How The Doux uses AI to engage community

“I think we're moving into a space where most beauty companies are tech companies,” says Maya Smith.

It’s a striking claim from a brand that launched in 2012, long before AI was everywhere. But The Doux has always been ahead of the curve. Since day one, the haircare brand has been anchored in culture: hip-hop references, retro- and Afrofuturism, Black hair-salon nostalgia, all in service of marketing hair products to Black women.

For all AI can do, Smith, who’s The Doux's co-founder, CEO, and creative director, is well aware that system biases are still rampant; the tech is accelerating faster than access and representation. “What I understood is that in order for that to change, you really have to start to train AI,” Smith tells me. “I wanted to be a part of [it].”

Here’s how she’s doing exactly that.

Partnering with Black Girls Code

Collaborating with Black Girls Code (BGC), The Doux launched the Black Beauty AI Challenge back in June, calling on budding creators to submit their original AI-generated videos.

Other than the requirement to use only free tools like Canva, Capcut, or Pika — “because a lot of the obstacles are to do with access” — participants were given intentionally broad parameters to showcase how they define Black beauty, for a chance to earn cash prizes and additional visibility opportunities. Winners will be announced later this month.

“I understand that there‘s some apprehension, because a lot of people don’t understand it,” says Smith, hopeful that this challenge provides some awareness. “But it‘s important for Black creators to be able to participate in the AI conversation, because it’s not going anywhere.”

Key takeaway: Leading with education and access is a powerful form of thought leadership and a solid way to build trust and authority.

Letting culture lead

Prior to the BGC partnership, Smith had already been experimenting with AI to help bring her campaign and product launches to life.

To help execute the vision for The Doux’s Press Play Collection, which launched last year, she used Midjourney AI to organize the endless thoughts in her head and generate usable renderings that guided her production team. “We didn't want to spend a lot of time and money on revisions,” says Smith.

Smith is inspired by everything from the Black Barbie evolution to pin-up culture to Palm Springs aesthetics. “When people are communicating with any of these platforms, even if you‘re good at it, you’re still going to have to be very specific,” says Smith.

“You have to learn [in this case] art history so that you know what to say. You have to learn about camera angles, wide shots. You still have to educate yourself on what you're telling AI to do.”

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by T H E D O U X (@ilovethedoux)

The latest launch was no different. Products across The Doux’s Block Party Collection were formulated to stand up to humidity. The biggest challenge, notes Smith, was telling this story without leaning into the typical, often culturally unsound campaign showcasing the frizz-to-sleek arc, implying that the hair wasn’t beautiful to begin with.

With the help of AI, a bubble visual became the metaphor for an anti-humidity barrier.

“Beauty brands need to lean into the people they’re serving,” says Smith. “Everything we do is informed by our community. AI is just another way to engage them.”

Key takeaway: Use AI to clarify — not replace — your creative vision. Humans still set the tone; AI helps execute it faster.

AI will never replace IRL

In that spirit, the “Block Party” concept was customer-led. New York remains its biggest community and what Smith kept hearing about the city stuck with her: that it was changing, that neighborhoods were looking different than what people grew up with.

So Block Party became an homage to the famous New York block parties that raised so many of The Doux’s customers.

For its NYC debut party, The Doux team invited 60 beauty journalists, influencers, and distributors for dinner and dancing, and hired DJ Ty Alexander to lead the set comprising crowd pleasers like Boosie’s “Wipe Me Down,” Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing),” and FLY’s “Swag Surfin.”

“I think our love language to our community is showing them the way that we see them and ensuring that they see themselves,” says Smith.

Key takeaway: AI is inevitable, but in-person experiences remain irreplaceable drivers of community.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-the-doux-uses-ai-to-engage-community

“I think we're moving into a space where most beauty companies are tech companies,” says Maya Smith.

It’s a striking claim from a brand that launched in 2012, long before AI was everywhere. But The Doux has always been ahead of the curve. Since day one, the haircare brand has been anchored in culture: hip-hop references, retro- and Afrofuturism, Black hair-salon nostalgia, all in service of marketing hair products to Black women.

For all AI can do, Smith, who’s The Doux's co-founder, CEO, and creative director, is well aware that system biases are still rampant; the tech is accelerating faster than access and representation. “What I understood is that in order for that to change, you really have to start to train AI,” Smith tells me. “I wanted to be a part of [it].”

Here’s how she’s doing exactly that.

Partnering with Black Girls Code

Collaborating with Black Girls Code (BGC), The Doux launched the Black Beauty AI Challenge back in June, calling on budding creators to submit their original AI-generated videos.

Other than the requirement to use only free tools like Canva, Capcut, or Pika — “because a lot of the obstacles are to do with access” — participants were given intentionally broad parameters to showcase how they define Black beauty, for a chance to earn cash prizes and additional visibility opportunities. Winners will be announced later this month.

“I understand that there‘s some apprehension, because a lot of people don’t understand it,” says Smith, hopeful that this challenge provides some awareness. “But it‘s important for Black creators to be able to participate in the AI conversation, because it’s not going anywhere.”

Key takeaway: Leading with education and access is a powerful form of thought leadership and a solid way to build trust and authority.

Letting culture lead

Prior to the BGC partnership, Smith had already been experimenting with AI to help bring her campaign and product launches to life.

To help execute the vision for The Doux’s Press Play Collection, which launched last year, she used Midjourney AI to organize the endless thoughts in her head and generate usable renderings that guided her production team. “We didn't want to spend a lot of time and money on revisions,” says Smith.

Smith is inspired by everything from the Black Barbie evolution to pin-up culture to Palm Springs aesthetics. “When people are communicating with any of these platforms, even if you‘re good at it, you’re still going to have to be very specific,” says Smith.

“You have to learn [in this case] art history so that you know what to say. You have to learn about camera angles, wide shots. You still have to educate yourself on what you're telling AI to do.”

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by T H E D O U X (@ilovethedoux)

The latest launch was no different. Products across The Doux’s Block Party Collection were formulated to stand up to humidity. The biggest challenge, notes Smith, was telling this story without leaning into the typical, often culturally unsound campaign showcasing the frizz-to-sleek arc, implying that the hair wasn’t beautiful to begin with.

With the help of AI, a bubble visual became the metaphor for an anti-humidity barrier.

“Beauty brands need to lean into the people they’re serving,” says Smith. “Everything we do is informed by our community. AI is just another way to engage them.”

Key takeaway: Use AI to clarify — not replace — your creative vision. Humans still set the tone; AI helps execute it faster.

AI will never replace IRL

In that spirit, the “Block Party” concept was customer-led. New York remains its biggest community and what Smith kept hearing about the city stuck with her: that it was changing, that neighborhoods were looking different than what people grew up with.

So Block Party became an homage to the famous New York block parties that raised so many of The Doux’s customers.

For its NYC debut party, The Doux team invited 60 beauty journalists, influencers, and distributors for dinner and dancing, and hired DJ Ty Alexander to lead the set comprising crowd pleasers like Boosie’s “Wipe Me Down,” Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing),” and FLY’s “Swag Surfin.”

“I think our love language to our community is showing them the way that we see them and ensuring that they see themselves,” says Smith.

Key takeaway: AI is inevitable, but in-person experiences remain irreplaceable drivers of community.

via Perfecte news Non connection

Intent-based marketing: How to target ready buyers

In business, to waste time is to waste money so you need a strategy that is efficient and the best use of your resources.

With that in mind, intent-based marketing is an optimal strategy for marketers who want to ensure they are reaching audiences who have a genuine interest in what their business has to offer.

But what is intent-based marketing and how is it different from traditional or account-based marketing. Let's dive in.

Table of Contents

• What is intent-based marketing, and how is it different from ABM?
• Why Intent-based Marketing Matters Now
• How to Start Intent-based Marketing
• Intent Signals to Gather and Track
• How to Activate Intent-based Targeting Across Channels
• AI in Intent-driven Marketing
• How to Measure and Optimize Intent-driven Marketing
• 3 Intent-based Marketing Playbooks You Can Copy
• Frequently Asked Questions About Intent-based Marketing

What is intent-based marketing, and how is it different from ABM?

Intent-based marketing (IBM) is a strategy that focuses on delivering targeted messages to consumers based on their online behavior and preferences.

Intent-based marketing differs from account-based marketing (ABM) in that ABM targets specific high-value accounts while IBM targets accounts that are actively searching for solutions.

For intent-based marketing, you'll want a Smart CRM like HubSpot that utilizes AI automation to identify prospects who are actively showing interest and exhibiting buying signals, allowing you to prioritize and engage at the perfect time.

Furthermore, you‘ll need a CRM that unifies and enriches your data, with key features such as custom reporting, which will turn data insights into manageable reports that track everything from the start of the buyer’s journey to revenue attribution.

Why Intent-based Marketing Matters Now

In an era of rising data breaches and growing distrust in how companies manage their data, consumers are understandably becoming more cautious with their personal information.

As a result, consumers are beefing up the security around their personal data by using privacy tools and deciding which companies they want to purchase from based on their data practices.

With that in mind, intent-based marketing is an excellent strategy for engaging prospects while respecting their privacy, as it relies heavily on first-party data collected from user interactions on your website, as opposed to mostly third-party sources. But what are third-party sources, and why are consumers wary of them?

Have you ever visited a website and been bombarded with pop-ups asking you to “accept or manage cookies”? Well, those website cookies and tracking scripts are third-party sources.

In addition to annoyingly interrupting your internet browsing, they also track your activity. They are owned by external entities, raising concerns about the level of control consumers have over the collection and use of their data.

These third-party sources are under even greater scrutiny thanks to regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which both impose restrictions on how third-party data can be collected and used.

Another great benefit of intent-based marketing is that it enables marketers to create highly personalized experiences for website visitors by tracking their behavior and actions on the site.

For example, let‘s say you’re an online clothing store, and a website visitor spent a significant amount of time clicking through your fall lookbook before subscribing to your email list.

You could then follow up with personalized emails recommending fall attire and or a personalized digital fall lookbook, rather than a generic email of general sales and deals.

How to Start Intent-based Marketing

1. Define your ideal customer profile and buying signals.

Start by clearly identifying who you're targeting and what behaviors indicate purchase intent.

Map out the specific actions that suggest someone is actively researching solutions in your category—like visiting pricing pages, downloading whitepapers, or searching for competitor comparisons.

The more precise you are about these signals, the more effective your targeting will be.

This aligns perfectly with the Express stage of HubSpot's Loop Marketing framework, where you define your brand identity and ideal customer profile before leveraging AI to create targeted campaigns.

By establishing clear buyer personas and intent signals upfront, you set the foundation for AI-powered personalization throughout the entire loop.

2. Choose your intent data sources.

Select the right combination of first-party, second-party, and third-party intent data for your needs. First-party data from your website and CRM shows direct engagement with your brand.

Third-party providers reveal when prospects are researching topics related to your solution across the web. Consider your budget and identify the sources that align best with your target accounts.

Remember, most consumers are not fans of third-party sourcing, so be cautious when collecting and using third-party data and ensure you follow the guidelines set by the GDPR and/or CCPA.

3. Integrate intent data with your marketing tech stack.

Connect your intent data sources to your CRM, marketing automation platform, and advertising tools to streamline your marketing efforts. This integration ensures intent signals flow seamlessly into your existing workflows and can trigger appropriate actions.

Platforms like HubSpot's Marketing Hub offer native integrations with major intent data providers, making it easier to centralize your intent signals alongside your contact data, email campaigns, and analytics—giving you a unified view of prospect behavior.

4. Create intent-specific content and messaging.

Develop tailored content that speaks directly to prospects at different stages of their buying journey. Prospects demonstrating early research intent require educational content, while high-intent prospects closer to making a purchase need case studies, demos, and competitive comparisons.

Match your message to the urgency and specificity of their signals.

In the Tailor stage of Loop Marketing, you can use AI to personalize this messaging at scale, leveraging unified CRM data to create experiences that feel individually crafted based on each prospect's specific intent signals and stage in the buying journey.

5. Build automated workflows and trigger campaigns.

Set up rules-based workflows that automatically respond when prospects hit certain intent thresholds. This might include adding high-intent contacts to nurture sequences, alerting sales representatives to leads, or launching targeted ad campaigns to accounts that show buying signals.

Automation ensures that you act on intent data quickly while it remains relevant.

6. Measure, optimize, and refine your approach.

Track which intent signals correlate most strongly with actual conversions and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Monitor key metrics, including time-to-conversion, campaign engagement rates, and ROI, by intent source. Regularly review which topics and behaviors are most predictive of purchases in your specific market, and continuously refine your targeting criteria based on what's working.

This continuous optimization mirrors the Evolve stage of Loop Marketing, where AI helps you measure, predict, and adapt in real-time rather than waiting for quarterly reviews — making each campaign cycle smarter and more effective than the last.

Intent Signals to Gather and Track

Not sure what intent signals you should track? No problem. I've got you covered with 5 intent signals you can track with Smart CRM.

1. Website Behavior Patterns

Repeated visits to high-value pages, such as pricing, product comparisons, case studies, or demo request pages, indicate a serious level of consideration. Multiple sessions over a short timeframe, especially from the same company domain, suggest active evaluation.

2. Content Consumption Activity

Downloading gated content, such as whitepapers, industry reports, implementation guides, or ROI calculators, shows that prospects are investing time in understanding your solution. The more in-depth the content, the stronger the signal.

3. Search Intent and Keyword Research

If a prospect is actively searching for solution-specific keywords, competitor comparisons, or “best [product category]” terms, then they're in active buying mode. Third-party intent data can reveal when companies are researching these topics across the web.

4. Engagement with Sales or Support Content

Watching product demos, attending webinars, requesting trials, or engaging with chatbots about implementation or pricing questions all signal high purchase intent and readiness for sales conversations.

5. Technographic and Firmographic Changes

Changes in a company‘s tech stack, recent funding rounds, leadership hires, office expansions, or posted job openings for roles that would use your solution can indicate timing windows when they’re likely to invest in new tools.

How to Activate Intent-based Targeting Across Channels

So, we've been talking about data and patterns to observe when building an intent-based marketing strategy, but what do you actually do with that information? And how do you implement it across channels? Here are four ways to do so:

1. Keyword and Search Query Targeting

Monitor and target users based on their search behavior and the specific keywords they use. Search behavior and specific keyword searches reveal active intent as people search for solutions to their problems. You can bid on relevant search terms or use search data to inform advertising across platforms.

2. In-market Audience Segmentation

Identify and target users who are actively researching or comparing products in your category. Platforms like Google and Facebook offer in-market audience segments based on browsing behavior, site visits, and engagement patterns that signal purchase intent.

Tools like HubSpot's Marketing Hub can help you analyze and segment these audiences based on their behavior and engagement data.

3. Retargeting Based on Behavioral Signals

Create campaigns that target users who have demonstrated specific intent signals, such as visiting product pages, adding items to their cart, downloading resources, or spending a significant amount of time on comparison content.

Layer these audiences with recency and frequency data to prioritize high-intent users.

This multi-channel retargeting approach is essential in the Amplify stage of Loop Marketing, where you diversify distribution to meet buyers across the scattered channels where they actually spend time — from social platforms to AI-powered search engines — rather than waiting for them to return to your website.

4. Content Engagement Triggers

Target users based on their engagement with specific content types that indicate intent, such as viewing pricing pages, accessing product demos, reading buying guides, or engaging with customer reviews.

You can also utilize lead scoring systems that trigger advertising when users reach specific engagement thresholds.

AI in Intent-driven Marketing

If I‘ve said it in one blog post, I’ve said it in a million others: When it comes to gathering and analyzing data, you want AI in your corner.

Artificial intelligence simplifies data scoring, clustering, and purchase prediction. AI algorithms seamlessly analyze vast amounts of data points in real-time and assign scores to each lead based on digital behavior.

For behavioral scoring, AI assesses actions such as visits to pricing pages, subscriptions to newsletters, or downloading case studies. AI then groups prospects and visitors together to gain a deeper understanding of their intent.

From there, AI uses machine learning and predictive analytics to predict which leads are most likely to make a purchase.

Tools like HubSpot's Breeze AI can help marketers operationalize these insights by automatically scoring leads, identifying high-intent prospects, and triggering targeted campaigns at the optimal moment in the buyer's journey.

This human-AI collaboration is the foundation of Loop Marketing, where AI handles execution and optimization while marketers focus on strategy and creativity — allowing you to launch campaigns in days instead of months while continuously improving results with each cycle.

How to Measure and Optimize Intent-driven Marketing

To successfully launch an intent-driven marketing strategy, you must match message intensity to buyer readiness, so start by segmenting all your metrics by intent stage (awareness, consideration, decision).

The core measurement is intent conversion rate — track how many high-intent signals convert within at least 30 days — and optimize monthly by auditing which signals actually drive revenue, testing message-intent fit, and reallocating budget toward decision-intent channels with lower customer acquisition cost (CAC).

Implement quick wins like intent-based scoring, keyword-to-close tracking, and intent-specific landing pages. Tools like HubSpot's AEO Grader can help you assess how well your content aligns with search intent and identify optimization opportunities to better capture high-intent traffic.

If you‘re seeing high traffic but weak pipeline contribution or unqualified leads, you’ll want to recalibrate your strategy to ensure you‘re not wasting time and money on awareness-stage audiences who’ll never buy.

Here are some additional metrics to track to optimize your intent-based marketing strategy:

• Intent-surge duration - How long a prospect stays in a high-intent state
• Content consumption trends - Examples include whitepaper downloads and blog visits by role
• Social engagement by target role or account
• Website engagement - How frequently and for how long prospects visit your website, the number of pages they visit per session (page depth), and overall time spent on the site
• Conversion rate

3 Intent-based Marketing Playbooks You Can Copy

High-Intent Intercept Playbook

Target prospects actively searching for solutions with decision-stage keywords like “best CRM for startups” or “[competitor] alternative”. Create dedicated landing pages for each high-intent query, run paid search campaigns with aggressive bids, and route conversions directly to sales within minutes.

This captures demand that already exists rather than trying to create it.

Account Surge Playbook

Monitor target accounts for intent spikes such as multiple visits to pricing pages, repeated product searches, or engagement with comparison content.

When an account hits your intent threshold, trigger coordinated outreach via tactics like:

• personalized emails from sales
• LinkedIn ads to key decision-makers
• retargeting with case studies

Strike while buying signals are hot, typically within 24-48 hours of the surge.

Content Progression Playbook

Map content to intent stages and use engagement to advance prospects through the funnel. Awareness-stage visitors get educational content, consideration-stage get comparison guides and ROI calculators, decision-stage get demos and consultations.

Use marketing automation to sned the next appropriate materials based on consumption patterns, and score interactions to identify when someone transitions from browsing to buying mode.

Frequently Asked Questions About Intent-based Marketing

Is intent-based marketing the same as ABM?

Not quite, but they work very well together. ABM focuses on targeting specific accounts with personalized campaigns, while intent-based marketing identifies prospects actively showing buying signals regardless of whether they're on your target list.

Think of intent marketing as the “when” and ABM as the “who”, then combine them to reach the right accounts at exactly the right moment.

Do I need third-party intent data to start?

Nope. Start with first-party signals you already have: website behavior, content downloads, pricing page visits, search queries, and email engagement.

These are often more accurate than third-party data because they reflect direct interaction with your brand. Once you've optimized your first-party intent strategy, then consider layering in third-party data to catch prospects earlier in their journey.

What's the difference between purchase intent and search intent?

Search intent is what someone wants to accomplish with a specific search query (informational, navigational, or transactional), while purchase intent indicates they're actively in-market to buy a solution like yours.

Someone searching “what is marketing automation” has informational search intent but likely low purchase intent, whereas “HubSpot vs Marketo pricing” shows both transactional search intent and high purchase intent.

How long should I run a pilot before judging results?

Give it at least 90 days to see meaningful patterns, though you can spot early indicators at 30-45 days. B2B sales cycles typically run 3-6 months, so you need enough time for high-intent leads to convert and for your team to iterate on messaging and targeting.

Track leading indicators weekly (intent score distribution, engagement rates) while waiting for lagging indicators (pipeline, revenue) to materialize.

How often should I refresh my intent signal taxonomy?

Review quarterly and update as needed, but don't over-engineer it. Your intent signals should evolve with product launches, competitive shifts, and what your data reveals about actual buyer behavior.

If you notice new high-converting keywords, content types, or behavioral patterns emerging, add them immediately rather than waiting for the quarterly review.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/intent-based-marketing

In business, to waste time is to waste money so you need a strategy that is efficient and the best use of your resources.

With that in mind, intent-based marketing is an optimal strategy for marketers who want to ensure they are reaching audiences who have a genuine interest in what their business has to offer.

But what is intent-based marketing and how is it different from traditional or account-based marketing. Let's dive in.

Table of Contents

• What is intent-based marketing, and how is it different from ABM?
• Why Intent-based Marketing Matters Now
• How to Start Intent-based Marketing
• Intent Signals to Gather and Track
• How to Activate Intent-based Targeting Across Channels
• AI in Intent-driven Marketing
• How to Measure and Optimize Intent-driven Marketing
• 3 Intent-based Marketing Playbooks You Can Copy
• Frequently Asked Questions About Intent-based Marketing

What is intent-based marketing, and how is it different from ABM?

Intent-based marketing (IBM) is a strategy that focuses on delivering targeted messages to consumers based on their online behavior and preferences.

Intent-based marketing differs from account-based marketing (ABM) in that ABM targets specific high-value accounts while IBM targets accounts that are actively searching for solutions.

For intent-based marketing, you'll want a Smart CRM like HubSpot that utilizes AI automation to identify prospects who are actively showing interest and exhibiting buying signals, allowing you to prioritize and engage at the perfect time.

Furthermore, you‘ll need a CRM that unifies and enriches your data, with key features such as custom reporting, which will turn data insights into manageable reports that track everything from the start of the buyer’s journey to revenue attribution.

Why Intent-based Marketing Matters Now

In an era of rising data breaches and growing distrust in how companies manage their data, consumers are understandably becoming more cautious with their personal information.

As a result, consumers are beefing up the security around their personal data by using privacy tools and deciding which companies they want to purchase from based on their data practices.

With that in mind, intent-based marketing is an excellent strategy for engaging prospects while respecting their privacy, as it relies heavily on first-party data collected from user interactions on your website, as opposed to mostly third-party sources. But what are third-party sources, and why are consumers wary of them?

Have you ever visited a website and been bombarded with pop-ups asking you to “accept or manage cookies”? Well, those website cookies and tracking scripts are third-party sources.

In addition to annoyingly interrupting your internet browsing, they also track your activity. They are owned by external entities, raising concerns about the level of control consumers have over the collection and use of their data.

These third-party sources are under even greater scrutiny thanks to regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which both impose restrictions on how third-party data can be collected and used.

Another great benefit of intent-based marketing is that it enables marketers to create highly personalized experiences for website visitors by tracking their behavior and actions on the site.

For example, let‘s say you’re an online clothing store, and a website visitor spent a significant amount of time clicking through your fall lookbook before subscribing to your email list.

You could then follow up with personalized emails recommending fall attire and or a personalized digital fall lookbook, rather than a generic email of general sales and deals.

How to Start Intent-based Marketing

1. Define your ideal customer profile and buying signals.

Start by clearly identifying who you're targeting and what behaviors indicate purchase intent.

Map out the specific actions that suggest someone is actively researching solutions in your category—like visiting pricing pages, downloading whitepapers, or searching for competitor comparisons.

The more precise you are about these signals, the more effective your targeting will be.

This aligns perfectly with the Express stage of HubSpot's Loop Marketing framework, where you define your brand identity and ideal customer profile before leveraging AI to create targeted campaigns.

By establishing clear buyer personas and intent signals upfront, you set the foundation for AI-powered personalization throughout the entire loop.

2. Choose your intent data sources.

Select the right combination of first-party, second-party, and third-party intent data for your needs. First-party data from your website and CRM shows direct engagement with your brand.

Third-party providers reveal when prospects are researching topics related to your solution across the web. Consider your budget and identify the sources that align best with your target accounts.

Remember, most consumers are not fans of third-party sourcing, so be cautious when collecting and using third-party data and ensure you follow the guidelines set by the GDPR and/or CCPA.

3. Integrate intent data with your marketing tech stack.

Connect your intent data sources to your CRM, marketing automation platform, and advertising tools to streamline your marketing efforts. This integration ensures intent signals flow seamlessly into your existing workflows and can trigger appropriate actions.

Platforms like HubSpot's Marketing Hub offer native integrations with major intent data providers, making it easier to centralize your intent signals alongside your contact data, email campaigns, and analytics—giving you a unified view of prospect behavior.

4. Create intent-specific content and messaging.

Develop tailored content that speaks directly to prospects at different stages of their buying journey. Prospects demonstrating early research intent require educational content, while high-intent prospects closer to making a purchase need case studies, demos, and competitive comparisons.

Match your message to the urgency and specificity of their signals.

In the Tailor stage of Loop Marketing, you can use AI to personalize this messaging at scale, leveraging unified CRM data to create experiences that feel individually crafted based on each prospect's specific intent signals and stage in the buying journey.

5. Build automated workflows and trigger campaigns.

Set up rules-based workflows that automatically respond when prospects hit certain intent thresholds. This might include adding high-intent contacts to nurture sequences, alerting sales representatives to leads, or launching targeted ad campaigns to accounts that show buying signals.

Automation ensures that you act on intent data quickly while it remains relevant.

6. Measure, optimize, and refine your approach.

Track which intent signals correlate most strongly with actual conversions and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Monitor key metrics, including time-to-conversion, campaign engagement rates, and ROI, by intent source. Regularly review which topics and behaviors are most predictive of purchases in your specific market, and continuously refine your targeting criteria based on what's working.

This continuous optimization mirrors the Evolve stage of Loop Marketing, where AI helps you measure, predict, and adapt in real-time rather than waiting for quarterly reviews — making each campaign cycle smarter and more effective than the last.

Intent Signals to Gather and Track

Not sure what intent signals you should track? No problem. I've got you covered with 5 intent signals you can track with Smart CRM.

1. Website Behavior Patterns

Repeated visits to high-value pages, such as pricing, product comparisons, case studies, or demo request pages, indicate a serious level of consideration. Multiple sessions over a short timeframe, especially from the same company domain, suggest active evaluation.

2. Content Consumption Activity

Downloading gated content, such as whitepapers, industry reports, implementation guides, or ROI calculators, shows that prospects are investing time in understanding your solution. The more in-depth the content, the stronger the signal.

3. Search Intent and Keyword Research

If a prospect is actively searching for solution-specific keywords, competitor comparisons, or “best [product category]” terms, then they're in active buying mode. Third-party intent data can reveal when companies are researching these topics across the web.

4. Engagement with Sales or Support Content

Watching product demos, attending webinars, requesting trials, or engaging with chatbots about implementation or pricing questions all signal high purchase intent and readiness for sales conversations.

5. Technographic and Firmographic Changes

Changes in a company‘s tech stack, recent funding rounds, leadership hires, office expansions, or posted job openings for roles that would use your solution can indicate timing windows when they’re likely to invest in new tools.

How to Activate Intent-based Targeting Across Channels

So, we've been talking about data and patterns to observe when building an intent-based marketing strategy, but what do you actually do with that information? And how do you implement it across channels? Here are four ways to do so:

1. Keyword and Search Query Targeting

Monitor and target users based on their search behavior and the specific keywords they use. Search behavior and specific keyword searches reveal active intent as people search for solutions to their problems. You can bid on relevant search terms or use search data to inform advertising across platforms.

2. In-market Audience Segmentation

Identify and target users who are actively researching or comparing products in your category. Platforms like Google and Facebook offer in-market audience segments based on browsing behavior, site visits, and engagement patterns that signal purchase intent.

Tools like HubSpot's Marketing Hub can help you analyze and segment these audiences based on their behavior and engagement data.

3. Retargeting Based on Behavioral Signals

Create campaigns that target users who have demonstrated specific intent signals, such as visiting product pages, adding items to their cart, downloading resources, or spending a significant amount of time on comparison content.

Layer these audiences with recency and frequency data to prioritize high-intent users.

This multi-channel retargeting approach is essential in the Amplify stage of Loop Marketing, where you diversify distribution to meet buyers across the scattered channels where they actually spend time — from social platforms to AI-powered search engines — rather than waiting for them to return to your website.

4. Content Engagement Triggers

Target users based on their engagement with specific content types that indicate intent, such as viewing pricing pages, accessing product demos, reading buying guides, or engaging with customer reviews.

You can also utilize lead scoring systems that trigger advertising when users reach specific engagement thresholds.

AI in Intent-driven Marketing

If I‘ve said it in one blog post, I’ve said it in a million others: When it comes to gathering and analyzing data, you want AI in your corner.

Artificial intelligence simplifies data scoring, clustering, and purchase prediction. AI algorithms seamlessly analyze vast amounts of data points in real-time and assign scores to each lead based on digital behavior.

For behavioral scoring, AI assesses actions such as visits to pricing pages, subscriptions to newsletters, or downloading case studies. AI then groups prospects and visitors together to gain a deeper understanding of their intent.

From there, AI uses machine learning and predictive analytics to predict which leads are most likely to make a purchase.

Tools like HubSpot's Breeze AI can help marketers operationalize these insights by automatically scoring leads, identifying high-intent prospects, and triggering targeted campaigns at the optimal moment in the buyer's journey.

This human-AI collaboration is the foundation of Loop Marketing, where AI handles execution and optimization while marketers focus on strategy and creativity — allowing you to launch campaigns in days instead of months while continuously improving results with each cycle.

How to Measure and Optimize Intent-driven Marketing

To successfully launch an intent-driven marketing strategy, you must match message intensity to buyer readiness, so start by segmenting all your metrics by intent stage (awareness, consideration, decision).

The core measurement is intent conversion rate — track how many high-intent signals convert within at least 30 days — and optimize monthly by auditing which signals actually drive revenue, testing message-intent fit, and reallocating budget toward decision-intent channels with lower customer acquisition cost (CAC).

Implement quick wins like intent-based scoring, keyword-to-close tracking, and intent-specific landing pages. Tools like HubSpot's AEO Grader can help you assess how well your content aligns with search intent and identify optimization opportunities to better capture high-intent traffic.

If you‘re seeing high traffic but weak pipeline contribution or unqualified leads, you’ll want to recalibrate your strategy to ensure you‘re not wasting time and money on awareness-stage audiences who’ll never buy.

Here are some additional metrics to track to optimize your intent-based marketing strategy:

• Intent-surge duration - How long a prospect stays in a high-intent state
• Content consumption trends - Examples include whitepaper downloads and blog visits by role
• Social engagement by target role or account
• Website engagement - How frequently and for how long prospects visit your website, the number of pages they visit per session (page depth), and overall time spent on the site
• Conversion rate

3 Intent-based Marketing Playbooks You Can Copy

High-Intent Intercept Playbook

Target prospects actively searching for solutions with decision-stage keywords like “best CRM for startups” or “[competitor] alternative”. Create dedicated landing pages for each high-intent query, run paid search campaigns with aggressive bids, and route conversions directly to sales within minutes.

This captures demand that already exists rather than trying to create it.

Account Surge Playbook

Monitor target accounts for intent spikes such as multiple visits to pricing pages, repeated product searches, or engagement with comparison content.

When an account hits your intent threshold, trigger coordinated outreach via tactics like:

• personalized emails from sales
• LinkedIn ads to key decision-makers
• retargeting with case studies

Strike while buying signals are hot, typically within 24-48 hours of the surge.

Content Progression Playbook

Map content to intent stages and use engagement to advance prospects through the funnel. Awareness-stage visitors get educational content, consideration-stage get comparison guides and ROI calculators, decision-stage get demos and consultations.

Use marketing automation to sned the next appropriate materials based on consumption patterns, and score interactions to identify when someone transitions from browsing to buying mode.

Frequently Asked Questions About Intent-based Marketing

Is intent-based marketing the same as ABM?

Not quite, but they work very well together. ABM focuses on targeting specific accounts with personalized campaigns, while intent-based marketing identifies prospects actively showing buying signals regardless of whether they're on your target list.

Think of intent marketing as the “when” and ABM as the “who”, then combine them to reach the right accounts at exactly the right moment.

Do I need third-party intent data to start?

Nope. Start with first-party signals you already have: website behavior, content downloads, pricing page visits, search queries, and email engagement.

These are often more accurate than third-party data because they reflect direct interaction with your brand. Once you've optimized your first-party intent strategy, then consider layering in third-party data to catch prospects earlier in their journey.

What's the difference between purchase intent and search intent?

Search intent is what someone wants to accomplish with a specific search query (informational, navigational, or transactional), while purchase intent indicates they're actively in-market to buy a solution like yours.

Someone searching “what is marketing automation” has informational search intent but likely low purchase intent, whereas “HubSpot vs Marketo pricing” shows both transactional search intent and high purchase intent.

How long should I run a pilot before judging results?

Give it at least 90 days to see meaningful patterns, though you can spot early indicators at 30-45 days. B2B sales cycles typically run 3-6 months, so you need enough time for high-intent leads to convert and for your team to iterate on messaging and targeting.

Track leading indicators weekly (intent score distribution, engagement rates) while waiting for lagging indicators (pipeline, revenue) to materialize.

How often should I refresh my intent signal taxonomy?

Review quarterly and update as needed, but don't over-engineer it. Your intent signals should evolve with product launches, competitive shifts, and what your data reveals about actual buyer behavior.

If you notice new high-converting keywords, content types, or behavioral patterns emerging, add them immediately rather than waiting for the quarterly review.

via Perfecte news Non connection

3 bitter truths all marketers need to hear right now

When I saw a LinkedIn post from today’s master declaring, “Marketing’s job is not to drive revenue,” I did a little shimmy and thought, “She gets it!”

We struck up a conversation, and I discovered an entire pharmacopeia of tough pills to swallow. “I love talking smack about marketing!” she grinned.

I asked for three of the bitterest truths that marketers need to hear. And, folks… it’s time to take your medicine.

Moni Oloyede

Founder, Educator at MO MarTech

• Fun fact: Moni hails from the same town as Edward Norton, Aaron McGruder, Christian Siriano, and Druski. (Do you know it without googling?)

 

Lesson 1: Marketing’s job is not to drive revenue.

Every CMO in the audience just reflexively jerked towards the “unsubscribe” button. Stick with us here.

“The problem with being focused on revenue is that your marketing feels like you’re just throwing spaghetti at the wall,” says Oloyede. “You just chase leads all day. ‘They didn’t click my email, let me move on to the next topic, and see if that works. And you jump and jump and jump.’”

She points out that the instant gratification within digital marketing has raised a generation of marketers who have never been given the fundamentals. Which works until it doesn’t.

“I was raised in the digital marketing space. I didn’t know a time before that. And when I went to grad school, I realized: We’re not actually doing marketing. We’re sending out content and getting leads. But we’re not building relationships, communicating effectively, and trying to build affinity.”

“You can’t serve two masters. If I serve the CEO, that’s revenue. If I’m going to serve the customer, I have to slow down. I have to have patience.”

 

Lesson 2: Demand gen is not a strategy.

“The word ‘strategy’ gets thrown around a lot and it is bastardized to hell. Demand gen is not a strategy. Demand gen is the execution of a strategy.”

Tell me if this next part sounds familiar.

“A typical marketing campaign is: Let’s pick a topic, create content around that topic, then collect leads and just email the crap outta them until they die. That’s not a strategy.”

“Juxtapose that against the Dove Real Beauty campaign. A multi-year, consistent story based on the consumer psychology of women not feeling beautiful in their bodies due to beauty standards. That’s a strategy.”

Instead of one-off pieces of content that jump from topic to topic, all marketing efforts — whether lead gen, demand gen, or brand awareness — fed back to Dove’s core message.

And that message didn’t come from Dove simply throwing spaghetti at the wall until they found the noodle that stuck.

Oloyede lays out the process: “I’m hearing my audience say they’re scared to move forward with new software. They’re worried about lack of resources. This is my campaign to combat that messaging. These are the activities that support that campaign. We’re going to run it for a year. Our baseline metrics are going to be trials. I need six months to get X amount of trials. If we’re missing the mark, here’s what I’m going to adjust. If we hit the mark, you give me X more dollars to expand. Agree? Agree. THEN you go execute.”

It’s slow. It’s hard. It’s laborious. And as AI allows competitors to flood every channel with self-same slop, it’s the only thing that will stand out.

Lesson 3: Technology second.

“Technology is not going to fix your marketing problems,” Oloyede says. “People think I’m an anti-technologist. I’m not. [The technology is] just out of order.”

Whether it’s AI, analytics software, or even (gulp) your CRM, it’s important to realize that these are tools that do tasks. The why behind those tasks has to come first.

“Technology is only going to execute, manage, and operationalize. That’s it. It works when it’s supporting good, foundational marketing principles. So if you don’t understand your market, if you’re not confident in your message, if you don’t understand your audience psychologically, emotionally, culturally, then you have to go back to the drawing board.”

And once you’ve got all that, you can set your tools on autopilot, right? Not quite.

“We need to add in those human touches to all those digital tactics. [Currently,] we send leads to a 10-touch automated nurture campaign and then over to Sales to see if there’s a buying intent. And then discard them if they’re not ready to buy.”

“What if, instead, you invited them to a small, intimate focus group? Or a premiere event? Some kind of human touch where they saw you face-to-face. How much more likely are they to open your email?”

And here we rediscover that ancient marketing wisdom nearly lost to the ages:

“People buy from people. People buy from people they like, they trust, they have a connection with. The more you do that, the more you’re going to be successful.”

THAT. That is marketing’s job.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/3-bitter-truths-all-marketers-need-to-hear-right-now

When I saw a LinkedIn post from today’s master declaring, “Marketing’s job is not to drive revenue,” I did a little shimmy and thought, “She gets it!”

We struck up a conversation, and I discovered an entire pharmacopeia of tough pills to swallow. “I love talking smack about marketing!” she grinned.

I asked for three of the bitterest truths that marketers need to hear. And, folks… it’s time to take your medicine.

Moni Oloyede

Founder, Educator at MO MarTech

• Fun fact: Moni hails from the same town as Edward Norton, Aaron McGruder, Christian Siriano, and Druski. (Do you know it without googling?)

 

Lesson 1: Marketing’s job is not to drive revenue.

Every CMO in the audience just reflexively jerked towards the “unsubscribe” button. Stick with us here.

“The problem with being focused on revenue is that your marketing feels like you’re just throwing spaghetti at the wall,” says Oloyede. “You just chase leads all day. ‘They didn’t click my email, let me move on to the next topic, and see if that works. And you jump and jump and jump.’”

She points out that the instant gratification within digital marketing has raised a generation of marketers who have never been given the fundamentals. Which works until it doesn’t.

“I was raised in the digital marketing space. I didn’t know a time before that. And when I went to grad school, I realized: We’re not actually doing marketing. We’re sending out content and getting leads. But we’re not building relationships, communicating effectively, and trying to build affinity.”

“You can’t serve two masters. If I serve the CEO, that’s revenue. If I’m going to serve the customer, I have to slow down. I have to have patience.”

 

Lesson 2: Demand gen is not a strategy.

“The word ‘strategy’ gets thrown around a lot and it is bastardized to hell. Demand gen is not a strategy. Demand gen is the execution of a strategy.”

Tell me if this next part sounds familiar.

“A typical marketing campaign is: Let’s pick a topic, create content around that topic, then collect leads and just email the crap outta them until they die. That’s not a strategy.”

“Juxtapose that against the Dove Real Beauty campaign. A multi-year, consistent story based on the consumer psychology of women not feeling beautiful in their bodies due to beauty standards. That’s a strategy.”

Instead of one-off pieces of content that jump from topic to topic, all marketing efforts — whether lead gen, demand gen, or brand awareness — fed back to Dove’s core message.

And that message didn’t come from Dove simply throwing spaghetti at the wall until they found the noodle that stuck.

Oloyede lays out the process: “I’m hearing my audience say they’re scared to move forward with new software. They’re worried about lack of resources. This is my campaign to combat that messaging. These are the activities that support that campaign. We’re going to run it for a year. Our baseline metrics are going to be trials. I need six months to get X amount of trials. If we’re missing the mark, here’s what I’m going to adjust. If we hit the mark, you give me X more dollars to expand. Agree? Agree. THEN you go execute.”

It’s slow. It’s hard. It’s laborious. And as AI allows competitors to flood every channel with self-same slop, it’s the only thing that will stand out.

Lesson 3: Technology second.

“Technology is not going to fix your marketing problems,” Oloyede says. “People think I’m an anti-technologist. I’m not. [The technology is] just out of order.”

Whether it’s AI, analytics software, or even (gulp) your CRM, it’s important to realize that these are tools that do tasks. The why behind those tasks has to come first.

“Technology is only going to execute, manage, and operationalize. That’s it. It works when it’s supporting good, foundational marketing principles. So if you don’t understand your market, if you’re not confident in your message, if you don’t understand your audience psychologically, emotionally, culturally, then you have to go back to the drawing board.”

And once you’ve got all that, you can set your tools on autopilot, right? Not quite.

“We need to add in those human touches to all those digital tactics. [Currently,] we send leads to a 10-touch automated nurture campaign and then over to Sales to see if there’s a buying intent. And then discard them if they’re not ready to buy.”

“What if, instead, you invited them to a small, intimate focus group? Or a premiere event? Some kind of human touch where they saw you face-to-face. How much more likely are they to open your email?”

And here we rediscover that ancient marketing wisdom nearly lost to the ages:

“People buy from people. People buy from people they like, they trust, they have a connection with. The more you do that, the more you’re going to be successful.”

THAT. That is marketing’s job.

via Perfecte news Non connection

Use the Ick to Create Better Marketing

Our expert this week has a few hot takes. 

Here's one: "Any marketer that says they've never felt the ick from marketing isn't a true marketer. You do feel the ick."

While that doesn't sound like the best lesson to open a marketing newsletter, stay with me. I swear this isn't a I'm-quitting-my-job-to-work-on-a-goat-farm hail mary. 

It actually has more to do with foundational marketing than you think. 

Meet the Master

Cristina Jerome

Creative Strategist and Founder, Off Worque

• Claim to fame: Leading social for Topical's infamous Faded Eye mask campaign.
• Fun fact: She was the voiceover for the Topical's brand campaign video.

Lesson one: Feel the ick. And use it to create better marketing. 

Cristina Jerome has had a whole host of jobs most marketers would kill for. 

She's worked on content and social strategy for Jada Pinkett Smith's show Red Table Talk, plus Issa Rae's Rap Sh!t on HBOMax. She directed social content at Topicals, Sephora's fastest growing Black-owned skincare brand. 

She's also dabbled in marketing for Adidas and Lobos 1707, a luxury tequila brand. 

And, most recently, she launched her own non-profit social club, Off Worque, which emphasizes mental health and work-life balance.

Phew. I'm exhausted just typing that up. 

So my first question to Jerome was an easy one: How did building her own brand shift her approach to marketing?

"It didn't change logically," she told me. "It changed spiritually. When you're working for someone, you're so pressed on reaching KPIs… with Off Worque, it's more organic, nurturing, emotional." 

She still has KPIs, but they’re rooted in storytelling and community, not just conversions.

"The strategy is not 'do this to get these people.' It's me sharing my own personal story, and giving the mic to other people to share [theirs]."

Jerome’s proudest takeaway? The work doesn’t feel as “icky" because it's centered on well-being, not just selling. 

Even if you’re in SaaS or skincare, the lesson holds: If your marketing feels meaningless (or icky), it might be time to reconnect with the story behind the numbers.

If you feel inspired by what you're saying, other people will, too.

Lesson two: Treat real customers like influencers. 

"I don't need to see another influencer on a boat," Jerome told me. 

Which, you know. Amen, sister. 

Who does she want to see instead? Someone like Kathy, who hasn't had a break in three years and wants to FaceTime her kids to show them the lip gloss she's bringing home to them.

Jerome predicts the next level of community and brand-building will revolve around brands that take real customers on trips.

"Influencing… is becoming unrelatable," Jerome told me, adding that she'd much prefer to see brands rewarding real customers because "it shows you that the brand actually hears you, and you're not just order #564 to them."

Sure, we might not all have the marketing budget to take our devoted customers on yacht excursions. But it's worth assessing your current budget allotment and questioning whether you can spend a little more of it on loyal customers, versus sinking thousands into another sponsored LinkedIn post. 

Maybe that means sending surprise freebies or thoughtful swag. It’s not a luxury cruise — but recognition goes a long way.

Lesson three: If you're going to do culture-first marketing, root it in a genuine backstory.

Jerome defines culture-first marketing as marketing rooted in authenticity and genuine cultural connection… not surface-level inclusivity.

In fact, she thinks inclusive marketing is a bit of a myth.

"I don't think inclusive marketing is a thing," Jerome told me, pointing to brands like Skims that appear inclusive but really cater to a particular aesthetic and lifestyle. Many brands mistake broad targeting for inclusivity when they're actually appealing to a specific consumer without acknowledging it.

In contrast, truly culture-first brands like Nike or Topicals are built around stories and experiences that resonate deeply with a defined cultural group — whether athletes or people with real skin conditions.

"You can't have culture-first marketing without a founder or brand story that aligns with the culture you're trying to speak to," Jerome explains. "Without that alignment, the marketing feels performative."

If you don't have a founder who aligns with the culture, Jerome recommends building relationships with ambassadors from that community — and letting those partnerships inform your strategy and storytelling.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/cristina-jerome-marketing-hot-takes

Our expert this week has a few hot takes. 

Here's one: "Any marketer that says they've never felt the ick from marketing isn't a true marketer. You do feel the ick."

While that doesn't sound like the best lesson to open a marketing newsletter, stay with me. I swear this isn't a I'm-quitting-my-job-to-work-on-a-goat-farm hail mary. 

It actually has more to do with foundational marketing than you think. 

Meet the Master

Cristina Jerome

Creative Strategist and Founder, Off Worque

• Claim to fame: Leading social for Topical's infamous Faded Eye mask campaign.
• Fun fact: She was the voiceover for the Topical's brand campaign video.

Lesson one: Feel the ick. And use it to create better marketing. 

Cristina Jerome has had a whole host of jobs most marketers would kill for. 

She's worked on content and social strategy for Jada Pinkett Smith's show Red Table Talk, plus Issa Rae's Rap Sh!t on HBOMax. She directed social content at Topicals, Sephora's fastest growing Black-owned skincare brand. 

She's also dabbled in marketing for Adidas and Lobos 1707, a luxury tequila brand. 

And, most recently, she launched her own non-profit social club, Off Worque, which emphasizes mental health and work-life balance.

Phew. I'm exhausted just typing that up. 

So my first question to Jerome was an easy one: How did building her own brand shift her approach to marketing?

"It didn't change logically," she told me. "It changed spiritually. When you're working for someone, you're so pressed on reaching KPIs… with Off Worque, it's more organic, nurturing, emotional." 

She still has KPIs, but they’re rooted in storytelling and community, not just conversions.

"The strategy is not 'do this to get these people.' It's me sharing my own personal story, and giving the mic to other people to share [theirs]."

Jerome’s proudest takeaway? The work doesn’t feel as “icky" because it's centered on well-being, not just selling. 

Even if you’re in SaaS or skincare, the lesson holds: If your marketing feels meaningless (or icky), it might be time to reconnect with the story behind the numbers.

If you feel inspired by what you're saying, other people will, too.

Lesson two: Treat real customers like influencers. 

"I don't need to see another influencer on a boat," Jerome told me. 

Which, you know. Amen, sister. 

Who does she want to see instead? Someone like Kathy, who hasn't had a break in three years and wants to FaceTime her kids to show them the lip gloss she's bringing home to them.

Jerome predicts the next level of community and brand-building will revolve around brands that take real customers on trips.

"Influencing… is becoming unrelatable," Jerome told me, adding that she'd much prefer to see brands rewarding real customers because "it shows you that the brand actually hears you, and you're not just order #564 to them."

Sure, we might not all have the marketing budget to take our devoted customers on yacht excursions. But it's worth assessing your current budget allotment and questioning whether you can spend a little more of it on loyal customers, versus sinking thousands into another sponsored LinkedIn post. 

Maybe that means sending surprise freebies or thoughtful swag. It’s not a luxury cruise — but recognition goes a long way.

Lesson three: If you're going to do culture-first marketing, root it in a genuine backstory.

Jerome defines culture-first marketing as marketing rooted in authenticity and genuine cultural connection… not surface-level inclusivity.

In fact, she thinks inclusive marketing is a bit of a myth.

"I don't think inclusive marketing is a thing," Jerome told me, pointing to brands like Skims that appear inclusive but really cater to a particular aesthetic and lifestyle. Many brands mistake broad targeting for inclusivity when they're actually appealing to a specific consumer without acknowledging it.

In contrast, truly culture-first brands like Nike or Topicals are built around stories and experiences that resonate deeply with a defined cultural group — whether athletes or people with real skin conditions.

"You can't have culture-first marketing without a founder or brand story that aligns with the culture you're trying to speak to," Jerome explains. "Without that alignment, the marketing feels performative."

If you don't have a founder who aligns with the culture, Jerome recommends building relationships with ambassadors from that community — and letting those partnerships inform your strategy and storytelling.

via Perfecte news Non connection

Forget B2B or B2C: It’s time for B2H

This pains me greatly to say, but: That typo in your last campaign may have made your audience more engaged.

That’s because in a world where you don’t always know what’s real and what’s AI — and trust in general is in rapid decline — a little tyop indicates that a real human wrote it (see what I did there?).

“We’ve been taught to think about B2B or B2C,” says today’s marketing master, “but I’m actually interested in B2H — there’s a human on the other side.”

Meet the Master

Bryetta Calloway

Founder and CEO, Stories Seen

Claim to fame: Calloway isn’t anti-AI by any means — her company has just produced the MVP of IDA, an AI tool that helps people tell their stories within systems that may have been built without them in mind. “AI is a really great tool to scale your strategy,” she says. “Not replace it.”

Lesson 1: Emotion + Logic = Engagement.

“I always say to start with emotional resonance,” Calloway tells me. “Literally, if you’re building a four-sentence story, start with emotion.”

To find that point of connection, ask yourself: “What did you feel? What did you see? What did you hear?” And don’t underestimate humor — “if you can get your audience to laugh, you have already bypassed the part of the brain that‘s like, ‘I don’t trust this.’”

Now you want to support that emotion with something logical, she says. “That’s a data point, a proof point. It’s something that solidifies the emotion so that the brain can hold onto it.”

“We like emotional resonance, but I need something tangible so that my trust can be solidified,” Calloway explains. And it’s not until you’ve provided an emotional connection and the data or proof points that you’ve earned the right to a product explanation.

The emotion + logic equation works across any channel, Calloway says — “if you combine emotion and logic in any sort of format, you will have exponentially increased engagement with your content.”

So, back to that four sentence story: 1. Emotional resonance. 2. Data or proof point. 3. Product explanation. 4. CTA. Boom.

Lesson 2: Follow the 85/15 rule.

Okay, so there’s a little bit of a caveat to the first lesson.

Emotion + logic should always be your storytelling guardrails, but the ratio may vary from platform to platform. And that’s where Calloway’s 85/15 rule comes into play.

“85% of what you do should be templatized, refined — checking the boxes of your strategic marketing plan,” she says. “And if you're a marketing leader, you should give your team 15% of that work to play with.” (Cue: Everybody forwarding this to their bosses.)

The point of this is “to be a little faster — a little messier in the output, a little stripped back,” says Calloway. “A little less, ‘Did this person sign off?’” A little more fun, more experimental.

That flexibility to play gives you a way to test and to explore, and then — this part is important — to adapt what you learn to your next campaign.

“The learnings can‘t come when we’re just mass producing the same templatized thing that we've done for the last two years. Let somebody experiment in a safe place.”

The best part of all of this? It “restores the joy of marketing to marketers,” Calloway says. The reason most of us get into marketing is that “we want to tell amazing stories about amazing products to humans.”

Lesson 3: Beware the ambiguity effect.

“If something is ambiguous, my brain is going to fill in the gaps based on what I know, right?” says Calloway.

And if you don’t know a lot, suddenly your brain becomes a fiction writer.

If you describe “an AI-powered solution,” let’s say, your audience will fill in the gaps based on whether they think AI is a net good, a force of evil, or somewhere in between.

And that’s why storytelling is so important. Because the more stories that you share, “the more context and nuance you‘re giving folks, which means that they’re able to fill in the gaps with more accurate information,” not something they saw online or read in that one book 10 years ago.

“If you’re working with a product that feels unfamiliar,” Calloway says, “try building out a narrative that helps to fill in the gaps of who you are, the value that you bring, and how that relates to the humans that are in the shared space with you.”

And “that’s really the beauty of storytelling,” she says. “If I’m telling stories about who I am as a person, all of a sudden I want to participate in that with you.”

Your Monday move: Go tell some great stories. You only need four sentences.

Lingering Questions

This Week’s Question

I think nostalgia is something that‘s been overdone. I would love to know: What’s a better way for brands to engage with communities or consumers that they want to connect with? —Shareese Bembury-Coakley, VP of business development and partnerships, CultureCon

This Week’s Answer

Calloway: I agree, nostalgia has become the easy button for connection. But real community is built forward, not backward. The better path for brands is participatory storytelling: inviting people to co-create the narrative rather than simply consume it. Communities don’t want to be reminded of who they were; they want to be seen in who they’re becoming.

That requires marketers to move from campaigns to contexts, spaces where shared curiosity, lived experience, and emerging identity meet. Whether through localized storytelling, behind-the-build transparency, or platforming authentic user voices, brands can shift from “remember when” to “imagine with us.”

Connection today isn’t about familiarity; it’s about alignment. The question isn’t “How do we tap into what people loved?” but “How do we stand alongside what they’re creating next?” That’s where trust, loyalty, and modern belonging live.

Next Week’s Lingering Question

Calloway asks: As marketers, we often talk about authenticity and alignment but those words can become buzzwords fast. How do you ensure your team stays connected to real people and not just the performance of connection?

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/forget-b2b-or-b2c-its-time-for-b2h

This pains me greatly to say, but: That typo in your last campaign may have made your audience more engaged.

That’s because in a world where you don’t always know what’s real and what’s AI — and trust in general is in rapid decline — a little tyop indicates that a real human wrote it (see what I did there?).

“We’ve been taught to think about B2B or B2C,” says today’s marketing master, “but I’m actually interested in B2H — there’s a human on the other side.”

Meet the Master

Bryetta Calloway

Founder and CEO, Stories Seen

Claim to fame: Calloway isn’t anti-AI by any means — her company has just produced the MVP of IDA, an AI tool that helps people tell their stories within systems that may have been built without them in mind. “AI is a really great tool to scale your strategy,” she says. “Not replace it.”

Lesson 1: Emotion + Logic = Engagement.

“I always say to start with emotional resonance,” Calloway tells me. “Literally, if you’re building a four-sentence story, start with emotion.”

To find that point of connection, ask yourself: “What did you feel? What did you see? What did you hear?” And don’t underestimate humor — “if you can get your audience to laugh, you have already bypassed the part of the brain that‘s like, ‘I don’t trust this.’”

Now you want to support that emotion with something logical, she says. “That’s a data point, a proof point. It’s something that solidifies the emotion so that the brain can hold onto it.”

“We like emotional resonance, but I need something tangible so that my trust can be solidified,” Calloway explains. And it’s not until you’ve provided an emotional connection and the data or proof points that you’ve earned the right to a product explanation.

The emotion + logic equation works across any channel, Calloway says — “if you combine emotion and logic in any sort of format, you will have exponentially increased engagement with your content.”

So, back to that four sentence story: 1. Emotional resonance. 2. Data or proof point. 3. Product explanation. 4. CTA. Boom.

Lesson 2: Follow the 85/15 rule.

Okay, so there’s a little bit of a caveat to the first lesson.

Emotion + logic should always be your storytelling guardrails, but the ratio may vary from platform to platform. And that’s where Calloway’s 85/15 rule comes into play.

“85% of what you do should be templatized, refined — checking the boxes of your strategic marketing plan,” she says. “And if you're a marketing leader, you should give your team 15% of that work to play with.” (Cue: Everybody forwarding this to their bosses.)

The point of this is “to be a little faster — a little messier in the output, a little stripped back,” says Calloway. “A little less, ‘Did this person sign off?’” A little more fun, more experimental.

That flexibility to play gives you a way to test and to explore, and then — this part is important — to adapt what you learn to your next campaign.

“The learnings can‘t come when we’re just mass producing the same templatized thing that we've done for the last two years. Let somebody experiment in a safe place.”

The best part of all of this? It “restores the joy of marketing to marketers,” Calloway says. The reason most of us get into marketing is that “we want to tell amazing stories about amazing products to humans.”

Lesson 3: Beware the ambiguity effect.

“If something is ambiguous, my brain is going to fill in the gaps based on what I know, right?” says Calloway.

And if you don’t know a lot, suddenly your brain becomes a fiction writer.

If you describe “an AI-powered solution,” let’s say, your audience will fill in the gaps based on whether they think AI is a net good, a force of evil, or somewhere in between.

And that’s why storytelling is so important. Because the more stories that you share, “the more context and nuance you‘re giving folks, which means that they’re able to fill in the gaps with more accurate information,” not something they saw online or read in that one book 10 years ago.

“If you’re working with a product that feels unfamiliar,” Calloway says, “try building out a narrative that helps to fill in the gaps of who you are, the value that you bring, and how that relates to the humans that are in the shared space with you.”

And “that’s really the beauty of storytelling,” she says. “If I’m telling stories about who I am as a person, all of a sudden I want to participate in that with you.”

Your Monday move: Go tell some great stories. You only need four sentences.

Lingering Questions

This Week’s Question

I think nostalgia is something that‘s been overdone. I would love to know: What’s a better way for brands to engage with communities or consumers that they want to connect with? —Shareese Bembury-Coakley, VP of business development and partnerships, CultureCon

This Week’s Answer

Calloway: I agree, nostalgia has become the easy button for connection. But real community is built forward, not backward. The better path for brands is participatory storytelling: inviting people to co-create the narrative rather than simply consume it. Communities don’t want to be reminded of who they were; they want to be seen in who they’re becoming.

That requires marketers to move from campaigns to contexts, spaces where shared curiosity, lived experience, and emerging identity meet. Whether through localized storytelling, behind-the-build transparency, or platforming authentic user voices, brands can shift from “remember when” to “imagine with us.”

Connection today isn’t about familiarity; it’s about alignment. The question isn’t “How do we tap into what people loved?” but “How do we stand alongside what they’re creating next?” That’s where trust, loyalty, and modern belonging live.

Next Week’s Lingering Question

Calloway asks: As marketers, we often talk about authenticity and alignment but those words can become buzzwords fast. How do you ensure your team stays connected to real people and not just the performance of connection?

via Perfecte news Non connection