For many startups, hiring a CMO or VP of Marketing may seem like the logical step to build brand presence and drive growth. However, a growing number of companies are discovering that this approach could be a misstep, especially for early-stage startups with limited resources.
The key problem lies in that the functions traditionally housed under the marketing umbrella are not as unified as they may seem. Instead, marketing for today’s startups can be divided into two distinct specialties: performance marketing and brand/product marketing. Expecting one person to effectively handle both of these areas is often unrealistic and costly. While you will eventually hire specialists in each category, deciding which focus comes first will have an impact on your subsequent strategy.
The Two Faces of Marketing: Performance vs. Brand
1. Performance Marketing & Customer Acquisition
This is all about acquiring users, customers, or leads through various digital channels such as social media, paid ads, search engine marketing, or mobile platforms. It requires a highly technical and data-driven approach, with performance marketers managing multiple channels, optimizing for conversion rates, and carefully monitoring key performance indicators. Their primary goal is to drive immediate, measurable growth.
2. Brand and Product Marketing
Brand and product marketing focuses on building long-term brand identity, market positioning, and messaging that resonates with the target audience. This is more of a creative, strategic function that requires a deep understanding of market psychology and storytelling to ensure the company’s narrative and image remain consistent and impactful over time.
Who to Hire: Brand Marketing
If you’re struggling to identify the right customer or market segment, drive adoption and long-term differentiation, or improve your brand awareness, it’s time to hire a brand marketer.
Effective brand marketing doesn’t need a massive budget. The real magic of brand marketing lies in its ability to do more with less. The most successful startups often employ creative marketing tactics to build awareness while preserving cash flow.
When searching for a brand marketer, look for someone with a proven track record of achieving success under resource constraints. Ask about their experience collaborating with sales and customers, creating campaigns tailored to different buyer personas, and how they’ve relayed insights back to product teams. Also, explore their history of managing budget constraints. Candidates from larger marketing teams often have limited exposure to multiple aspects of these areas.
It’s essential to hire someone who has succeeded with the specific type of brand strategy you’re aiming to execute.
Who to Hire: Performance Marketing
If your growth challenges stem from low lead generation, high customer acquisition costs, or reliance on just one or a few acquisition channels, it’s time to prioritize hiring a performance marketer.
When it comes to performance marketing, the right hire depends on the specific channels your startup will use for customer acquisition. Each acquisition channel requires its own set of expertise, and it’s critical to hire someone who has successfully worked with the platforms you’re focusing on.
Guerrilla marketing and growth hacking strategies can offer a low-cost way to maximize reach, especially for startups that need to show fast growth but have limited funds. These approaches focus on finding creative, outside-the-box methods to drive conversions without relying heavily on paid media or traditional advertising.
During your interview process, make sure to ask questions about performance metrics and define success. Data plays a crucial role in this function, and their ability to utilize information effectively will enable you to adjust your strategy quickly and efficiently.
The Pitfalls of Hiring a CMO Too Early
For many startups, hiring a senior marketing leader too early can be a risky move. When you hire a CMO, they may feel compelled to hire multiple specialists or build a team, which can quickly inflate costs. This may also result in significant spending on agencies, branding, and marketing tools—expenses that early-stage companies might not be prepared for. In such cases, it’s easy to overextend resources before the company even has the traction to support that kind of investment.
Moreover, hiring an executive who oversees both performance and brand marketing can sometimes leave one critical function underdeveloped. Early-stage startups thrive on “doers”—people who can roll up their sleeves and actively contribute to the day-to-day growth operations. Leaders who excel at delegation or team-building can be a poor fit for lean teams where every hire needs to generate immediate value.
When interviewing, it can be tempting to lean toward more senior candidates who claim they’re comfortable being a team of one. However, it’s important to dig deeper into how they actually get the work done. Specifically, explore what tasks they would take on themselves rather than outsourcing or hiring. Pay attention to how much they handle themselves to ensure they’re the hands-on doer you need rather than someone who will immediately require more headcount and budget.
When to Bring Back the Marketing Suite
At some point, startups will need to bring in a more senior marketing leader to tie everything together. But for most startups, that time is further down the road than they may initially think. Typically, it makes sense to hire a CMO or VP of Marketing once the company reaches a certain scale—often around $30 to $40 million in revenue. By this stage, the company will have established marketing needs that justify a more senior umbrella role to guide both performance and brand marketing functions.
Conclusion
Hiring a CMO too early or without considering the distinct needs of performance and brand marketing can hinder a startup’s growth. In most cases, startups are better served by focusing on specialists in these two areas, ensuring that both acquisition and brand development are handled effectively without overburdening the company with unnecessary costs.
