Why should you have an audience-first strategy?

The demands of audiences in the digital space are constantly evolving. Users now demand a more personalised approach, a smarter approach — and audience-first marketing is about meeting those needs and demands to get the best results.

Having a deeper understanding of your audience and using an effective audience-first model is key to engaging them. Getting clicks and running effective campaigns requires a deeper, broader understanding of your target audience. You’d need more than - who they are. Rather, focus on - how they work and what they like. What’s stopped them from becoming a subscriber?

Inevitably, it all starts with data. Data-driven paid media would translate to diving deeper into your customer information. Do you have the resources for this? This will allow you to have a comprehensive understanding of your audience base and it will allow you to cater to their needs and expectations. This will ultimately help you create conversions or rather, loyal readers.

An audience first strategy would mean that you prioritize your audience as the #1 priority while developing content and subscription plans. You would think of the users on all your fronts, be it social media, content structure, reading time, website display or even tweets! Nothing would come before the audience. They are first in everything you create, publish and distribute.

Let’s simplify this, it is about knowing your audience more than they know themselves, and putting that at the front of all your actions.

Audience-first approach is just as applicable for a brand strategy. It revolves around learning user behavior and then catering to it. Understanding where your customers are, focusing on :

• Interests

• Engagement behavior

• Participation

Focusing on these elements will help come up strategies that work and bring greater ROI or more ‘dollar bills’.

You can follow simple steps to systematically come up with solutions that are beneficial for both users and the brand.

• Identify

• Monitor

• Track

• Segment

• Preferences

• Plan

There’s also a more fundamental advantage: audience expectation is rising. More and more, consumers expect a personalized experience. They want their ads to sound authentic, but also to be convenient and relevant. And a wrongly placed or poorly worded advertisement can turn off any potential consumer in an instant. Being audience-first and data-driven ensures that the expectations of users are met. And audiences who feel heard are more likely to convert.