I often speak to groups of small business owners and I keep hearing the same comment over and over again with many of them saying that marketers don’t matter or marketing doesn’t matter anymore.There are many reasons I’ve heard as to why marketing doesn’t matter: “all my business comes by referral,” “I never spent money on marketing and my business grew,” “marketing is a waste of money,” “I see no value in marketing,” “marketing is all luck so why spend money on it,” and so on.Oh, how they are so very wrong! Below are the top 3 reasons why:1. Their definition of marketing is wrongWhen business owners tell me that marketing doesn’t matter, they usually have a totally different understanding of what marketing is than those who recognise how marketing contributes to business goals where it enables you to charge the most money you can for your services and products.Marketing is first about spending time building a solid foundation based on strategy before proposing a series of tactics aimed at lifting sales. Until the business finds a way to change the context of how their ideal customer views what they do, and then becomes become the obvious choice provider, they’ll find that their marketing efforts never seem to build momentum or gain any return on investment.You must be able to enter the conversation taking place in the head of your customers. Or, to look at it in a different way, to be able to address the number one question on your customer’s mind at exactly the right time.So, how do you do this? The conversation that is taking place in every prospective customer’s mind revolves around two major points. There is a problem they have, and that they don’t want… and there is a result that they want, and they don’t have.Those who often misunderstand marketing believe that it is only about advertising campaigns, brochures, flyers, website, email marketing, SEO, tradeshows, social media, copy, etc. These are the tactics – the way you implement your marketing. I’d argue that marketing is essentially the core of business strategy because it is about understanding the current customer, tapping into their fears, their goals and their aspirations and then creating products and services that the ideal customer is willing to buy from a brand they now they know, like and trust.2. They believe either they or their co-worker can do itSometimes in the “do it all yourself” world of small business (or even big business when it comes to it), it’s difficult to identify the areas that require outside help. A business may be able to set up their newsletter, add plugins to WordPress, write a Facebook or LinkedIn post, and clumsily create header graphics, but you need somebody who is trained, practiced, and skilled at looking strategically and holistically at the marketplace, understanding the customer, and then creating unique opportunities based on this understanding.Just think about it for a minute; just because you have a calculator and excel does that mean you are an accountant? If you have a ruler, pencil and have watched some episodes of Grand Designs – does that make you an architect? If you post regularly to your friends on Facebook and Instagram – does that mean you are a social media expert?So why do small businesses believe that by buying a Mac and some software they will become a designer, marketer and communications expert?It needs to be led by a strategic marketer who can then develop an integrated marketing approach. Can you or your co-worker do this? In some cases, you can. But those who can are most likely to either come from marketing or consulting backgrounds where they have transferable skills and experience defining AND delivering against a growth strategy.If you are a small business, you need somebody who will have a very solid, process, streamlined, consistent, repeatable approach. First, they will research and learn about your company in great depth, the dynamics of the marketplace and identify shifts, trends, and changes. From there, the strategic marketer will be able to present the different elements of your marketing plan in logical order of how you should construct them, update them, or revise them; and identify the key areas you should be focusing on – be it generating leads, converting leads, increasing transactions right down to changing prices.3. They hire the wrong marketing helpThere is a huge misunderstanding around marketing strategy, marketing tactics, and marketing execution.There is a difference between being strategically capable, creatively capable and executionally capable.Small business owners don’t hire a strategic marketing coach/firm to develop creative graphics and headers; nor should you hire an advertising/graphic design agency to handle marketing strategy. A small business doesn’t need to hire a consultant or a firm who is a strong marketing executor when their biggest need is a strategy for sustainable growth. You may get more attention, but not the best results.

SEO Consultant – Tracking TrendsThe SEO consultant can help your business capitalize on the ever-growing shift toward online research and marketing. Recently, The National Association of Realtors (NAR), the country largest trade organization, released a report indicating that that more than 70% of homebuyers first became aware of the home they eventually purchased through online research.Meanwhile statistics suggest that 92% of shoppers either purchase or research products online. The fact is that the use of an SEO expert can boost your site’s visibility, productivity, sales and bottom line. Regardless of your company’s product or service, businesses that rely upon an online presence and that do not use an SEO consultant will learn the hard way that a relatively reasonable upfront investment can yield big dividends down the road.Launching a website without the advice of an experienced SEO is akin to casting an un-baited fishing line into the ocean in the hopes of landing a trophy fish. SEO experts provide a variety of services including training, monitoring, recommendations and analysis.The Role of the SEO Consultant The services provided by the SEO consultant have depth and range and can be carefully coordinated to compliment the company’s marketing strategy. As a necessary component of that strategy, some SEO consultant recommendations may be used to create consistency throughout the total marketing plan. Seamless marketing must always be the goal.With increased exposure to consumers and with ever-changing online research trends, the SEO consultant will diligently keep the client advised of industry trends. These trends can usually be easily expanded into new online venues. The recent splurge in social media is a perfect example of the need to stay atop of the way consumers perform research.There are six main reasons to utilize an SEO consultant:
Learn effective SEO techniques and their implementation
Boost the company’s online presence
Increase the site’s search engine ranking
Attract targeted consumers
Increase sales
Protect the company’s online reputation

The Measure of SEO ConsultingWhether your site is dormant or active, an SEO will be able to provide considerable analysis and discover new areas and means to boost activity. Again, there are six central areas in which the professional SEO can buoy your site.
Analyze your Search Engine Optimization techniques
Improve your SEO website design
Optimize keyword usage
Improve your SEO copywriting
Build effective links
Setup and expand website analytics

The SEO expert can either work with existing staff or perform the services directly on an ongoing basis.Search Engine Optimization specifications constantly change. The big three search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing have sophisticated algorithms. The changes present constant challenges to sustaining high SEO rankings. When adding the significant gains in social media venues like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Digg, the need for the SEO consultant becomes even more necessary.Improving your SEO has a high return on investment. To increase the exposure and increase the bottom line, the SEO expert provides meaningful value. Think about that un-baited fishing line, think about what your optimized site can mean to your company and consider retaining a professional SEO to boost productivity and sales.

Business plans are good for entrepreneurs starting a business who want to attract funding and established firms looking to expand into a new venture or grow their business. A business plan is a road map to the success of a business, many businesses fail every year because of improper planning. A good business plan eliminates this dilemma.Purpose: The purpose of a business plan is to help determine the course of the business; where it should be in the future and where to place the resources in order to achieve that goal. It is a document that provides future lenders and investors with proof of the entrepreneurs’ credibility. Thus, making them better candidates for funding.Length: A Business plan wording and formatting should be straight forward and simple. The business plan should not be more than 40 pages. Summary tables and business charts should be used to make the numbers easy to read and grasp. No more than two fonts should be used. Font size should be at least 11 or 12 point size. Page breaks should be used to separate pages and charts.Objectives: The main objective of a business plan is to establish revenue projections for the business and provide details on how the business will acquire the revenue.BUSINESS PLAN FORMATA) Executive SummaryThis is the first section of a business plan. This section is a brief overall summary of the business. It will define the nature of the business. The executive summary should be the last thing written. Once the rest of the components of a business plan have be written, entrepreneurs will have a clearer sense of what to write as their executive summary. The executive summary contains the following:Mission Statement- This is where the business plan states how the customer will benefit from what the business has to offer. The business plan needs to state what products and services the company will be providing.Objective – This is what entrepreneurs expect the business to accomplish, basically setting goals for the company.B) Company DescriptionIn this section, the business plan will go over a detail description of the business. The company description section contains the following:Ownership – What type of ownership will the company be: sole proprietary, partnership, or corporation.Location – This states where the business will be located. Office’s, retail shop and any other type of facility that is associated with the business should be mentioned. A website address should be listed if the business has one.Product & Services – What will the business be providing, will it be a service or a product?Funding – This is where it is stated how the small business will get funded. Funding is broken down into two parts, start-up expenses and start-up assets. Start-up expenses is legal bills, renovation and leased equipment. Start-up Assets are items that the business owners will be using for the business operation. For example, cash, purchased equipment and inventory.C) Management & Operation PlanThis section of the business plan details how the business will function on a day to day basis. It contains the following:Management – This will be a list of the personnel that will have a managerial position and the definition of their role in the business.Operation – This describe the process that it takes for the business to deliver the products or services to the consumer.D) Marketing PlanIt details the small business effort’s to sell the products or services to the customer base. A marketing plan will contain a list of the following items:Industry – This lists all the players in the market; the competition, the type of products and service that they have, the strengths that they have and how they attract customers.Potential customers – This section provides information about the individuals who will be purchasing from the business. The customer demographics will be based on the industry of the company.Advertising- It involves promoting the products or services to the customer base. It lists the different ways in which the business will do this. For example, newspaper, radio, television, magazines, direct mail, Internet or telemarketing.E) Finance PlanCash is the lifeline of a business. Without it, the business will be in jeopardy. This section will contain the following items:Profit and Loss statement – A statement that lists the business’ estimated revenue and expenses over a specific period of time.Balance sheet – Measures the business resources (assets) and obligation (liabilities) and projected balance sheets for the first three years. The first year projections will be on a monthly basis and the second and third year projections are on a quarterly basis.Cash-flow projections – The amount of cash that passes through the business. It lists income and expenses. Cash flow pays the bills.FINAL NOTESCOVER PAGE: The cover page contains the company’s name, address, telephone number, fax number, email address, website and company logo. It should also contain the name and title of the person that prepared it. It should state the name and address of the organization that will be receiving it. For example see below:The ABC Cell Phone Company1234 Main StreetMiami, Florida 56789Telephone: 000-000-0000Fax: 000-000-0000Email AddressWebsite AddressTHE COMPANY LOGOPrepared ByJohn DoeC.E.OSubmitted toMain Street BankMiami, Florida 12345