{"id":9236,"date":"2024-08-29T10:06:03","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T17:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/?p=9236"},"modified":"2024-08-29T10:14:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T17:14:40","slug":"how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"How Audience Research Gave Me a Competitive Edge \u2014 And Helped Me Earn Respect From Customers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here\u2019s a confession: I\u2019ve never really understood the whole \u201cSEO-driven content strategy\u201d thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But no one ever becomes a customer from reading a blog post after having Googled, \u201chow to choose a leather purse.\u201d I certainly never have. Not with my consumer purchases and not with my work or B2B purchases. I\u2019m not influenced by lowest common denominator advice that applies to everybody while actually appealing to no one. And neither are the smart people I\u2019ve worked with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Now I\u2019m not saying, \u201cMarketing doesn\u2019t work on me!\u201d Marketing definitely<\/em> works on me. I just bought a leather purse from Quince after getting bombarded with a bunch of their Instagram ads. Although I\u2019m not sure that one purchase after 50+ ad impressions is great ROI, but I digress.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2014 not toothless blog posts called, \u201cWhat is corporate wellness?\u201d (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\u2019d write about those things. Heck, I designed our conference agenda to be an HR leader\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result? We closed deals, HR leaders actually read and liked our content<\/em>, and other industry conferences copied our speaker roster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of this was driven by a keyword research strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was all inspired by a single, audience research clue: \u201cDid you know that HR leaders read Psychology Today and Entrepreneur Magazine?\u201d our PR agency told us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That told me everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what inspired me to create thought leadership content oriented around behavioral psychology. It\u2019s why our email marketing playfully said, \u201cHey there, overachiever.\u201d instead of \u201cHi [firstname]!\u201d It\u2019s why we gave them the executive treatment with that celebrity fitness instructor-guided workout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll never forget that audience research was the key to me in executing an actually-impressive content strategy. Only way back then, I didn\u2019t know it was \u201caudience research.\u201d I thought it was just\u2026 \u201cgetting to know my audience really, really well through surveys, one-on-one interviews, and consuming the content that they consumed.\u201d And it\u2019s fun to look back on this now that I work for an audience research company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I want to hear your story: How has audience research helped you?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Enter to Win a Ticket to SparkTogether<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re giving away 5 tickets to SparkTogether<\/a>. To enter, tell us your story about SparkToro \u2014 how our audience research tool helped you or made your work better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll pick 5 winners by September 15!<\/strong> You can tell your story in a comment below or email us at marketing@sparktoro.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a confession: I\u2019ve never really understood the whole \u201cSEO-driven content strategy\u201d 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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6,14],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-9236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-marketing","category-sparktoro","tag-sparktogether"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Audience Research Gave Me a Competitive Edge \u2014 And Helped Me Earn Respect From Customers - SparkToro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here\u2019s a confession: I\u2019ve never really understood the whole \u201cSEO-driven content strategy\u201d thing. I mean, yeah, I understood it on an intellectual level.\" \/>\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\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Audience Research Gave Me a Competitive Edge \u2014 And Helped Me Earn Respect From Customers - SparkToro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s a confession: I\u2019ve never really understood the whole \u201cSEO-driven content strategy\u201d thing. I mean, yeah, I understood it on an intellectual level.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SparkToro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/sparktoro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-29T17:06:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-29T17:14:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix-1024x576.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amanda Natividad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sparktoro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sparktoro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amanda Natividad\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amanda Natividad\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/267eae421b3417b09bcc1dbc44f77644\"},\"headline\":\"How Audience Research Gave Me a Competitive Edge \u2014 And Helped Me Earn Respect From Customers\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-29T17:06:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-29T17:14:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":723,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix-1024x576.png\",\"keywords\":[\"sparktogether\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Events\",\"Marketing\",\"SparkToro\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/\",\"name\":\"How Audience Research Gave Me a Competitive Edge \u2014 And Helped Me Earn Respect From Customers - SparkToro\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix-1024x576.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-29T17:06:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-29T17:14:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/267eae421b3417b09bcc1dbc44f77644\"},\"description\":\"Here\u2019s a confession: I\u2019ve never really understood the whole \u201cSEO-driven content strategy\u201d thing. I mean, yeah, I understood it on an intellectual level.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images.sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images.sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix.png\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"SparkToro\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/267eae421b3417b09bcc1dbc44f77644\",\"name\":\"Amanda Natividad\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6164399abd58240e4c554028d2281e39a6db7c845049eba1b674a129cfb391b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6164399abd58240e4c554028d2281e39a6db7c845049eba1b674a129cfb391b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6164399abd58240e4c554028d2281e39a6db7c845049eba1b674a129cfb391b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Amanda Natividad\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sparktoro.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/amanda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Audience Research Gave Me a Competitive Edge \u2014 And Helped Me Earn Respect From Customers - SparkToro","description":"Here\u2019s a confession: I\u2019ve never really understood the whole \u201cSEO-driven content strategy\u201d thing. I mean, yeah, I understood it on an intellectual level.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Audience Research Gave Me a Competitive Edge \u2014 And Helped Me Earn Respect From Customers - SparkToro","og_description":"Here\u2019s a confession: I\u2019ve never really understood the whole \u201cSEO-driven content strategy\u201d thing. I mean, yeah, I understood it on an intellectual level.","og_url":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/","og_site_name":"SparkToro","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/sparktoro","article_published_time":"2024-08-29T17:06:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-29T17:14:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix-1024x576.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Amanda Natividad","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sparktoro","twitter_site":"@sparktoro","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amanda Natividad","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/"},"author":{"name":"Amanda Natividad","@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/267eae421b3417b09bcc1dbc44f77644"},"headline":"How Audience Research Gave Me a Competitive Edge \u2014 And Helped Me Earn Respect From Customers","datePublished":"2024-08-29T17:06:03+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-29T17:14:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/"},"wordCount":723,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix-1024x576.png","keywords":["sparktogether"],"articleSection":["Events","Marketing","SparkToro"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/","url":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/","name":"How Audience Research Gave Me a Competitive Edge \u2014 And Helped Me Earn Respect From Customers - SparkToro","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix-1024x576.png","datePublished":"2024-08-29T17:06:03+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-29T17:14:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/267eae421b3417b09bcc1dbc44f77644"},"description":"Here\u2019s a confession: I\u2019ve never really understood the whole \u201cSEO-driven content strategy\u201d thing. I mean, yeah, I understood it on an intellectual level.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-audience-research-gave-me-a-competitive-edge\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/2024-Open-Graph-Image-Buy-Tix.png","width":1600,"height":900},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/","name":"SparkToro","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/267eae421b3417b09bcc1dbc44f77644","name":"Amanda Natividad","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6164399abd58240e4c554028d2281e39a6db7c845049eba1b674a129cfb391b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6164399abd58240e4c554028d2281e39a6db7c845049eba1b674a129cfb391b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6164399abd58240e4c554028d2281e39a6db7c845049eba1b674a129cfb391b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Amanda Natividad"},"url":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/author\/amanda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9236"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9240,"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236\/revisions\/9240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}