Launching content strategies on various platforms seems daunting for many new businesses or consultants out there, particularly due to the time that’s spent creating the material. Without a clear one-to-one ratio in short-term returns, there’s less emphasis on creating quality content, whether it be a blog, newsletter or on new media channels.

Content strategy and development are extremely important, but can zap resources. Adam Gottlieb explains how to do it on the cheap.

But the importance of content has grown exponentially in order to attract new clients, connect with customers and stand out from the massive amounts of clutter online. It also adds the extra bonus of making you more credible, separating yourself from the thousands of fake-players out there. Don’t underestimate this value, as the need to build credibility grows everyday, as more and more people launch online businesses. With that said, how do you handle the time and cost for effective content development?

I spoke with a guy who focuses on the expense and time side of small businesses to hear his advice. Adam Gottlieb, creator of the Frugal Entrepreneur blog, discusses ways that businesses can save every day. He has quite a lot to add about content strategy, with a few thoughts on ways to do it effectively while on a budget. I’ve copied our conversation below:

Content Strategy is very vague, but if we’re talking about social media, blogs, newsletters, and even mailing campaign, etc., should every business have a content strategy of some sort? Why/Why not?

Of course! These days, if you don’t make an effort to reach out online to your customers, no one will know you’re there. This may sound a bit extreme, but it’s just the reality. People are relying on digital forms of content to make decisions, connect to others, find answers to their questions, and express themselves… For better or for worse, all this content is becoming an integral and inseparable part of people’s lives.

If you are running a business today, then you have to go where your customers are. That means producing Internet-based digital content, often through multiple channels.

How should a business decide on what content to focus on, especially when young or first launching?

So, I’ll start off by saying, that new small business owners (as well as established ones) should keep one main goal in mind whenever they go about producing any content: Your ultimate goal is to try to build a relationship with your customers; your content is simply a means to that end.

Notice I left out “generating sales”as a main goal. You’ll be more likely to generate those revenues through your content strategies if you make your customer relationships a priority.

With this in mind, there are two factors you need to consider to decide which content to really focus on:

Relevancy - You want to produce content that is both related to your business and/or industry and that is relevant to your target customers. What information do they want to know or need? What peaks their interest? What problems do they have? How do they like to get this information, and where do they go to find it?

Visibility - If you are just starting out with your business, then you also want to focus on content that will give you the greatest visibility online among your target customers. This will vary a lot from business to business. Some companies may want to focus heavily on forum marketing and social media channels, while others will do better with an informative blog, email, and newsletter marketing. Again, it all comes down to knowing the tastes and habits of your customers and aligning them with your business, and your skills and experience.

One concern I hear quite often, is how do I have time for something as expansive as a content strategy. Do you have any tips or suggestions for someone who needs to balance the time aspect with of course, quality?

Start small and monitor the response that you are receiving. Content creation can provide a tangible, monetary return, but that return may not come over night. So you need to consider other factors at first, such as level of engagement – i.e. social sharing, commenting, signing on to a subscriber list. If you see that a particular strategy is not generating any response, then stop doing it, and evaluate the problem. Maybe you need to change the platform or your approach.