What does Full Stack Marketing mean?
You might be wondering, what does ‘Full-Stack’ marketer means? Wasn’t that a term for people who code?
Well yes, full-stack is a term that engineers and developers use to indicate they have the skills to develop front-end as well as back-end. In a few words, it is the term you give to someone with a general knowledge of the most important aspects of their discipline.
A Full-stack Marketer is how you call someone that feels comfortable handling all general aspects of the digital marketing ‘stack’, for example, SEO, SEM, Copywriting, PPC, Social Media, Funnels, Growth Hacking, Analytics and so on…
Why you need a Full Stack Marketer?
Because it is the most efficient and logic solution for your needs.
If you’re a startup or SMB, it’s probable that you won’t be able to afford a whole marketing team and, what’s more important, you won’t really need one. What you need is someone that can figure out and execute the best strategy for taking you safe and fast to your next milestone.
Having an in-house marketer can seem like be a good option, but normally, a high-ranked and experienced marketer can be very expensive and hard to attract for a startups small budget. On the other end, you could probably end-up hiring an intern with lots of energy and attitude, but let’s face it- no substantial experience on the field. At the end of the day this also can cost you tons of money and time, two things more valuable than gold.
What if you managed to hire a specialized marketer in your industry, then? This could be the best call –till you pivot. David Cummings found that successful startups pivot at least once. Therefore, you will need someone who can adapt to the ups and downs of your business, and what’s more, someone who can see the red flags and tell you when it’s time for a change.
And what if you decide to not have a marketer at all? While bootstrapping everything yourself during the early days is the right call, you’ll certainly reach a moment in which the marketing goals surpasses you. That’s when you’ll need to make your first hire.
What does a Full Stack Marteker do?
What defines a full-stack marketer is not the depth of their knowledge, it is the width of their experience in handling different projects with different goals. He understands marketing, he understand how all fits together, and he knows when to use each strategy.
Their wide range of skills allows them to navigate different ways to reach a specific goal and pivot when it’s needed. In a startup, everybody is all hands in and wearing different hats, and a full-stack marketer is nothing different: they are flexible enough to edit your copy now, create a new beautiful image and optimize your adwords campaign five minutes later.
The “T Shaped Marketer”
Buffer follows a related principle. But instead of “full stack marketer” they called “T-Shaped Marketer“.
The vertical bar on the T represents the depth of related skills and expertise in a single field, whereas the horizontal bar is the ability to collaborate across disciplines with experts in other areas and to apply knowledge in areas of expertise other than one’s own.
The same concept is true with a full stack marketer. Everyone will have certain knowledge as baseline with some expertise in others areas. The “T-shaped Marketer” is a framework that aligns to Buffer needs, and works methodology.
A different framework will be needed for your startup, and each full stack marketer came with their own knowledge and experience. Don’t expect him/her to know it all. Is simple not possible. Instead embrace his experience and see if fits your startup need.
Why a Full Stack Marketer is better for startups?
For me full stack marketing equals entrepreneurial marketing.
Not only a startup will need a wide set of skill, it also will require a complete different mindset. You want to know how to stay lean, and you want to be completely align with your startup goals. Focus on revenue, or focus on growth, or focus on scale -those three, not only are completely different goals, they also require different actions- I know you get it, does your marketer get it too? You want someone who does.
A full stack marketer will also understand how important in experimentation in those early days of your company,
So the next time you wonder what’s best for your startup, think of the full-stack marketer as the pivot you need: a key player that is going to take care of every aspect of your marketing to deliver a high-quality product to your audience.