Effective Messaging Versus Performance Marketing
Growth hacking is a common practice among early-stage startups, and for good reason. Many top venture capitalists and marketing strategists recommend aiming for triple growth in the first and second year, so tech startups often focus on getting as many users as possible while spending as little as feasible. This type of performance marketing focuses almost entirely on gaining new leads and business growth. But without effective messaging and branding, these growth spurts could soon settle and even start to wane. Let’s take a look at how your messaging framework can create a firmer foundation for your targeted marketing strategies.
Why Businesses Love Growth-Based Marketing
Growth hacking, digital product marketing, and other performance-based marketing strategies are loved by all kinds of businesses because they are measurable. Statistics like blog clicks, click-to-order ratio, and the success of email campaigns are all readily available if you have effective business data collection tools. That data paints a picture of exactly how your business is growing, a picture you can present to potential clients and investors, to pique their interest and transform leads into sales.
Digital marketing reports generally include how your marketing efforts are working compared to the business growth strategy and goals, and a range of metrics showing success versus your business KPIs. But, is this enough?
The Science and Art of Marketing
Marketing is not an exact science. But, it’s not really one of the arts, either. Way back in 1945, Paul D. Converse of the University of Illinois posited that marketing was, in fact, a science still in development. Yet visual advertisers maintained for the longest time that it is, indeed, an art form. Effective, long-term marketing strategies recognize the validity of both of these statements. To succeed, you need to combine your business data and statistics with something that’s unique to you — your brand story and message. This could show your journey from idea conception to the present, exploring who you are, who you’ve worked with, and your all-important company values.
Without a compelling story, you could be missing out on engaging leads who would relate to your journey, especially business decision makers who may have had similar experiences during their own early business days. Even worse than this is if you create an inauthentic story that doesn’t, in fact, reflect who you are as a founder or what your company is about. This can entirely alienate your target client base, and leave you floundering even after initial periods of growth.
Why Your Messaging Framework Matters
Work with a marketing expert to build a messaging framework that’s unique to your organization. Your messaging framework is a company-specific document that determines what you want to say to clients, stakeholders, or investors; how you want to say it; and how that aligns with your company values and vision. It’s a foundation for every other aspect of your marketing strategy to be built on. You don’t use this instead of growth-focused marketing. Instead, it drives the direction of these campaigns, making it much more likely that your business growth will be consistent and sustainable.
Messaging frameworks are essential for early-stage startups, because the earlier you can build a cohesive brand story, the more visible you become in a crowded and competitive market. Demographic research and identifying client pain points allow you to tailor your branding so that it’s more customer-focused. Yes, your customers want to know more about you and your company, but they ultimately need to know how you’re going to help them — what do you bring to their day-to-day business life that they didn’t have before?
Keep your messaging targeted and simple, and don’t panic when your initial efforts seem to hit a brick wall. Consistent messaging is vital for creating a recognizable brand, so if your brand story and message align with your company values and target demographics, keep going!
Final Word
You don’t need to struggle alone when it comes to setting up your messaging framework or laying out the basics of your brand story. Many early-stage startups don’t have space in the budget for a full marketing team. That’s where freelance executives like a fractional CMO can help. Arch Collective can also provide resources to help you understand the branding and messaging aspects of business with so much more clarity. Speak to our experts about the key differences between performance-driven marketing skills and creating a compelling brand story that draws clients and investors in. Book a 15-minute introductory call with our team and find out how we can support your tech startup.
Sign up for the Arch Collective Brand Messaging Package or enroll in our Messaging Course and drive more revenue in just 10 days.
