Founder‑Led Marketing: Where to Start
Founder‑Led Marketing: Where to Start. The goal isn’t clever—it’s clarity people can repeat after hearing it once.
Strategy is choosing what not to do. Your brand exists to make specific decisions obvious.
Steps
- List three proof points — Social, data, demos. Proof turns belief into trust.
- Design constraints before concepts — Constraints produce coherence; they are not creative jail.
- Define the audience and their stakes — Name who loses what if nothing changes; real stakes sharpen choices.
- State the promise in plain words — Avoid poetry; say the outcome a buyer can point to later.
Why this matters: Social, data, demos. Proof turns belief into trust. In branding, consistency is a function of decisions captured and reused.
Why this matters: Constraints produce coherence; they are not creative jail. In branding, consistency is a function of decisions captured and reused.
Why this matters: Name who loses what if nothing changes; real stakes sharpen choices. In branding, consistency is a function of decisions captured and reused.
Why this matters: Avoid poetry; say the outcome a buyer can point to later. In branding, consistency is a function of decisions captured and reused.
Toolkit
- Messaging blocks — Headline • subhead • bullets • CTA mapped to page sections.
- Palette tokens — CSS variables / design tokens for color and spacing across apps.
- Voice ladder — From formal to playful with examples for each channel.
How to use it: Headline • subhead • bullets • CTA mapped to page sections. Save the final in a shared doc; link from tickets so execution matches intent.
How to use it: CSS variables / design tokens for color and spacing across apps. Save the final in a shared doc; link from tickets so execution matches intent.
How to use it: From formal to playful with examples for each channel. Save the final in a shared doc; link from tickets so execution matches intent.
Example
A dev‑tools startup replaced clever taglines with a plain promise and saw demo requests up 34% in six weeks.
Common Pitfalls & Fixes
- Feature soup — Group features by outcomes buyers feel; features support, outcomes sell.
- Guides nobody reads — One page first. Depth later. Adoption beats length.
- Logo first — Write positioning before pixels; a logo is a receipt for choices.
- Collecting adjectives — Translate adjectives into constraints (type size, palette count, tone limits).
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