Founders Win with 5 Marketing Tenets

Winning in the marketplace requires tactical and strategic plays, and more skill in marketing than most founders, entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists realize. That’s the message I shared at the 2025 Capital Entrepreneurs Founder Day in Madison, Wis. Here are 5 marketing tenets founders and entrepreneurs learn too late:

1. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬: Their offering lacks a compelling reason to live in people's lives compared to alternatives. If an offering lacks "competitive relevance," no amount of brilliant marketing will help it scale or generate the needed margins to be viable.

2. 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐞𝐲. Today, the more attractive an innovation, the faster others will try to copy it. The better bet is to start a company that stands for something of timeless benefit to the buyer. Apple is a universally understood case: Steve Jobs launched the iPod in 2004. His marketing strategy was not to launch a series of techy gadgets. Instead, it was to invent tools whose portability, connectedness, capabilities, and UX enabled people to think and live differently—a timeless desire of millions.

3. 𝐀𝐠𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫. Done well, branding frames a timeless benefit that allows people to see themselves and their aspirations. Become famous for the benefit and you create preference and demand. You desensitize people to your price so you can achieve the desired margin. Early on, Jobs invested heavily in TV ads, print ads, and PR. Creating top-of-mind awareness has never been more crucial to an organization’s ability to scale, accelerate growth, and ensure its future viability. (Research finds only 5% of your target are in the market at any one time. To build awareness and preference with the other 95%, you need to be marketing constantly.)

4. 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩. Data prove the only way to grow is to get as many paying customers as you can (even the occasional buyer) as quickly as you can. And then continually engage them. Founders, entrepreneurs and VCs often do not make this job one. They presume they know marketing because they read a book or some LinkedIn posts. They presume digital is the best marketing strategy, citing its low cost and high ROI.

5. R𝐎𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜. That’s why it’s possible to have a digital marketing ROI that knocks people’s socks off while you’re going out of business for lack of customers.

To succeed, every founder, entrepreneur, and VC needs to respect what is now proven to be effective marketing, then make it a priority to fund it.