The Research Isn’t the Problem. What You Do With It Is.

Here's what we've observed: Companies invest heavily in market research.

They create decks full of insights. Then those decks sit on hard drives, unused.

The issue isn't effort.

It's that traditional audience research creates static snapshots that never translate into strategy.

Demographics tell you who your customers are. Understanding—the kind that actually converts—tells you what drives them.

Rachel Bascom, our Head of Content Marketing, 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."

That distinction changes everything.

Generic messaging gets ignored.

But when you understand what frustrates your audience in their actual work, what motivates them, and how they consume information, you have the competitive edge.

Here are two examples that show the power of audience-first marketing.

The Opportunity

Observability platform Chronosphere is a perfect example of how cumulative audience insights transform what's possible.

Over years of partnership, 97th Floor tested numerous tactics and uncovered something critical: their B2B audience wasn't a faceless business buyer.

They were a niche, quirky group of technical professionals with distinct preferences and communication styles. That distinction mattered enormously.

The Strategy

Initial campaigns ran on typical B2B channels like LinkedIn with standard business messaging.

But digging deeper, 97th Floor learned these buyers responded differently on Reddit—they preferred snarky, direct language that matched how they actually talked on that platform. Even unconventional tactics worked: a custom video game created for the audience performed remarkably well.

The breakthrough came when recognizing that events were critical to this audience. Rather than accept that competitor-run events were off-limits, 97th Floor used the accumulated knowledge that this audience responded to bold, snarky messaging.

We ran digital out-of-home ads around competitor Datadog's events with the message "ditch the dog"—placed on airports, taxi tops, and high-traffic areas surrounding the events.

The Results

The result? Significant increases in branded search and searches for the exact campaign messaging.

• 47% Increase in US Site Traffic

• 743% Increase in Site Traffic in Detroit

• 81% Increase in Searches for “What is Chronosphere”

This strategy was only possible because of years of learning what this specific audience responded to. A company without that deep understanding never would have attempted such direct competitive positioning.

The Opportunity

Skincare company eos approached their marketing with a narrow focus on "Gen Z influencers."

That description wasn't telling them much about how to actually reach these customers or what would motivate them to buy.

The Strategy

Rather than starting over, the 97th Floor team sorted through existing research and supplemented it strategically.

Instead of one broad demographic, we 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 us to pair products and zodiac signs.

The Results

When first launched, we only spent 4.1% of our Facebook budget on Zodiac ads. Despite that, 42.5% of EOS' total purchases came through Facebook during that time. These ads drove action with the highest volume of purchases and the highest historic ROAS.

The campaign succeeded because it reached customers through an interest they cared about—zodiac signs—rather than just talking about skincare benefits.

The Bottom Line

You probably have valuable audience insights scattered across your organization right now.

Sales knows what customers ask about most. Product teams understand why people want specific features. Content teams know which topics drive engagement. SEO data reveals search intent. Past campaigns show what messaging resonated.

The work isn't starting from scratch. It's aggregating what you already know and identifying gaps.

Why are you settling for demographics when you could be speaking to your audience’s motivations?

If you're ready to audit your existing insights and build cumulative audience intelligence that actually compounds, we're here to help.

Results are waiting for you.

97th Floor is the number one digital marketing agency built to create pipeline and revenue by crafting and executing custom, audience-first channel strategies.