Before you start a new online content marketing initiative you need to be sure you understand your customers. The best way of getting to that point is to actually do some research on who they are and what they’re looking for.

The bottom line is that effective online content marketing is dependent on you understanding your customers and prospects. That’s why regular research should be a central feature of your content marketing strategy – no matter the size of your organization.

Banish the Gut Feeling

Too many small businesses and especially those that have been going a year or two and actually surviving, tend to rely on their gut feeling when it comes to a new content marketing campaign. They’ve got a “feel” for their customers but no real hard data to weigh up when making important decisions.

If you feel yourself going down the “gut feeling” route, stop yourself and spend some time researching your customers. You want to make your decisions based on high quality research.

Small Business ? Try this approach

If you’ve not got a massive budget, I’d recommend you use a combination of your email list, social media followers and Survey MonkeySurvey Monkey or Zoomerang to gather your metrics.

After defining what you want to know, create a questionnaire using, say, the free Basic Plan at Survey Monkey. Google Docs is also another option for gathering simple data. Then promote it across your network of social media followers as well as your email list.
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