Building the marketing division of a startup has its own challenges. Every department plays a key role, but it is the marketing division that sets the path to growth and ensures the longevity of the company. It is also often overlooked or underplayed in the early stages of the startup (although admittedly things have come a long way). One of the main problems is that founders are often technical people who do not know much about marketing, and are not even sure what role it plays.
No, it’s not one-size-fits-all – but key qualities are universal – so take a look at our quick and short guide to help you clarify what your marketing needs are at any given stage in the Startup lifecycle, and how to get the help you need.
Stage: Seed
Goal: Assisting the founder presenting in front of investors, and securing those early customers; through synching pitch-financials-go-to-market avoid critical errors.
Level of Expertise: High-level
Qualities to look for: Experience in startup marketing and a strong affinity to business and financials.
Role:
- Research the market qualitatively to understand its size;, and qualitatively in order to understand the ecosystem on the macro level, and buying personas and their needs on the micro level. Defining the company’s positioning and messaging according to our findings.
- Create the initial go-to-market according to the business goals (first ten customers, one big partner, etc.) and help the entrepreneur create an Investment deck based on this information. NB: Ensure the pitch, financials and go to market are fully synched.
- Create the initial company presence on social media, starting organically.
- Create the marketing materials required for that stage; normally brochures, one-pages and website launch.
Stage: Round A
Goal: Create a solid foundation for growth.
Level of Expertise: Mid-Level plus High-level
Qualities to look for: Emphasis on lead creation, marketing awareness and knowledge of deployment tools.
Role:
- Create the infrastructure for lead creation. This is the role of the High-level marketer, as it require experience and knowledge of the vertical, the required tools (like Hubspot) and understanding the fundamentals of the sales funnel.
- Manage lead processing; lead maturity and qualification – the mid-level marketer can do this.
- Create a strong website and marketing tools that support the sales funnel, such as inbound marketing and PPC. This can be planned by the high-level marketer and executed and managed on ongoing basis by the mid-level marketer
- Increase market awareness, broaden reach and generate noise in the eco-system, using SEO, thought leadership, social media and PR when acceptable in the segment. Connect to potential customers, distribution channels and partners.
Stage: Round B
Goal: Helping the company to cross the chasm from a startup to an operational global company.
Level of Expertise: Expert plus a number of mid-level marketing managers
Qualities to look for: Leadership, C-Level Manager, experience in global marketing
Role:
- Synchronize marketing operations with sales to create a smooth mechanism implementing strategies and tools i.e. analytics, project management and manage sub-contractors.
- Manage a marketing team between of proximity 3-10 including; content writers, social media mangers, digital marketing and automation.
- Implement metrics to increase ROI.
- Manage large budgets and start marketing operations abroad.