{"id":11085,"date":"2026-10-08T22:18:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/?p=11085"},"modified":"2026-10-08T22:22:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:22:54","slug":"audience-research-newsletter-counterintuitive-marketing-strategies-you-need-a-bad-guy-hidden-gems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/audience-research-newsletter-counterintuitive-marketing-strategies-you-need-a-bad-guy-hidden-gems\/","title":{"rendered":"Audience Research Newsletter: Counterintuitive Marketing Strategies; You Need a Bad Guy; Hidden Gems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>We\u2019re publishing prior issues of the Audience Research Newsletter here! But we\u2019re not just copying and pasting from the archives \u2014 we\u2019re only surfacing what we believe is still salient today. For the newest, freshest advice on audience research and doing better marketing, <a href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/audience-research-newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subscribe here so you don\u2019t miss new editions<\/a>! We send this newsletter twice per month.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">8 counterintuitive marketing strategies and why they work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marketers have been conditioned to tease value so that people buy. But freely giving that value \u2014 guides, calculators, templates, etc \u2014 helps people trust and refer you. In a time when there\u2019s more competition than ever, sometimes the only way to stand out is to lead with value, and trust that the investment will come back to you. One way to do this is by publishing how-to guides or tutorials. Readers might bookmark and come back to it, or share with their network. You&#8217;ll earn their trust and stay top of mind. <a href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/8-counterintuitive-marketing-strategies-that-actually-work\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read Amanda&#8217;s blog post to learn the 7 other counterintuitive tips<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Does your marketing need a bad guy? Yes, it does. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Punching up at a villain builds tension, makes you memorable, and adds depth and purpose. All good stories have villains, and marketing is essentially storytelling at scale. But a villain doesn&#8217;t need to be a person or an entity. It can be the status quo, or an outdated way of doing something. <a href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/what-your-marketing-needs-is-a-bad-guy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read Rand&#8217;s blog post to learn about specific examples<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"2\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Find up-and-comers to get more bang for your buck<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Great marketers are aware of up-and-coming brands or people on social media. Of course, the challenge is keeping a pulse on your industry or niche. One easy way to do this in SparkToro is to <a href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/product\/audience\/new\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">run a query<\/a> for your target audience. Then mouse over the Social Accounts tab and select Hidden Gems. It&#8217;s that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re publishing prior issues of the Audience Research Newsletter here! But we\u2019re not just copying and pasting from the archives \u2014 we\u2019re only surfacing what we believe is&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Audience Research Newsletter: Counterintuitive Marketing Strategies; You Need a Bad Guy; Hidden Gems - SparkToro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019re publishing prior issues of the Audience Research Newsletter here! But we\u2019re not just copying and pasting from the archives \u2014 we\u2019re only surfacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/audience-research-newsletter-counterintuitive-marketing-strategies-you-need-a-bad-guy-hidden-gems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Audience Research Newsletter: Counterintuitive Marketing Strategies; You Need a Bad Guy; Hidden Gems - SparkToro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019re publishing prior issues of the Audience Research Newsletter here! 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