Content marketing--like every other type of marketing--continues to evolve as new social channels emerge and audience preferences and habits shift. It can be challenging for marketers at the largest brands to keep up, even more so for those with limited resources. A good place to start whether your budget is small or large is to carefully consider the optimal channels to find your target audience, as well as the type of content that is most likely to reach, and resonate, with them.

A recent study from Clutch found that original data, infographics, product reviews and blog posts are the most effective types of content used by marketers. That said, figuring out the types of content to focus on ranked as one of the most important factors for content marketers. When it comes to what to create and how best to deliver it, the marketers surveyed emphasized starting with audience understanding--as challenging as that can be.

After audience understanding, the next most important consideration for creating a content strategy is aligning content with actionable objectives. Nearly half of these marketers cited branding as their primary goal of content marketing. After brand awareness, higher visibility in search engines (30%), and lead generation (21%) are the next biggest objectives for content marketers. Needless to say, these priorities clearly line up with the buyer's journey.

Significantly, the measurement metrics content marketers pay the most attention to are around sales (32%), consumption (29%), and lead generation (29%). They put much less emphasis on sharing metrics (10%).

While consumption metrics (along with sharing) are often aligned with branding, they can also be leveraged throughout the sales funnel. These days, most purchase decisions--from running shoes, to a new home, to an enterprise content management system--begin with online research. Effective content maps directly to the buyer's journey, which can be boiled down to awareness, evaluation and purchase. It is essential to align your content to each step, and nudge customers toward that next one.

Almost 75% of respondents in Clutch's survey said they created research, infographics or original data as part of their content marketing efforts. They also cited these content categories as most effective for their content marketing objectives. Original research and data are likely to catch the eye of consumers during their initial exploration of a topic so it is no surprise that this is a popular, and successful, content type. Authoritative, valuable, trustworthy research and data will drive brand awareness with a good dose of positive association for the brand.

Two thirds of the marketers surveyed also cited product reviews as high on their list of content priorities. As a consumer moves from awareness to the evaluation phase of their journey, it is logical that product reviews -- content that provides a clear and honest means to carefully consider pros and cons, feature sets, differentiators, etc. -- will not only prove useful, but will help build confidence in the provider of the information.

Videos (70%), case studies (56%), and white papers (55%) are the next three types of content marketers prefer to have in their mix. Arguably, all three of these could be used at any point in the buyer's journey. For example, a video documenting your creative process or corporate values would be optimal for branding. Instructional videos are ideal for the evaluation phase but these, and demo videos, can also move a customer toward a purchase.

Case studies and white papers can also be leveraged throughout the journey. However, case studies that focus on demonstrable improvements in your client's lives are particularly effective for helping a would-be buyer conclude their journey. Other types of content that are effective at this stage include "power tips" from customers, experts or your own team, which demonstrate how effective your products are in specific settings while offering useful insights.

While this might conclude this buyer's journey, there's another post-purchase step every content marketer needs to consider: advocacy. This turns the traditional sales funnel into a virtuous circle. Providing content that supports your customer once they have selected your product or service helps ensure that they have a positive experience that they will share with others. Offering content that is visual, shareable and optimized for social makes it easy for them to move from satisfied customer to brand advocate.