Re:Hiring the first head of marketing at a startup
by chiefalchemist on Saturday September 12, 2020 @10:39AM
(#24452798)
Marketing (and advertising) revolves around human behavior. Anyone who thinks that's easy is a fool, or not human ;)
Fact #2 that most inside a given (startup) brand find hard to swallow is this:
Nobody cares. About your product, or your brand.
Sure, there's an audience of early adopters, and maybe you're gotten traction there. But once you get past "the cool kids" the dynamic changes. As you venture towards the middle of a market, people like their status quo. A wink, a smile and "try me, I'm new" isn't going to cut it.
Or maybe you're a B2B play. Yeah, (e.g.) banks are great customers. Do you think you're the only one with that in mind? Do you understand how slow they are to evolve? And...They don't care. You need them. They don't need you.
Solving tech problems is _easy_ relative to growth-seeking marketing (and advertising).
Fact #2 that most inside a given (startup) brand find hard to swallow is this:
Nobody cares. About your product, or your brand.
Sure, there's an audience of early adopters, and maybe you're gotten traction there. But once you get past "the cool kids" the dynamic changes. As you venture towards the middle of a market, people like their status quo. A wink, a smile and "try me, I'm new" isn't going to cut it.
Or maybe you're a B2B play. Yeah, (e.g.) banks are great customers. Do you think you're the only one with that in mind? Do you understand how slow they are to evolve? And...They don't care. You need them. They don't need you.
Solving tech problems is _easy_ relative to growth-seeking marketing (and advertising).