In this episode of Audience Architect, Bill Levine is joined by Roberta Muller, SVP of Product Development, and AnnMarie Wills, CEO of Leverage Lab, for a practical conversation about audience persona audits — and why many organizations may not know their most engaged users as well as they think they do.

The discussion explores how personas are evolving from static audience profiles into dynamic, behavior-based systems that help media companies better understand user intent, improve content experiences, support sales teams, and create stronger advertiser value. Roberta and AnnMarie break down the difference between “push” personas based on assumptions and “pull” personas derived from real audience behavior, as well as the data, modeling, and organizational guardrails needed to make this work.

They also discuss how an always-on persona pipeline can help teams move from basic metrics to deeper meaning — turning audience data into clearer insights, stronger client conversations, and more strategic audience engagement.

Key themes include:

Audience persona audits, behavioral data, AI-generated personas, audience segmentation, media sales enablement, advertiser value, audience intelligence, data normalization, and the shift from media vendor to strategic partner.`

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In Episode 19 of Audience Architect, hosts Bill Levine and Rick Ellis speak with Sondra Hadden, Senior Director of Audience Growth & Retention Marketing at Informa TechTarget, working across the Industry Dive portfolio.

Industry Dive has become one of the most admired audience models in B2B publishing — particularly for its disciplined focus on newsletters, trust with readers, and a clear understanding of what audience products are meant to do.

In this conversation, Sondra shares how her team approaches growth and retention in a media environment where distribution is volatile, search is shifting, and audience data is increasingly fragmented.

The discussion explores:

• Why newsletters remain one of the most durable advantages in B2B publishing

• The difference between meaningful audience KPIs and vanity metrics

• How AI-driven search and platform shifts are changing acquisition strategy

• What behaviors signal a “sticky” reader relationship — and how retention is built intentionally

• How audience leaders work across editorial, product, and revenue teams without breaking trust

• How the audience leadership role has evolved from channel operator to systems builder

For media leaders navigating a more complex distribution landscape, this episode offers a practical look at how audience strategy is evolving — and what it takes to build a durable audience engine across channels, products, and teams.

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In this episode #18 of Audience Architect, we sit down with Megan Wray Schertler, Co-Founder and Managing Director of In Real Life Media, a strategy and execution studio helping independent publishers turn their magazines into modern, revenue-generating platforms—without losing the cultural magnetism that makes them special.

Megan draws from her unique experience on both sides of the industry—leading brand and publishing strategy for titles like CR Fashion Book, Fantastic Man, and Interview, and co-founding Case Sensitive, a thought-leadership event exploring the future of print.

We unpack how she’s helping publishers and brands design smarter ecosystems where print and digital actually strengthen each other—and why a new generation, including Gen Z, is rediscovering print as a medium for meaning, connection, and belonging.

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