Marketing is MORE important than ever

Do you remember this AI pin thing from last year?

It was widely hailed upon launch as the single worst product that someone could release.

For those who don’t know, it was called the Humane AI Pin (yawn) and it was a plastic box you wore on your shirt that was connected to ChatGPT (basically) and did…something.

It’s tough to tell what it does because even in the demo video, they did that thing where the engineers talk about the stuff inside but not actually what the pin does.

And even at launch, when the product was released, it didn’t do anything.

It was either wrong about questions it was asked or things it was shown to the camera. It couldn’t do 99% of the tasks it was said it could do.

It was an unmitigated disaster.

And who could have saved the day?

A marketer.

It’s extremely EXTREMELY dangerous to go to market without a marketer because then all you have is the voices of the builders.

The makers, the engineers. Plus, the investors and shareholders.

None of those people are CUSTOMERS.

A marketers job is to be the voice of the customer.

To know what the customer wants before they do.

To know what the audience is looking to see.

To know what the person’s problem is that they’re trying to solve.

I can’t “sell” AI. Yes, lots of people put money into it and LOTS of people bought it.

Ask them how well that sales strategy has gone.

Customers who are called “early adopters” might spend money on fads like NFTs, AI wearables and fucking ugly trucks that can’t handle snow.

Again, how has that worked out for a long term strategy?

And you might argue that all these problems are engineering problems.

I would argue that if you need an engineer to fix a problem after the product has been released, you should have hired a marketer to ask whether the problem was even there in the first place.

Most entrepreneurs are engineers.

And, frankly, most of you fall into the same trap.

You get excited about the automations, AI integrations, features, code base and all that.

But a true marketer, doesn’t focus on what the product does.

A true marketer focuses on the problem that the audience has. 

Mike Killen

Mike is the world's #1 sales coach for marketing funnel builders. He helps funnel builders sell marketing funnels to their customers. He is the author of From Single To Scale; How single-person, small and micro-businesses can scale their business to profit. You can find him on Twitter @mike_killen.