Advertising Archives - Startup Economist

How Marketing Got Rewritten by the Ignorant and Why Startups are Paying the Price

Monday, 29 September 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Having sat through a few events and cohort launches this past week, I keep hearing people refer to Marketing as Advertising and Promotion. A little history explains how we got into this mess and why advertising and promotion are merely two things you might do when marketing determines that you should and how. Go back

Published in Advertising, Insights / Research, Startups

22 Comments

Marketing is Leading Tech Companies Again, Faster Than You Think

Friday, 13 December 2024 by Paul O'Brien

The tectonic shift in how tech companies operate is unmistakable: whether evident in VCs saying Storytellers will run the world, advisors shifting to stress that media is most important, or research validating that marketing is what defines a company’s success or failure, people are waking up again to the fact that marketing runs your business.

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Published in Advertising, AI, Insights / Research, Social Media

24 Comments

Does Early Marketing Hurt Startups? Why Founders Should Think Differently

Friday, 15 November 2024 by Paul O'Brien

Some founders wonder whether starting marketing too soon could hurt their startup’s focus. Could it take attention away from refining the product or identifying the right customers? Or, on the flip side, is it essential to build buzz and gain traction from day one? It’s a question worth addressing because, frankly, the misconceptions surrounding early-stage

Advertising competitive analysis customer discovery Lean Startup market research marketing promotions

Published in Advertising, Insights / Research, Startups

25 Comments

Government Has No Intention of Cracking Down on Disinformation

Tuesday, 17 September 2024 by Paul O'Brien

Finding ourselves in the thick of a contentious U.S. Presidential election, I found myself contemplating how critical it is, now more than ever perhaps, to teach everyone the realities of media. To accomplish that though, I’ve wanted to expose that reality without stoking the flames of Harris / Trump so having spent some time with

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Published in Advertising, Insights / Research, PR

23 Comments

Startups aren’t defined by Tech: How a Beverage Venture can Change the World

Sunday, 09 October 2022 by Paul O'Brien

Why is Coca-Cola a super successful company even though its main product does not solve any world problem? The question caught my attention for two reasons: Much of the world seems misled to perceive that startups and technology go hand in hand, as though something can’t be a startup unless it is in tech. Too

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Published in Advertising, Industry, Insights / Research, Startups

13 Comments

Can You Tell When a Digital Marketing Plan Will Fail?

Wednesday, 18 November 2020 by Paul O'Brien

A marketing plan is more like a flywheel, not a funnel.

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Published in Advertising, Insights / Research, PR, Search, Social Media

12 Comments

Why a Competitive Analysis is a First Step as a Founder

Thursday, 17 September 2020 by Paul O'Brien

There is a trick to entrepreneurship, to starting a venture, that no one really ever talks about. Not sure why they don’t talk about it… perhaps because they don’t understand how to do it… perhaps because everyone is selling something… perhaps because they’ve hired help and it sucked… regardless, I’m going to let you in

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Published in Advertising, Featured, Insights / Research, Startups

46 Comments