How are founders going about research?

Like many IndieHackers and solo founders, I am constantly trying to understand how to best market my product, get in front of the right people, see how others are doing it., and learn as I go.

This leads me to a few questions

-How are people going about formulating their marketing strategies?
-How are you deciding what kind of content to produce?
-How much time do you spend looking at your competition?

Let me know!