Identifying the right target audience is one of the cardinal rules of content marketing. Surprisingly, more marketers than you think aren’t doing it right.

How could that be? It’s simple. Many of them don’t have the data to tell them who they should be targeting and whom they should avoid. They’re relying on what their intuitions say about who their target audience is.

Why are marketers aiming at the wrong target audiences?

Many marketers lean on outdated methods and techniques to identify their target audiences. Worse, some are making decisions about whom to target based on whom they think would be interested in their products or services, without actually looking at any data to back their assumptions up.

The problem with both these approaches is that marketers are often wrong about the audiences that would find their offerings most appealing. They’re left diving headfirst into building content aimed at those with whom it simply doesn’t resonate and failing to reach those who might be eager to learn about their offerings and eventually make a purchase.

At the end of the day, marketers are wasting precious time and dollars creating content that doesn’t drive website traffic, generate sales leads or create new business. Marketing and sales both suffer as a result, and that’s not good for anybody.

Learning to target the right audiences

At Squib.Media, we manage an extensive database of thousands of pieces of online B2B and B2C content, including white papers, eBooks and case studies. More importantly, we collect data about the individuals and companies that are engaging with that content, which our clients can use to determine intent and make more targeted marketing decisions.

Leveraging our data analysis, we help companies better understand the type of content that content consumers are finding most valuable, cluing them in to the problems, challenges and questions potential customers are facing. This doesn’t only help us show companies whether they’re targeting the wrong audiences, but also point them to new audiences they might never even know existed.

Refocus your marketing efforts for more value

Using our data analysis, we can recommend the consumer markets where marketing teams should be focusing the lion’s share of their efforts and resources. This information is based on our analysis of content that’s created by similar companies operating in similar markets.

This is a standard part of our service and one that many customers have found extremely valuable. We’ll identify new markets, industries, segments and even specific accounts that our customers had no idea were potential customers, giving them the insights to locate new business opportunities and create better and more engaging content.

Marketers can use this information to better tailor their marketing campaigns, create content that meaningfully addresses the specific questions they’re asking and ultimately generate more qualified leads for their sales teams.

Partnering with the team that has the data

Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to generate qualified leads and drive new business to your organization. However, many marketers are too focused on producing great content and don’t spend enough resources identifying the right target audiences.

That’s one of the engagement insights Squib.Media’s data science offers marketers.

In addition to our extensive database of B2B and B2C content, we’ve also devised a proprietary methodology that gathers and processes data from that content and gives our customers critical engagement metrics.

When business leaders work with Squib.Media, they get access to a wealth of actionable insights they can use to create compelling marketing campaigns that drive better engagement with their target audiences and ultimately lead to more leads and more conversions.