Content marketing has become one of the important pillars of digital marketing for businesses. It is a way to focus on creating content that is relevant to people’s interests and provides information that is valuable to them. The “people” can be the general audience, or a specific target audience for your business, depending on the type of content and the purpose of the content.

Before the World Wide Web, content marketing was mainly done with printed materials. In the early years of WWW, many corporate websites were just digital versions of their corporate brochures. But, that has changed now that most businesses are aware of the websites and how the content you provide to the target audience can and will attribute to the business growth. And, with that, content optimization, a new branch on the SEO tree has grown.

Content optimization work usually involves non-technical, on-page content optimization. On the other hand, content marketing involves the work to research and understanding both the target audience and the market, which influences the content strategy. With good content marketing work, your content will be seen by the “right” audiences who engage better and are likely to convert.

These are some of the research work you can do to understand the audience and market trends.

Search Query Data (Google Search Console, Webmaster Tools, and Analytics Data): The data tells you the queries they used when they found your page in the search results to visit the site. Unfortunately, most of the search query data is not available to the site owners anymore, it still is important data. It helps you understand the specific content topic or information they are looking for.

On-Site Search Query Data: This data shows the type of information people didn’t find easily when they landed on your site. It shows certain content on your site may not be discoverable. It informs you to optimize the site’s architecture and onsite linking structure. You may also find some information people are looking for, but not on your site.

Customer Feedback: The customer feedback came to the call center and the customer surveys you collected at the events and on the website should be shared with the content team. It gives you ideas about the type of information you should add to the site. For example, if the call center receives certain product use-related questions, you’ll want to add that information to the product section or FAQ section. Similarly, the sales reps’ input from the field is very valuable to content planning.

The Market Reports and Industry News: In addition to understanding the target audience from above, it’s also recommended to understand the market in general. You may find missed opportunities or information that your audience may appreciate. It also keeps you up to date on regulations, etc., which may tell you to update related information on your site.

With the above content strategy work, you can conduct efficient and more targeted content marketing projects. Your content shouldn’t just rank well, but perform to grow your business.