The mantra for the past few years is that content and inbound marketing is the only marketing there is. Any company that wants to stay relevant in the 21^st century must execute a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy now.

Not that long ago you were enchanted with your inbound marketing strategies.

Perhaps it seems like only yesterday when the future was wide open and every chance of a charmed marketing plan was yours for the taking. Starry-eyed and optimistic, you believed what you were told about the right way to market your service based business, and you were flying high with expectations that were sure to become realities.

Your business is an intricate engine with hundreds of moving parts. These parts need to keep running smoothly to expect any kind of business growth. For the sake of these moving parts, marketing tends to be thrown by the wayside. It’s more important to keep these parts moving to establish growth, but without a strong marketing plan, growth may become minuscule. The problem becomes quite the conundrum. You have to make sure your business is running correctly in order to grow, which leaves very little time for you to focus on marketing. This actually helps your business grow! And can lead you to the thought “should I outsource my marketing?” Lets take a look at the 3 reasons to outsource your marketing.

In big businesses, it’s not uncommon to see a handful of executives in the C suite, a few more than that in upper management, and even more plentiful people filling lower management roles. But when you’re launching a startup, this type of infrastructure is unnecessary and a harmful goal to aim toward. Eric Ries, creator of The Lean Startup, advocates for operating with much less waste. And in the world of startups, every position counts.

So if you are the one launching an organization, or if you’re considering joining one, it’s imperative you know some essential traits that individuals in each primary role should possess. Here’s a look at three of the most crucial functions within a startup (assuming you already have your product developed and services refined), and what each one requires.

Capable CEO