VP Marketing at SparkToro | Can keep hydrangeas alive in a vase for 10 days

I'm currently VP Marketing for audience research startup, SparkToro. I also co-host the Meme Team podcast, where Sonia Baschez and I discuss the marketing logic behind viral moments.

I've spoken at conferences like AdWorld, MozCon, and SaaStock. I've guest lectured at Columbia Business School, Cornell University, Stanford University, and University of Washington. In my spare time, I teach Content Marketing 201 which I host on Maven. I'm also a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef, and a former journalist.

Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of my profile to see the top 100 lists that I am not in.

Amanda Natividad

If you need something uncontroversial to discuss with your relatives at Thanksgiving dinner... you could always talk about B2B sales.

VP Marketing at SparkToro | Originator of "Zero-Click Content"

Good news: you don’t need a 40-page audience research deck to pick your next content channel.

You can "guess and test" your way there. Here are two paths marketers can take:

1) Use tools (like SparkToro) to see where your audience actually hangs out

2) Or, when you don’t have budget/access, run a thoughtful guess-and-test experiment instead.

What “guess and test” looks like in practice:

Step 1: Make a reasonable guess.
In B2B, assuming your audience is on LinkedIn is usually a safe starting point.

Step 2: Start tiny.
Record a short, limited-series podcast in a meeting room. Spin up a short LinkedIn series. Run a scrappy webinar. Nothing that needs a studio or a 3-month plan.

Step 3: Watch for directional signals.
Are the right people engaging? Do guests/partners share it? Is sales hearing “I saw your post/podcast…” on calls?

Step 4: Decide.
If you see traction, then invest more deeply. If you don’t, kill it without guilt and try a different format or channel.

Your job isn’t to be perfectly right upfront. Your job is to learn quickly enough that you know where to be excellent. (Of course... a tool like SparkToro can help you do all this a heckuva lot faster. 🙃)

I recently joined Dreamdata's Attributed podcast where we got into how Dreamdata did exactly this with their podcast and other “un-attributable” stunts that still clearly moved the needle. Link below.

Photoroom

Creating product-led content on AI-powered image editing for e-commerce.

Content Writer

Smarketers Hub®

- Creating a library of resources (career and marketing-centered)
- Designing and managing community growth
- Building internal systems to enhance team collaboration
- Thinking of all the fun projects I get to tackle in between

Community Lead

Member

Freelance

I'm a content consultant working with brands and individuals on a variety of writing, strategy, and information design projects. Some notable work:
• Photoroom: Creating product-led content on AI-powered image editing for e-commerce.
• Assured Intelligence: Contributing articles at the intersection of technology and psychology in the cybersecurity publication, Assured Intelligence.
• InPharm Magazine: Conceptualized and designed 5 Issues of a health-ed magazine that reached over 500 young professionals across Nigeria. Led a team of 11 editorial contributors and assigned story ideas according to the writer’s interests, talents, and expertise.

Writer. Content Strategist. Information Designer

Naush Labs 

I owned all content efforts at The Naira Haus as its one-person marketing department, drafting original content across all company verticals — Instagram, web copy, blog posts, newsletters. I also developed the brand’s creative voice and created all designs used in blog and Instagram posts. 

As a result, the brand saw organic growth in its product sign-ups from 0 to over 40 within 7 months, growth in Instagram reach from 80 to 20,665 in 8 months, and a 49% average newsletter open rate and 12.3% click rate. 

What I enjoyed most about this role was telling the stories of small and growing businesses through the brand interview series I oversaw. SMEs have a significant impact on Nigeria’s Economy and local business owners are not often highlighted. I loved being able to tell a few of their stories. I also enjoyed providing the audience with useful content about some of the best local brands in Nigeria, to help them make better decisions about shopping locally.

Content Specialist

Research and Content Specialist

ResearcherNG

• Wrote research reports, website copies, Twitter content, newsletters, and weekly data briefs.
• Broke down complex research findings to in-depth visual creatives for Twitter, reaching over 1,400 readers across the company’s digital media platforms.
• Converted research data to actionable insights by writing and editing reports on gender and democratic issues in Nigeria. These reports are being used to shape policies and protect human rights and democratic freedoms in Nigeria.

Research Writer

International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)

Held this role while working as a pharmacist.

• Wrote and edited articles, and oversaw team members' submissions, reaching more than 10,000 readers in over 100 countries.
• Collaborated with a team of 5 to develop a campaign for the international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking. The campaign was aimed at curbing drug abuse and I worked with my team to host a roundtable discussion on The Pharmacist documentary on Netflix, resulting in over 200 audience engagements and 1,644 total campaign views across YouTube and Twitter within the first 5 days of its launch.

Publications Coordinator at FIP-YPG

Publication Writer

Etashe  Okpola

I’ve been writing for enterprise readers and doing more sales-enabled work at Photoroom  over the past few months.

Ngl, the first mini brief I got for an industry page was a tad intimidating since I hadn’t written for this audience before, but then I asked myself one simple question: What exactly is this thing I need to do?

This question led me to the touchpoint framework.

The touchpoint framework is a thinking tool I now use for every content project. It’s a more defined version of the classic “who, what, why, when, where, how” questions.

Each project touchpoint focuses on a fundamental question that good business writers address before writing.

It’s a simple framework made up of nine touchpoints: Audience, journey Stage, goal/CTA, product/feature, messaging, tone, platform, format, and timing.

Here’s what it helps you do:
👉🏾 Understand who you’re speaking to
👉🏾 Clarify what the piece must achieve
👉🏾 Think through what questions to ask and what information to gather
👉🏾 Plan content in a way that aligns with both the business and the writing objective

And once you answer these touchpoints, you get to understand your project more clearly + execute faster.

I broke down the full framework +  how to answer these touchpoints (even with AI support)  + how to adapt it for different project types in the semifinal episode of Craft & Machines (can’t believe this series is almost over 🥲).

Link's in the comments (Or click “View my newsletter” on my profile). It's especially worth reading if you're a business writer.

Content Writer | Content Marketing | Community Lead

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