What kind of Marketer do you need?

A brief guide for founders and early stage business leaders

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So you want to hire a marketer

I spend a lot of time helping early-stage founders (and sometimes growth-stage founders) discuss their marketing needs. The topic comes up when it’s time to hire your first marketer or expand the team. For founders who have never hired a marketer, making sense of different marketing functions and types of experiences can be overwhelming. I thought I’d share a simplified overview of the various kinds of marketers to help give you insight into what you might be looking for — and what characteristics to seek out in candidates.

What specific marketing challenges are you currently facing in your business?

Before diving into different marketing functions, it’s essential to assess where your needs are. When you look at your funnel, where do you think you need the most help? Do you need more eyeballs at the top of the funnel and more website visitors? Do you have plenty of visitors but have difficulty converting them into qualified leads or customers? In the circles that matter, do your target customers know your company name and what your product does? Are you rapidly developing your product and planning future releases, or are you more focused on landing new customers? As you explore the different marketing backgrounds, thinking through these questions may help you hone in on what you need.

I’ll outline the three main types of marketing disciplines for technology companies below. In my conversations with founders, I frequently hear a desire to find a unicorn marketer who spikes in all three areas. While this profile is sometimes possible to find, it’s much more common to find someone who spikes in one particular area, and perhaps has dabbled in one or both of the other areas. I suggest reviewing the three types of marketing below, and identifying your first, second, and third priorities to help you narrow in on which type of experience to weigh more highly.

As you grow, it’s common to hire individuals in all three areas of marketing, but for early stage marketing, you can often make do with a first marketer who “majors” in one particular area and “minors” in one or both of the others.

Overview of Marketing roles

Product Marketing

Product marketers (PMMs) are strategic marketers at the product level. They liaise between the product teams, customers, and the go-to-market organization (sales and marketing). PMMs are responsible for determining the product positioning and messaging through a deep understanding of both the market and the customer. They launch new products and features, and are sometimes referred to as the “QB of a product launch.” PMMs ensure that the go-to-market teams are aligned with the strategy to generate and close opportunities more efficiently.

In choosing a product marketer, look for someone who can work collaboratively and cross-functionally to manage launches and communication strategies. Your PMM should also have deep product expertise and strong customer empathy. The individual also needs effective presentation and communication skills. It’s extremely helpful if the PMM in question has experience with either your industry/vertical, or the functional responsibilities of your end customer.

For much more detail on what a PMM does and how to hire for this function, see this in-depth guide.

Demand generation (or “growth” marketing)

Demand generation is a catch-all term for a part of the marketing organization responsible for driving long-term engagement and growth in the company. An effective demand-generation team member will create awareness with your desired audiences through efforts such as paid advertising, content marketing, community building, useful and targeted communications, and more. Demand gen efforts should create interest in the product to deliver more qualified leads to the sales team and help them convert leads more quickly.

When hiring for demand gen, look for an analytical and creative candidate who enjoys designing and executing experiments and measuring the results. Be sure the individual understands inbound and outbound marketing tactics and channels like SEO and SEM, social media, and email. Note that it’s common for startups to work with demand gen agencies who have expertise in particular channels. Ideally a demand gen/growth marketer would manage those agency relationships, but this is often something that a PMM can manage as well, if they’re not the ones actually executing the campaigns.

Brand marketing

Brand marketing is responsible for bringing a company’s brand to life across its suite of products and in its owned channels. They partner with demand gen/growth marketing on paid channels to burnish the brand, and product marketing on telling a cohesive story that transcends any one product. On a day-to-day basis, they move marketing campaigns from idea to execution with a cohesive story. This often includes managing social media handles and it may involve content and editorial strategy. Brand marketers work closely with other marketing functions and with the communications team, if one exists.

Successful brand marketers are creative and possess excellent writing and storytelling skills. Brand marketers enjoy designing and executing marketing campaigns across channels. Seek out a candidate who can tell a cohesive story about how the company fits into the overall landscape.

Final words of advice

Before looking for a marketer, consider your business goals, current marketing efforts, budget, and existing internal and agency resources. Then, think about how the marketer’s skills can complement your business strategy. Hopefully, you’re now more aware of the different types of marketers and how they can help drive your overall strategy. Once you’ve hired, be sure to set measurable goals and track progress so you can regularly evaluate to what extent the marketing team helps your business grow.