Hey hey Tochy-verse 💛,
I promised you consistency, and one thing about me? I don’t go back on my word. Abi no be so?
This edition is specifically for my business owners and founders simply because hiring the wrong marketing talent is literal business suicide.
Here’s my hot take👉🏾 HR and recruiting agencies should ONLY handle culture-fit interviews and have zero stakes in final hiring decisions in terms of technical skills.
Why? Skills can be taught. Bad character? That one no get cure.
Most startups lack senior marketing professionals internally, which means you’re flying blind when evaluating candidates. And when marketing goes wrong it becomes a cost abyss that keeps taking without giving back.
You’re brilliant at building products and running operations, but marketing? That’s not your lane. So you fall for the shiny presentations and buzzwords.
And guess what marketing, comms, and sales folks excel at? Selling themselves. Some will wash you clean with premium-grade BS and before you know it, you’ve hired vibes over value.
💡 My advice: Invest in a senior marketing consultant to support your hiring process. The money spent here saves you from expensive hiring mistakes and months of lost momentum.
I do this for a couple of organizations by the way and you can reach me on tochyspov@gmail.com
Your 2025 Marketing Hire Checklist
1. Always Tie Something to Revenue
Ask: “Walk me through how your work moved the bottom line.”
Not every marketing effort directly generates sales, but any serious marketer should show you at least one campaign or initiative that drove measurable business impact. No exceptions.
2. Test for Strategy, Not Just Execution
Don’t get hypnotized by pretty Canva designs and viral TikTok edits.
Instead, ask: “How would you grow our product with a ₦2M monthly budget?” Their clarity of strategic thinking is just as good, if not better than their technical skills every time.
3. Spot the Jack-of-All-Trades Red Flag
A strong marketer goes deep in at least one specialized area (performance marketing, content strategy, brand building, or product growth) while understanding how the pieces connect.
If they claim to be equally amazing at everything but can’t back any claims with specific results or metrics? 🚩🚩🚩
📌 Founders: Bookmark this as your hiring guide.
📌 Marketers: Consider this your interview prep cheat sheet.
Hiring marketing talent doesn’t start and end with finding someone who can post pretty pictures or run basic ads. It involves finding strategic thinkers who understand that every marketing dollar should work toward growing your business.
Get this hire right, and marketing becomes your growth engine. Get it wrong, and it becomes your biggest expense with nothing to show for it.
Love, light & laser-focused marketing,
The Tochy of Tochy’s POV 🖤