Short answer
Audience research builds credible evidence about people's needs, context, language, and behavior so communication choices reflect observed reality rather than internal assumptions.
About Audience research
Builds evidence about an audience's needs, context, and behavior to guide communication choices. It uses appropriate sources and methods to replace assumptions with findings and clearly stated limits.
Use this competency for
- Roles that investigate audience needs, context, language, or behavior before communication decisions.
- Work that plans, conducts, synthesizes, or applies audience evidence.
Do not use this competency for
- Roles that receive established audience findings and do not collect or interpret research.
Important distinctions
Marketing analytics
Marketing analytics evaluates marketing performance data. Audience research investigates people's needs, context, language, and behavior.
Brand strategy
Brand strategy chooses the position an organization should own. Audience research supplies evidence that can inform, challenge, or refine that choice.
Expectations by level
IC1
Individual contributor 1
Supports a defined research question with guidance, follows the chosen method, records evidence accurately, and avoids presenting individual comments as broad findings.
Observable behaviors
- Uses the agreed discussion guide, sampling criteria, or source rules.
- Records observations separately from personal interpretations.
- Groups repeated evidence while preserving relevant exceptions.
Examples
- Flags that a proposed participant does not meet the agreed audience criteria.
- Removes a conclusion from a summary because only one participant supported it.
IC2
Individual contributor 2
Independently designs and runs research for a defined communication decision, selects suitable evidence, synthesizes patterns, and explains limitations before recommending action.
Observable behaviors
- Turns a decision need into focused research questions and a suitable method.
- Compares evidence across participants or sources before naming a pattern.
- Connects findings to specific communication choices without overstating certainty.
Examples
- Changes a message brief after research shows that the intended audience uses different language.
- Reports two distinct audience contexts instead of averaging them into one misleading profile.
IC3
Individual contributor 3
Sets research direction for ambiguous questions spanning several initiatives, combines complementary evidence, and improves how teams commission and apply audience research.
Observable behaviors
- Prioritizes research questions by the decisions and risks they can change.
- Combines qualitative and quantitative evidence while preserving each source's limits.
- Challenges unsupported audience assumptions and defines a practical way to test them.
Examples
- Builds a research plan when several teams hold conflicting views of the same audience.
- Stops teams from treating a broad segment label as evidence of shared needs.