Intent-Based Marketing: How to Find Customers Who Are Ready to Buy

Traditional paid marketing puts your message in front of people hoping some of them will be interested. Intent-based marketing flips this model: it finds people who are actively looking for what you sell and meets them in that moment.

On community platforms like Reddit, this happens constantly and publicly. The challenge isn't finding these signals — it's finding them at scale, before the conversation window closes.

What is Buying Intent?

Buying intent is the signal that someone is ready (or nearly ready) to make a purchase decision. On Reddit, these signals look like:

• "What's the best tool for X? I've been using Y but it's getting expensive."
• "Looking for alternatives to [Competitor] — what are you all using?"
• "We're evaluating software for our team — has anyone used Z?"
• "Just cancelled [Competitor] and looking for a replacement."

These posts are gold. They represent someone whose problem is acute, whose budget is real, and who is actively seeking a solution — your solution, potentially.

The Four Intent Categories

IntentReply automatically classifies Reddit posts into four intent types:

Why Timing Matters

On Reddit, post velocity matters enormously. A thread asking for tool recommendations might receive 50 replies in the first 4 hours, then slow to a trickle. The top-voted replies from those early hours dominate the thread permanently.

This means speed is a competitive advantage. The marketer who sees a high-intent post first and replies with quality content wins disproportionately over everyone who replies later. Automated post discovery — which is what IntentReply does — levels this playing field.

Building an Intent-First Marketing System

1. Define your intent signals. What phrases do your ideal customers use when they're ready to buy? "Looking for alternatives," "cancelled X," "what tools do you use for Y" — build a list.
2. Monitor the right communities. Set up subreddit monitoring for the communities where your buyers congregate. IntentReply's AI can suggest these based on your product.
3. Filter aggressively. Not all posts in a subreddit matter. Focus exclusively on high-intent categories and let the discussion posts run without your involvement.
4. Respond fast and authentically. Use AI to draft replies quickly, then personalise before posting. Speed and quality together is your edge.
5. Track and iterate. Measure which subreddits, which intent categories, and which reply styles drive the most signups. Double down accordingly.

Beyond Reddit

The same intent-based approach works on LinkedIn (comments on "looking for tool" posts), Quora (questions about your category), Indie Hackers (comparison discussions), and Hacker News (Show HN discussions). Wherever your customers ask questions publicly, intent-based marketing is possible.

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