The Single Biggest Marketing Mistake Founders Make

Spending a lot of money to use expensive tactics that don’t work in Phase 1 because absolutely no one knows who you are…at all.

It may infuriate you to know, but traditional, highly efficient, big gun marketing tactics like advertising actually won’t work without a) decent omnichannel distribution above 50% ACV in a city AND b) some initial baseline awareness of the brand (~20-25% locally). 

Oops. 

When you are still selling only $1M or less from the register + online, you won’t hit those requirements. 

This is why, in the early phases, you must build awareness through higher touch, more interactive techniques that require mostly time/labor, not money. 

Sampling. Event appearances. Nano-influencer insertions of your product into local lifestyle tribal networks. Local PR. Owned media (QR code to your e-mail list). 

Get beyond your friends and family. Get in front of real, local people near where you sell or to drive geo-fenced DTC sales. This is what Phase marketing should look like. Dirty. Sweaty. Interactive. Human. Cheap. 

If you know a brand, including yours, where pivoting might make sense, don’t miss out on my new paid training seminar on November 8. The Pivoting Your Brand for Exponential Growth webinar will guide you through a rigorous analytic process to guide this kind of decision that could save your business. Won’t you join me?