How to build a powerful marketing machine | Emily Kramer (Asana, Carta, MKT1)

1. Simplify Marketing to Fuel & Engine

When thinking about marketing, simplify it to two core components: ‘fuel’ (content, words, design, value-adding things) and ’engine’ (how you distribute it to the right people and track it). This helps clarify marketing’s purpose.

2. Diagnose Marketing Growth Constraint

Before making marketing decisions, identify whether your biggest growth challenge is on the ‘fuel’ side (creating valuable content) or the ’engine’ side (distributing that content effectively).

3. Prioritize Fuel Before Engine

Ensure you have valuable ‘fuel’ (content, messaging) before investing heavily in an ’engine’ (distribution channels), as an engine without fuel will not be effective. Conversely, if you have fuel, ensure you’re actively distributing it.

4. Set Impact Goals, Not Activity Goals

Marketing teams should set impact-focused goals (e.g., traffic, conversion rates, sign-ups) rather than mere activity goals (e.g., number of blog posts), to ensure efforts contribute to tangible growth.

5. Track Full-Funnel Conversion Rates

Effective marketing teams track full-funnel metrics, focusing not just on raw numbers (e.g., sign-ups) but also on maintaining or improving conversion rates to subsequent stages (e.g., activated users) to ensure quality and impact across the entire funnel.

6. Marketing Should Own Website & Web Conversion

Marketing should typically own the website and web conversion, as they are responsible for frequent updates and top-of-funnel messaging; ensure the website is built on an easily editable CMS (e.g., Webflow) and not deeply integrated into the product’s codebase.

7. Create Clear DRIs (Areas of Responsibility)

Establish a clear list of Directly Responsible Individuals (DRIs) for specific tasks and areas of responsibility, distinct from job titles, to ensure everyone knows who owns what and who to consult for efficient cross-functional collaboration.

8. Use GACCS Marketing Brief

Before any major marketing project, create a GACCS brief outlining Goals, Audience, Creative/Unique Angle, Channels (distribution), and Stakeholders (DRIs, contributors) to align teams and get early buy-in, saving significant time.

9. Establish Strong Planning Processes

A robust company-wide planning process is crucial for effective cross-functional collaboration, especially between product and marketing teams, including practices like “Roadmap Week” for open discussions.

10. Foster Two-Way Communication

Ensure product teams proactively loop in marketing on roadmap plans, launches, and cross-functional initiatives, and marketers improve internal communication by educating other teams, demystifying jargon, and tailoring information.

11. Respect Team Skill Sets

Foster mutual respect for each team’s unique skill sets (e.g., product with engineers, marketing with storytelling) and empower them to lead in their areas of expertise to build trust and efficiency.

12. Hire “Pie-Shaped” Marketers

Seek marketers who are expert in one area (product, content, or growth marketing), proficient in a second, and capable of setting strategy and hiring contractors across all marketing functions.

13. Prioritize Product Marketer with Growth Understanding

The most common first marketing hire should be a Product Marketer who also understands growth marketing channels and possesses strong writing skills (both short and long-form), as they often serve as the primary copywriter.

14. Hire Marketers by Business Model

When hiring marketers, prioritize candidates with experience in your specific business model (e.g., top-down sales, PLG) over those with industry or audience-specific experience, as business model dictates marketing activities significantly.

15. Hire Generalists, Use Contractors for Specialists

For your first few marketing hires, prioritize generalists who can cover multiple areas. Leverage specialist contractors (e.g., SEO, marketing ops, writers) for specific, deep expertise.

16. Hire First Marketer Post-PMF

Hire your first marketer once you have a semblance of product-market fit and some successful customers, as marketing excels at accelerating growth at scale, not bespoke early discovery. Avoid premature hires if the product or business model is too undefined.

17. Avoid Overly Senior BigCo Hires

Do not hire marketers who have only worked at large public companies for early-stage startups, as their experience is often too specialized and lacks the foundational, scrappy building required.

18. Hire Strategic Doers

Your first marketer must be both strategic in setting direction and scrappy enough to execute all tasks themselves, as they will be responsible for everything initially. Seek candidates with early-stage exposure and a high-quality bar.

19. Assess Marketer Writing Skills

When hiring marketers, specifically test their ability to write effectively in both short-form and long-form contexts.

20. Define Clear Handoffs & Overlap

Clearly define ownership and handoff points between marketing and product, especially in gray areas like sign-up flows or forms, focusing on collaborative goals rather than arguments over turf.

21. Focus on Impact & Big Bets

High-performing marketing teams are impact-focused, clearly articulating core growth drivers, identifying big bets for step-change growth, and addressing foundational issues that hinder speed. Marketing leaders must define these “big bets.”

22. Pair Creative Leads with Analytical Partners

If a marketing team lead is highly creative or brand-focused, ensure they are paired with someone skilled in project management and analytical impact to effectively manage diverse projects and measure results.

23. Leverage Functional Expertise as Investor

Aspiring angel investors should leverage their specific functional expertise (e.g., marketing, product) to provide unique value to founders, as there’s a high demand for such specialized support.

24. Clearly Articulate Investor Value-Add

As an angel investor, clearly articulate your specific value-add to founders (e.g., helping build marketing, hiring, strategy) to differentiate yourself and attract deals. “Product market” your unique offering.

25. Deliver on Stated Investor Value

As an investor, consistently deliver on the specific value you promised (e.g., marketing hiring, strategy) so founders know when and how to engage you, building a strong reputation for helpfulness by going deep in your area of expertise.

26. Refer Top Candidates as Investor

Referring strong candidates who get hired is one of the most valuable ways an investor can help a startup, building lasting goodwill and a strong reputation.

27. Master Product Positioning Basics

Ensure you can clearly articulate what your product is, why it’s better, and who it’s for; this fundamental positioning should be evident on your website’s homepage and is a key interview question.

28. Practice Simple Communication

To improve communication skills, practice explaining a complex topic you know well to others as simply as possible.