Founders ask me some version of this question all the time: when should we hire our first marketer?
It usually comes with a second question attached, which is what kind of marketer it should be.
I've written about this for more than ten years, and my answer hasn't changed much. Hiring a marketer isn't that hard, and the hard part is hiring one before you know what you need them to do.
Why first marketing hires go wrong
Most founders aren't marketers, so the skills are unfamiliar. Marketers are also good at selling themselves, which is part of the job, so put those together and it's easy to hire someone who interviews well but is wrong for the work.
The most common mistake I see is a round peg in a square hole. A company hires a great email marketer, then asks them to make videos and write blog posts. Or it hires a content marketer because content is popular, when the channel that actually brings in customers is trade shows. When the marketer doesn't perform, the founder decides marketers are hard to hire. The real problem is that nobody decided what the job was.
Start with the goals, not the job title
Before you write a job posting, write down what you want marketing to do in the next year. More qualified leads? Better demos? Awareness with a specific type of buyer? Support for a fundraise?
Then ask which channels are most likely to get you there. A company selling to plant managers needs different skills than one selling to software developers. If you don't know which channels work yet, you aren't ready to hire a specialist and need to find out first.
This is what a marketing strategy is for, since it sets the goals, the target buyers and the channels, and once you have it, the hire becomes obvious. Helping clients work out who to hire is one of the most useful things I do, and it almost always starts there.
When is the right time?
There's no single answer, because every company has different needs and budgets. But a few signs tell you it's time for a full-time marketer:
- You've tried some marketing and you know what works. More money in those channels would pay off.
- The product is ready, so the customers marketing brings in will be happy.
- You can afford it without starving product or sales.
- You're committed, and you see marketing as an investment that will get time and budget every quarter, not something you'll turn off when things get tight.
If those aren't true yet, hiring a full-time marketer usually means paying someone to guess.
Date before you get married
You don't have to go straight to a full-time hire, and I often tell founders to date before getting married. There are a few ways to do that.
Hire a consultant or fractional CMO. They set the strategy, build the foundation and get some programs running, so when they leave, your first full-time marketer doesn't have to start from scratch and inherits a plan, a message and some results. (Full disclosure: this is the work I do.)
Hire a junior marketer. Someone who can run social, write blog posts and keep a newsletter going is a fairly low-cost, low-risk way to start, but the catch is that they need direction. A junior marketer without a strategy or a mentor tends to be busy without moving the numbers.
Hire on contract or part time. A defined project with an end date lets you see how someone works before you commit.
All three give you time to learn what kind of marketer you actually need. It's better to be patient than to hire the wrong person and spend a year finding out.
Generalist or specialist?
Early on, a generalist who can do a bit of everything (writing, SEO, social, email, simple design) is usually the right fit. One person who can wear several hats goes a long way at a small company.
That changes as you grow. At some point the generalist won't have deep enough skills in the channels that matter most, and you'll need specialists. That's normal, and it means the company has grown up, so your first marketer may move into a focused role or a leadership one.
Whoever you hire, look for someone who thinks about strategy as well as tactics. Even a specialist should understand how their work fits the bigger picture. And for a first hire, look for someone who wants to plan and do the work. You don't want someone who wants to direct traffic but has little interest in driving the car.
Four interview questions that help
- What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses? In other words, how would we use you best?
- What were your biggest successes, and how did they affect the business?
- How involved were you in setting strategy, and how much direction did you get?
- How do you use data to decide what to do and what to change?
Listen for specifics like numbers, channels and what they tried that didn't work, because a marketer who only talks in big ideas is a warning sign.
After you hire
Hiring the right person is half the job, and the other half is giving them tools, a budget and room to try things. Set goals at the start and check against them regularly. If results aren't coming, dig into whether it's the person, the strategy or something else, like a product that isn't ready or a sales process that drops leads.
First marketers also need coaching, so if no one on the leadership team has a marketing background, that's where outside help earns its keep.
If you're weighing a full-time hire against other options, my comparison of a fractional CMO, an agency and a full-time CMO lays out the trade-offs. And if you want a second opinion on what your first marketer should focus on, get in touch.