Your Most Important Marketing Decision

The only thing I can say for certain about your marketing plan is that it’s wrong.

Wait. I haven’t seen your marketing plan?

And yet I know it's wrong because it’s a​ plan​. As boxer Mike Tyson famously said, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” (Mike's a marketing expert! Who knew?)

Experienced founders know that 90% of their growth will come from 10% of the stuff they try. The key is to find the right 10%. Fast. And a "plan" won't get you there.

What can get you to find the right 10%? How can you learn faster? What levers do you have?

Your budget is fixed. Your people can work harder, and that can maybe give you an extra 20% - 30%. That’s not leverage.

Now, the two things that will determine your success or failure are:

1. Which work you choose to do

2. How well you execute it

Therefore, your jobs as CEO…

1. Choose the right work: Make sure people are working on the right stuff - high impact, high likelihood of success, and that each employee can explain how their work contributes to your success metric.

2. Expect the right level of (im)perfection: There’s always a tradeoff between quality and speed. In Startups, you need to move fast; sometimes “done is better than perfect.” Make sure you give your team permission to do so-so work as long as they’re learning and moving quickly. Help them to make good decisions about which things need to be done right and which things just need to be done.

That's a marketing approach that can really boost your chance of success.

Good Luck!

Matt (& Mike)