Let’s be honest: if you’re a founder or early employee at a startup, your to-do list is overflowing.
Product. Hiring. Fundraising. Maybe even answering support emails yourself at 11 PM.
So yeah, when it comes to marketing, it’s easy to either throw it on the back burner or hand it off to someone who "gets social" and call it a day.
But here’s the thing: bad marketing doesn’t just slow you down. It confuses people. It blocks growth. And in some cases, it actively repels the very customers you’re trying to attract.
At INAT.creative, we work with startups and SMEs across the region, and we see the same patterns again and again.
This post is for the busy, ambitious founders and early-stage teams trying to make smart decisions about marketing without wasting time or money.
We’ll walk you through the most common marketing mistakes we see all the time — and give you some no-BS tips to do better.
Let’s get into it.
Mistake 1: Treating marketing like a last-minute add-on
Imagine building a whole restaurant, designing the menu, hiring staff, and then on launch day, realising you forgot to tell anyone it even exists.
That’s what skipping marketing looks like.
The fix: Marketing isn’t a cherry on top. It should sit next to product and sales as a key growth driver. Start early. Even if it’s just building a waitlist, teasing your story on LinkedIn, or getting a landing page up — start.
Mistake 2: Equating marketing with just social media
Posting memes on Instagram does not equal having a marketing strategy.
We once spoke to a founder who thought their content plan was solid because their intern was "doing Canva stuff" every few days. But they had zero leads, their product positioning was confusing, and their website didn’t even explain what they actually do.
The fix: Think bigger. Marketing includes positioning, messaging, brand, website experience, email flows, searchability, onboarding, and more. Social media is just one (tiny) piece.
Mistake 3: Hiring too junior, too early
It’s tempting to hire cheap when budgets are tight. But if your first marketing hire is an intern or junior designer, they won’t have the experience to build real strategy or figure out what’s working.
The fix: If you can’t afford a senior marketer full-time, work with a consultant or part-time strategist (yes, like INAT.creative) who can lay the groundwork. Then bring in juniors to execute once the direction is clear.
Mistake 4: Trying to speak to everyone
You’re not Amazon. You don’t need to sell to everyone.
Founders often try to appeal to too many audiences at once: B2B, B2C, Gen Z, parents, big corporates, freelancers. The result? Generic, forgettable messaging that resonates with no one.
The fix: Get specific. Build for your real user. Speak to them like a human. Clear > clever, always.
Mistake 5: Expecting instant results
Look, we get it. You want traction. Yesterday.
But building trust, getting known, and fine-tuning what converts? That takes a bit of time.
The fix: Don’t ditch a strategy after two weeks — track signals. Stay consistent. Make small bets, test fast, and tweak. You’ll learn way more by doing than overthinking.
Mistake 6: Relying on paid ads too early
Running Meta or Google ads before you have a solid offer, a clear website, or any data? That's like pouring water into a leaky bucket.
The fix: Organic comes first. Nail your message, test it with real people, and fix your conversion funnel. Then, when you’re ready, ads can help scale what’s already working.
Real talk:
If you’ve made one (or all) of these mistakes, you’re not alone. We’ve seen multi-million dollar startups make them, too. This stuff is fixable.
The key is catching it early — and not being too proud to pivot.
At INAT.creative, we help founders simplify their marketing, sharpen their message, and actually get results without the fluff.
But whether you work with us or not, we hope this post gave you a few "aha" moments.
And hey, if you’ve got other marketing pet peeves or war stories from startup land, drop us a comment or DM.
We’re always here for a good rant (and a better strategy).
Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash