Understand this before starting marketing!

Our marketing and comms will always have two key objectives, "Discovery" Or "Persuasion". On the surface it seems the discovery camp has it better as it is much harder to persuade people. But both carry their own set of problems, and require a completely different approach to market. So understanding which camp you fall under is crucial. ....................................... Discovery: This is the objective when your marketing falls under a mature or somewhat mature category. (The biggest indicator is that your niche term has volume on Google search i.e "hr software") Given that people are actively searching for the solution your goal becomes to show up in places where it is being searched I.e google ads, linkedin ads, lead aggregators, seo, conferences and review sites. But there are a couple of key element that needs to be present in order to make your visibility count. True product differentiation, either through unique features or improved features for a particular segment. So visibility is key but how you show up is critical, because you will always show up in comparison to someone or something. The best approach for founders or marketers here is to be crystal clear on their position in the market and spend a lot of time understanding that before going tactical. .......................................... Persuasion: A tougher problem with simple solution that can be very hard to execute. You are solving an existing problem that people have accepted as a problem and learned to deal with subsequently no one is actively searching for a solution. Btw this is where demand creation enthusiasts get confused - I digress! There is no search volume for your niche term and in most cases it is not even named (category creation people love this). The solution is rather simple in this case which is, "make the problem mainstream". The problem is your narrative and your messaging and the product is the call to action. But while this looks easy it is incredibly difficult to pull off because this needs a behaviour change. So here your marketing and comms alone cannot do the job you need the right tailwinds- market dynamics, alignment with beauraucracy and a true incentive to change. Your success as a marketer is if you can get the conversation started in the circles where it matters. ............................................ I see alot of founders going quickly into marketing tactics without talking the time to first sit and think whether they need traditional marketing or a behaviour change.