The Blade

I’ll never forget starting First Research and designing my own brochure. It displayed a golfer gazing at a putting green, a sunset in the distance, with the caption, “You Only Get One Shot.” It was so bad, it was sorta good. But hey, I did the best I could with the resources I had!

As a startup founder, you can’t possibly possess all of the skills you need to get your business off the ground. You have to improvise to be successful. You may know how to sell a product, code software, or manage a team, but you may know very little about marketing. Unfortunately (and ironically), marketing is often the most important skill needed to launch a new product. So you have to figure something out.

Bridging the marketing gap

From my experience watching successful founders, here are six methods they use during the first few years to close the marketing skills gap.

1. They get scrappy, take risks, and try to stand out by being different: I’ve seen some founders with little marketing experience produce some cool, effective stuff. My brother-in-law started Localeyesite.com, which provides a unique job board for the eye care industry. He produced a video, “Eileen,” that poked innocent fun at eye care professionals—helping him land a partnership with a media company. Another example: While attending a banking tradeshow, I met these two founders struggling to collect prospects’ business cards. They’d invested $10,000 and leaving the show without any leads would be devastating. So the next day, they hired a model (for $800, if I recall) and walked away with more than a hundred business cards. I seriously doubt an established business would pull such a stunt. Now that’s scrappy!
2. They simply do the best they can: Some founders don’t take risks or get outside the box, but they survive and advance. For example, they review other press releases and produce their own one in a similar fashion. They attend tradeshows with a basic booth and try really hard to make connections while there. Nothing produced is top-shelf, but at least they’re in the game. Some seek marketing advice from their connections. My friend David Buffaloe, an experienced marketing leader, has been known to provide an hour or two of advice for giftcards, pizza, and a few beers. Talk about a good deal! Nothing wrong with that.
3. They “sell” their way out of the problem by doing little or no marketing: Some founders are better salespeople than they are marketers. And due to the fact that when you start out, selling face-to-face is helpful in understanding potential customers’ needs anyway, they spend their time selling, cold-calling, looking for connections. This is fine, so long as you have a high enough price-point to justify it. This is a difficult strategy to pull off if you’re selling a $30 product face-to-face.
4. They outsource marketing to an agency: This is an ideal approach if you can afford it. Costs range from $2,000 per month on the very low end to $10,000 per month and up. I have seen several startups pay around $3,000 per month and receive about 20-30 hours each month. Of course, the $3,000 just pays for labor and expertise; you still have to pay for print costs and/or direct marketing programs such as online advertising, tradeshows, or whatever the activity is. With this route, you mostly get things done right, solid advice, and professional work, but you have to actively manage their activities. The squeaky wheel gets the grease!
5. They outsource marketing tasks to freelancers: If you have a good feel for what types of marketing activities you want to do, you may just need expertise and labor to get them done. Some founders hire part-time writers, graphic designers, social media experts, or whatever it may be. A typical freelancer may charge anywhere from $30 to $120 per hour and will work when you need them. I’ve personally had good success using this tactic.
6. They hire an inexperienced marketing employee: Let’s say you have a new company that has $200,000 in revenue and little funding. Some founders in that position may hire an inexperienced, yet passionate, young employee willing to learn. For example, a marketing major right out of college may cost $35,000 a year.

One day, you’ll have a startup with a few million in revenue, and at that time you can hire a marketing director for $150,000+ plus and provide him or her with a $500,000 marketing budget. Until then, you have to heed Mick Jagger’s advice: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might just find, you get what you need.”