3 Marketing mistakes startups make

I've been involved in startups for getting close to a quarter of a century, which has given me the opportunity to work through a few economic downturns, a major industry implosion or two and 3 revolutions in computing (web, mobile and most recently AR/VR). All of that is to say, I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly up close and personal, which has allowed me a certain level of perspective not typical of the average tech worker today. 

The last few years have proven to be interesting to me personally as all of my positions have allowed me to talk to a lot of startups. What's struck me about the vast majority of these conversations is this:

Startups in general don't get marketing. 

Perhaps it's because many founders come from a technical background, or perhaps people are so enamored with their tech, they figure people will just love it, and they can always hire a marketing person later. Whatever the case may be, until investors start breathing down their necks, founders tend to think of marketing as something they'll figure out later, or if they do pay any attention, they think a "growth hacker" is going to solve their problems. This has led me to create a list of the 3 biggest marketing mistakes startups are making today.

Mistake #1: We can hire a growth hacker to cover our marketing needs.

Ok, yes, numbers are VERY important, and whether it's A/B testing, FB ad buys, SEM or Social media, growth hacking is a key tactic to reaching your numbers. However it's a tactic, not a strategy, and even the best tactical execution can't fix a flawed strategy. I'd go one step further, growth hacking requires a great story, from corporate / product positioning to persona building to messaging, if you don't have a great story, you're doomed. Growth hacking isn't a replacement for good corporate and product marketing, and the vast majority of founding teams I've seen are not loaded with marketers, which means they need to do what smart people do, hire to their weakness.

Mistake #2: We want a senior marketer who is numbers driven AND a storyteller. 

I hear you, and I'd like to ride a dragon through Westeros while slaying the bad guys with my cool flaming sword of truth and justice. It's left brain, right brain and finding someone who is equally skilled in both is like finding a pretty unicorn (or getting valued like one). You won't find it, don't kid yourself, figure out what you really need and hire someone who knows to hire to their weakness (see a theme emerging). Personally, I think it's easier to find data-centric marketers than it is to find great storytellers, but as a startup, you also have to be opportunistic to the resumes that happen to be coming in at any given time. Regardless, stick to unicorn valuations, not unicorn marketers.

Mistake #3: We can hire someone senior close to launch to get things in order.

This is, to me, the most interesting of all the mistakes. Anyone who's properly launched a product knows that you're beginning the process at least 6 months in advance, and there's not much padding in that number. Assuming you are really good (or more likely really lucky), you may find a senior level marketer in 3-4 months (I've heard 9-12 months is much more realistic). Simple math, you need to hire a real marketer at least 10 months before you launch a product, and that's assuming you have your ducks all in order, which is never the case at startups. The long and short? Startups should be looking a year before launch to hire a sr. marketing person for their team. I'd actually go one step further, if you want a startup that's ready to take the world by storm, you should have a sr. marketing person (CXO or VP level) on your founding team. A good marketer should have at least one "super power" (the term du jour), but still be a jack of all trades, able to dabble in all the other areas of marketing. So what's the takeaway?

Good if not great marketing
is as important as the tech, really...

History is littered with great technologies that didn't go anywhere, or were too early, it's why 9 out of 10 VC backed tech companies fail or join the land of the living dead. As much as your tech, marketing is the key to being successful. In fact, some might argue that there were many companies whose tech wasn't really ready for prime time, but good marketing helped them survive until they could catch up. If you can, hire a great marketer early, and absolutely consider having a marketer as a part of your founding team. Then, maybe you'll find your unicorn.