Target Audience Research

Meta just replaced interest stacking with a text box. What Meta Is Really Changing Meta is moving from manual interest stacking → to AI-driven audience interpretation. Before: Select interests manually Narrow by behavior Layer demographics Try to “hack” the perfect combination Now: You describe the audience in natural language Meta interprets intent using AI Algorithm finds matching behavior patterns This is similar to how Google Performance Max shifted targeting from keywords to signals. 🎯 Why This Is a Big Deal for Advertisers 1️⃣ Targeting Is Becoming “Signal-Based,” Not “Interest-Based” When you type: “Startup founders scaling with paid ads” Meta doesn’t just match the word “startup.” It analyzes: Engagement behavior Content interaction Pixel data Video watch patterns Purchase intent signals This means targeting becomes dynamic, not static. 2️⃣ Creative Is Now the REAL Targeting This is the most important shift. If your creative clearly speaks to: First-time home buyers Gym beginners SaaS founders Real estate investors Meta’s AI learns from: Who stops scrolling Who watches 50%+ Who clicks Who converts The system then expands toward similar behavior clusters. Broad audience + strong messaging = scale. 3️⃣ Interest Layering Will Lose Power Over Time Stacking 5–6 interests used to feel “smart.” But in reality: It limited scale It slowed learning It increased CPM It delayed optimization Now Meta wants: Clear audience intent Strong pixel data Strong creatives Broader targeting This shortens learning time. ⚠️ What This Means for Performance Marketers For someone like you (who already tests multiple campaigns and creatives), this is actually an advantage. Your focus should now shift toward: 🔹 1. Message Clarity Instead of hunting interests: Write precise audience descriptions Build ads that speak directly to one persona 🔹 2. Creative Testing Over Audience Testing Old testing: 5 audiences × 1 creative New testing: 1–2 broad audiences × 5–8 creatives Creative becomes the targeting filter. 🔹 3. Better Pixel Data Becomes Critical Meta relies more on: Website conversions Engagement signals High-quality events Poor tracking = poor optimization. 🚀 The Real Strategy Going Forward Here’s what will likely win in 2026 Meta Ads: Broad targeting Strong, persona-specific creatives Clear conversion events Faster creative iteration cycles AI-guided scaling Manual targeting is slowly becoming obsolete. The advertisers who understand messaging psychology + data interpretation will dominate.

Identifying your target audience is step one. Success in business requires much more: It's one thing to know who you're selling to. It's another thing to know: - Where they spend their time - What mindset they're in when they encounter your message - What triggers them to take action That's the message behind this Lamborghini quote: Don't spend money trying to reach buyers in the wrong places. Most brands ignore this principle. They launch campaigns and run ads without asking fundamental questions: ➡️ Where does our customer actually spend time online? ➡️ What moment are we trying to reach them in? ➡️ What problem are they trying to solve when they see our message? The platform matters as much as the message. But so does the context. If you're selling enterprise SaaS to tech leads... They're searching Google for solutions. That's intent-driven behavior. Instagram won't capture that moment. If you're targeting founders running DTC brands... They're listening to podcasts during commutes,  checking Slack between meetings, and reading emails at night. They're not passively scrolling TikTok looking for business tools. If you're marketing luxury wellness retreats... Your buyers are researching through referrals and testimonials. They want proof from people they trust,  Not direct response ads interrupting their feed. Understanding this changes how you allocate budget. Your customer isn't everyone. And being present on a platform doesn't mean they're in buying mode. Someone scrolling Instagram at 11 PM is in entertainment mode. Someone searching Google at 2 PM is in solution mode. It’s the same person, but with a different intent and conversion likelihood. That's why relevance is a critical component of any scalable advertising system. At Ad Pros, we map out three things before launching anything: ✅ Audience behavior:  Where they spend time and what they're doing there ✅ Platform mechanics:  Which platforms reward the type of content that fits your message ✅ Timing and intent:  When they're most likely to act and what triggers that action The right message is only half of the work that needs to be done. To convert, you need the right message, at the right time, on the right platform. Ready to add $1m/month to your eCommerce business? Join the waitlist: https://lnkd.in/e-Av-tdY Do you know where your audience spends most of their time?  Leave a comment below with your thoughts. ♻️ Repost to share this reminder with your network.  Follow Nehal Kazim for more advertising strategy.

Different audiences need different openings. Here’s what works for each. There’s no one-size-fits-all opener. Your audience, executives, clients, and students, shape how you should begin. Here are 9 customized ways to hook attention based on who you’re talking to: 1. For Execs: Lead with a Promise    ➝ “In 7 minutes, you’ll see why this solution drives $3M in ROI.”     2. For Clients: Use a Vivid Visual    ➝ “Picture your Q3 roadmap—cut in half. That’s what this does.”     3. For Internal Teams: Tell a Story    ➝ “Two years ago, we faced the same challenge you’re in now…”     4. For Students: Ask a Provocative Question    ➝ “What if failing this test made you better at your job?”     5. For Pitches: Make a Bold Claim    ➝ “We’re not just solving X—we’re reshaping the category.”     6. For Workshops: Issue a Challenge    ➝ “Stand up if you’ve ever wanted to walk out of a training session.”     7. For Keynotes: Start with Silence    ➝ A pause before speaking builds gravity and presence.     8. For Tech Audiences: Hit with a Data Stat    ➝ “42% of teams still deploy weekly with manual QA…”     9. For Any Audience: Speak with Empathy    ➝ “I know how intimidating this can feel. I’ve been there too.”     The opener sets the emotional tone. Make it intentional. Who are you speaking to next? Pick one and practice. 📌 Save this cheat sheet 👤 Follow Jay Mount for communication systems that flex with context

I've noticed something about how marketers talk about their "target audience." Most of them focus entirely on demographics and job titles. Examples: • "We target CMOs at mid-market SaaS companies" • "We're after operations directors at D2C brands" • "Our ideal customer is a millennial parent who makes $100K+" But the most effective marketers I know focus instead on: • Where their audience already pays attention • Specific problems their audience is actively trying to solve • The language their audience uses to describe their challenges Demographics might tell you who someone is, but they don't tell you what they care about or how to reach them. The next time you're defining your target audience, try starting with "People who are struggling with X."

Over a million people viewed my post on unread UN reports. The irony wasn’t lost on me. A post about UN reports was read more than the actual UN reports!🫣 That post unpacked the problems (if you missed it, you can have a look at the link below). This post is about the solutions that came from the comment section. Here’s what the LinkedIn community had to teach the UN: 1️⃣ Use the “Dip, Swim, Dive” Framework Dip = 30-second hook for opening paragraphs and social media Swim = executive summary that actually summarises. Dive = full technical report for specialists. Most people never dive. But everyone needs to dip. 2️⃣ Lead with Stakes (Heart), Not Just Stats (Head) “735 million people went to bed hungry last night” resonates more than “Global food insecurity affects 735 million individuals.” Same data. Different impact. 3️⃣ Hire Audience Translators Not only language translators but 'audience' translators. Journalists who turn policy into stories. Creators who make data shareable. The UN hires economists and climate scientists. Why not communication experts who speak 'layperson'? None of this requires dumbing down 'technical' content. It requires opening up. Because here’s the part that gets missed... Clear, accessible communication isn’t just a branding fix. It’s a social justice issue. When reports are dense or riddled with jargon, we don’t just lose readers, we silence stakeholders. Neurodiverse audiences. Non-native speakers. Frontline actors. The very people whose insights should shape decisions. Because every unread report isn’t just wasted research. It’s wasted time, wasted money, and... wasted chances to act before global problems get worse. LinkedIn, it seems, just wrote the United Nations’s communication playbook. 👉 See original post here: https://lnkd.in/eFEjrwYE 🔥Follow me for content that is inclusive & accessible

“B2B Marketing and the 95:5 Rule” - new cartoon and post: In 2021, Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute introduced the 95:5 Rule, a simple but powerful concept that challenged conventional thinking in B2B marketing. In his research, John showed that up to 95% of buyers are not in the market in any one time (and perhaps won’t be for months or years). As he put it: “This is a deceptively simple fact, but it has a profound implication for advertising. It means that advertising mostly hits people who aren’t going to buy anytime soon. And in turn, that tells us about how advertising works: it mainly works by building and refreshing memory links to the brand. These memory links activate when buyers do come into the market. So, if your advertising is better at building brand-relevant memories, your brand becomes more competitive.” This runs counter to the short-term pitch approach taken by so much of B2B advertising — trying to drive immediate marketing leads. Marketers can’t push out-of-market buyers to buy now, and only 5% of buyers are currently in market. As Peter Weinberg and Jon Lombardo wrote about Dawes’ work when they led the B2B Institute: “Effective marketing increases future sales in future buying situations. How? By increasing the probability that the brand comes to mind when the buyer goes in-market. Simply put, the brand that gets remembered is the brand that gets bought. You can’t push buyers down a funnel, but you can, to quote Professor Jenni Romaniuk, ‘catch buyers as they fall’.” This framework also expands the remit on B2B marketing to be a heckuva lot more exciting than it is often perceived. It’s not just about features and benefits and driving qualified marketing leads. It’s about long-term brand building. I often think about a quote Eric Ryan shared when we worked together at Method: “There are no low-interest categories — only low-interest brands.” >>> Sign up for my weekly marketoon email newsletter (link in bio). #marketing #cartoon #marketoon Marketoonist

🏟️ Who is the women’s sports fan? The answer may surprise you, and brands & buyers planning for 2026 should take note: the idea women's sports fans are a niche, female-only cohort is outdated. Latest data reveals women's sports fans are highly engaged, gender-balanced, & an economically influential consumer base driving the fastest-growing sector in sports. 1. The Undeniable Gender Parity in Viewership The most crucial demo insight for brands and investors is the gender split: Men watch women's sports in nearly equal numbers as women do. • Gender-Balanced Fandom: Research from 2024 & 2025 indicates the women's sports fan base is often around 43% to 50% male. In fact, some studies show that a higher % of men (compared to women) watch women's sports at least a few times a year. • The Dual Fan: A vast majority of women's sports fans—around 77%—are fans of both men's and women's sports, which dramatically increases the total addressable market for sponsors. • Record-Breaking Numbers: This balanced viewership is translating to massive growth, such as the 2024 NCAA WBB final beating the men's final in viewership for the first time ever, demonstrating the sheer size and mainstream appeal of the audience. 2. Digital-First, High-Engagement Consumption Profile The consumption habits of this audience are fundamentally different, which provides unique marketing opportunities: • Social & Streaming Dominance: The women's sports audience skews significantly younger (Gen Z & Millennials), leading to a high reliance on social media and streaming platforms for discovery, highlights, and live content. Young fans seek experiences and entertainment beyond linear TV. • Athlete-Driven Content: Consumption is heavily driven by loyalty to individual athletes. Fans crave the authentic, behind-the-scenes, and personal stories shared by athletes on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. This creates deeper engagement and a highly effective channel for influencer marketing. • Higher Engagement: Avid women's sports fans are statistically more engaged & spend more than avid men's sports fans, showing strong appetite for more coverage. 3. The Power of Purpose and Commercial Spend This fanbase is spending, and they expect brands to meet them on their values: • Significant Economic Influence: Women's sports fans are often lead income earners in their households (74% in one recent study) and make or heavily influence majority of household purchasing decisions. This is an affluent & commercially active consumer. • Trust and Purchase Intent: They’re highly receptive to aligned sponsorships. Fans are 2.8x more likely to purchase a product recommended by a woman athlete than by other types of influencers. • Values-Based Spending: Support for women's sports is viewed as an extension of supporting equity & social progress. When brands sponsor women's sports, it signals alignment with these values, and fans reward that commitment with their wallets. 👀 The signals are everywhere….

These two heat maps are from a neuroscience study I conducted. I wanted to see what happens when two different sellers/presenters share the same PowerPoint presentation with a customer. Notice how in one group, buyers focus mainly on the slides, and in the other group, buyers focus mainly on the presenter. The slides and seller's narrative were the same for both groups of buyers. So, my research question was: does attention follow the person or the pixels? Since both presenters delivered the same content using the same slides, we can assume that delivery style matters (e.g., having more gestures, using an expressive tone, better timing for visuals, etc…). So, a presenter might be tempted to ask: how do I develop better delivery skills? But there might be a better nuance to consider. These heat maps show us that audiences unconsciously prioritize attention... they may follow what feels most meaningful, trustworthy, or effort-free. So, then the better question to ask is: what do I really want my audience to focus on? In a product demo, for example, the screen might be the star, and the presenter should actually fade into the background. In a motivational talk, the presenter might be the message, and the slides are just minimal punctuation. In a training session, the slides and the presenter might need equal attention. So: design and deliver for the focus that is most important, and take charge of that focus. Otherwise, your audiences will choose it for you.

✍ PR/Comms tip: As a journalist, I get dozens of email pitches a day. Here’s how to pitch to a reporter vs. an editor. 📝 For a reporter: - Get their name right. (The number of times I received “Hello, Narayan,” “Hello FirstName,” or—my favorite—“Hello Next Media Round,” during my reporter days was too many to count.) - The topic, including who/what you’re pitching, must be relevant to their coverage area. - Make sure sources are ready to interview (asap in some cases) if there’s interest. - Align with the news cycle as often as you can, but offer something unique. Oftentimes, reporters get pitches on stories they just wrote about.  - Offer exclusives or embargoes. - Localize it and/or go beyond the event. (What works for a national outlet is not going to work for a local or regional one.) 📝 For an editor: - Explain why it’s newsworthy. - The pitch is in their team’s area of coverage. - Understand that the pitch is just to get on the editor’s radar. If it’s a good pitch, it will be forwarded to the appropriate reporter or writer. Pitches may get assigned depending on how newsy the topic is, but sometimes (in the case of profiles, features, trend stories, etc.) it will be at the discretion of the reporter to write about it. - I can tell when a pitch is customized versus an email blast. Always customize—tell me why it’s relevant to me, my news organization, and our readers. ✨ Most importantly, having a professional relationship already established with a reporter or editor will always serve you better. Be proactive rather than reactive, especially in news. 

I spent a year at Gong creating content for the 95% of buyers who weren't ready to buy. We grew from 12K to 220K LinkedIn followers and generated millions in pipeline — and never talked about our product. Here's the exact playbook I used (and why most B2B marketers get it backwards): Most marketing teams burn budget chasing the 5% who are actively buying.  They're fighting over scraps. Meanwhile, 95% of your market isn't even looking for you yet. That's where the real opportunity is. 𝗔𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲: 𝗡𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸. For an entire year. No features. No demos. No "why Gong is better" posts. Just pure value for sellers trying to hit quota. Sound crazy. But here's what happened: LinkedIn: 12K → 220K followers  Podcast: 100K downloads in 18 months Webinars: 500 → 2,500 registrations  Email open rates: 28% (industry average: 15%) But the real win? Sales reps using our content in their calls.  Buyers showing up to demos already trusting us.  Inbound pipeline grows quarter over quarter without fail. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟵𝟱-𝟱 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝟭. 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 We mapped every micro-frustration in a rep's day: -Writing cold emails that get ignored -Running discovery calls that feel like interrogations -Handling pricing objections without panicking Each pain point became content gold. 𝟮. 𝗕𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 We asked ourselves: -What are they doing that's not working? -What have they accepted as "just the way it is"? -What would actually help them tomorrow? Then we created it. No strings attached. 𝟯. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 Instead of "Here's what the data says..." We'd start with: "You're 5 minutes into a discovery call. Your buyer just said your price is too high…." Emotion first.  Data second. People remember stories, not statistics. 𝟰. 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 (𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆) 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 Blog posts for readers.  Podcasts for listeners.  Videos for visual learners. Same value, different formats. Because your audience consumes content differently. Meet your audience where they already are. 𝟱. 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 Forget last-touch attribution. (It’s mostly pointless). Track: -Follower growth -Direct traffic (brand recall) -Inbound opportunities -Pipeline influenced by content 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁? You HAVE to play the long game. Create value without asking for anything back. Trust that helping the 95% today will create customers tomorrow. Most marketers fight for existing demand. The smart ones CREATE demand. Which game are you playing? PS: Want the full 95-5 playbook? I broke it all down for HubSpot. Link to the article in the comments. #marketing #partnerpost