Spray-and-pray aged poorly. Intent-shaped plays aged into the default.
Last updated: 4/14/2026
The early 2020s default for many teams was still high-volume outbound: big batches, thin personalization, and hope. Inboxes adapted; buyers tuned out. The correction was not “stop outbound,” but outbound tied to behavior and context—account lists, plays triggered by signals, and copy that reflects what changed.
Demand gen, account-based motions, and modern enterprise prospecting all lean on the same idea: treat prospects as if they are mid-journey, not frozen rows. Intent data is the shorthand for “clues that someone is moving.”
Behavioral signals reflect what a person consumes or reacts to: articles, webinars, downloads, and social actions. On LinkedIn, likes, comments, follows, and reposts are first-class behavioral signals because they are public or semi-public and time-stamped—ideal inputs for LinkedIn API automation when your policy allows using them.
Promotions, title changes, new hires, and open roles are classic timing cues. They are also notoriously hard for static databases to keep fresh. API-driven refreshes on the people and company records you care about beat quarterly re-imports.
Comparison pages, review sites, and “following” competitor brands on LinkedIn all suggest evaluation mode. Pair those hints with enrichment so your reps open with something grounded, not generic.
First-party web visits remain gold when you have them. Off-site behavior—reviews, forums, and social—fills gaps when buyers never hit your forms. LinkedIn often sits in the middle: not the whole journey, but a high-signal slice for B2B.
Taken together, these categories help teams graduate from “everyone in the TAM” to “people in motion right now.” Next we discuss why intent becomes a moat when you operationalize it—not when you buy a slide deck about it.