You’ve raised. What to do with your marketing in the first 90 days

The round closes, the announcement goes out and, for about a week, it feels like the hard part is over. Then the real question lands: what are we going to show for this money in six months?

Most founders I speak to at this stage have the same problem. There’s budget for marketing for the first time, nobody whose job it is, and a long list of things that all feel urgent. A new website. Social. Ads. A deck refresh. Maybe an agency. Here’s the order I’d do it in.

Month one: get clear before you get busy

The most expensive mistake is spending on output before you’ve agreed what you’re saying and who you’re saying it to. Every piece of work after this point either builds on that decision or has to be redone.

• Write down who buys and why. Not a persona with a stock photo. The job titles that sign off, the problem that makes them look for someone like you, and the words they use to describe it.

• Agree one line about what you do. If three people on your team describe the business three different ways, your website, your deck and your outreach will too.

• Set a baseline. Where enquiries come from today, how many, and what happens to them. You can’t show traction without a starting point.

Month two: build the things everything else depends on

Once the message is agreed, build the few assets every other activity leans on. For most early-stage companies that’s a website that explains the offer clearly, a sales deck that says the same thing, and a steady rhythm of content that shows you know your subject.

Keep the website small and specific. Five pages that answer the questions buyers actually ask (what is it, who is it for, what does it cost, why you, what happens next) will do more than twenty pages of features.

Month three: go and find the customers

This is the part most marketing plans leave out. Content and a nice website help people trust you once they find you. They rarely go out and find people for you.

So spend month three on the selling side: a target list of the companies you most want to work with, outreach written for each of them, warm introductions from your investors and network, and a simple way to track who replied and what happened next.

What to leave until later

Paid ads, big campaigns and a full rebrand can all wait until you know which message works and who responds to it. Spend on them too early and you’re paying to test guesses.

If you want a second pair of eyes on your first 90 days, I’m always happy to talk it through. Request a 20-minute call and tell me where you are.

Common questions