What Are We Making Harder Than It Needs to Be?
A founder’s note from Josh Margulies
A company can be very good at what it does and still make it surprisingly difficult for someone to become a customer.
The website describes the business in language only the team understands. The best customer stories live in someone’s inbox. Useful expertise never makes it beyond a conversation. Someone interested in the company has to piece together what it offers, whether it’s right for them, and why they should believe the claims.
From inside the business, these things are easy to miss. You already know what you mean. You know the quality of the work. You know why customers choose you. The person encountering your company for the first time knows none of that.
That gap is where friction lives.
Marketers fall into the same gap. From the inside, activity is easy to see: campaigns launched, posts published, pages built. What the customer goes through is much harder to see. But great marketing isn’t measured by how much you do. It’s measured by how easy you make the customer journey.
We think marketing has a responsibility to understand that gap. Before deciding what to publish, which channels to invest in, or whether the website needs a redesign, we should understand what people are struggling to find, understand or believe. Otherwise, we spend a lot of time and money bringing more people to the same unresolved questions.
We Look for Friction in Five Places.
Find You.
You may have exactly what someone needs, but you have to be present where they look for help. That starts with understanding the questions they ask and the conversations they pay attention to.
Understand You.
Once someone finds you, they should be able to work out what you do, who you help and why it matters. Companies often bury those answers under broad promises, internal terminology and long lists of capabilities.
Trust You.
Understanding a claim is different from believing it. People need something they can evaluate: a customer story that resembles their situation, a specific example, or an expert who explains the problem in a way that shows real understanding.
Choose You.
Even an interested person can get stuck. They may not understand how you differ from another option, what working with you involves, or what happens after they reach out. Marketing should answer those questions and make the next step clear.
Stay with You.
The need for clarity continues after someone becomes a customer. They still need to know how to get started, what to expect and how to get value. Advocacy becomes more natural when customers can clearly explain what has improved for them.
These five questions change how we approach the work. If people are finding you but leaving confused, the message needs attention. If they understand the offer but remain skeptical, the missing piece may be proof. If customers never get beyond the first few steps, the opportunity may be better guidance after the purchase.
Content has a practical role in all of this. A good article helps someone understand a problem. A customer story reduces uncertainty. A clear comparison helps someone evaluate their options. A useful onboarding email helps someone get started. Each piece should make something easier for the person receiving it.
Removing friction won’t fix a product that fails to deliver or create demand for something people don’t need. But it can help a good business stop getting in its own way.
That’s the idea behind Straightaway Marketing. We help businesses see where customers get stuck, then improve the message, content and marketing experience that help them move forward. And the senior people you meet are the people who do the work.
Josh Margulies, Founder
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About Josh
I’ve led growth from the inside, at every stage: B2B and B2C, early-stage startups to Fortune 500 brands, professional sports to healthcare AI. Over 20 years I’ve run marketing teams, led brand, product, content and customer marketing, pitched investors alongside CEOs, and taught entire companies to tell one story. I started Straightaway Marketing because I love building businesses and doing the work myself, and because the problems I most enjoy solving are the ones where marketing, story and growth meet.
20+ Years
running marketing
B2B and B2C
10+ years in each
Startup to F500
every stage of growth