By Here’s a confession: I’ve never really understood the whole “SEO-driven content strategy” thing.
I mean, yeah, I understood it on an intellectual level. Step 1, go after high-volume keywords. Step 2, rank higher for the Google gods. Step 3, profit. Or something like that.
But no one ever becomes a customer from reading a blog post after having Googled, “how to choose a leather purse.” I certainly never have. Not with my consumer purchases and not with my work or B2B purchases. I’m not influenced by lowest common denominator advice that applies to everybody while actually appealing to no one. And neither are the smart people I’ve worked with.
(Now I’m not saying, “Marketing doesn’t work on me!” Marketing definitely works on me. I just bought a leather purse from Quince after getting bombarded with a bunch of their Instagram ads. Although I’m not sure that one purchase after 50+ ad impressions is great ROI, but I digress.)
I was influenced by industry thought leaders. What my bosses said and read. Thoughtful white papers. (Yes, I still give my info if I think the asset will be valuable, don’t you?) In-depth blog posts. Longform podcasts. A bunch of things that signal expertise and depth. Things that made me respect a given brand and the people associated with it.
So when I stepped into a B2B role to market to HR and benefits leaders, I was much more interested in producing content that would help us gain respect — not toothless blog posts called, “What is corporate wellness?” (I would later be vindicated when my senior leadership team later pushed for this type of strategy and it led to tens of thousands of dollars spent on agency fees, along with decreased conversions.) I attended HR conferences and blogged about them. I got to know HR leaders and asked them what keeps them up at night, and I’d write about those things. Heck, I designed our conference agenda to be an HR leader’s dream: I sourced speakers who were executives at top benefits companies, renowned academics who could credibly speak to behavior change, and a celebrity fitness trainer and Fitbit ambassador to lead a workout for the group.
The result? We closed deals, HR leaders actually read and liked our content, and other industry conferences copied our speaker roster.
None of this was driven by a keyword research strategy.
It was all inspired by a single, audience research clue: “Did you know that HR leaders read Psychology Today and Entrepreneur Magazine?” our PR agency told us.
That told me everything.
It told me that HR leaders see themselves as being in the business of people. They want to know what makes people tick, and they see themselves as entrepreneurs within a broader organization.
This is what inspired me to create thought leadership content oriented around behavioral psychology. It’s why our email marketing playfully said, “Hey there, overachiever.” instead of “Hi [firstname]!” It’s why we gave them the executive treatment with that celebrity fitness instructor-guided workout.
Since then, I’ve shifted my thinking around keyword research and audience research in content marketing. Keyword research is the compass that points me in the direction of the right topics. Audience research is what moves me to specificity and inspires me to write for the human beings who I hope will read my content.
I’ll never forget that audience research was the key to me in executing an actually-impressive content strategy. Only way back then, I didn’t know it was “audience research.” I thought it was just… “getting to know my audience really, really well through surveys, one-on-one interviews, and consuming the content that they consumed.” And it’s fun to look back on this now that I work for an audience research company.
Now I want to hear your story: How has audience research helped you?
Enter to Win a Ticket to SparkTogether
We’re giving away 5 tickets to SparkTogether. To enter, tell us your story about SparkToro — how our audience research tool helped you or made your work better.
We’ll pick 5 winners by September 15! You can tell your story in a comment below or email us at [email protected].