For most tech startups, especially in the early stages, marketing tends to sit on the back burner. The founders are focused on building the product, securing funding, and finding product-market fit. But eventually, one question surfaces:

“Should we hire a CMO or bring in a marketing agency?”

It’s a crucial decision – one that can shape your startup’s growth trajectory. After all, where will the revenues that allow you to grow the company going to come from if you’re not investing in growing your customer base? In this post, I’ll explore when the timing is right, why it matters, and what to consider when choosing between a CMO and a marketing agency.

Early-stage realities: Who’s owning marketing?

In most early-stage tech startups, marketing is often handled by:

• A founder with a vision but limited bandwidth
• A generalist wearing 5 hats (operations, sales, partnerships… and marketing)
• No one – because marketing is assumed to “come later”

This works until it doesn’t. Once you start to see any of these signs, it’s time to take action:

• Your product is strong, but you’re struggling for brand awareness
• Your sales team (if you have one) is hungry for qualified leads
• You’re doing “some” marketing but it feels scattered and reactive

If any of these resonate, you’re likely ready for outside support.

The CMO vs. agency decision

When to Consider a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)

A full-time CMO makes sense when:

• You’ve raised a Series A or later and have budget to build a team
• You need long-term strategy, leadership, and internal alignment
• You’re ready to build an in-house marketing department
• Your go-to-market route is too complex to manage without dedicated focus (e.g., enterprise SaaS or multiple verticals)

A strong CMO can own strategy, build the marketing team, and align marketing tightly with sales and product.

But… hiring a CMO too early can backfire. CMOs are expensive, and unless you have a clear marketing requirement and budget to execute, even a great CMO can’t move the needle alone.

When to consider a marketing agency

Hiring an agency is often a better choice when:

• You need flexible, experienced support without the overhead
• You’re pre- or post-seed and want to test channels and messaging
• You need fast execution: content, ads, email, SEO, landing pages, etc.
• You’re still figuring out product-market fit or GTM strategy

A good agency can act as your plug-and-play marketing team, helping you:

• Clarify your positioning
• Test acquisition channels
• Build core assets (e.g. website, content, CRM, email flows)
• Generate leads and traction while you focus on product and fundraising.

Need a flexible marketing partner built for tech startups?

Marketing isn’t just about running ads or posting on LinkedIn. It’s about telling your story in a way that resonates, converts, and scales. The decision to bring on a CMO or hire an agency isn’t just tactical – it’s strategic, and a good agency or CMO will help to shape your entire strategy, rather than just support it.

If your team is stretched thin, your message is fuzzy, or growth has stalled, it may be time to bring in outside expertise.

I help startups bridge the gap between scrappy beginnings and scalable growth with the right marketing strategy, systems, and support. Let’s chat.

You’ve got fire in your belly. Launching a tech startup is exciting. You’ve built something innovative, agile, maybe even disruptive. But if no one knows about it, how are you going to grow?

When you’re trying to keep your team lean it can be hard to know where to invest your marketing efforts. Here’s my take on the biggest marketing challenges facing tech start ups and scale ups – an how you can overcome them.

1. BIG ambitions (but not the marketing budget to match – yet!)

Startups usually operate on lean budgets. Most resources go toward product development, so marketing can often feel like a stretch. Competing against well-funded players in your space can feel impossible. The default for many companies (particularly if you don’t have in-house marketing expertise) is to lean in to advertising. This is particularly common in B2B industries with an eager trade press looking to sell you advertising. Advertising absolutely has its place, but personally I find you can easily get a better response with a little bit of ingenuity. You also need to make sure that the content behind your advertising is optimised for your spend to be worthwhile. I will usually consider low-cost, high-impact strategies like content marketing and coverage that you earn, rather than pay for. Never underestimate the value of a really well written press release, or a great bit of educational content.

2. Lack of brand awareness

No one has heard of you (yet…) and that’s a problem. Companies can spend decades getting cut through brand recognition. I would always recommend that you start building your brand identity early. Invest in a professional logo, a clean website, and a consistent tone of voice and stick with it! If you keep chopping and changing style, you risk looking disorganised and – worst of all – people don’t remember your brand. Your first customers are also, typically, the ones you work with most closely. Build trust through customer testimonials and case studies.

3. Keep it simple (especially if you’re not stupid)

Tech startups often have technical founders who excel at building and are experts in their field. Because you live and breathe your product you’re really proud of the latest technical development – but remember your audience might know almost nothing about your product.

A good marketing consultant can help you refine that killer pitch and sell your product through stories that make sense to your customers.

4. Know your audience – and where to find them

Not always as simple as it sounds! You might know what kind of person needs your product, but finding them is the tricky bit. Show up where your audience spend their time. This can vary a lot from industry to industry but it could be anywhere from discussion forums, subreddits, LinkedIn groups, Twitter/X communities, or even Discord servers. Earn their trust and listen to their feedback.  Don’t be afraid to take calculated risks.

5. Know when to go slow and when to go fast

Startups live and die by speed. But rushing marketing without a strategy, or with an under-developed brand often leads to wasted time and effort.Always invest time at the start with a simple, flexible marketing plan – don’t over-engineer it.

The good news is that you don’t need a huge budget to get your company known, now. You just need thoughtful, creative marketing approaches that will give you a platform for sustained growth. If you think you might need help crafting your startup’s marketing strategy, let’s talk!