Putney Cloos, CMO at Bombora and intent-data expert who built ABM programs at American Express. She explains what intent data is and how to separate first‑party from third‑party signals. Data provenance and consent are emphasized. They discuss practical uses like spotting churn, validating product direction, and integrating intent into existing tools.
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insights INSIGHT
Question The Source And Rights Of Intent Data
Not all third-party intent sources are equal; ask whether the source truly represents buyer research and whether the provider has rights to use the data.
Putney warns against repurposed bidstream sources and emphasizes checking data provenance before buying intent.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Bombora's Data Co-op And Consent Tag
Bombora uses a decade-old data co-op made of hundreds of publishers and brands to capture representative B2B research behaviors.
Putney explains their proprietary JavaScript tag sits on every co-op site and embeds consent that explicitly allows intent creation.
insights INSIGHT
Engagement Signals Improve Intent Quality
Bombora measures deep engagement metrics (time on page, scroll velocity, linkage) not just visits to improve signal quality.
These engagement features feed their intent models to separate true research from scattered browsing.
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Mason Cosby connects with Putney Cloos, the Chief Marketing Officer at Bombora, to clarify exactly what intent data is and how revenue teams should use it. While many marketers view intent data strictly as a tool for sales prioritization, Putney argues that the use cases go much deeper. She explains the difference between first-party data collected from owned properties and third-party data gathered from across the web.
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A major focus of the conversation is data provenance. Putney highlights a critical but often overlooked question: Does your data provider actually have the right to use the data they sell? She details how Bombora uses a proprietary tag within a data co-op to ensure consent is explicitly granted for intent tracking.
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Mason and Putney also explore how to operationalize this data without buying a massive, all-in-one platform. They discuss the "unbundled" ABM stack, where data is ported directly into the tools teams already use, such as CRMs, CDPs, or advertising platforms like The Trade Desk and LinkedIn.
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Guest Bio
Putney Cloos is the Chief Marketing Officer at Bombora, where she leads marketing and communications to expand the company's "Data Co-op" and intent data solutions. She previously served as CMO at Cision, where she built the company's first account-level data strategy. Putney also spent nearly a decade at American Express, rising to Vice President of Commercial Demand Generation and creating Amex's first commercial demand-generation and ABM capabilities. She holds an AB from Harvard College and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.
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What We Cover
Defining intent data: Putney clarifies that intent is behavioral data showing when a company is actively researching a solution, distinct from static firmographic data.
First-party vs. third-party signals: The difference between tracking known visitors on your own site versus capturing research behaviors across the broader B2B internet.
The importance of data rights: Why marketers must ask if their provider has explicit consent to use data for intent purposes, rather than relying on repurposed bidstream data.
Reducing customer churn: How customer success teams use intent signals to spot when current clients start researching competitors before the renewal conversation happens.
Informing the product roadmap: Using search behavior to identify unmet market needs or features that prospects are actively seeking.
The unbundled tech stack: How to deploy intent data directly into existing platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, or programmatic ad exchanges without needing a standalone ABM platform.
Start simple: Putney's advice to pick one specific use case—like sales prioritization—and master it before adding complexity.
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