#go nuts focusing well on something entirely different and irrelevant to the original reason i TOOK the ritalin
Text
Just went on a rant about (read: in hearty support of) community colleges & community college librarianship on my instagram stories. Childhood best friend with whom my friendship died out in high school and who is now kin somehow bc my stepmom is her aunt replied agreeing and talking about how the basic sentiment among our peers was that CCs were a joke but we were so wrong??? Okay hello comrade welcome to the LIS revolution!
#i should be writing my papers#but i took ritalin and had a shitty homemade iced coffee and got dostracted#*distracted by an article I was citing that mentioned academic libraries#and just popped tf off lmao#isn't it special how i take my adhd medication to bolster my ability to focus on a task#but if i don't have the discipline to get into the groove with that task i instead#go nuts focusing well on something entirely different and irrelevant to the original reason i TOOK the ritalin?#meds don't do everything you have to do the work yourself too etc etc BLAH
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Some Thoughts on Whatever the Hell NBC Sports Philly is Doing
After Jess Camerato revealed on Twitter last week that she wasn’t returning to NBC Sports Philadelphia, I tried to list, off the top of my head, some of the departures and changes the network has presided over in the last two years:
Molly Sullivan out
Marshall Harris out
Jess Camerato out
Dei Lynam out
Neil Hartman out
Ron Burke out
Andy Schwartz out (longtime web guy)
production/creative services layoffs
new web policy restricting stories to 500 word max
I obviously missed a lot of stuff, which y’all helped remind me of:
Leslie Gudel out
Breakfast on Broad eventually cancelled, Sarah Baicker and Jillian Mele move on, Rob Ellis comes back in a different role after leaving 97.5 the Fanatic
Reuben Frank taken off Quick Slants
Tim Panaccio replaced by John Boruk
Mike Barkann moved to pre and post game roles
Brian Westbrook removed from Eagles postgame show
Amy Fadool and Marc Farzetta paired on Philly Sports Talk
new simulcast of the Mike Missanelli radio show
more short video clips on the website
didn’t renew Union broadcasting partnership (I don’t really blame them)
assimilated NBC 10 sports department (they no longer had separate anchors for NBC 10 sports segments, they’d just have Amy or John Clark or Danny Pommells do it remotely from HQ in South Philly, which made a ton of sense and saved $$$)
And, of course, Taryn Hatcher was hired as a multi-platform do-it-all person to cover a variety of roles at the station:
Host and reporter. Covering all sports – including, but not limited to, the Sixers. But, I’m not the sideline reporter for the team.
— Taryn Hatcher (@TarynHatcher) July 5, 2018
You still have regular contributors like Jim Salisbury and Corey Seidman and Dave Zangaro and Barrett Brooks and Derrick Gunn on the payroll. Roob, of course, is still writing for the site even though the TV appearances are less frequent. The various experts, like Jim Lynam and Ricky Bo, still do post-game analysis. There were some smaller hires behind the scenes and I’m not totally up to speed on who does what over there now.
I worked in television for nine years, and whenever moves like these are made it’s usually due to three things specifically:
saving money
getting younger in the talent department
trying to stay afloat in a business that has been slowly dying for a long time now
A lot of people are simply getting content from other sources via different mediums, like Twitter and Facebook through your smart phone. It is what it is.
But I feel like we can rule out that first reason, because it’s not like NBCSP is shot for money. Their Comcast overlords just built the biggest skyscraper in Philadelphia next to the now second-biggest skyscraper in Philadelphia. They sunk a bunch of money into NBC 10’s news product. They now own the Philadelphia Wings and Philadelphia Fusion in addition to the Flyers. There is definitely no shortage of cash when you go up the chain of command from Shawn Oleksiak to Michelle Murray, to whomever or whatever is above her.
So if we’re assuming that money isn’t the real issue, is it about getting younger? Maybe. Some of the old guard, the Burkes and Hartmans of this world, had been doing their jobs (very well) for a long time. But it’s not like Molly and Jess and Marshall were long in the tooth, so the age narrative doesn’t really seem to fit either. And even though you can kill two birds with one stone by replacing older, more expensive talent with younger, cheaper talent, we’ve already ruled out money as true problem.
The only real explanation would be #3, the idea that NBCSP is just totally revamping how they cover sports, with a more stripped down and bare bones approach. There are a lot of moving parts over there. Maybe it’s just not worth the effort or the cost to do everything they do, even if they CAN afford it. They could simply slash original content production entirely and focus on broadcasting the Sixers, Flyers, and Phillies, among other local teams. You can produce pregame and postgame segments, maybe enter an expanded simulcasting agreement with 97.5, and/or fill the rest of the slots with infomercials while taking in money from FIOS and Comcast carriage fees.
Specifically, you could ask yourself – do they really need an “insider” for each of the sports they cover?
I don’t know, but when you’re a team’s broadcast partner, the access and the content possibilities for someone like Camerato are significant, and she was one of the few traveling media members, so it seems goofy to stray away from that when you have a built-in advantage already. The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey is really the only other reporter who travels with the team.
Do they need sideline or “floor” reporters?
I don’t know, but I think Molly did a great job of adding flavor to the Sixers broadcast and getting interesting interviews while adding pieces of relevant information. Sure, you could just axe the position entirely and let Marc Zumoff and Alaa Abdelnaby run the entire thing from the booth, but I honestly think they should have gone in the opposite direction and tried to find more responsibility for Molly, which is what she wanted. In the case of a guy like Gregg Murphy, I think it’s easier to justify his inclusion during a longer and slower Phillies broadcast where he’s constantly moving around the ballpark and doing a variety of on-camera hits. The TV experience would feel thin and lose substance if he wasn’t involved.
Unfortunately the TV biz can be some UGLY stuff. I saw a female anchor temporarily demoted to a lesser shift because she was struggling to lose baby weight after coming back from maternity leave. One of my stations accidentally fired the wrong person because they incorrectly wrote out the list of staffers who were grandfathered into a bloated, bullshit union contract. I saw CBS 3 move on from quality anchors like Susan Barnett and Bob Kelly due to contract and responsibility disagreements. They also met Chris May, Beasley Reece, and Kathy Orr at the front door and prevented them from entering the building as they were axed a few years ago in part of a restructuring by a new general manager. Beasley’s stuff sat at his desk for something like a year, though I don’t think he cared because he was probably fishing in Texas. There was also the whole Alycia Lane and Larry Mendte fiasco that predated my time there, yet loomed over us for a good six or seven years.
That’s the problem with TV as it exists in the private sector; news-focused bosses are forced to make changes by money-focused higher-ups, and it results in this revolving door of people who never stick. Yeah, you get the hot meteorologist or whatever to attract the 40-year-old pervert crowd, then she’s gone after two years and you’re loading up with reporters and anchors who graduated from Medill two weeks ago.
One of the reasons Action News is so dominant is because they do nothing. Seriously, that’s a compliment. They’ve had Jim Gardner on the anchor desk for something like 40 years. The format is the same, the writing is the same, the graphics are the same and they simply just give you the news of the day, the weather forecast, and some sports highlights. People watch Action News because they trust Gardner and they know what they’re going to get, which goes something like this:
“…but the big story on Action News is flames, a three-alarm fire in Kensington that forced families out of their homes in the middle of the night… good evening, I’m Jim Gardner, let’s go live to Dann Cuellar in Kensington with more on the story. What can you tell us, Dann?”
Rinse and repeat, over and over and over again to the tune of utter market dominance.
Sometimes less is more, but I don’t think that’s the right approach for NBCSP. If Comcast, of all owners, is slashing jobs in their flagship market, what does that say about the sports broadcasting and journalism business as a whole? I don’t know, but it’s not good.
Anyway, I asked someone over at NBCSP to shed some light on the situation, and he/she responded with this:
“This place is nuts. No one seems to have a handle on the direction.”
Bummer. I think they’ve got some great people over there, multiple award-winners both on and off camera who deserve more from the folks in charge.
Kyle’s take:
NBC Sports Philly understands that the old guard of TV is not only not longer necessary, but it’s unsustainable. Gone are the days of CSN serving as the water cooler of Philly sports. Social media, sports talk radio, and blogs, like Crossing Broad, have taken over in this regard. Almost every piece of original content CSN used to air is completely irrelevant in 2018. They’ve made moves to shift away. So while it’s difficult to see the likes of Leslie Gudel, Neil Hartman, and even younger folks like Molly Sullivan and Jessica Camerato, who were well liked, be pushed out, NBC’s strategy to shift away from traditional coverage makes sense.
My issue, however, is what they are replacing it with. The supposedly hip, more modern fare that has come in its place, like cheeky off-beat shows, Breakfast on Broad – whose only purpose was to launch Jillian Mele into stardom (or whatever you want to call feeding the president nuggets of biased news) – and Quick Slants. They are taking a page out of ESPN’s play book 10 years ago and calling it new. In a society that increasingly values quality, at least where quantity is already provided through other means, NBC Sports Philly has doubled down on quasi junk– cheap, inexpensive fare that ultimately makes the network irrelevant to modern sports fans. The only thing that actually works in its inevitability is simulcasting Mike Missanelli’s show. Other than that, I can’t think of one notable thing CSN has done from a content standpoint that truly resonated (there might be one, but I can’t think of it), though the 2008 Phillies program they will air this month seems like it has potential.
I’m not sure there are any good answers for regionals sports networks, where cost-cutting seems to be a priority. But it seems shortsighted to get rid of basically all of your well-liked personalities. Someone like Molly Sullivan, while perhaps a so-called cap casualty, was well-liked and had a good camaraderie with Marc Zumoff and Alaa Abeladladsnamsdasdhay. It seems you can’t ask for more from a sideline reporter, though I’m certain Molly would’ve happily given them just that, given the chance.
Time’s yours.
We’re running out of room and especially talented professionals! @RonBurkeShow @tpanotchUFA @dlynamCSN @lesliegudel @36westbrook @NeilHartmanTV @MollySullivanTV @mharrisonair @JessicaCamerato pic.twitter.com/PeUkPV6dYH
— Collegeville Bakery (@CvilleItalBake) July 5, 2018
The post Some Thoughts on Whatever the Hell NBC Sports Philly is Doing appeared first on Crossing Broad.
Some Thoughts on Whatever the Hell NBC Sports Philly is Doing published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/
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How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
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Text
How to Research Your Target Audience to Increase Resonance
Recently I conducted some target audience research. And I learned something tasty—and a bit unexpected. Ready?
Successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to report conducting audience research at least once per quarter. And 56 percent of my study’s most elite marketers conduct research once or more per month.
So, researching your target audience is a marketing must. And not just for product development—it’s a gateway to connecting with your audience in revelatory ways.
Really, it’s the nuts-and-bolts of what Jay said in his book Youtility: “What if instead of trying to be amazing, you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?”
Target audience research is a way of doing just that—of turning the spotlight from your stuff to their needs. In essence, it’s about going from this:
To this:
Target audience research is a way of turning the spotlight from your stuff to your audience's needs.
Click To Tweet
It’s just like finding your content core. Surveys, customer interviews, and other forms of feedback help you laser-focus on the intersection of your audience’s problems and your ability to help solve them.
That big audience research project I mentioned was primarily about learning the strongest predictors of marketing success. We certainly gained some insight and fascinating data. Here are three quick highlights:
Top marketers document their marketing strategy.
Marketers who document strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers document their marketing processes.
Marketers who document process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
Top marketers set goals.
Marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. And 81 percent of those successful, goal-setting marketers achieve them.
But the most valuable learning came from getting a peek into our target audience. You know, what they care about. The challenges they face. The gaps between their success and failure.
I’d like to share the “why” and “how” of using research on your target audience to increase resonance with them across your marketing channels. Hint: It’s about a shift in mindset and, in turn, resource investment—from “look at me!” to, “Look at you! Now let’s make your life better!”
Your Process for a Target Audience Survey
The best news is researching your audience is easier than ever. It’s a genuine low-cost, high-reward activity, and it’s one of the quickest ways to separate yourself from the marketing herd. After all, we discovered 65 percent of marketers rarely conduct research (if at all)!
So let’s gear you up with an easy, three-step process, plus a template to rock target audience research like a pro. We’ll use the example of conducting a survey throughout. Though, if this is new territory for you, be pretty generous with your definition of “target audience research.” Heck, I’d even count picking up the phone for some customer convos or shooting off an email or two.
Alright, let’s rock.
Step One: Check Your Assumptions
To start, you gotta check your assumptions. We all have them. And research is the best way to prove or bust them. It’s like what Mark Twain said: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
For example, I put two marketing assumptions to the test:
Content is king. Marketers who spend more time creating content will say their marketing is successful.
Quality over quantity. Marketers who have higher quality content will say their marketing is successful.
After all, what content marketer worth their salt doesn’t accept a “quality > quantity” mindset? I certainly did. But here’s what the data says:
There is no correlation between time spent creating content and reported marketing success.
(R = 0.02; n = 1,597; p-value < 0.0001)
There is some positive correlation between content quality and marketing success, but nothing earth shattering.
(R = 0.29; n = 907; p-value; p-value < 0.0001)
What this showed me is that the question isn’t simply, “Are you creating epic, high-quality content?” It is, “Are you creating the right kind of epic, high-quality content?”
Relevant content is resonant content.
To start, make sure to download the “Target Audience Research Starter Template.”
The first sheet is labeled the “Assumptions Buster.” In column A, insert your audience persona or brief description of your target audience. Next, list an assumption about that audience segment plus your reasoning behind said assumption. Then you’ll start brainstorming the questions to prove or disprove this assumption.
For best results, list as many relevant assumptions as you can think of for each persona or segment. You don’t have to test them all. But the more you outline, the better your questions will be.
The final column on this sheet will be for revisiting once you’ve completed your survey. This is where you can confirm an assumption—or put it to rest for all eternity. ⚰️ (Or at least until your next survey.)
Step Two: Craft Your Questions
Next, you’ll move the best questions from sheet one onto sheet two, labeled “Survey Questions.” Remember, your data is only as good as your questions, so clear, concise, and relevant questions are your survey’s lifeblood.
My favorite article on writing survey questions comes from Qualtrics. They outline the 10 Commandments for killer survey questions. (Definitely worth a read!) I’ll synopsize what I found to be the three most important considerations.
Avoid loaded or leading words: Don’t use words like “could,” “should,” or “might.” They may sound the same but can be interpreted differently.
Avoid non-specific questions: A question with issues of “meaning” or “frequency” is hard to specify. For instance, with the question, “Do you watch TV regularly?”, what does “regularly” mean?
Avoid non-exhaustive listings: If you’re listing multiple-choice answers, give people an “Other (please specify)” option—unless you can cover 100 percent of the choices. This is an excellent candidate for pretesting.
This is where sheet two comes in.
Your questions belong in column A. Next, note what type of question you’re asking. Here are some ideas (though non-exhaustive).
Simple question types:
Free text: Simple text entry, y’all. These are incredibly insightful if you’re trying to pick up on the language your target audience uses. However, it’s also the most labor-intensive at high volumes and makes it tough to run any kind of regression.
Multiple-choice: This is the great scholastic standard—multiple, pre-written answers to choose from. These are great to run total percentages on for comparisons against the entire sample. Just keep in mind that if you can’t provide an exhaustive list covering all possibilities, leave room for an “Other option” selection so you don’t force inaccurate answers. (Hint: Remember, C is always the best guess. Just kidding!)
Binary: Yes or no. Hot or cold. ‘Nuff said.
Scale: These questions can run the gamut of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” With these, make sure to give folks a “Neutral” option if the question isn’t completely relevant to them.
After you’ve knocked out your questions, consider using a pilot survey to give your questions a test drive. This way you can ensure people understand what you mean.
I ran a test pilot survey with some feedback questions at the end:
Were any questions confusing? If so, which?
Did any questions seem irrelevant to your situation? If so, which?
Then I took the responses and cleaned up the frequent offenders.
Step Three: Crunch The Numbers
Now it’s time to get nerdy and run some numbers. Excel is an easy tool for this. And if you want some quick visualizations, Tableau is a nice tool as well. (If you wanna go ultra-nerd, you can even learn R or Python.)
If you’re serious and have some big data to crunch, two things you’ll want to do well in Excel is use the CORREL function to get the correlation coefficient. And the next is to simply use cells to calculate normal distribution probabilities. (Neither of these is as scary as it sounds!)
Your correlation strength is known as an R-value. It’s measured on a scale from -1 to 1, with 1 being 100 percent correlated, and -1 being 100 percent negatively correlated. What you’re looking for are patterns that signal whether or not two factors have a chance of impacting the other. For example, take a peek at the example CORREL function from your template.
First, select the CORREL function:
Next, choose the arrays (or list of cells) you’re going to compare:
Then, the cell you inserted the function into will output the correlation, or R-value, between the two datasets.
From here, you can dig into “why” these data points are correlated positively or negatively.
And remember, correlation does not equal causation, so ensure to take your context into consideration to use your original research like the savviest of marketers.
Now Go Research!
You’re all set to rock some target audience research. Obviously, you can delve far deeper and use more expansive methods. But if you’re new, this is a high-return place to start. Now sink your teeth into some research, and do the best (and most resonant) marketing of your career!
http://ift.tt/2kDEPr5
0 notes
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