Start with the situation that creates a need
“Small businesses” is a broad description. “An office manager taking responsibility for deliveries across two reception desks” describes a situation. It suggests the work involved, the people affected and the questions that might matter. This is an illustrative example, not a claim about an actual customer.
Write the event that makes the question relevant. A change in responsibilities, a repeated handover problem or a new reporting requirement can be more useful than a demographic label. The event explains why someone might look for help now.
Write an audience statement you could disprove
Try this structure: “We think people responsible for [work], when [situation], need to understand [question] before they can [decision].” Keep the statement tentative until you have evidence.
If almost anybody could fit the description, narrow the situation. If the statement already assumes your product is the answer, rewrite it around the work. A person may solve the problem with a simpler process, a different tool or a decision to change nothing. Research should leave those possibilities open.
Look for language, not just agreement
In a conversation, ask how the person describes the problem without supplying your preferred wording. Ask about a recent occasion, what they did and what information they used. A polite “that sounds useful” does not tell you that the situation occurs or that a proposed message is clear.
Keep a short evidence log. Separate what the participant said, what you observed and what you inferred. Record examples that contradict the hypothesis as well as examples that support it. For a practical discussion guide, read customer interviews about real work.
Choose a channel for a reason
A channel choice is a hypothesis about where the audience encounters a question and what format helps them consider it. A reader actively investigating a problem needs different information from someone encountering the idea for the first time.
Write why the proposed channel fits the situation. Is the person already searching for an answer? Do colleagues share resources there? Can the format show the necessary evidence? These questions are more useful than selecting a channel because it currently appears fashionable.
Keep the first test small and interpretable
Define one audience, one message and one next step. If all three change at once, it becomes difficult to understand a response. Use a landing page or article that answers the promised question, and check that the reader can reach the relevant next step.
Decide what you will learn even if the response is weak. Perhaps the language is unclear, the situation is less common than expected or the channel does not reach the intended people. A quiet result is not automatically proof that an audience does not exist.
Update the audience hypothesis with evidence
After the test, write what changed in your understanding. Keep uncertainty visible and avoid generalising from a small set of conversations to an entire market. An audience statement should become more precise as the evidence improves.
The result feeds into a marketing brief: the situation, the decision, the message and the evidence. The work becomes easier to evaluate when each choice has a reason that another person can inspect.
Published by Naltyx. Examples are illustrative; any Naltyx product mentioned is our own. How we write.