Amid all the buzz about ChatGPT, Google Bard, Midjourney, and the like, there’s one thing nobody’s talking about: how marketing is do-or-die for any generative AI startup.
In a crowded space with lots of noise, your competitive advantage is not your product; it is your marketing. The generative AI startup with the best marketing will win.
We at Blue Seedling have seen this firsthand over the past few years in the cybersecurity space, and generative AI looks similar. Here’s why:
1. Generative AI is a paradigm shift.
Generative AI will revolutionize the way we live and work. It is still in its early stages, but is already being used to create new, game-changing products and services. From note-taking for doctors to writing fiction, the possibilities seem endless.
But people don’t like change, and your B2B tech buyers are no exception. As a startup, you will need to heavily invest in educating your audience about generative AI. Your prospects need to understand the use cases and business benefits. You need to create a sense of urgency (“why now, and not in X years?”), and build trust (“how do I know this is not violating any regulations or compliance rules?” “how are you protecting our data, and our users’ privacy?”).
This is an evangelistic sales motion, and marketing will play a key role in creating educational content, crafting compelling thought leadership material, and finding ways to engage with your audience to educate, and ultimately sell.
2. The market is noisy.
ChatGPT launched only six months ago, and there is already an explosion of generative AI startups. There are dozens of direct competitors in every niche, and it is going to get worse before it gets better. Thinking that you’re going to win because you have the best tech has never been a good GTM strategy. Now more than ever, you have to nail your differentiators, unique value proposition, and positioning in the market. Your brand needs to shine. Your acquisition and demand generation tactics must break through the noise. These are things you can only achieve with a strong marketing team.
3. Generative AI is going to lead to an explosion of new product categories.
Generative AI is a powerful, vertical-agnostic tool that can be used to create new products and services in pretty much any industry – from gaming to healthcare to Agtech. Today, there isn’t a single CEO who’s not telling her team to figure out how AI fits into their product strategy.
Defining and winning a new category is ”not for the faint of heart”. It is a complex marketing motion that requires superb product marketing maneuvers, and getting buy-in from your audience and industry influencers like analysts and press. Pulling it off without a top-notch marketing team is Mission Impossible.
The bottom line
Flushed with newly-raised VC money, generative AI startups are now starting the arms race for grabbing the best marketing talent. It is going to be competitive, especially as the number of marketers with experience marketing generative AI products is tiny.
So I’ll finish with a short sales pitch 🙂 – consider a marketing agency for your generative AI startup. A good marketing agency has cross-vertical experience and expertise in rapidly getting up to speed on new industries and products. Specifically at Blue Seedling, we’ve been into generative AI for a while – check out our recent webinar about Winning marketing plays using ChatGPT, and my [Hebrew] podcast interview about how generative AI will influence marketing. If you’re a generative AI startup getting started with marketing, feel free to reach out and schedule free “office hours” – a Zoom call with all the marketing advice we can squeeze into an hour.
