OverHeard starts with a single question: what does your business do or sell? There's no keyword list to build and no settings to tune. You type it in plain language and OverHeard does the listening.
Because it's just one field, what you put in it matters. The more specific you are, the sharper the questions you get back.
Specific beats broad
Compare three ways of describing the same business:
- "Roofing" is broad. You'll get questions about everything from roof materials to solar panels to DIY guttering. Some of it is useful. A lot of it isn't your business.
- "Roof repair" is better. It narrows to people with a problem, which is closer to who calls you.
- "Emergency roof repair for homeowners" is sharper still. Now the questions lean toward leaks, storm damage, insurance and how fast someone can come out.
The examples on our homepage follow the same idea: "roof repair", "wedding photography", "B2B payroll software". Each one names what you do and, where it matters, who it's for.
Name what you sell, not your industry
Industry labels are for directories. Customers don't ask about "professional services" or "hospitality". They ask about the specific thing they need. "Accounting firm" gets you general accounting questions. "Bookkeeping for freelancers" gets you the questions freelancers actually ask, like whether they can claim their home office.
Add who it's for when it changes the questions
Sometimes the audience changes everything. "Payroll software" for a five-person startup and for a company with hundreds of staff attract different worries. If your customers are a particular group, say so: "payroll software for small businesses", "wedding photography for elopements", "dog training for reactive dogs".
Don't pile on detail for the sake of it. Add the audience only when it would change what people ask.
Run more than one search
If you do several things, search them separately. A studio that offers both wedding and newborn photography will get far clearer results from two searches than one combined description. Each search gets its own board and its own plan.
One business, one clear sentence. If it takes "and" to describe it, try two searches.
Try it, then adjust
Your first description doesn't have to be perfect. Run it, look at the board, and ask whether the questions sound like your customers. If they're too broad, add who it's for. If they're too thin, loosen it slightly. Two or three tries usually lands on a description that gives you a board full of questions you'd be glad to answer.
What you get for free
You don't need an account to do any of this. Every search shows the full board, the demand map and every question's heat and provenance, and your first two content briefs per search are free. You're only asked for an email when you want to export your plan, share a field report or set up weekly monitoring.