Before you hire a marketer: what the owner must do first

One of the most common requests in the MakeSales group: "looking for a marketer who will grow sales". Then the job post lists SMM, targeting, design, video, website, analytics, sometimes even logistics and purchasing. It doesn't work: one person can't do the work of a whole department.

In MAKE TALK #29 with Yulia Zatulovskaya we discussed what a company should do before a marketer arrives. In MAKE TALK #36 with Umar Alimov we talked about what you actually pay for when you hire a specialist. Here it is as one plan.

1. Mission

No marketer, agency or friend will give it to you. A mission is born in the head of the entrepreneur who decided to start a business. "Make a lot of money" is not a mission: it doesn't help the team or the customer understand why you exist.

2. Market research

How much does the market need what you offer? Is it ready to pay? Who already solves this problem and how? Even a dozen customer interviews save months of work and budget.

3. Target audience

Who buys, who decides, who pays. In B2B these are often three different people. Until you can describe the customer specifically, any advertising is shooting in the dark.

4. Business model and numbers

What does it cost to acquire a customer and how much do they bring over their lifetime? Where is break-even? Without these numbers you can't give a marketer a measurable task. We discussed how a business model turns chaos into a system in MAKE TALK #40 with Elena Rastrigina.

5. Task and KPIs

A specialist isn't a machine that produces a quota of parts per shift. It's a person with skills who can deliver a result. But first you need to decide what result and who defines it. If the manager has no KPIs, they can't set them for a marketer.

A good task looks like this:

• what you need: number of leads, cost per lead, sales from the channel;
• in what time frame and with what budget;
• what resources exist: designer, photos, website, sales team;
• how and when you review results.

6. Grow step by step

“Can't hire a department? Grow gradually.

First one strong specialist for the main channel, then contractors for content production, then the next channel. It's slower than looking for a "universal soldier", but the result can be measured.

Pre-hiring checklist

• The mission is written in one sentence.
• There is a description of the customer and their problems.
• Average order value, margin and acceptable customer cost are known.
• There is a three-month task with numbers.
• It's clear who in the company accepts the marketer's work.

A specialist for such a task is easy to find among verified MakeSales experts: the catalogue shows who works with which niches, and you can contact them directly on Telegram.