Understanding Your Audience (Confab Central 2016)

Hello...

Robert MillsContent Strategist, GatherContent

@RobertMills

rob@gathercontent.com

OUTCOME

1.

Knowing vs. Understanding

Any fool can know. The point is to understand.

Iceberg

21,000 email subscribers

65% content strategists

52% in-house

46% customersPain: content

collaboration

13% marketers

Prefer ‘How to’ content

8% currently in MOFU

Why strive to understand - business benefits

★ Position marketing and content so it is more likely to reach the intended audience

★ Forming a vocabulary that will resonate with customers

★ Have the know-how to create meaningful content★ Able to talk to customers in authentic voice and

tone that supports your brand identity

Why strive to understand - customer benefits

★ They get the content they need, when and where they need it

★ They are spoken to in a manner that appeals to them

★ Their user experience is better because all content decisions have been informed

What do we mean by audience?

★ Your customers★ Prospective users/customers★ Your client’s customers★ Previous users/customers

What we don’t mean by audience?

ACTION

Who is your audience?

★ Write an audience summary★ List all segments, industries, groups, people etc ★ Prioritise them★ Familiarise yourself with existing information

about your audience(s)

Audience challenges

★ Our audience is everyone★ Lots of different audience segments★ No resource to do audience research★ It’s not my job★ Piecing it all together

ACTION

What are your audience challenges?

★ Identify the challenges★ Consider possible solutions★ Revisit your situation/data★ Focus on the little steps and quick wins

OUTCOME

2.

How to Understand

What do you want to understand?

★ Content pains★ Process (existing and pre-GatherContent)★ Who is involved in content lifecycle★ Challenges/obstacles to signing up★ Experience of using us★ Thoughts on frequency of publishing

Treat the research like you would any project

★ Write a brief★ Consider resources needed★ Get stakeholders on board★ Put a timeline in place★ Outline a post-research plan to ensure

investment isn’t wasted

Purposeful research statements

I want to know ...

So that I can understand ...

Purposeful research statements

I want to know how people describe their content production process, so that I can understand the common pains that content teams experience.

Purposeful research statements

I want to know why our past customers cancelled their account, so that I can understand where our product didn’t meet their needs.

ACTION

What do you want to ‘know’ and ‘understand’?

★ Make a list of the key elements you want to understand (business and audience)

★ Write a research project brief★ Write purposeful statements for your objectives

How will you get the data?

★ A big upfront research project★ Little and often (across the team)★ Both (big followed by little)

How will you get the data?

★ What information already exists★ What you need to commission/obtain★ What tools can help you★ What resource is required

ACTION

Audit your tools

★ List all tools currently being used★ Note the cost for this tool (if applicable)★ Specify what data it collects★ Note who is responsible★ Note the frequency★ State why it is relevant (what does the data

inform)★ Identify any gaps

Simple web content planning and production software

Audience research: scaling up and down

★

ACTION

Assemble your research team

★ Who is needed, for what and when?★ How will this impact on their day-to-day job?★ What resource is needed post-launch and

ongoing?

Research methods

Research Method ConsPros

Focus Groups

Social Media

Tools

Questionnaires

Interviews

Insight into attitude and perceptions

Uncensored views

Inexpensive means of collecting data

Automated, always collecting data, reports

Can explore one, or many, topics in detail

Validity issues due to observer dependency

Hard to find value amongst the noise

Issues around open ended questions

Cost, having to piece it all together

Costly due to time and resource involved

● Major responsibilities● Pains● Solutions● Common objections● Where they find information

● Media consumption● Demographics● Income● Home life● Photos

Focus on the right things

ACTION

Getting the data

★ Note what you will focus on★ List research methods★ Note what resource each needs (people, time,

money)★ Capture pros and cons for each method★ Decide which one(s) match your research needs

The (not so) secret weapon

★ What is it that we can ALL do that will get us onto the path of understanding our audiences?

The (not so) secret weapon

★ Talk to them

ACTION

Talk to your customers

★ Current, prospective and past★ Keep it simple - email or call (have a purpose)★ Keep it simple - 3 or 5 a week★ Capture the information★ Look for themes and insights★ Repeat

Pitfalls to avoid

★ Not enough data★ Personal bias★ What they say vs. what they do★ Connecting the dots

Results of audience research

★ Personas/customer profiles★ Research decks and reports★ Graphs and charts★ User journeys

So what. Now what.

The output of your research should be

★ Purposeful★ Relevant★ Usable

ACTION

Decide what you want the output(s) to be

★ List the formats for the presentation of the data★ What resource do you need to create those?

Piecing it all together

Product

MarketingKissmetrics

Existing customers

Prospective customers

Business Goals

AnalyticsIntercom

Piecing it all together

★ Give yourself enough time to study the data★ Use your tool inventory as a starting point★ Can you map data to customer journeys?★ Talk through data with others

Learning from your research

★ Confirm what you already understand★ Turn assumptions into knowledge★ Discount assumptions★ Gain new insights

How often should you conduct research?

It depends!

Dissemination!

★ Get the information to the people that matter★ Deliver it in an appropriate way★ Make sure the information is used

ACTION

Disseminate the information

★ Decide who needs what info★ Choose best method to share with them★ Include only data/info that’s relevant to them★ Engage them as early as possible★ Follow up

OUTCOME

3.

Informing Your Content (Strategy)

Simple web content planning and production software

Marketing Product

Customer Success

Business & Growth

Content Strategy

“We have incredibly passionate users. And we get feedback from them every day.

We’ve developed a process to gather this feedback in a structured way, to analyse it and look for themes, and then to use it to guide the product’s future development.

Turning feedback into the future.”

- Angus, Product Director at GatherContent

How we do it (and how you can)

★ Johnny Feedback★ Internal blog★ Objective Key Results★ Speaking to customers★ Tools and automation★ Specific research projects★ In app messages

A framework for understanding

Mission:Continuously improve the way digital teams produce and publish content

Objective:Understand how teams are using GatherContent on an on-going basis

KR #1 – 100% of primary use cases are defined and have customer journey’s mapped

KR #2 – Ability to segment 80% of existing accounts and 100% of future projects by use case

KR #3 – Understand the commercial opportunity of each primary use case

Insight emails

Simple web content planning and production software

Customer profiles

Content focused role

Involved in content strategy, production and governance with clients

‘Piggy in the middle’ role

Has to deal with lots of files, late content, chasing clients

Has to ‘sell’ GatherContent to both her bosses and the clients

Needs to collaborate with clients, have everything in one place and know who is delivering what and when

SarahAgencyWebsite redesign

KateIn-houseContent production

AdamIn-houseWebsite redesign

EmmaAgencyContent production

Content or marketing focused role

Involved in content planning, modelling and production

Works with many different people and is organised to do so effectively

Lots of plates spinning at once

Needs a central place for content and related communication with planning functions

Needs to whitelabel to sell on

Senior content role

Involved in strategy, planning, production. governance and guidelines

Also wears project manager hat

Good at analysis and attention to detail

Faced with late content, bottlenecks, lack of understanding from others

Needs help selling content strategy internally

Senior content role

Leads teams, has a lot of control and sign off power

Wears many hats and is efficient at multitasking but always super busy

Too much time wasted chasing, sifting through emails and trying to piece content together

Needs a structured process and tool to support that

Needs quick and easy solution

Sarah

Adam

Kate

Emma

Agency

In-house

Redesign

On-going

Inform future product development

★ Understand common audience needs★ Feeds into the product roadmap

Inform editorial decisions

Inform marketing messages/copy

Marketing funnel

Inform our language

Over to you

★

The better you understand your audience, the more relevant, useful and targeted your content will be.

Start small, speak to customers often, never stop striving to understand.

Thank you.

Robert MillsContent Strategist, GatherContent

@RobertMills

rob@gathercontent.com