Ask Jupiter No. 4 — 'My helicopter founder won't let me do my job!'

Unfortunately, managing your boss' ego and their control issues is a staple in the marketing industry. Let's talk about the ways you can get around it (and still do your job)!

Aug 22, 2024

Dear Jupiter,

I'm a nonprofit content creator working with a founder with a Founder problem.

Team of 3 people managing all content - Founder + content strategist (me) + administrative assistant who does some socials and captures some video content. Some marketing best practices have been hard to implement since the founder doesn't see immediate results (e.g. after one intro email for an upcoming event, 0 conversions so far.

As a result the founder suggests removing nurture/attract emails from the event's email series and focusing solely on ticket sales right before the event.) Some of this problem is managing the human founder obvi. I'm not good at that yet.

But my q for you: with this kind of relationship are there quick wins that an arts marketer can achieve in order to build trust with a very hands-on founder? Trying to move beyond "my recommendation is..." - results would be nice but my strategy is scattered currently as I try to meet founder's expectations. That plus the fact I've only been working for her for 2 mos means few results make it to her desk yet.

— Founder “knows best”

Wooooof! Hii Bestie!

I have MANY thoughts as per uszh but before we get into it; I want to emphasize how many of us have been there! It’s truly a “Marketers having to manage the egos of the people they work for and dodge micromanagement? Fork found in kitchen!” sort of affair.

Because upper management and founders often see digital content marketing as some sort of impenetrable fortress — both the home to the most vile poison and the elixir of life — you end up spending twice as much time trying to convince someone to press publish on the content than you do actually making the content.

Gotta love corporate culture 😅

The mystique of digital marketing and marketing channel utilization is why most people in the industry hear “young people know how the internet works right?! why can’t we just hire some unpaid intern to do it,” and “it should be easy to go viral!” and sometimes “can we just copy what [insert competitor here] does?”

And then, you have to take a deep breath and prevent yourself from screaming so loud you wake the old Gods (can you tell I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy this week?)

The secret non-industry folks don’t realize is that content creation is not the be all, end all when it comes to a company’s success. Moreover, there is no singular piece of content that will suddenly lead to a booming business.

Someone might say “but what about…?” and reference something like the press around the Stanley Cup Car Fire where this lady’s car caught on fire and the Stanley Cup kept ice in it.

*cue a worldwide sellout of the product*

Stanley did not create that fire (I don’t think they’re arsonists?)

They provided an excellent product and the powers that be smiled upon them.

Stanley was already having its viral moment thanks to nurses, moms in the drop off line, and high school students. They leaned into it, creating a very pink collaboration with the Target Starbucks. Sure, the car fire was an incredible piece of content, but they were already working on everything else. The elaborate virality was just a bonus.

Aka they were putting in the work before they reached the viral moment!

I realize I am preaching to the choir here! Let’s get into how to manage your founder-knows-best founder.

How to circumnavigate a helicopter founder

Rely on trusted sources

As you noted, “my recommendation is…” can only get you so far. Especially if your boss doesn’t trust you even though they were the one who hired you (ARGHHHH!).

A quick way around this is to cite your sources with caution.

Want to include more video in the content calendar? Find an article from a reputable source. All the marketing players have some sort of blog. From social schedulers like Sprout Social, to industry thought leaders, to marketing reporters, there are endless articles on whatever topic you’re trying to move the needle on.

Here is where the careful part comes in...

You never want it to come across as condescending, especially to a founder that “knows best”.

Instead of sending an article as a retort, the founder’s swift “No,” send your recommendation alongside the article with the proposal of the new thing.

This can be something as simple as “In my research, I discovered engagement is up by blah blah blah for blah blah. Maybe we should incorporate more blah blah into next month’s content cal?” alongside an article link.

Or if you want to take it to a step further, you can chat them the article and say something like “This is interesting!” or “Would love your thoughts on this!”

Most of the time, this genre of over-involved founder will jump at the chance to share their opinion and then they get to think the idea is theirs! Which is the best way to get anything done in this scenario.

You never want it to come across as condescending, especially to a founder that “knows best”

Comparison is the thief of joy and also the friend of the Girl Boss

Okay, I know I said copying a competitor was not a good thing, but you can use the marketing version of “keeping up with the Joneses” to get your founder to agree to things like an email nurture sequence or an optimized IG bio.

Certain marketing practices are the digital equivalent of daily hygiene. Instead of wasting your time trying to explain the psychology of email nurture sequences (and how they do eventually convert down the line!!), you can explain that all of your other competitors use this feature and your nonprofit needs to do so to keep in line with “industry standards.”

The conversation can avoid turning into a weird power struggle and you can hit them with, “I just want to make sure we are up-to-date with industry standards!” They might push back and say, “well how do we know it is industry standard?” and this is where you can bring in the receipts of “I signed up for [COMPETITOR] and got the following emails in a specific cadence.”

If your founder still doesn’t go for it, then they are at least aware that it is their choice not to keep up with the Joneses.

Use anecdotal feedback as a stopgap for analytics

Content marketing is a long game. Like it takes months to build even an iota of brand awareness, let alone see results with community engagement.

Skip the prayers for positive vanity metrics and instead find a different indicator of success that assuages the ego. My recommendation: anecdotal feedback.

In my experience, random pieces of positive feedback from clients, potential clients, even friends and family can provide more benefit than data points.

Did a follower respond to an IG story about how much they enjoyed a post? Did someone reply to an email about its contents? Take that shit all the way to the bank! The best is when someone in the founder’s network validates the work you’re doing. Huzzah!

It ain’t that deep

The thing about content marketing, and marketing in general, is that it simply is not that deep.

Spending too much time in the weeds of content marketing inflates the importance of its existence. We are not brain surgeons or fire fighters and despite what a founder might think, posting a photo to Instagram does not save or end lives.

Don’t get me wrong, I literally do content marketing for a living. I love it! It keeps a roof over my head and my emotional support water bottle full. It helps take down empires and build liberation movements. (Notice I said helps and not like does the actual work, take note founders LOL).

Now obviously you cannot turn to your founder and say, “well we aren’t saving lives here, so let’s just post this shit and get on with it” (Lord Jesus, I wish we could.)

You can, however, speak to them in maybe the one language they understand: the importance of time.

Founders are business owners. Speaking to their sense of time (whether poorly or well managed) should help a light bulb or two turn on.

“I understand this company is your baby and I always want to make sure I am doing right by you. I am worried we are spending too much time on Instagram captions when we could focus on the sales email for next week. Our last Instagram post only reached 300 folks, whereas the email goes out to 2000 people. I think we can keep the IG post as simple as possible by doing X, Y, and Z.”

The hypercritical lens your founder has slowed her down. This is likely why she hired you. Emphasizing your desire to save her time will remind her why she hired you in the first place.

We are not brain surgeons or fire fighters and despite what a founder might think, posting a photo to Instagram does not save or end lives.

Not my circus, not my monkeys

You do not know own this company. You are not a key stakeholder. At some point, accept that this is not your brand. While you obviously want the nonprofit to do well, you cannot die on its cross.

If you’ve done all of the above and your founder still won’t listen, you kinda just have to play it as it lays.

You are doing the job to the best of your ability and if she cuts you off at the knees, that’s on her, not you.

Now, in her eyes, will that be the case? Absolutely not! She might blame you specifically, but that is your big flashing neon sign to get the hell out. Go off in search of greener pastures. If anybody asks, you can tell them you had “creative differences” and keep it moving.

As the great internet philosopher, da share z0ne, says…