Why your small business needs a full-time marketer

Note: This blog has moved! For continued updates about small business marketing, visit my new blog Manizesto, or subscribe to the Manizesto feed.

If you've ever wondered why your small business might need a full-time marketer, here are 33 reasons to get one now:

1. You have no website, logo, business cards or brand identity to speak of.
2. You don't know for sure that $6.99 is the best price to sell your home-made, organic soap.
3. You have never sent an html email to a customer.
4. You don't know what your competitors are doing better or worse than you.
5. You've never heard of SEO, SEM (or PPC for that matter).
6. Your brochure consists of prices and descriptions written on a paper napkin during your business lunch.
7. You think your advertisement worked because a lot of people have called in. They'll probably be buying sometime.
8. You have never conducted any primary research to find out what you should be doing that you're not.
9. You have no sales leads.
10. No one you talk to (besides your spouse and business partner) has ever heard of your company before.
11. Your customer relationships management consist of calling them regularly to ask them if they want to buy any more yet.
12. You stay awake at night wondering why no one is buying your great products/services.
13. You stay awake at night wondering if you have the right products or services.
14. You stay awake at night wondering if you're targeting the right customers.
15. You've never been in the black.
16. Marketing plan. What marketing plan?
17. You don't know what direct mail is.
18. You think advertising means being on TV and in magazines.
19. You have asked your doctor if you should be concerned about the "viral marketing" disease.
20. You think marketers are akin to used car salesman and Fox News.
21. You have no way of knowing how your customers came to you or how to get them to buy more.
22. Your customers buy from you once and never come back.
23. You cannot describe your average customer.
24.  Your last "marketing guy" demanded a large salary and brought in nothing.
25. Your small business marketing consists of attending chamber of commerce meetings and giving out a business card at least once a week.
26. You've emailed everyone you know about your business. Why haven't they bought anything yet?
27. You're thinking about closing up shop.
28. You don't get what brand awareness has to do with sales.
29. You think branding is just for Coca-Cola and ranchers.
30. People confuse your company with your competition.
31. You don't think you can afford to advertise.
32. You feel like you're in the dark when it comes to making important pricing and product decisions.
33. You identify with this list.

Marketers, if they are seasoned and competent, can truly take your business to the next level, help you understand who your target customers are, how to appeal to them, how to build relationships with them and how to increase their lifetime value. A good marketer will do a lot of testing to help you find out what works, what does not and how to reach your customers in the right way, with a message that will resonate well. It's never too late to start.

Marketing your small business is a business all in itself. Make sure you know how to do it. Subscribe to the Influentia Blog for daily tips and updates that will help you take your business to the next level.