Why don’t people get startup marketing?
Many startup marketers want to be THE marketer who helped guide their startup to Series (A, B, C - delete as appropriate).
Many marketers want the startup they’ve been working 16 hours a day for to be a success story, to be acquired and for them to have a lovely payout at the end.
But you know what as marketers we are awful at?
Marketing ourselves.
When it comes to personal branding, we stink.
Why don’t more startup marketers speak up?
I recently found out I’d got a place in Shine Bootcamp: an intensive professional-speaking incubator and accelerator program, with an emphasis on helping women to become respected speakers and leaders.
I put myself forward because I’d hit a wall when looking for events where the speakers looked like me and/or spoke about the things I was facing when it came to the challenges of being a startup marketer.
I just couldn’t find anything.
I was getting fed up of the constant streams of manels and hearing opinions from ‘marketing braaahs’ (you, know, those guys who love to talk about marketing like they’d just found out about it).
I’m not saying they’re not any good; I just don't connect with them.
I asked myself:
“Is there a lack of representation because there aren’t any female marketers?”
“Is it because if they did get a female speaker in, she may be more vulnerable and/or honest about the experience?”
(Whiff of sarcasm intended).
I figured, who am I to moan about this lack of representation if I am not prepared to do anything myself?
Back to Shine Bootcamp, this was the exercise set by Jay Acunzo:
What are you endlessly curious about?
What can’t you stand about in the industry?
What’s always felt like an obvious question you’re surprised no-one is asking?
Where do you go when you WHY?! something to death?
I realised that when answering these questions, many of my thoughts went back to startup marketer problems and challenges, and what could be done about it.
How do you solve a problem like… a startup marketer that won’t speak up?
What’s our biggest issue?
We hide behind the brand.
It’s this lack of visibility of success stories, stories of failure and lessons learned which leaves a void - a void that gives people permission to make up their own minds about what marketing is.
Is this the reason why many startup communities don’t quite get the value of marketing (yet)?
The question I ask myself, and wonder why no-one is talking about is, WHY does marketing take a secondary focus when looking to build and grow a startup?
It’s because there’s a genuine misunderstanding of what marketing actually is.
Over the years I’ve seen startups think marketing is just another word for advertising or writing a blog. They see it as a skill set that anyone can do “ah just get an intern in”.
I’ve been to events where founders will boast that they run a £5million business and they’ve never had to spend a single penny on marketing.
(In fact, I wrote about it in another post, warning of some of the obstacles you’ll face when joining a startup).
Do people get points or kudos for that fact they didn’t use marketing?
Is marketing seen as a weakness?
The harsh reality is that this lack of understanding, commitment, resources and expertise means many startups are likely to fail.
It’s true. For example,14% of startups fail because of poor marketing, this article from CB Insights tells you more.
If you really want a great article on this, check out How Founders are Unknowingly Failing their Marketers by Forget the Funnel. Every founder I have shared this with have really stepped up to support their marketers.
So, what does marketing look like?
It’s understanding if the market needs your product; it’s researching customers and their motivations to sign up/subscribe/pay.
It’s identifying the right channels to distribute your product, understanding what pricing model to use, and which tech to support your users with.
It’s considering the customer experience, and identifying how your brand needs to communicate when to increase the lifetime value of a customer.
It’s creating inbound and outbound marketing strategies, working with sales, working with customer experience.
> And yes, there’s an element of using social media to get your message across (if that’s the right tool, that is).
The misunderstanding is the reason why marketing budgets get cut. It’s why when you’re hiring for a marketer, you’ll probably go for a lower paid intern. Because marketing is seen as secondary, a nice to have if you will.
But it’s not just startups that are like this. Consider marketing in the context of larger businesses. What other function comes with a preconception that you’re going to instantly clash with another department?
Yes, I’m talking to you, sales.
I’ll leave you with this.
Marketers, because we’re not visibly talking about all this - it’s no wonder people are making up their own mind about it.
Every lesson you’ve learned throughout your experience as a startup marketer will benefit someone.
Put yourself forward for talks and events. Not only to start developing your personal brand, but to show others in the community that we come in all shapes and sizes.
You don’t need to be an expert.
Also, don’t slate others. We need a bit of unity, build others up, everyone.
