If You're Still Cold-Emailing Random Leads, You’re Setting Money on Fire

Sales and marketing teams love to talk about efficiency, yet so many still rely on the "spray-and-pray" method—blasting out generic emails, cold calling anyone with a pulse, and hoping something sticks.

Hope isn’t a strategy. Data is.

Intent-based marketing flips the script. Instead of shouting into the void, you target buyers who are already in the market. The result? Less wasted effort, more closed deals, and a sales team that actually enjoys their job.

What Is Spray-and-Pray Marketing?

Spray-and-pray marketing is exactly what it sounds like. You take a giant list of prospects, throw out the same message to all of them, and hope someone bites.

It looks like this:

• Cold emailing thousands of random people with no indication they’re interested
• Cold calling everyone in a database because they match a vague ICP
• Blasting LinkedIn messages to anyone with a job title that sounds right
• Running broad-targeted ads to people who have never engaged with your brand

It’s like fishing with dynamite. Sure, you might get a few bites, but you’ll also scare off everyone else and waste a ton of resources in the process.

What Is Intent-Based Marketing?

Intent-based marketing is the opposite of spray-and-pray. Instead of randomly reaching out to people, you focus on those who are actively researching, engaging, or signaling interest in what you offer.

It looks like this:

• Tracking who visits your website and tailoring follow-up messages accordingly
• Monitoring search behavior to see which companies are researching your solution
• Personalizing outreach based on engagement signals rather than generic pitches
• Serving ads to people already looking for what you sell instead of blanketing the internet with impressions

This is marketing with precision—a sniper approach instead of a shotgun blast.

Why Spray-and-Pray Marketing Wastes Time and Money

Sales reps hate cold outreach because it rarely works. Here’s why:

✔ Most people aren’t even in the market – If someone has zero buying intent, no amount of outreach will change that.

✔ Generic messaging falls flat – If your outreach doesn’t align with what prospects care about right now, it’s ignored.

✔ You burn leads before they’re ready – A prospect who might have been interested later is now annoyed and turned off.

✔ Your sales team gets demoralized – Reps wasting time on low-quality leads equals high churn and low morale.

The worst part? It’s avoidable.

How Intent-Based Marketing Fixes This Mess

Intent-based marketing solves these problems by focusing only on high-intent buyers—people who are actively researching, engaging with content, or showing signs they’re ready to buy.

✔ You reach the right people at the right time – No more guessing. Just real-time insights on who’s in-market.

✔ Your messaging actually resonates – Because it’s based on real behaviors and signals.

✔ Your conversion rates go up – More qualified leads mean higher close rates.

✔ Your sales team spends less time chasing dead leads – They work smarter, not harder.

This isn’t just theory—it’s exactly how top-performing sales and marketing teams win more deals while spending less money.

How to Transition from Spray-and-Pray to Intent-Based Marketing

If you’re stuck in the old way of doing things, here’s how to pivot fast:

1️⃣ Identify the right intent signals – Website visits, search behavior, content downloads, firmographic data.

2️⃣ Use first-party data – Your website analytics, CRM, and email engagement data are goldmines.

3️⃣ Leverage third-party intent data providers – Tools like Bombora, ZoomInfo, and 6sense track external buying signals.

4️⃣ Align sales and marketing – Sales should know why a lead is high-intent before they reach out.

5️⃣ Personalize everything – Generic outreach is dead. Tailor messaging based on what prospects are actually researching.

6️⃣ Stop wasting ad dollars – Serve ads only to people already searching for your solution.

Intent Data Wins. Every Time.

Spray-and-pray marketing is a relic of the past. It wastes time, burns resources, and frustrates both sales teams and prospects.

Intent-based marketing is the smarter alternative. It’s data-driven, efficient, and actually works.

👉 Want to stop guessing and start closing? Let’s talk about how Longcut helps businesses use intent data the right way.