Startups: Should You Invest More in Sales or Marketing?

Written by

Lisa Picovschi

You are an entrepreneur, You have just raised funds and you are wondering what is the best marketing strategy to get your startup off the ground? Should you prioritize sales or marketing? One brings quick results, the other builds a solid brand in the long term. In this article, we decipher the advantages and limitations of each approach to help you make the right choice. Yes, all this for you!

Business development: a rapid growth engine

Sales is the art of hunting. The goal? To directly reach out to customers via targeted actions such as emailing, telephone prospecting, LinkedIn messages or even follow-ups. An effective approach for immediate results. The problem is that building a sales department from scratch, even if it's just one person and their phone book, requires time, efforts, and a lot of motivation. Because, yes, it is painful to get rejected 95% of the time. No matter what you say. (Who is crazy enough to do this job?!)

Why focus on customer acquisition?

Rapid growth: You could generate revenue immediately.
Predictability: Each prospecting action has a measurable conversion rate.
Control: You directly manage your pipeline and adapt your sales force according to needs.

The limits of commercial prospecting?

High rejection: Many prospects ignore sales solicitations.
Human cost: Recruiting and training good sales takes time and money, and yes, luck.
Negative image: An overly aggressive approach can harm the reputation of your business development, and that, will take a lot of time to fix.

Marketing: attracting rather than chasing customers (Aka, the dream)

Unlike business development, marketing is based on an attraction strategy. The goal? Build a strong brand and create content so that customers come to you naturally. You just have to serve them, answer their questions, and boom, here is your new client!

Why invest in marketing?

Increased visibility: A well-crafted digital presence generates constant traffic. We quadrupled the traffic of the Heritage & Succession site, going from 60,000 to 236,000 visitors per month in 6 months, solely thanks to natural referencing.
Trust and credibility: A well-positioned brand reassures and builds customer loyalty.
Cumulative effect: Good content continues to attract people even after it is published, so they can consult it again and again.

The disadvantages of Marketing?

Longer to produce results: SEO, branding and advertising require time to be effective. BUT, it's 100% worth it. It's like starting a diet or taking Ozempic. We both know what's healthier ;)
High cost: A well-crafted brand development campaign can be expensive.
Platform dependency: Google, LinkedIn, Facebook… One algorithm changes and everything can change. That’s why we helped IOPtima rank first on Google in just 3 months, reducing its dependency on paid advertising.

What strategy should you adopt to maximize your growth?

The truth is that the best approach combines both. Focusing solely on acquisition means chasing customers without building a brand image. Focusing entirely on marketing means risking waiting too long to generate revenue.

The ideal is to build a hybrid strategy:

Use prospecting for immediate results and for developing your customers base.
Develop a strong digital presence with through channels like LinkedIn, Youtube that is great for SEO
Test and adjust based on feedback and growth

‍

If you have to arbitrate between the two, marketing is often the most strategic choice in the long term. Why? Because a strong brand becomes a customer magnet. Where prospects require a constant effort to go and find each new prospect, a well-oiled marketing strategy allows you to naturally attract qualified leads without additional effort.

Look concretely, one of our clients, a law firm, saw its qualified prospects explode by +182% after the redesign of its site and a good dose of SEO. As such, being well positioned online changes everything.

But be careful, don't improvise as a marketer!

‍