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Key Takeaways
- Innovation and uniqueness of a product must be showcased to capture customer interest.
- Self-marketing and hands-on storytelling are invaluable for early-stage founders to understand their market and refine their products.
- Leveraging AI tools accelerates marketing strategies, allowing for rapid idea validation and content creation.
If you build a brilliant product and no one knows about it, does it even exist?
When I launched Jotform in 2006, I wasn’t just worried about bugs or crashes — I was worried that my product wouldn’t make the splash I wanted it to. My biggest concern wasn’t whether it functioned properly (I knew that it did), but whether anyone would actually find it. You can build the most useful tool in the world, but if no one knows it’s out there, it won’t matter.
I was a programmer, not a marketer. But if I wanted Jotform to be a success, I knew I’d have to figure out how to get it in front of people. So, I prepared. I read everything I could get my hands on — from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout, I learned that being first in the mind is more important than being first in the market. From Positioning, also by Ries and Trout, I took away the importance of owning a single, clear idea in the customer’s mind — because marketing isn’t a battle of products, it’s a battle of perceptions.
So much has changed since I launched my company, but the fundamentals of marketing are still largely the same. Here’s what you should know.
Related: 4 Tried-and-True Ways to Better Market Your Business
Lean in to your differences
Cast your mind back to 2006. The Office was must-see TV. Livestrong bracelets adorned every wrist. In the tech world, single-page apps and AJAX were hot. I knew that my product — a browser-based, drag-and-drop form builder that didn’t require users to sign up — was not just unique, but timely. At that point, most people still expected software to be installed locally, not run inside a browser. So instead of downplaying that difference, I leaned into it.
The lesson still applies: If your product does something differently, make it the cornerstone of your messaging. Own your edge, even if it’s unconventional. Especially if it’s unconventional.
A modern-day example I like is Clueso, a Y Combinator–backed startup that transforms raw screen recordings into polished instructional videos using generative AI. Its founders saw where the market was going, recognized a growing need among SaaS and support teams, and built an AI-native solution from the ground up. That last point is important — instead of using AI as a superficial add-on, they built Clueso around it, using generative models to automatically identify key moments, draft voiceovers and assemble clean, shareable videos without manual editing.
The lesson? If your product solves a real problem in a new way, make sure everyone knows it.
Don’t outsource storytelling (at least not at first)
In Jotform’s early years, I wrote blog posts, answered support emails and shared product updates directly with users. Mostly, I did this because I was a bootstrapped founder and couldn’t afford to put someone on the payroll to do it for me.
I see now that handling marketing in these early days was a blessing. Not only did it force me to develop a new skill set — one I still find useful — it also helped me to refine my idea of what my product really was. I learned a lot about what people were talking about — what new technologies were gaining traction, what problems users were struggling to solve and how the conversation around software was shifting. That in-depth research allowed me to figure out what resonated, and ultimately informed everything from new features to strategic direction.
Not every founder wants to do this, and I get it. But if you can, I highly recommend a hands-on approach to telling your own story, especially in the early days. Additionally, AI has made it possible for a marketing novice to develop prototypes in a fraction of the time that was previously required. Canva Magic Studio, for example, can design everything from branded social media graphics to entire marketing videos with just a simple prompt. Jasper works similarly, transforming your unfiltered thoughts into polished output like blogs, product descriptions, personalized emails and more. As educational as struggling to design our early logo was, I would not have hesitated to use these tools had they been available.
Related: Most Businesses Overcomplicate Their Marketing Strategy. Here’s Why — and What to Do Instead.
Test fast, learn fast
One of the beautiful things about marketing today is how quickly you can validate an idea. Gone are the days of having to spend precious dollars printing brochures or buying magazine ads to test a headline. With AI and digital platforms, you can launch and iterate in hours, not weeks.
AI-powered tools like Mutiny can personalize your website in real-time based on who’s visiting. Tools like Copy.ai can help you generate A/B test variations in minutes. When I launched my product, I didn’t have those kinds of tools, but testing and experimentation were still core to my strategy — it just took longer. AI removes a lot of the friction that we seasoned founders endured in the early days, but the method hasn’t changed.
You don’t need to be a marketer to market well. You do need to be curious, listen closely and use the tools available to you. With today’s AI-powered platforms, founders have more leverage than ever to tell their stories and get their products in front of people.
Key Takeaways
- Innovation and uniqueness of a product must be showcased to capture customer interest.
- Self-marketing and hands-on storytelling are invaluable for early-stage founders to understand their market and refine their products.
- Leveraging AI tools accelerates marketing strategies, allowing for rapid idea validation and content creation.
If you build a brilliant product and no one knows about it, does it even exist?
When I launched Jotform in 2006, I wasn’t just worried about bugs or crashes — I was worried that my product wouldn’t make the splash I wanted it to. My biggest concern wasn’t whether it functioned properly (I knew that it did), but whether anyone would actually find it. You can build the most useful tool in the world, but if no one knows it’s out there, it won’t matter.
I was a programmer, not a marketer. But if I wanted Jotform to be a success, I knew I’d have to figure out how to get it in front of people. So, I prepared. I read everything I could get my hands on — from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout, I learned that being first in the mind is more important than being first in the market. From Positioning, also by Ries and Trout, I took away the importance of owning a single, clear idea in the customer’s mind — because marketing isn’t a battle of products, it’s a battle of perceptions.
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