Welcome to the latest episode of Three-Minute Marketing, a podcast where we micro-interview the world’s foremost thought leaders in growth marketing across different disciplines.

I’m your host Arsham Mirshah and co-founder of WebMechanix, a performance advertising agency. I’m honored to have a bad-ass growth expert, Sheridan Orr, as our guest today.

Sheridan is the CMO of Built In, a go-to hub for tech professionals who want to learn about the technology industry, build connections, and ultimately carve out a future and get a job at these companies that they believe in. Sheridan’s done product marketing and channel marketing for Red Hat, ChannelAdvisor, and PeopleFluent.

Today’s question is: “How do you build a marketing team most effectively for different stages of a company’s growth?”

Show Notes:

* Think of it like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. First, you need to have food to eat, so feed sales.

* Focus on creating a great customer experience from day one. It serves as the flywheel to accomplish other things, such as creating case studies.

* Start with the low-hanging fruit, which is to feed your sales team with good leads.

* Feed your sales team because that’s what matters most.

* Even though she’s a brand marketing, Sheridan admits that product marketing goes before branding. Otherwise, you’ll waste money branding to the wrong people.

* You get more budget as you drive leads and sales, and budget is what fuels your growth and allows you to scale. Then, focus on product-market fit.

* Finally, work on your brand. It’s more than a color palette or logo. Find out how to differentiate yourself.

* Until you get close to the customer, you don’t know what brand story to tell.

Bonus discussion after recording:

* It doesn’t matter if you’re insourcing or outsourcing. It’s about getting the best possible talent.

* Just like a sports team, you need the best people on your team at all times.

* Use a spreadsheet to rate your team and ask if that’s the best world-class talent you can get for each role.

* WebMechanix uses an accountability chart instead of an organization chart to rank teams and to identify areas for improvement.