The Audience Help Desk.
Better information starts with understanding who you're serving.
The Audience Help Desk is a confidential and free advisory service for anyone creating information that matters—whether you're in a newsroom, making content independently, running a civic organization, or building technology.
We, Madison Karas and Patrick Boehler, started this because we see too many people creating "content" without knowing if it’s actually useful to anyone. We want to change that.
This is for you if
- You want to build something people will pay for
- You're launching a newsletter but don't know if anyone actually reads it
- You've built an audience but can't turn it into sustainable revenue
- You need data, not guesses, to choose your content strategy
- You know your metrics but not your actual impact
- You have passionate readers but can't figure out how to scale
Questions we help answer
- Is anyone actually using what you create?
- What problems are you really solving?
- How do you know if you're making a difference?
- What would make your work more useful?
- How do you explain your approach to others who need to understand it?
How we work with you
- Research design that actually answers your questions
- Strategy that starts with people's needs, not institutional assumptions
- Jobs-to-be-Done frameworks that clarify your purpose
- Getting everyone aligned on what matters
- Choosing tools that serve your goals, not complicate them
Think of it like having a trainer on the gym floor. Not the expensive personal trainer you book weeks ahead, but someone who's there when you need them—to check your form, show you new equipment, or help redesign your whole routine when something's not working.
We know that audience conversations often touch on things like growth and revenue, but just as the occasional exercise won’t change your overall fitness, small plays on revenue and lead generation won’t change your impact on your audience. (If monetization is your end goal, we believe it’ll be easier to achieve if you first establish value to offer people.)
We adopt a first principles approach to get out of endless cycles of focusing only on tactical optimization, and not the broader picture of who we are producing information for and why. At Help Desk, we can “work out” your audience uncertainties and equip you with routines that prove to be more effective at delivering information people can use to navigate their lives better.
Who this is for
Whether you're an executive facing tough choices, a researcher whose insights go unused, someone just starting out, or an experienced editor questioning why you're doing any of this, this is for you. Audience Help Desk is for anyone committed to creating better information.
The Lenfest Institute for Journalism supports this project's beta which was incubated in The Lenfest Audience Community of Practice.
Questions? Email us at helpdesk@gazzetta.xyz.