A lot of my experience in marketing has been around start-ups and early stage companies.  That’s the groove wherein a tend to operate best, but the strategy for how you build these companies is directly applicable to companies of all stages.  In fact, it’s really just another “playbook” that can be examined, emulated and activated to drive success.  Not being a selfish person, I thought to myself over the weekend that maybe I should share that playbook at a high level.  To that end, here is the playbook for marketing early stage companies in a very short, digestible format.

This stage is all about defining your story in a simple, succinct and easy-to-understand manner.  Easier said than done.  Telling a story in as few words as possible is an art form, and one that requires a lot of work.  The way to do this to sit with your co-founders, workshop what you do, how you do it, who you do it for, and why anyone should care.  Workshopping these 4 questions will help you arrive at an overview of your business, and that last one will spur the creativity for the real definition of your business.  That is the benefit-driven statement that becomes core to the definition of your business.   Your target here is to draft a single sentence that clearly defines who you are and why the person you’re speaking with should care about what you have to say.  Stage 1 is the core of the art.

The second stage of the playbook is to get the word out.  I also refer to this as the activation of your message from stage 1.  There are clear tactical ways to do this and you have to choose them based on your budget, your team, and a full understanding of the audience you are trying to reach.  Some audiences are more easily engaged with one tactic over another.  I tend to be a B2B marketer, so for me I have events, press, email, advertising and a few other standard tactics to work with.  B2C marketing has broader channels to work with.  What I find most interesting in this stage is you are actively testing the definition from stage 1, and refining it based on what feedback and performance you see.  Stage 1 is never truly complete, and stage 2 enables you to run, test and adjust your messaging until it hits a clear groove of its own.  This stage is also never really over.  You’ll be building awareness forever, but at different budgets and commitments.  Stage 2 is the beginning of the science of marketing.

This is the stage where you have the least control.  This is where hard work should pay off, but you also might need some luck.  Buzz happens when your defined message is reaching the right audience and resonating.  Buzz happens when other people start talking about you, and it’s no longer simply you talking to everyone else.  Buzz starts being tangible when people are coming to your site and asking questions.  Buzz happens when your inbound activity starts to increase.  Buzz can catch fire early, or it can take a while to build.  The important thing here is to have your ears and eyes open and start to recognize when the buzz is taking hold.  You want to know it, and you want to do whatever you can to stoke that fire and build on that buzz.  This stage is about momentum; both getting it and keeping it.  Stage 3 is some art, some science, and a little bit of luck.

The capture stage is one that you should have been putting in place months prior, but doesn’t really become useful until you start to see the buzz.  This is demand capture.  This is where you have systems in place, a true marketing tech stack, to observe the impact of the buzz, turn traffic and visitors into leads, and turn leads into viable business opportunities and sales.  This is the stage that is most deeply comprised of the science of marketing.  This is where your CRM, your email, your sales enablement and all the tools for communications come to bear.

This is the stage that everyone likes to talk about.  The growth stage is what everyone wants from marketing, and some marketers even call themselves growth marketers.  It’s a silly name because what marketer isn’t interested in growth?  The fact is this stage is simply where stages 1-4 all get the chance to work together.  This is where you are reading the results of stages 1-4, refining them, implementing those changes and watching what happens next.  In this stage, you’re also planning for what comes next.  Let’s assume you were starting to see some success in stages 1-4, and now you are able to turn that into growth.  While that growth is starting to happen, you need to be hypothesizing new ideas, new channels and new activations that will add more fuel to the fire.  This is where the crazy ideas can come in.  This is like planning for the end of what you were doing and coming up with what you will do to replace that first round of tactical ideas.  Growth is never ending and growth can continue for years.  This is all about the art coupled with optimization.

This stage is one that everybody overlooks.  I think it’s wildly important because I’ve seen the value of this stage time and time again.  For stage 6 to kick in, you will have been seeing some success and some rapid growth.  This is where other companies start coming for your throne.  Other companies will mimic your messaging, of they will enter your market, or they will copy your model.  This is where the competition heats up because you have identified a fertile space to play, and someone else will want to ride your coattails and overtake you in that category.  You have to be planning your defense early, and this is when it becomes an area of focus.  After all, defense still wins championships.

This is where everyone wants to be and fewer people ever achieve.  This is the stage where all your wheels are in motion, the engine is humming, and you get to enjoy the fruits of your labors.  Your growth efforts are in full swing and you are recognized as the industry leader.  Competitors come up, but they are unable to get to where you are, although they do bolster the category and that’s great for you since you are the recognized leader.  There are few companies that get to this stage, but it’s a goal and one you should be striving for.

None of this is easy.  It’s far easier to write about it, and the stages tend to weave together with no clear list to time required.  The trick, and the skill of being a good marketer, is understanding how to put a team together that can help you achieve all of this.  That is where the cream rises and the best marketers become recognized.  I hope this playbook helps you think about your own journey through early stages to success.