7 ways to get audience insights

The best content strategies are based on solving audience problems.

So how do you find out what your audience’s problems are?

Here are 7 tried and true ways we conduct research to triangulate what our audiences care about and what keeps them up at night:

• Customer/audience interviews. I love to start here with at least 10 in-depth, 1-hour long 1:1 interviews with customers to orient myself around their needs, challenges, media habits and decision process.
• Sales team interviews. Sales teams are the single biggest untapped resource for marketers. I like to interview sales team members 1:1 to understand why a brand wins and loses, and what common objections to a sale are.
• Reverse engineering media diets. Exploring the information sources, membership groups, online communities and newsletters your customers seek out is a fascinating way to gain a better understanding of the topics that interest them, the tone that engages them, and the formats that appeal to them.
• Social lurking. From candid online communities to a market’s most engaging influencers, there is a ton you can learn from just observing how an audience talks to each other on social media.
• Google searches. Most problems make their way to Google early, making Google’s search data a treasure trove of information for content marketers.
• Performance data. What happens before a website conversion? Digging into the most engaging and most hard-working content that already exists can give you clues about your audience, too.
• Competitive data. Understanding what competitors are posting – cadence, topics, use of experts, channels, etc. – can illuminate what you need to do to stand out (in addition to what your competitors care about).

And don’t forget: Markets change and audiences evolve. It’s important to do this research on a regular basis to stay tight with your audience.

What would you add to this list?

KRYSTLE KOPACZ CEO, Revmade krystle@revmade.com

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P.S. One of our clients is hiring for 2 manager roles, and we can vouch for their excellent people and culture. Reach out to us for an introduction if you’re interested in and qualified for a Video Manager or Audience Marketing Manager role!