The Four Marketers You Need in Your Start-up

May 7, 2019 | Leadership

Building your initial go to market team in your start up is hard. You’ve got to balance domain expertise and functional expertise, experience and energy and cultural fit. Add to that, the role of marketing is so complex, you’ve also got to balance within the marketing domain. And it’s kinda a -zero sum game. I recently chatted with Masha Sedova of Co-Founder of Elevate Security on how she’s tackling these challenges, and you can hear her perspective here.

One way to tackle this challenge I have found useful is to think of your needs on two dimensions, Brand v. Demand and Strategic v. Tactical. If you look at this graphically, it leaves these four quadrants, which I’ve labeled at the Promoter, The Storyteller, The Growth Partner and the Demand Generator. Let’s take a look at each of the Archetype marketers.

In the upper right we have the Promoter. The promoter is a master of PR, Events and Social. They get attention and know how to work the very important influence channels that create and shape markets and market perception.

In the bottom right, we have the Storyteller. Often you’ll see them with Product Marketing backgrounds or titles. They know how to shape your message and target it to every audience that matters. Pair them with the promoter, and you’ve got the message and the means to get the word out.

At the bottom left we have the Growth Partner. A skilled negotiator and communicator, they are masters at taking your message and massaging it to get the attention and action of partners, whether suppliers or providers. They understand market dynamics and how to “growth hack” into existing channels and demand flow.

Lastly at the upper left you have the Demand Generator. They are all about leads and about managing the lead flow through the funnel. They speak the language of SEO/SEM, Content Syndication and Programs. When the funnel needs building, look to them.

The challenge of course for nearly all early start-ups is they need all 4 of these people and only have the budget for one or two right now. That’s why sequencing hires and matching hires to business priorities is so critical. But once you understand the 4 types of marketers you need, you have the starting point to getting this right. In my next blog I’ll provide some guidance on sequencing and prioritizing these hires, and how to recognize the elusive 3 or even 4 tool player!

10 Years of Awesomeness and the Future of Storytelling, Truth and the Art of Marketing.

Apr 3, 2019 | Random Musings

I’m lucky enough to be sitting on a tropical beach in the Caribbean Sea as I celebrate 10 years in my Marketing Consulting and Thought Leadership Practice and yet another birthday while taking the time to sort out where my practice leads me next. I know these things to be true –

  • I am getting ready to launch my first podcast – Marketing InSecurity. I’ve been a guest on probably a dozen or so podcasts and I am super excited to be at the other side of the virtual table, interviewing an amazing set of guests (I can say amazing because I already have the first 8 guests lined up and they are truly a who’s who of Cybersecurity Marketing stars!
  • After 8+ years I am moving offices. The new facility is an amazing co-working space less that 2 miles from my home in Menlo Park. The energy is super cool and I’m both scared and excited to clean out nearly a decade of office stuff. The shredder is at the ready and I can’t wait for the change
  • I still wake up every day kinda amazed that this is now the longest “job” I’ve ever had, and I have every intention of making it last another 10-15 years. THANK YOU to all my amazing clients who never cease to inspire me to be of service to their causes!

Here’s the things I am wondering about as I think about the next decade ahead:

  1. The future of business storytelling – I’ve build much of my practice on the assumption that Story and using it to create context and framing of business value, is the most critical piece to Business to business messaging. I know this is true as long as people are selling to people. But will the ‘bots take over selling and or buying, and what would that mean to marketing and messaging. If algorithms rule, does marketing still matter?
  2. The future of “truth”. This is one that matters in my work, but is probably a much bigger topic well beyond my pay grade. I’ve always said that one of the keys to great messaging is VERACITY, another way to say truth. But it seems that truth is becoming harder and harder to judge, identify and know.
  3. Art versus Science – Is it true that the art of marketing is done? Is the growth hacker truly the new CMO? Is influence dead to be replaced by data driven manipulation? If truth is truly illusive and storytelling relegated to literature class, what’s left? I may be an engineer by training and love a good science read, but there’s no doubt that I love a great story even more.

Speaking of stories, I’m in the middle of Neil Stephenson’s D.O.D.O and I need to wend (inside book joke) myself back to the lounge chair and see what year I land in. And If the next 10 are anything like the last 10, one thing for sure it won’t be is boring! – Cheers Ken

Position available here

Mar 13, 2019 | Random Musings

Join my practice as a part-time business manager.

Independent Contractor – Role Description  – This is a 1099 Independent Contractor Position

About the job:

KJR Associates seeks a part-time contractor to act as the business manager for its growing thought leadership and consulting practice.  Initial tasks may include:

  • Client interfacing and scheduling on project logistics
  • Managing and building the practice’s email database
  • Event planning and management
  • Nurturing and growing community offering and membership site
  • Managing and growing of social media presence

The candidate should be computer fluent with Office, web-based applications and comfortable learning new applications and skills.  Marketing and sales experience a big plus. Great independent working style and collaborative and growth mindset are required.

Commitment –Initially 30-50 hours per month, from home, with occasional face to face meetings. Consultant should bring their own computer, highly preferable to be a Mac, supplies and home Internet connection.

Pay – Commiserate to market and experience level

Inquiries – email ken@kjrassociates.com or call 650-868-4566


About Me

I help B2B growth company executives in Sales, Marketing and the C-Suite to breakthrough and achieve and grow market leadership in new and existing markets. My clients not only lead, they improve key sales and marketing metrics like leads to revenue and opportunities to close.

What I Do:
• Market Leadership Strategy
• Breakthrough Messaging and Positioning for Growth Companies
• Market Leadership Training for Product Management, Product and Corporate Marketing Teams
• Strategic Go To Market Projects on area such as Pricing, Channel and Growth
• Speaking, writing and mentoring on Marketing Effectiveness and Market Leadership

I have spent 20+ years in B2B marketing roles, launching the Intel Inside broadcast co-op program in 1991 and then the Internet’s first affiliate marketing program, Netscape Now, while at Netscape from 1995-99. Since then, I’ve been CMO at several start-ups and ran Network Security Marketing at McAfee where I developed and executed a marketing strategy that grew our web security business from $60M to nearly $200M

In the 9 years of my consulting practice, my clients have generated over $6B of shareholder value through IPOs and acquisitions. In addition, several others have reached private equity valuations of $1B+.

My first book, Launching to Leading: How B2B Market Leaders Breakthrough, Lead, and Transform their Markets, published in 2017, is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and booksellers everywhere in ebook, audio book and paperback.