♾️ How to use audience research in your content

In the past, I’ve spoken a lot about audience research.

While that’s great, I also want to make sure you know how to turn the data dump from your rabbit holes into solid content assets that resonate with your audience.

Recently, I started working with a revenue enablement platform that caters to multiple audiences from across the entire go-to-market (GTM) function.

For the first piece, we were writing a use case (BOFU) piece for a customer success (CS) audience.

The problem? I wasn’t familiar with writing for a CS audience—and had to ramp up quickly.

Here’s how I researched this new audience:

1. Dig into internal resources to get up to speed

Fortunately, the brand had A LOT of internal resources despite targeting them for the first time.

I went through the product demo videos, buyer personas, sales decks, one-pagers, and datasheets to get up to speed on the product.

This helped me do three things:

• Understand why the product was created for this audience

• See how the company positions the product and problem

• Learn more about the product’s capabilities and benefits

Next step? Actually talk to the people I’m writing for.

2. Talk to experts who mirror your target audience

If your content needs to resonate with VPs of Customer Success, for example, have conversations with those who hold that title.

There’s only so much a deck can tell you. Go out there and talk to them about:

• Real challenges they’re facing right now

• How they’re dealing with those issues

• Have they considered other solutions (not necessarily a product)

• Specific language they use to describe the problem

In this case, my client introduced me to their VP of Customer Success so I didn’t have to go searching for an external contributor. This also meant I could ask them about their roles/responsibilities AND how they’re helping customers adopt the new product.

Win-win.

For example, I wasn’t too sure how CSMs function in an enterprise company—and what responsibilities they hold. Here’s an excerpt from the transcript:

They also explained how CSMs are involved in renewals and cross-functional sales. So, I used that nugget to empathize with the audience—and show that we get them. Here’s the example:

3. Sift through multiple social and community threads

Since I work in the B2B SaaS space, I know that most of my audience usually hangs out on LinkedIn or Reddit. So, these are usually the first places I go to:

• Understand general issues the audience is dealing with

• Search for posts that I can feature in the piece

• Find experts who might be willing to contribute

As for the first point, it boils down to defining the emotional drivers that forces prospects to look for solutions to their issues. If you know that, you’ll be able to “twist the knife” so to speak.

I found several Reddit threads saying that customer success managers (CSMs) struggle with sales, including upsells and cross-sells. They also don't get enough training for it.

And from my SME interview, I found out that most training sessions are group coaching sessions that impacts team morale and lacks constructive criticism.

That led to this section because it’s a problem our product solved (AI role playing exercises):

Spend some time documenting all this—especially if it’s a long-term contract. You won’t have to repeat this exercise for every article, rather you can do it on a monthly or quarterly basis.

These threads show a raw, unfiltered look at your audience’s concerns, and you’ll also understand how roles/challenges evolve over time.

4. Tie it all back to your product

Once I had all the research in place, I connected it to the product’s use cases, features, and benefits.

It follows the typical problem-solution narrative—and I’ve found that works well for conversion-oriented content like “X use cases” or “X vs. Y alternatives.”

Use this framework to guide the process:

Here’s an example for this article:

Problem: CSMs don’t get enough feedback from their managers because their bosses are swamped with work themselves or they don’t have great relationships with them.

Brand’s POV: You shouldn’t leave it up to someone else to help you improve your skills. CSMs should have more control over professional development.

Solution: Use AI coaching tools to get constructive feedback based on your conversational/sales skills. Reps can use Practice mode to see where they’re excelling and falling short and start conversing better with customers.

Does this level of research really matter?

You may say, “Tanaaz, I can already prompt ChatGPT to tell me my audience’s frustrations and whatnot. Why should I do all this to write my pieces?”

I’ll leave you with this:

Data over assumptions—always.

While this is just ONE example of how to do this, I’d encourage you to spend a few hours this month or next really understanding who you’re marketing to.

Have questions about audience research? Hit reply and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

P.S. Liked the issue and know someone who’d love it?

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