Do Audience Research Again Before Planning Any Content

When developing a content strategy, should you prioritize analyzing competitors or understanding your audience? Many brands choose to mimic competitors, serving similar content to the same audiences. Unfortunately, this approach can quickly inflate marketing costs and lead to disappointing results—especially when competing against market leaders already dominating attention.

How can you break through in today’s crowded content landscape?

Focus on your audience.

Many marketers would say, "Of course I know my audience—our products target industries A, B, and C, focusing on decision-makers like C-level executives." Yet if you’re not seeing the engagement you expected, simply knowing job titles and demographics isn’t enough. To truly understand your audience, address 3 key questions (at least):

1. How is your business perceived in the market?

In my previous article on aligning content strategy with the product lifecycle, I outlined the four stages—introduction, growth, maturity, and decline—that shape how your audience receives your brand. For example, if you're introducing disruptive tech, your audience may not be ready for direct sales messages. Educational content should lead your strategy, building awareness and trust before diving into conversion-focused content.

2. What roles do your audience members play in the decision-making process?

Too often, companies overlook this crucial distinction. In B2B, not everyone in your audience is a buyer. Segmenting decision-makers from decision-influencers allows you to tailor content to their needs, creating more relevance and engagement.

Here’s a case study: One of my clients was a SaaS company providing legal intelligence tech for tech-intensive industries. They identified two main audience groups: the legal and the R&D teams. Initially, they shared general content about platform functionalities with both groups, but engagement was low.

After conducting interpersonal interviews with professionals in the industry, I have found that while the legal department purchases the platform, they use basic features sparingly, leaving little room for upsell. R&D, though not involving in vendor sourcing, could advocate for the tool due to its potential in product innovation research.

I have proposed to adjust the content strategy: For the R&D audience, we should focus on educational content at the awareness and consideration stages. For the legal audience, we should highlight functional insights to drive conversions. This shift improved lead quality and reduced cost per lead, as each audience received tailored content that aligned with their goals and pain points.

3. What are their pain points?

This is where tools like #ChatGPT can provide an edge. Once you’ve segmented your audience, use AI to better understand their challenges. Consider asking about their KPIs, common challenges, and role-specific goals to get an inside view. This allows you to create content that speaks directly to their needs.

Back to our SaaS example: After researching legal and R&D pain points, I have discovered tension between the two. Both wanted to see how legal data could add value to their work, and both sought better alignment between each other's functions.

The Takeaway: Adopt customer-centric approach. Take the time to understand your audience as deeply as possible. Position them thoughtfully in the marketing funnel, delivering the right content at the right stage. In today’s market, content that truly resonates is built on empathy and relevance.

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