Hire a full-time CMO?!
Hire an agency?! Try doing marketing myself?!
Can I do it right?
I need to decide.
This is the dialogue inside the heads of many CEOs and founders who never hired a marketer.
I have met many of those.
The whole issue and confusion come because most decision-makers don't know how to control, hire or keep accountable a marketer.
That is why they go with the safest choice.
That is very often why the first marketing hire is a freelancer. It is natural that you want to try someone or experiment before you hire a full-time marketer or Chief marketing officer.
Test the ground. Experiment. Do a pilot. Mitigate risks.
As a freelancer, your role is to educate them about marketing, or they will never understand marketing.
Who should be the first marketing hire?
Freelancer
Full-time marketer or CMO
Fractional Chief of Marketing
Agency