Hiring your first marketer: what to hand over on day one
Before your first marketer starts, move every marketing account into a company-controlled login and give them the right role on each, put the brand source files in one shared folder, and write a one-page note on who you sell to and what you have already tried. With that ready, their first weeks go on new work instead of recovering access and context.
Why the handover decides the first month
In a startup of five to fifty people, marketing before the first hire is usually done by a founder plus whoever helped: a freelancer for the logo, an agency for the launch, an intern for social. Each of them set up accounts with whatever email was at hand. The domain renews on a co-founder's card, the Figma file sits in the freelancer's workspace, and Google Analytics belongs to a Gmail address nobody remembers.
A new marketer can spend weeks untangling that before they publish anything. Most of it is work the founder can do faster, because the founder knows who set what up. The list below is ordered by how much it blocks: access first, then files, then context.
Accounts: the company owns them, the marketer runs them
Make an ownership table
Write one row per account, with who owns it today, who should own it, and what role the marketer gets. A shared sheet is enough.
| Account | Owner today | Should be owned by | Marketer's role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain registrar and DNS | co-founder, personal card | company account | view, or edit DNS if they run the site |
| Website CMS and hosting | launch agency | company account | admin or editor |
| Google Search Console | freelancer's Gmail | company, verified by DNS | owner or full user |
| Google Analytics 4 | founder | company account | see below |
| Ad accounts (Google, LinkedIn, Meta) | founder | company business manager | admin |
| Email platform and CRM | founder | company account | admin |
| Social profiles | intern | company account | admin |
| Design files and templates | freelancer's workspace | company workspace | editor |
Two rules make this table hold. First, every account should sit under an address the company controls, such as marketing@yourcompany.com, with two-factor codes going to something more than one person can reach. Second, the founder keeps an owner or administrator seat on everything, so a later departure, the marketer's included, never locks the company out.
If former freelancers or agencies still have access, remove it now, with their knowledge.
Search Console and Google Analytics
Search Console has owners, full users and restricted users. Owners have full control and can add or remove people; full users can see all data and take some actions but cannot add users. Owners come in two kinds: a verified owner proved ownership with a token (for example a DNS record or an HTML file on the site), and a delegated owner was added by a verified owner. Google's help page notes that if all verified owners are removed, the remaining users and delegated owners lose access after a grace period. So make sure the company itself is a verified owner, ideally through a DNS record on the company domain, before you add the marketer. When you remove a former contractor, also delete their verification token; while the token stays, Google says a removed owner can re-verify.
Google Analytics 4 has five roles. Administrators have full control, including managing users. Editors have full control of property settings but cannot manage users. Marketers can manage audiences, events and key events. Analysts and viewers work with reports. A first marketer who will set up conversion tracking needs at least the Marketer role, and usually Editor. Whether they also manage users is your decision; either way, keep a company administrator in place.
Brand files they can actually use
A PDF of brand guidelines is not enough to make anything with. Collect the source files into one shared folder:
- the logo as SVG and PNG, in every version you use, with the colour values written down;
- font files, with a note of who bought the licence and what it covers, so you can check it extends to another user;
- editable templates for slides, social posts and email;
- photos and illustrations, with where each came from and what you are allowed to do with it;
- the brand guidelines, if they exist.
If guidelines do not exist, write half a page on what is fixed (logo, colours, name usage) and what the marketer may change.
If templates are missing, that is a bounded job. Some teams commission a key visual and a set of reusable templates before or alongside the hire, as in our content and social work, so the marketer starts with a kit and spends their time on the plan instead of production.
A one-page message note
Write down what currently lives in the founder's head. One page, in plain sentences:
For a launch, the fuller version of this page is a launch message house.
- who buys, by role and company type, and who signs off;
- the problem in the customer's words, ideally quoted from sales calls or emails;
- what you say about the product, and what you have stopped saying, such as an old product name after a rebrand;
- proof you are allowed to use publicly: customers who have agreed to be named, investors you can announce;
- the two or three competitors that come up in sales calls, with one sentence each on how you differ.
Parts of it will be wrong, and the marketer can test and correct those instead of starting from a blank page.
What has been tried, with the numbers
List every marketing activity so far, even small or failed ones: the channel, the dates, what was spent, what came back, and where the raw data lives. "LinkedIn ads for six weeks in spring, two demo requests, account still open" tells a new hire more than any summary of strategy.
Be honest about what failed. A marketer who knows that a channel was tested properly can move on from it; one who only hears "we tried that" will often test it again.
A short brief from the founder
The first plan should come from the marketer, but they need the constraints in writing. Answer these before day one:
- What should marketing move this year: pipeline, sign-ups, hiring, or the next round? Pick one to lead.
- What budget is available, and for which period?
- What can the marketer decide alone, and what needs your approval?
- Which dated moments are coming: a product launch, a conference, an embargoed funding announcement?
- How often will you meet, and what will they report?
What to leave for them to decide
Avoid choosing the channels, the tool stack or the agency on their behalf just before they start. Avoid commissioning a large rebrand in the month before they arrive unless it is already under way. The handover gives them access and context; the plan is theirs to write.
FAQ
Should our first marketer be an admin on every account?
They need enough access to do the work, which on most tools means admin or editor. The company should still own every account and keep a second owner or administrator seat, usually a founder, so access never depends on one person.
A former freelancer owns our Search Console property. What do we do?
Verify the property yourself with a method the company controls, such as a DNS record on your domain. Once you are a verified owner, you can remove the freelancer and should delete their verification token, because Google says a removed owner can re-verify while their token remains.
Do we need brand guidelines before hiring a marketer?
Not a full book. They need the source files, editable templates and a short note on what is fixed and what they may change. Formal guidelines can come later, often with the marketer's input.
What should the founder write before the marketer starts?
The one-page message note and a short brief covering the goal, budget, decision rights and upcoming dates.
Sources
- Google Search Console Help, "Managing owners, users, and permissions": https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7687615 (owner, full user and restricted user rights; verified versus delegated owners; remaining users lose access after a grace period when all verified owners are removed; a removed owner can re-verify while their token remains).
- Google Analytics Help, "Access and data-restriction management": https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9305587 (GA4 roles: Administrator, Editor, Marketer, Analyst, Viewer, and what each can do).