In this episode, Charlie Liang, Head of Marketing at Finch, discussed the challenges of building a marketing team in early-stage startups and shared insights on prioritizing and investing in marketing efforts with limited resources.
It can be daunting if you're a startup looking to build a marketing team from scratch. But according to Charlie Liang, Head of Marketing at Finch, the key is to hire generalists who can adapt to changes as the company grows.
In this episode, Charlie discussed the challenges of building a marketing team in early-stage startups and shared insights on prioritizing and investing in marketing efforts with limited resources.
Overall, the key to getting buy-in and building trust is through transparent communication and accountability. By presenting ideas and plans, asking for feedback, and being accountable for progress and adjustments made to the plan, you can build trust and get buy-in from your team.
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Past guests on The Long Game podcast include: Morgan Brown (Shopify), Ryan Law (Animalz), Dan Shure (Evolving SEO), Kaleigh Moore (freelancer), Eric Siu (Clickflow), Peep Laja (CXL), Chelsea Castle (Chili Piper), Tracey Wallace (Klaviyo), Tim Soulo (Ahrefs), Ryan McReady (Reforge), and many more.
Some interviews you might enjoy and learn from:
Actionable Tips and Secrets to SEO Strategy with Dan Shure (Evolving SEO)
Building Competitive Marketing Content with Sam Chapman (Aprimo)
How to Build the Right Data Workflow with Blake Burch (Shipyard)
Data-Driven Thought Leadership with Alicia Johnston (Sprout Social)
Purpose-Driven Leadership & Building a Content Team with Ty Magnin (UiPath)
Also, check out our Kitchen Side series where we take you behind the scenes to see how the sausage is made at our agency:
Should You Hire Writers or Subject Matter Experts?
How Do Growth and Content Overlap?
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Listen to more episodes of The Long Game podcast here: https://beomniscient.com/podcast/
[00:04:30] Building a Marketing Team
David and Charlie talk about their experiences building marketing teams at various startups, including the challenges of defining job descriptions and scopes.
[00:09:08] Prioritizing Marketing Focus
David and Charlie discuss the importance of prioritizing marketing efforts and investing in specific areas, rather than trying to do everything at once.
[00:14:43] Marketing Strategies That Worked
David and Charlie discuss the marketing strategies they tried at their current business, including webinars, SEO content, and thought leadership content, and which ones worked best.
[00:19:48] Principles of Prioritization
David and Charlie discuss the principle of "Will it make the boat go faster?" and how it applies to prioritizing tasks.
[00:26:37] Learning from Mistakes in Building a Marketing Function
Charlie shares some of the biggest mistakes he has made in building marketing teams, including not unblocking himself and trying to do everything himself, and becoming known as the Salesforce person when he wanted to focus on demand gen.
[00:33:00] Tactical Communication Strategies
Charlie shares his tactical communication strategies, including weekly team meetings, one-on-ones, and written updates.
[00:50:35] Previous Experience and Hiring
Charlie shares his opinion that people overvalue their previous experience and over index on hiring people they've worked with before, narrowing their talent pool.
[00:53:57] Filtering for Eagerness and Hunger
David explains how his company filters for candidates who are eager and hungry to do good work, rather than sticking to processes and not questioning how things are done.
[00:56:01] Reinventing Yourself
The importance of reinventing yourself every six to twelve months to stay successful in a hypergrowth company.