#6 Challenges of Being a Marketing Chief at a Startup A marketing person in a startup would be doing little bits of everything

By Sneha Banerjee

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Marketing in the world of startups is a tad bit different from those at large organizations. A marketing officer at a startup, at times also termed as an evangelist, has the task of canvassing a marketing plan for a brand new set up.

Having said that, some marketing strategists working at startups also feel liberated and cushioned in this set up, which is less hierarchical in nature and gives them creative wings, which they would probably not get at a giant, corporate set-up.

Here are six things why marketing at a startup varies with that at a larger company -

  1. A marketing person in a startup would be doing little bits of everything - it would start with content that goes on your website and your collaterals to A/B testing layouts for different landing pages.
  2. In a startup everyone is responsible for everything. So a marketing person may be required for sales, customer support, onboarding, operations and any other role.
  3. Startups tend to be created by engineers who view marketing/sales as a necessary evil in the company
  4. In a start-up, the marketing officer needs constantly juggle between aligning the organisation towards long term growth objectives, while delivering on short term goals
  5. A startup cannot afford master of one; you have to be the leader and the team. You come up with the idea and you see it through right till the end
  6. You have to get that out of your mind if you want to be a part of a startup. There's no hierarchy here, not on paper and not at work

As ambitious at it sounds, marketing a product comes with several challenges and people whp have walked the talk believe at times things tend to get very difficult. Some include managing marketing with slim budgets, have a single-member team, mad schedules and more.

Sneha Banerjee

Entrepreneur Staff

Former Staff, Entrepreneur India

She used to write for Entrepreneur India from Bangalore and other cities in South India. 

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