting your pricing page, that is a massive intent signal.Step 5: Segment Your Audience by Intent Strength
Not all intent is equal. Create three tiers:- Tier 1 (Hot): Visiting pricing pages, clicking "Contact Us," or searching for your brand specifically.
- Tier 2 (Warm): Reading case studies and industry-specific blog posts.
- Tier 3 (Cold/Awareness): Reading general top-of-funnel educational content.
Step 6: Create Tailored Content for Each Tier
For Tier 1, your content should be "The Business Case for [Your Service]" or "Implementation Guide." For Tier 2, focus on Australian-specific success stories (e.g., "How we helped a Gold Coast manufacturer scale").Step 7: Launch Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Ads
Take your list of high-intent companies and upload them as a "Matched Audience" in LinkedIn Campaign Manager. Instead of targeting individuals, you are now targeting the decision-makers within the specific companies that have already shown interest.Step 8: Align Sales and Marketing (The "Hand-off")
This is where most Australian businesses fail. When an account hits a certain "Intent Score," your sales team must be notified immediately. Set up an automated alert in your CRM that says: "Company X has visited the pricing page 3 times in 24 hours."Step 9: Personalised Outreach
When sales reaches out, it shouldn't be a cold call. It should be: "I noticed you might be looking into [Topic], I thought this Australian industry report might be helpful." It feels like a coincidence, but it's actually data-driven timing.Step 10: Monitor and Optimise
Review your intent data weekly. Are the companies you’re targeting actually engaging? If you see high intent but low conversion, your landing page might not be addressing the specific pain points identified in the research phase.---
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Ignoring the 'Dark Social' factor: Much intent happens in private Slack groups or word-of-mouth. Don't rely only* on software; ask your customers where they heard of you.- Being 'Creepy': Never tell a prospect, "I saw you were on our website at 2:00 PM." Use the data to inform your timing, not to prove you're watching them.
- Broad Targeting: Targeting all of Australia is expensive. If your intent data shows interest specifically in the Brisbane construction sector, narrow your ad spend to that niche.
Troubleshooting
- "I'm not seeing any company names in my data": Ensure you aren't filtered by a VPN. Many corporate offices use VPNs that mask their location. Also, check that your tracking scripts are firing before the cookie consent banner is cleared (while staying compliant with Australian privacy principles).
- "The leads are poor quality": Re-evaluate your intent keywords. You might be capturing people researching for a university assignment rather than a business purchase. Add "negative keywords" to filter these out.
- "Our sales team isn't following up": This is usually a CRM integration issue. Check that the "High Intent" alert is actually reaching their inbox or Slack channel.
Next Steps
Now that you've built your intent engine, it's time to refine your messaging.- Audit your current content: Does it answer the questions your intent data is surfacing?
- Review your CRM setup: Ensure your sales team knows how to handle an intent-based lead.
- Scale: Once you see a positive ROI on your Tier 1 accounts, expand your keyword list to capture more of the market.
Need help setting up the technical tracking or LinkedIn ABM campaigns for your Australian business? Contact the experts at Local Marketing Group to help you turn intent into revenue.