Most marketers think they know their audience because they can rattle off demographics—age, location, job title. But knowing who your customers are isn't the same as understanding what drives them.
Rachel Bascom, Head of Marketing at 97th Floor, puts it simply: "To know your audience intimately... means knowing who they are, but more importantly, what they're doing, where they are, and what they need and what they want."
The problem isn't that companies don't research their audiences. Many invest heavily in market research, creating decks full of insights that end up sitting on hard drives, unused. The real issue is that traditional audience research creates static profiles that never inform actual strategy. Companies know their customer is a "Gen Z influencer" or a "B2B decision maker," but they don't know what really motivates them or how to reach them effectively.
At 97th Floor, we've seen this challenge repeatedly across our client base. Companies arrive with extensive market research but struggle to translate insights into campaigns that convert. That's why we've developed an audience-first approach that flips traditional thinking.
Instead of treating audience research as a one-time project, audience-first marketing becomes an ongoing, cumulative process that builds competitive advantage over time. This isn't about doing more research—it's about using insights differently to drive real business results.
Here's what audience-first marketing is not: It's not just "doing research." It's using insights to inform strategy, messaging, and channel decisions at every level.
Traditional marketing agencies often act as channel managers, following established playbooks. B2B companies get LinkedIn and Google Ads. E-commerce brands get Facebook and Instagram. But at 97th Floor, we build custom channel strategies based on how specific audiences actually behave.
Our methodology has to be flexible, too. Rather than insisting on the same rigid research process for every client, audience-first means taking custom approaches to finding insights. Most clients need results quickly—a lengthy, inflexible audience research process would delay campaigns and hurt outcomes.
This approach challenges conventional wisdom at every turn. Instead of defaulting to "B2B equals LinkedIn plus Google," what if your audience hangs out on Reddit or listens to niche podcasts? What if they aren't even searching for your product yet, but they're discussing related problems in online communities?
As Bascom explains, "We're not channel managers. We build custom channel strategies based on how your audience behaves."
The key is moving beyond surface-level demographics to understand motivations and behaviors that actually drive purchasing decisions.
Today's customers face an unprecedented assault of messaging. AI-powered personalization means they're seeing more targeted ads than ever. Marketing emails flood their inboxes. Social media feeds compete for every spare moment of attention.
When every brand is fighting for the same eyes, understanding exactly who your customers are and what motivates them isn't just nice to have—it's your competitive edge. Generic messaging gets ignored. But when you understand what frustrates your audience in their day-to-day work, what motivates them, and how they actually consume information, you can cut through the noise.
At 97th Floor, we've built our approach around this reality. This isn't marketing fluff or the latest trend. Audience-first marketing delivers measurable results because it's rooted in how real people actually behave, not how we think they should behave. Companies that nail this approach don't just see incremental improvements—they unlock entirely new growth channels and messaging strategies their competitors never considered.
When startups secure funding and invest in marketing for the first time, they often have a product they believe in but limited understanding of who will buy it and why. These companies need everything: strategy, messaging, channel selection, and execution.
For these clients, audience-first marketing means starting with fundamental questions. Why do people actually want this product? What problems does it solve that customers care about most? Where do these people spend time online, and how do they prefer to learn about new solutions?
One startup might discover their audience researches extensively before purchasing and responds well to detailed content and case studies. Another might find their buyers make quick decisions based on peer recommendations in Slack communities or industry forums. The same product category, completely different go-to-market strategies based on audience behavior.
This approach provides clear direction from day one, preventing months of wasted spend on channels and messages that don't resonate.
Larger companies often have marketing teams that know their space well but need fresh perspective on specific initiatives. They might want to expand into new markets, launch a product feature, or improve performance on existing campaigns.
For these clients, audience-first marketing means bringing external insights that sharpen existing strategies. Internal teams have valuable institutional knowledge, but they can also develop blind spots over time.
An enterprise software company might assume their audience only cares about ROI and efficiency metrics. But external research might reveal that individual users are also motivated by how the software makes them look competent to their colleagues, or how it reduces stress in their daily work. These insights don't replace existing knowledge—they add crucial layers that improve messaging and positioning.
Sometimes clients need campaigns launched immediately while building deeper audience understanding over time. This might be a company preparing for a funding round, launching during a crucial sales period, or responding to competitive pressure.
The audience-first approach here means learning while executing. Initial campaigns launch based on existing knowledge and best practices, but every interaction provides data about what resonates with the audience. Click-through rates, engagement patterns, conversion data, and customer feedback all become inputs for the next iteration.
This creates a feedback loop where campaigns improve rapidly over time. Instead of waiting months for perfect audience insights before launching, results start immediately and get better as understanding deepens.
A skincare company approached their marketing with a narrow focus on "Gen Z influencers." That demographic description wasn't telling them much about how to actually reach these customers or what would motivate them to buy.
The company had invested heavily in market research—"decks upon decks of insights"—but couldn't figure out how to leverage it effectively. Sound familiar?
Rather than starting over, the 97th Floor team sorted through existing research and supplemented it strategically. Instead of one broad demographic, they identified five distinct audience segments based on motivations: sustainability-focused buyers, trends-focused customers, product researchers who stick with brands long-term, and others.
One key insight emerged about the trends-focused segment: they were really interested in zodiac signs and astrology content. Most skincare companies talk about ingredient benefits or offer price discounts. But this insight led to a campaign pairing products with zodiac signs.
"It outperformed everything else that we were doing," Bascom recalls. "It was just a small insight that we actioned on... it helped us select the right channel to meet the audience and the exact right message to give the audience."
The campaign succeeded because it reached customers through an interest they cared about—zodiac signs—rather than just talking about skincare benefits. Every other beauty brand was fighting for attention in the same way, but this approach cut through the noise by connecting with broader interests that had nothing to do with skincare.
The real power of audience-first marketing reveals itself over time. Unlike traditional campaigns that treat each initiative as separate, ongoing work with audience insights creates compounding returns that get stronger with every interaction.
Every campaign teaches something new about the audience. A social media test reveals which messaging hooks grab attention. An email sequence shows what content drives clicks. A landing page experiment demonstrates which value propositions convert best. These aren't just performance metrics—they're pieces of a growing puzzle that reveals how your specific customers think and behave.
At 97th Floor, we build a database of what works for each client's specific customers. Over months and years, this becomes an invaluable asset that competitors can't easily replicate. We know which channels perform best for different customer segments, which messaging themes resonate most strongly, and which creative approaches drive the highest engagement.
This isn't a "one-and-done" insight approach. Traditional marketing research creates a snapshot in time, but audience-first marketing creates a living, breathing understanding that evolves with your customers. Markets shift, platforms change, and customer behaviors adapt—but companies with strong audience intelligence can pivot quickly because they understand the underlying motivations that drive their customers.
The key is revisiting your audience regularly to stay ahead of these changes. Major triggers for deeper research include launching new products, entering new markets, or when emerging platforms show potential for your specific audience.
Consider Reddit's transformation in B2B marketing. For years, most business software companies dismissed Reddit as too casual or consumer-focused. But at 97th Floor, we identified early signals that technical professionals were increasingly using relevant subreddits to discuss work challenges and discover solutions. We launched Reddit campaigns for multiple B2B clients and found it became a strong way to connect with technical audiences that traditional B2B channels couldn't reach effectively.
The companies that moved quickly on this insight gained significant advantages—reaching their audience in a native space where competitors weren't present, often at much lower costs than LinkedIn or Google Ads. But this opportunity only became visible through ongoing audience intelligence, not one-time research.
Here's what makes audience-first marketing different from traditional research: it's cumulative, not cyclical.
Most companies treat audience research like buying groceries—they start from scratch every time. But audience-first marketing builds knowledge over time. Every campaign teaches something new about customer motivations, preferences, and behaviors. This creates a database of what works for specific audiences that competitors can't easily replicate.
"It's not a cycle, it's cumulative," Bascom explains. "When you're building up all of these learnings and insights, then the results that you are seeing from them are also going to build."
An initial audience insight might improve campaign performance by 10%. But as understanding deepens over months and years, the batting average for messaging and channel strategy increases dramatically. Teams get better at predicting what will resonate, choosing the right platforms, and crafting messages that cut through noise.
Consider the observability company Chronosphere, a long-term 97th Floor client. Over years of working together, we learned that their highly technical audience was quirky and responded to snarkier messaging than typical B2B approaches. We tested messaging on LinkedIn, tried Reddit campaigns, even created a video game for their audience to play.
This deep audience understanding eventually led to a bold campaign targeting competitor events. Knowing their audience appreciated direct, snarky messaging, we ran "ditch the dog" ads on airport displays, taxi tops, and other out-of-home placements around events hosted by competitor Datadog.
The campaign worked—branded search increased significantly—because it was built on years of accumulated audience insights. A company without that deep understanding never would have attempted such a direct competitive approach.
This demonstrates how long-term client relationships compound results. The initial investment in audience research may yield modest improvements, but continued collaboration creates exponential returns as insights build over time.
Audience-first marketing requires staying proactive, not just reactive to data. Customer behaviors evolve, new platforms emerge, and market conditions change. Companies need triggers for when to invest in deeper audience research.
Major triggers include launching new products, entering new markets, or when emerging platforms show potential. Consider Reddit's evolution in B2B marketing. For years, most business software companies considered Reddit off-limits—too casual, too consumer-focused. But audience behaviors shifted. Technical professionals started discussing work challenges in relevant subreddits, and the platform developed better advertising tools.
At 97th Floor, we identified this trend early and launched Reddit campaigns for multiple B2B clients. Companies that moved quickly gained significant advantages—reaching technical audiences in a native environment where competitors weren't present, often at lower costs than traditional B2B channels.
The key is balancing analysis with exploration. Don't just study existing data—actively seek new insights through tools like SparkToro for audience intelligence, Gummy Search for Reddit research, or simply following rabbit holes in analytics and social platforms.
"It's all about following rabbit holes," Bascom notes. "Where you've seen the biggest insights, look there."
Companies often think they need to start audience research from scratch, but most already have valuable insights scattered across different teams and tools.
"Look at the lay of the land and audit what you already have," Bascom recommends. "See what you know about your audience and how you can action that."
Sales teams know what customers ask about most frequently. Product teams understand why people want specific features. Content teams know which topics drive engagement. SEO data reveals what customers search for. Previous ad campaigns show what messaging resonated.
The key is aggregating these insights and identifying gaps. Maybe sales knows customer pain points but marketing doesn't understand where these customers spend time online. Or content engagement data shows what topics interest people, but there's no insight into their broader motivations and interests.
For storing and building on insights, the approach matters less than consistency. Whether it's spreadsheets, shared documents, or custom AI tools, the important thing is capturing learnings somewhere accessible and revisiting them regularly.
This also can't be one person's job. SEO specialists, advertising managers, content creators, designers—everyone should care about and contribute to audience understanding. The best marketing results happen when entire teams understand who they're trying to reach and why.
Audience-first marketing isn't just better research—it's a fundamentally different approach to growth that builds sustainable competitive advantages.
Most companies will continue treating audience research as a project with a beginning and end. They'll create personas, file them away, and wonder why their marketing feels generic and performs inconsistently.
But companies that embrace audience-first marketing as an ongoing capability will compound their advantages over time. They'll identify new channels before competitors, craft messages that resonate more deeply, and build authentic connections with customers that drive both acquisition and retention.
At 97th Floor, we've seen this transformation repeatedly. Clients who commit to the audience-first approach don't just see better campaign performance—they develop marketing advantages that become harder for competitors to replicate over time.
The choice is clear: stick with static demographics or build dynamic, evolving audience intelligence that gets stronger with every campaign. Companies ready to make this shift should start with an audit of existing knowledge and commit to making audience insights cumulative, not cyclical.
Your customers are complex, evolving people with interests and motivations that extend far beyond your product category. The companies that understand this—and build systems to keep learning—will be the ones that break through the noise and drive sustainable growth.
"To know your audience intimately... means knowing who they are, but more importantly, what they're doing, where they are, and what they need and what they want." - Rachel Bascom
02:27 - What it means to truly know your audience
12:43 - The zodiac campaign breakthrough
18:22 - "It's cumulative, not cyclical"
24:17 - Start by auditing what you already have
27:35 - The difference between great and mediocre marketing
FREE Content Consolidation Tools: https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/how-to-consolidate-optimize-and-finally-see-seo-results/
Learn about how to create high-quality content that is audience-focused: https://97thfloor.com/articles/high-quality-content-or-ai-slop/
Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelbascom/
Connect with Paxton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paxtongray/
Looking for an agency that'll be worth the investment? 97th Floor creates custom, audience-first campaigns that drive pipeline and conversions. Get started here: https://97thfloor.com/lets-talk/.
Rachel Bascom is the Head of Content Marketing at 97th Floor, boasting over a decade of expertise in the realm of digital marketing and a fervent dedication to crafting audience-centric content strategies. In her tenure, Rachel has been a trailblazer in the development of the content marketing department, playing an integral role in the transformative journey that positioned 97th Floor as a comprehensive, award-winning, holistic marketing agency.
