A marketer’s best friend is the CEO

Marketing revolves around showcasing the true value a company possesses.

The value of your company can’t be conveyed solely through the product or service offering and its features. It goes much deeper.

The value of what you sell hinges on the idea you present.

Many products, especially in the startup arena, implicitly or explicitly promise a better future for the customer.

When a friend from school sells you a t-shirt from their new brand, you’re buying into the promise that the brand will eventually thrive. You’re investing in the future.

When a new LinkedIn automation tool offers you a yearly subscription, you’re buying into the upcoming features they’re excited to introduce. You’re investing in the future.

When the sales agency your friend referred you to arranges a call, you’re buying into the excitement of more sales. You’re investing in the future.

As a marketer, your role should include promoting not only the present but also the future.

This is a surefire way to get people excited.

People want to be part of a journey. That’s why when a new social app emerges, users rush to sign up, hoping to be among the first and to enjoy the potential follower growth and bragging rights.

When you make a purchase, an element of the unknown adds intrigue.

This resembles the dating scene, where individuals wrap themselves in mystery within their Tinder profiles.

Certainly, you can’t make promises that will never materialize. That’s fraud.

Yet, enticing people to buy into a future vision of a company as a supplementary reason, or an additional value for their existing interest, might just tip the scale.

"We're planning to launch a mobile app too. It's an ambitious endeavor requiring more resources, but with the current trajectory, we're confident. We seek buy-in from valued customers like you."

No one can predict the future.

But the future doesn’t just come - it is created.

The individual with the clearest future vision within a company is the CEO, or the founding team. At the very least, they end up guiding the company into a future direction.

If you genuinely desire to craft a compelling story for your company, the CEO should closely collaborate with whoever leads marketing.

The CEO should constantly articulate the company’s mission and vision.

And in turn, marketing should advise the CEO on how they can together promote that vision for and with customers. Certainly, with insights from sales.

Every story unfolds over time.

Construct a timeline outlining the future you can sell in the short-, medium-, and long-term.

Stories can happen by accident.

But no one one ends up reading them by accident.

Only sometimes. By accident.