Tips for Understanding Audience Intent in Content

Your highest-intent prospects aren't all the same person. I was reviewing several of our recent BOF campaigns and I was reminded of the fact that: The closer someone gets to conversion, the more your messaging matters. But most marketers treat high-intent audiences like they're all the same person. They're not. Someone who abandoned cart yesterday needs different messaging than someone who's been browsing for three weeks. Someone on mobile at 2pm needs different creative than someone on desktop at 9pm. Here’s what you should do: 1️⃣ Understand intent decay patterns. We've tracked this across client accounts - purchase intent has a half-life. After someone shows buying signals, you have roughly 72 hours of peak conversion opportunity. Day 4-7, intent drops 60%. By week two, you're basically starting over. Many advertisers waste this window with generic "complete your purchase" messaging. 2️⃣ Segment your BOF audiences by recency, not just behavior. Recent cart abandoners get urgency-focused creative. Week-old browsers get social proof and reviews. Month-old prospects need fresh product education. Same goal, different psychology. We've seen 40%+ ROAS improvements just from this basic segmentation. 3️⃣ Rotate creative elements based on engagement, not calendar. Most teams mess up by refreshing on schedule instead of performance. Monitor micro-signals: when CTR drops 15% from peak, when frequency hits 2.5x without converting, when engagement falls while impressions climb. Don't wait for Meta to flag fatigue. 4️⃣ Test messaging depth, not just messaging type. Generic "20% off" performs worse than "still thinking about those running shoes?" for cart abandoners. Specific beats generic at every intent level. We use AI to personalize hooks based on browsing behavior, and it consistently outperforms broad creative by 25-35%. Most BOF campaigns fail because they treat high-intent traffic like low-intent traffic. You've already done the hard work of getting someone interested. Don't waste it with lazy messaging.

Your customer avatar is probably wrong. It’s not your fault. The entire industry has been running the same lazy playbook for years... But there's a better way to truly understand your audience—I'll break it down for you step by step: First, it's important to note: most marketers confuse *data* with *insight*, and most brands only know their customer’s basic info. They'll run entire marketing campaigns based on minimal insights: • Male • 25-45 • Likes fitness But that’s not a profile. That’s just a demographic checkbox. To actually connect, you need to go deeper… I use a 5-point system to build customer avatars that actually work. The 5 pillars are: 1. Identity 2. Emotion 3. Generation 4. Seasonal purchasing behavior 5. Cultural movements Here’s how it works: 1. We start by researching Identity. Your audience isn’t just a group of people—they see themselves as someone specific. Are they: • Hustlers? • Achievers? • Rebels? Their core identity drives what they believe, which is why we start with the core and layer things on top. 2. Next we get insight on Emotion. Emotion drives buying decisions, not logic. Understanding which emotions fuel your audience is key: • Fear of missing out? • Desire for control? • Pride in their achievements? If you can nail the emotional hook, your offer becomes irresistible. 3. We then move on to Generation. Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen X aren’t the same. Each grew up with different values, tech, and cultural experiences. Even subtle things like humor or world event references can make a huge difference. We add this to the mix along with: 4. Seasonal Purchasing Behavior Your audience doesn’t buy the same things year-round. Track when they’re most likely to spend and align your campaigns with their *natural habits*. E.g.: Fitness goals spike in January, outdoor gear in spring. Timing is everything. 5. Finally, we study Cultural Movements. What’s happening in the world that aligns with your audience? If we’re gonna tap into shared beliefs, trends, or societal shifts to make your brand feel relevant, we need to know how to go from “just a product” to a movement. When you understand these 5 layers, you stop guessing—and start connecting. You stop throwing spaghetti and start painting a masterpiece. TLDR; If your avatar is built on a static template from 6 years ago, you’re in trouble. Avatars are as fluid as the humans they’re built on. Knowing how to track the 5 most important those changes (and build a strong marketing strategy from them) is the key to real growth. 🔑

About 2-3 months back, I found out that one of my client’s page had around 570 people visiting the pricing page, but barely 45 booked a demo. Not necessarily a bad stat but that means more than 500 high-intent prospects just 'vanished' 🫤 . That didn’t make sense to me because people don’t randomly stumble on pricing pages. So in a few back-and-forth with the team, I finally traced the issue to their current lead scoring model: ❌ The system treated all engagement as equal, and couldn’t distinguish explorers from buyers. ➡️ To give you an idea: A prospect who hit the pricing page five times in one week had the same score as someone who opened a webinar email two months ago. It’s like giving the same grade to someone who Googled “how to buy a house” and someone who showed up to tour the same property three times. 😏 While the RevOps team worked to fix the scoring system, I went back to work with sales and CS to track patterns from their closed-won deals. 💡The goal here was to understand what high-intent behavior looked like right before conversion. Here’s what we uncovered: 🚨 Tier 1 Buying Signals These were signals from buyers who were actively in decision-making mode: ‣ 3+ pricing page visits in 10–14 days ‣ Clicked into “Compare us vs. Competitor” pages ‣ Spent >5 mins on implementation/onboarding content 🧠 Tier 2 Signals These weren’t as hot, but showed growing interest: ‣ Multiple team members from the same domain viewing pages ‣ Return visits to demo replays ‣ Reading case studies specific to their industry ‣ Checking out integration documentation (esp. Salesforce, Okta, HubSpot) Took that and built content triggers that matched those behaviors. Here’s what that looks like: 1️⃣ Pricing Page Repeat Visitors → Triggered content: ”Hidden Costs to Watch Out for When Buying [Category] Software” ‣ We offered insight they could use to build a business case. So we broke down implementation costs, estimated onboarding time, required internal resources, timeline to ROI. 📌 This helped our champion sell internally, and framed the pricing conversation around value, not cost. 2️⃣ Competitor Comparison Viewers → Triggered: “Why [Customer] Switched from [Competitor] After 18 Months” ‣ We didn’t downplay the competitor’s product or try to push hard on ours. We simply shared what didn’t work for that customer, why the switch made sense for them, and what changed after they moved over. 📌 It gave buyers a quick to view their own struggles, and a story they could relate to. And our whole shebang worked. Demo conversions from high-intent behaviors are up 3x and the average deal value from these flows is 41% higher than our baseline. One thing to note is, we didn’t put these content pieces into a nurture sequence. Instead, they were triggered within 1–2 hours of the signal. I’m big on timing 🙃. I’ll be replicating this approach across the board, and see if anything changes. You can try it and let me know what you think.

"Intent" is great in theory. “Know exactly which of your target accounts are in market right now" is the grand promise. But in practice, we never have pure, uncut buyer intent. Instead we have various types of “intent signals.” These can be useful, but hard to understand when they all get grouped into a single buzzword. The distinctions between each are important when deciding where to focus. Here's my *rough draft* framework for understanding the 6 types of intent signals (through the buyer's eyes): 1.) Declarative Intent (Zero Party) 🗣️ -- The buyer *explicitly* states a need, budget, or timeline in their own words. -- Example: Buyer says "I'm launching a pilot by EOQ." -- Found with Gong, Fathom, Live Chat, Forms. 2.) Direct Brand Engagement (1st Party) 🔍 -- The buyer consumes relevant information on properties you own. -- Example: Pricing page visits, free trial started. -- Found with Common Room, RB2B, Vector 👻, Koala, Warmly, etc. 3.) Off-Property Brand Engagement (2nd Party) 🌐 -- The buyer interacts with content about your product on someone else's property. -- Example: LinkedIn Ad likes, G2 profile views. -- Found with Fibbler, Sales Nav, G2. 4.) Category Engagement (2nd Party) 🥊 -- The buyer researches rivals or seeks information on your category. -- Example: Engaged with competitor on social, G2 category views. -- Found with PhantomBuster, Trigify.io, G2. 5.) Category Research Activity (3rd Party) 📚 -- Someone at the account consumes content related to your product or problem. -- Example: Reading many "AI for video" articles. -- Found with Bombora, TechTarget, Foundry. 6.) Company Investment Activity (3rd Party)💰 -- The company indicates (or implies) an investment in your space. -- Example: Announces AI team, opens US warehouse.  -- Found with Keyplay, Clay, UserGems 💎. What's your take? Do you see intent differently? Is there a category I've missed or one you'd frame differently? I get asked about intent all the time. I'd love to get more clear on the details. Any comments or feedback I'll roll into PeerSignal.org's research on this topic.

It will happen slowly, then all of a sudden. Your customers will shift how they search for information about your products. They will use: 1) Decision engines like Google, designed to help them compare products, confirm product details and make purchases. 2) Information engines like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews that feel more like a conversation with a trusted expert or knowledgable friend. Traditional search engines hand you a research project — many pages to sift through to find the information you seek. Generative AI search engines give you direct answers — with a chance of hallucination and inaccuracies. Here's what marketers need to understand: 🔹 Acknowledge the shift: Your customers are learning how/when to use two different types of search engines. There's the traditional "decision engine" like Google, and the "information engine" like chatGPT. 🔹 Accept that humans are lazy: Humans will choose the most convenient option. It’s human nature. Your customers prefer speed and convenience over absolute precision. 🔹 Information queries are moving to AI: When your customers want to learn about their problems, they’ll have conversations with AI instead of reading your blog posts. If your brand isn't appearing in these AI responses, you're becoming invisible to a growing audience. 🔹 Prepare for reduced website traffic: Expect fewer visits from basic informational queries as AI handles these directly. However, the traffic you do receive will be higher-intent visitors, closer to making a decisions, that should convert better. 🔹 Update your content strategy: Create different content for different search engines — intent-targeted informational content for generative AI search, and conversion-focused content for traditional search. 🔹 Build content AI can't summarize: Create interactive content, like calculators and data-driven content that requires user input. This ensures your brand stays visible even as AI handles informational queries. 🔹 Focus on intent, not keywords: The old approach of targeting high-volume keywords is outdated. Instead, understand and align with your customers' search intentions. The key takeaway? Humans are lazy. Your customers will consistently choose the convenience of direct answers from generative AI, even if those answers are sometimes inaccurate. They want to avoid sifting through pages of search results. As marketers, we need to adapt to this new reality. We must create content that caters to both types of searches: (1) content that helps your brand appear in generative AI responses for informational queries and (2) content that attracts and converts for decision searches on traditional search engines. How are you starting to search differently with generative AI?

I had the privilege of chatting with Paxton Gray of 97th Floor about the future of SEO and hiring. Here are some of the things we discussed: ➡️Misguided AI implementation: Many companies are prematurely replacing skilled SEO professionals with AI tools, hoping for a quick and cheap solution. This often backfires as these tools are best used to enhance, not replace, human expertise. ➡️Importance of organic intelligence: Strategic thinking and nuanced understanding of SEO are crucial, and AI cannot replicate this "organic intelligence". Companies need a balance of human expertise and AI assistance. ➡️The role of the audience: Understanding the buyer's journey and creating content that resonates with the target audience is paramount. SEO is not just about keywords and technical aspects but about providing valuable content that caters to user needs and intent. ➡️Content is royalty: Content should be created for users, not just for search engines. High-quality content that appeals to the audience will naturally perform well in search rankings. ➡️Self-reflection and strategy: Companies should analyze their existing SEO strategy and content, especially after an algorithm update. They need to understand their audience's needs and create a comprehensive strategy that aligns with their buyer's journey. Recommendations for companies: ✅Don't blindly rely on AI: Utilize AI tools strategically to augment human capabilities, not replace them entirely. ✅Invest in skilled professionals: Retain and empower SEO experts who can develop and execute effective strategies. ✅Prioritize audience-centric content: Create valuable and engaging content that caters to the target audience's needs and interests. ✅Focus on the buyer's journey: Understand how your audience searches for information and tailor your content to each stage of their journey.

Last Friday, I ran a poll asking: What’s the most underrated skill in data storytelling? It was a near tie between “Understanding your audience” (37%) and “Knowing what to leave out” (36%). Many commenters pointed out how connected these two areas are. When you don’t know your audience, you include everything—just in case. When you do know your audience, you reduce the noise and sharpen the focus. So, how do you actually get to know your audience? Here are three practical tips I often share: 1️⃣ 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲. Some data professionals avoid this, especially with senior stakeholders who seem intimidating or too busy. However, many execs are happy to share their priorities if it means getting more relevant, actionable insights. 2️⃣ 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐱𝐲. Find someone who’s worked with this audience before, such as a peer analyst, team lead, or direct report. Ask what has worked well in past presentations and what hasn’t. 3️⃣ 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬. Look at QBR decks, strategic goals, or internal updates. These often reveal what’s top of mind for your audience, even if they never say it directly. The more you understand your audience, the more you can tailor your message to them and the more likely your insights will inspire action. What other strategies have helped you better understand your audience? 🔽 🔽 🔽 🔽 🔽 Craving more of my data storytelling, analytics, and data culture content? Sign up for my newsletter today: https://lnkd.in/gRNMYJQ7 Check out my brand-new data storytelling masterclass: https://lnkd.in/gy5Mr5ky Need a virtual or onsite data storytelling workshop? Let's talk. https://lnkd.in/gNpR9g_K

Struggling to convey how your product can solve customer problems? Here’s how I transformed complex product features into compelling messages. Focusing solely on product features leaves potential clients uninterested and disengaged. They don't see how your product fits into their business, solves their problems, or makes their lives easier. It’s the fastest way to disconnect with your customers. Want to imagine the long-term impact? Of course not. Here's how you can craft personalized, problem-solving content that speaks directly to your audience’s needs: 1️⃣ Understand Your Audience's Pain Points: Conduct thorough research to identify the specific problems your audience faces. Use surveys, interviews, and feedback to gather insights directly from your customers. 2️⃣ Highlight Solutions, Not Just Features: Frame your messaging around how your product solves these problems. Clearly articulate the benefits and outcomes that clients will experience, rather than just listing features. 3️⃣ Use Real-World Examples: Incorporate case studies and testimonials that showcase how your product has successfully resolved issues for other clients. This adds credibility and relatability to your messaging. 4️⃣ Create Engaging Content: Develop content that addresses these pain points through various formats—blogs, videos, infographics, and social media posts. Ensure your content is informative, engaging, and easy to digest. 5️⃣ Focus on the Customer Journey: Map out the customer journey and tailor your content to meet their needs at each stage. Ensure that your messaging evolves from awareness to consideration to decision, addressing specific concerns at each step. You can learn to transform your messaging, captivate your audience, and watch your business thrive. 🔽 🔽 🔽 👋 Hi, I'm Graham. Thanks for checking out my Post.   Here is what you can do next 🔽   ➕ Follow me to see me in your feed   🔔 Hit the bell on my profile for Post notifications   💬 Share your ideas or insights in the comments   ♻ Inform others in your network via a Share or Repost #fintech #finance #business #technology #innovation #socialmedia #sales

I encourage sales + marketing leaders to get a "PhD" in who your buyer is and what they care about. Okay, there's no ACTUAL PhD, but you can approach it that way. B2B buyers are smart and shrewd, they spot shallow content right away, and using the wrong language can can make them feel like you don't understand their industry. On the other hand... When content and messaging feels like it's coming from someone who understands them and their role, you begin to build trust and authority. Here are a few ways my team has learned to do it: 1️⃣ Follow top accounts in your buyer's industry — subscribe to publications they subscribe to. 💡 While working on OnQ, a patient experience solution for hospitals, our copywriter DEVOURED publications like Becker's (The leading hospital magazine for hospital business news) to understand the target audience. 2️⃣ Interview "raving fans" and real customers about they like about product/service. Their answers may not be what you think. 3️⃣ Use tools like SEMrush and SparkToro to find out what content your buyers are consuming and what questions they're asking. And... whether you have a new hire or a new partner, conduct a repeatable, methodical approach to discovery. Shameless plug: Swivel's has a 4-week process that includes content collection, Q&A sessions, and offline work to align on buyer-centric positioning, messaging, and content. We want that buyer PhD! #salesenablement #sales #b2b