olves a customer need in a way that makes them want to tell their friends about it. And if you have a whole product, a product that has everything that is needed for the customer to buy, you are going to be touching every "function" in the organization. I don't see anyway around this. Taking this course of thought to its logical conclusion you arrive at the realization that every employee is involved in marketing. And in this day and age they are.

Secondly, promotion, which most people think about when they say marketing, is not some isolated activity that can be bolted on at the end. It interacts with all the other elements of the marketing mix and if you try to address it as an afterthought after the product has been created you are doomed to failure. Doomed.

To do successful startup marketing every employee needs to make decisions from the beginning with the potential customer in mind. And not in the back of the mind. In the front.

Marketing is not a department.

Lance Weatherby is doing a 10 part series on startup marketing.