What Founders Actually Need From Marketing (Vs. What They Ask For)

The Translation Gap

I used to think my job was to explain how I did things. I would sit in front of a founder and talk about canonical tags, negative keyword lists, and server-side tagging.

Their eyes would glaze over.

It took me two years to realize that I was speaking "Marketer," and they were listening in "Business."

Founders don't hire marketers because they want marketing. They hire marketers because they have a business problem they can't solve.

What Founders Ask For vs. What They Need

The Request: "We need more traffic."

The Reality: "We need more qualified leads because our sales team is starving."

I once had a client demand we double their traffic. I could have bought cheap clicks, but I knew that wouldn't solve the underlying issue. Instead, I audited their sales CRM.

I found that 40% of their leads were never contacted. They didn't need more traffic; they needed marketing automation to nurture the leads they already had.

The Request: "We need to be on TikTok."

The Reality: "We feel irrelevant and want to capture a younger audience."

Founders suffer from FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). When a competitor launches a podcast, they want a podcast. My job isn't to say "Yes." My job is to ask "Why?"

If their audience is 50-year-old procurement officers, TikTok is a waste. I learned to push back gently: "We can do TikTok, but let's look at where your current best customers came from. Oh, it's LinkedIn? Let's double down there first."

The Metric That Matters to Founders

There is only one metric that every founder understands: ROI (Return on Investment).

Everything else is a proxy.

I stopped sending reports that focused on "Reach" and "Impressions." I built dashboards that answered three questions:

1. How much did we spend?
2. How much revenue did we generate (or pipeline did we create)?
3. What is the trend?

I use comparative data to show efficiency. "Last month we spent $100 to get a customer. This month we spent $85. We just saved you $1,500."

That is language a founder respects.

Managing Expectations vs. Reality

The hardest part of client work is managing the timeline. In a founder's mind, they turn on ads today, and revenue pours in tomorrow.

I learned to set the "J-Curve" expectation early.

"Marketing is like an airplane. We burn the most fuel during takeoff (the first 3 months). We are testing, failing, and optimizing. You will see costs go out before you see revenue come in. Can we agree to evaluate success on a 90-day window?"

Having this conversation before the contract is signed saves relationships.

How to Communicate Value Without jargon

I realized that using jargon made me feel smart but made the client feel stupid. That is a terrible dynamic.

Now, I use analogies.

• SEO is like planting an apple orchard. It takes years to grow, but once it does, you get fruit for free forever.
• PPC is like going to the supermarket. You can get apples today, but you have to pay for every single one.
• CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) is like fixing a leaky bucket. There is no point pouring more water (traffic) in until we plug the holes.

When I simplified my language, my client retention rate doubled.

A Note to Freelancers and Agencies

If you want to work with high-level founders, stop being an order taker.

Don't ask "What do you want me to do?"

Say "Based on your goals, here is what I recommend we do."

Founders are exhausted by decision fatigue. They want someone to take the wheel, not someone who sits in the back seat asking for directions.

Be the pilot.