Intent-Driven Marketing: Finding Accounts Ready to Buy in 5 Steps

For years, B2B marketing was governed by a simple equation: content in exchange for contact information. That equation no longer holds true. AI assistants provide answers without requiring a form, searches end without a click, and buyers conduct research without revealing their identity. Yet purchases are still made.

So the key question is: How do you reach companies that are ready to buy right now, if they never convert? This article summarizes our joint presentation with HubSpot at the Digital Innovation Bash. It includes five steps you can implement using the CRM you’re already using.

Here’s what you’ll find in this article:

• Why form fills and organic search are losing effectiveness as lead sources
• How intent data reveals companies ready to buy
• Five Steps from ICP to Sales Handoff
• How to Set Up Buyer Intent in HubSpot
• Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Intent Data

What Is Intent-Driven Marketing?

Intent-Driven Marketing is a B2B approach that identifies and targets companies based on their purchasing intent. This approach is based on intent signals: visits to purchase-related pages such as pricing or case studies, as well as research on relevant topics. Instead of waiting for a form to be filled out, marketing and sales use this data to build company-level audiences for targeting, retargeting, and sales outreach.

Why doesn’t traditional lead generation work anymore?

Marketing automation has followed the same process for years:

• Form Fill – Contact information is submitted
• Lead Scoring – evaluate and qualify
• Nurture Flows – automated follow-up
• Lifecycle Stages – MQL → SQL → Deal

The entire system is based on one assumption: the contact information will come in. It is precisely this assumption that is crumbling.

Zero-Click Search: How AI Devalues Gated Content

Gated content was a fair deal as long as the PDF was the only way to get the answer. Today, AI assistants provide the same answer: summarized, with sources, and for free. No form, no follow-up sequence.

The numbers show just how drastically search behavior is shifting:

• 93% of searches in Google AI Mode end without a click on a website.
• 80% of searchers use AI summaries in at least 40% of cases.

The Implications for B2B Marketing

The top of the funnel is getting quieter. Without an email address, you can no longer nurture leads through traditional email marketing and drive them toward conversion. At the same time, 85% of B2B buyers only consider vendors they were already aware of before conducting their search.

The dilemma: Traditional lead nurturing no longer works the way it used to. But without nurturing, no company will reach out to you either.

So the question is: How do you nurture leads who remain anonymous so that they’ll remember your brand when they’re ready to buy?

You no longer know your leads. Do your leads still know you?

• Be visible to AI (GEO): Structure your content so that AI systems cite you.
• Build brand awareness: content, social media, video. Your target audience needs to know you before they need you.
• Targeted Marketing: People who’ve visited your website shouldn’t forget you. Marketing and sales work together.

This article focuses on the third lever, and on the key question:
How do you target and retarget the top of the funnel if it never converts?

Implementing Intent-Driven Marketing: 5 Steps

Step 1: Know Your ICP and Target Companies Instead of Contacts

A contact is a person who has filled out a form. A company is the entire buying account—visible even without a form. Define your Ideal Customer Profile precisely using five attributes:

• Industry
• Number of employees
• Country
• Web technologies
• Revenue

These are exactly the attributes you enter into LinkedIn Audiences. This is the most precise company-level targeting in B2B.

Step 2: Identify Your Intent Pages

Only about 3% of your market is currently in buying mode. Intent data reveals which 3%. To do this, track behavior based on the page visitors land on:

• Guides, blog, glossary: Top of the funnel—the company is researching the problem.
• Pricing, demos, case studies: Bottom of the funnel—the company is evaluating providers.
• Career pages: not a buyer—exclude from targeting.

Three rules to follow: First define the signal, then build the list. Review pages quarterly if content changes. Exclude noise so the budget follows genuine demand.

Step 3: Use the CRM you already have

Your ICP definition plus your intent rules form the setup. Your CRM uses these to create the appropriate target audience:

• HubSpot: The Buyer Intent tool identifies visiting companies, scores intent, and syncs this data into lists and workflows.
• Salesforce: Data Cloud, along with Einstein AI or Agentforce, provides account-level signals and Next Best Actions.
• Specialized tools: Leadinfo, Dealfront, and others match anonymous traffic to companies—a useful addition to any CRM.

The output is similar: a company-level audience that you can target and retarget.

Step 4: Stay top of mind until Sales gets in touch

The goal isn’t to generate a lead, but to build brand recognition. The account should be familiar with your brand when the SDR calls. Four formats support this:

• LinkedIn Company Retargeting: Company-based lists derived directly from ICP and intent data.
• Google and LinkedIn pixels: Retargeting website visitors via display ads.
• Topic-Based Retargeting: Promote the problem your target audience is researching—not the page they visited.
• Ungated Thought Leadership: Expert content that AI tools and buyers can find and cite.

Consistency is key: Stay visible to companies with purchasing interest over months, rather than just during short campaign phases.

Step 5: Engage the sales team to accelerate the pipeline

• Scoring: Intent scores are calculated in the CRM using a clear threshold.
• Qualify: If an account exceeds the threshold, it is added to the priority list.
• Handoff: Marketing hands the account, along with its complete signal history, over to Sales.
• Reach Out: Sales calls an account that is already familiar with the brand.

Clear criteria and a smooth handoff turn anonymous interest into concrete sales opportunities.

In Focus: Intent-Driven Marketing with HubSpot Buyer Intent

HubSpot combines these five steps into a single tool: Buyer Intent in Smart CRM. It shows which companies in your target market are currently showing interest in making a purchase—even without filling out a form.

What signals does HubSpot track?

• Visitor Intent: The HubSpot tracking code identifies visiting companies via reverse IP lookup. If an account visits the pricing page multiple times, for example, the sales team is notified.
• Research Intent: HubSpot identifies companies conducting topic-specific research—even before they visit your website. You can add your own research topics.
• Company News and Contact-Level Signals: such as leadership changes or contacts in new roles.

Here’s how to set it up:

• Define your target market using your ICP criteria
• Set intent criteria for purchase-related pages—exclude career pages
• Create company lists from saved views using Auto-Add
• Synchronize lists across LinkedIn and Google Audiences
• Set up workflows and email digests for sales

Rule of thumb: Research intent is suitable for early-stage customer nurturing and retargeting to build brand awareness. Visitor intent on purchase-intent pages is the signal to initiate a sales outreach.

Buyer Intent is available in the Starter, Professional, and Enterprise editions of HubSpot Hubs and uses HubSpot Credits (HubSpot Knowledge Base).

Conclusion: The top of the funnel is quieter. But people are still buying.

Implement Intent-Driven Marketing with SUNZINET

The tools for intent-driven marketing have long been available in HubSpot and Salesforce. Now, it’s the implementation that determines who can identify accounts ready to buy before the competition does. SUNZINET is here to guide you through the process:

• ICP and Intent Workshop: We refine your Ideal Customer Profile and identify which pages and topics serve as purchase signals.
• Setup in HubSpot or Salesforce: We configure Buyer Intent or Data Cloud, build company lists, and automate your workflows.
• Retargeting with Recognition: We synchronize your intent audiences with LinkedIn and Google and connect them to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) so your brand is also present in AI responses.
• Measurable Sales Handoff: We define thresholds, handoff processes, and KPIs, and continuously optimize based on real data.

As a full-service digital agency, we’ve been shaping our clients’ digital transformation since 1996. Let’s work together to reach the right 3% of your market.