Why you shouldn’t hire a growth marketer just yet!

Perhaps you’ve just started your business and are wondering at what stage you should be hiring a growth marketer?

Well, you’re not alone in asking those questions. Countless of founders and start up owners have asked the same thing.

The short answer is: when your business has already found some level of product-market fit and you have a product that’s ready to scale.

Basically, don’t hire a growth marketer if you haven’t met the following criteria:

• You don’t have product-market fit yet: the reason you don’t want to hire a growth marketer at this stage is because your product is still in the very early stages and doesn’t have legs yet. Meaning if you’re hiring a growth marketer and expecting it to grow, it’s going to be an uphill struggle. You need to figure out what your business strategy is first, if you have product-market fit (there are countless resources that can help you figure that out), what the first version of your ‘go-to-market’ strategy is first and have it tested before it makes sense to hire someone full-time. If you aren’t able to do that, it will be really difficult for your growth marketer to come in and just ‘make things work’.
• You’re at seed stage: maybe your company has funding from a few angel investors but you haven’t even reached the point of scaling the business or require extra funding to take it to the next level. If you’re still at seed stage, you probably don’t have enough resources to hire a growth marketer because that’s just going to be a fixed cost that you can’t afford.
• You haven’t figured out your ‘go-to-market’: this is similar to the above but what it’s pointing out is that you don’t have a product that is working yet and your ‘go-to-market’ strategy isn’t clear. Do you have growth loops that are working? Do you have a mechanism in place that you know already is driving some level of growth? If this isn’t clear, it won’t be clear for the person who is joining your team and having little to no knowledge of the market. Each individual is unique but it will take time for a new person to come into the company and learn what your company does, how the team operates, and if you haven’t figured out a ‘go-to-market’ strategy that works, then you’re probably not ready to hire a growth marketer.

Should you hire a growth marketer or a 'marketer'?

The differences between a growth marketer and a marketer are the skill sets.

The ‘growth marketing’ skill set brings more varied skills in data analytics and usually has experience in the areas of user acquisition, retention. Data drives the growth insights that come from growth marketing that help to drive and power the business forward. Usually the growth marketing roles I've come across are for B2C businesses but the concepts and principles can be applied to both B2B and B2C companies. 

Growth marketers don't focus on branding or events, though those activities may fall into a growth marketers scope. What growth marketers do is find insights and ways to grow the business sustainably by taking a big picture view of how the product/service functions with regards to its target audience, and constantly tests and optimised on the levers that can grow the business.

Marketing is the business function that promotes a company's products or services to support sales and drive revenue.

Your first marketing hire should have a varied skill set which covering the gamut of branding to events, PR and advertising/media buys and social media. 

You will probably need a marketer once your company has a brand, you have a product/service that's already gone to market, and you need more visibility.

A full-time marketer can make sense if you want a full-time staff member to own all of the responsibilities of developing a brand in-house. Someone who understands your business vision/mission and how the company and product/service works will be able to drive value for your business better than an agency can, goes the thinking. Having an agency to supplement certain activities such as media buying, events, PR, depending on what the objective of your business is at the time, can make a lot of sense.

Growth Marketing is a unique and slightly more specialised function compared to Marketing

Growth marketing is usually more involved in product and usually involves focus in driving user acquisition, engagement or retention activities. The role of the growth marketer is to primarily drive top line growth and revenue for the business. It's more holistic in the sense that it looks at the business model and analyses areas for focus, depending on what the objectives of the company are at the time.

Having said all this, if you have no idea where things are going for your business, it’s probably still too early to even think about hiring someone to do growth marketing. At that stage if your business, it’s still about figuring things out and pivoting until you find the right solutions. 

Only once you've fully understood the differences in the skill sets between a 'marketer' and a 'growth marketer', have product-market fit, have a growth engine that's ready scale and a 'proven' 'go-to-market' strategy should you start thinking about hiring a growth marketer. 

You can consult with people in the industry until you figure those things out, but don’t hire someone until you’ve met all the criteria above.