IF IT WAS EASY, EVERYONE WOULD BE DOING IT*

There’s a common belief held within segments of the startup and growth business world that strategy and marketing plan development are unnecessary. This community that has been built on the “fail fast, learn faster” and “execution eats strategy for breakfast” mantras seems to believe that just getting started doing things is enough – and the in-market learning and iteration that will follow will ultimately lead organizations to success.

Similarly, most of these same people seem to view a more holistic, formalized marketing approach as an indulgence or luxury, and, perhaps, as “old school”, slow, and a touch quaint. Any amount of time spent strategizing, planning, and formalizing your go-to-market activation feels to them like time wasted – they’d instead rather just get started promoting the brand with some combination of “growth marketing”, a/b testing, influencers, and the like.

But I’m here to tell you that these beliefs are myths – or, at the very least, massive oversimplifications. Because if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it.

The truth is that doing things without a formalized plan is a lot like getting in your car and driving without a destination in mind. Sure, you’ll get somewhere, but you’ll waste a lot of time and gasoline going to tons of wrong places first. Operating your marketing and go-to-market this way creates a tremendous amount of waste – wasted media dollars, wasted employee time and focus, and wasted potential customer goodwill. Because poor first efforts may not just miss the mark, they may create negative pre-disposition amongst your target audience.

As a startup, you can’t just “not do strategy”. Strategy isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a theoretical statement that ends up framed on a board but doesn’t get used. It ultimately is the plan for where you want to go and what you want to do – and, equally importantly, what you don’t or won’t do. Thus, it sets your priorities and aligns your resources and attention to your goals. Without it, teams fritter resources, apply time and money to low priorities, and mistakenly focus on tactical and transactional goals, not strategic ones.

With or without a CMO (or fractional CMO) or marketing leader, here are some key ways to formalize and strengthen your marketing efforts:

• Ensure you have true insight into your customer and have documented their personas. How do they think about and shop your category? What are their current needs, how can you help them overcome their challenges, and what are their expectations? What can you say or do to break through?
  
  
• Spend the requisite amount of time to develop and formalize a strong narrative. What is your key benefit/value to the customer? What are the rational and emotional benefits you provide? What persuasive story will you tell?
  
  
• Before you start doing stuff, develop a marketing and go-to-market plan (even a rough sketch). This will help ensure that your individual efforts fit into a whole, that they integrate and build off each other, and all build towards the same end goals.
  
  Having a plan is also important because it helps you not jump around or pivot too often. It’s important to give your strategy some time to deliver on your goals and not chase the latest shiny object.
  
  
• Ensure that you’ve created a serviceable and appealing website for your offering. If you’re attempting to begin to drive awareness and acquire customers, then expect they’ll visit your online home – so make sure it’s a good representation of your message and your offering, and that it adds credibility, not subtracts.
  
  
• Don’t attempt to go after too many different prospect types or multiple goals. Focus is critical, especially in the early days – thus strategic priorities are super important.

It shouldn’t be too surprising that success isn’t easy. The difference between success and failure is usually how much effort and intentionality you’re willing to put in. So take another minute to ask a few more questions. Push yourself a little further and game things out another step or three. And document your strategic foundation and a holistic plan before jumping into doing. Because good enough rarely is.

*Originally published in MediaPost’s Marketing Insider 10.10.24