I think this is a very reasonable framing, and I agree that org size and FTE constraints matter a lot here.
I also agree that digital growth isn’t the right fit for every EA org. But for certain types of work — fellowships, training programs, advocacy, recruitment-heavy pipelines — it seems quite plausible that digital channels could deliver more leverage in terms of participant volume, quality, and scalability than comms alone.
One place where I may disagree slightly is on which function is more “fundamental” in very small teams. In practice, digital growth tends to be more nuanced and multi-functional, whereas basic comms work (keeping the website updated, occasional social posts, newsletters, simple messaging) often doesn’t require a full-time role on its own. In many for-profit and nonprofit contexts, a single digital-focused marketer can cover a meaningful amount of baseline comms, but the reverse is less often true.
So if an org truly has only one marketing-related FTE, my intuition is that a generalist with strong digital and analytical skills — who can also handle light comms — may sometimes be a better starting point than a purely comms-focused hire. That won’t be true in all cases, but it seems underexplored given the types of scaling challenges many EA orgs face.
I would imagine you can count on 2 hands the number of EA orgs that even have 1 full time marketing role. Maybe I’m wrong though and its more like 4-5 hands :D.
I think this is a very reasonable framing, and I agree that org size and FTE constraints matter a lot here.
I also agree that digital growth isn’t the right fit for every EA org. But for certain types of work — fellowships, training programs, advocacy, recruitment-heavy pipelines — it seems quite plausible that digital channels could deliver more leverage in terms of participant volume, quality, and scalability than comms alone.
One place where I may disagree slightly is on which function is more “fundamental” in very small teams. In practice, digital growth tends to be more nuanced and multi-functional, whereas basic comms work (keeping the website updated, occasional social posts, newsletters, simple messaging) often doesn’t require a full-time role on its own. In many for-profit and nonprofit contexts, a single digital-focused marketer can cover a meaningful amount of baseline comms, but the reverse is less often true.
So if an org truly has only one marketing-related FTE, my intuition is that a generalist with strong digital and analytical skills — who can also handle light comms — may sometimes be a better starting point than a purely comms-focused hire. That won’t be true in all cases, but it seems underexplored given the types of scaling challenges many EA orgs face.
I would imagine you can count on 2 hands the number of EA orgs that even have 1 full time marketing role. Maybe I’m wrong though and its more like 4-5 hands :D.