Engineering Is Not Marketing
They won’t come just because you built it.
I saw something today that reminded me of a myth that just refuses to die:
If you build it, they will come.
A lot of teams still believe that engineering can essentially replace proper marketing. That if you just build something useful enough, people will magically find it, fall in love with it, and convert to your paid offering. They’ll excuse the rough UX. They’ll forgive the clunky onboarding. Beautiful design? No need - move fast! Brand? That takes money and time away from the product!
Building something helpful is, of course, necessary. But usefulness alone isn’t a strategy, it’s table stakes.
I’ll hear founders point to Mailchimp’s or Buffer’s free tier and early traction:
“See? They built a great free product and people just showed up!”
But those weren’t accidents. Mailchimp wasn’t just a solid tool. Mailchimp has a delightful brand that stood out in a market full of grey dashboards. Buffer tapped into a very specific creator workflow and built trust with transparency and community long before their paid upgrades mattered. I know, I’ve used it since the Alpha phase.
The product was good, yes.
But the brand was memorable and the marketing strategy was intentional.
That’s the real story.
The Product Graveyard Is Full of Better Products
We’ve hit saturation in digital experiences. Whatever you’re building, a dozen teams have already tried. Some may still be trying but most are buried in the product graveyard. This is not because the product was bad, but because no one remembered it and it failed to connect with the user in any real way.
These aren’t engineering problems, or even product problems. They’re marketing and strategy problems.
Marketing is More Than Ad Spend
Marketing isn’t a line item for “later.” Too often while having initial conversations with founders I’ll ask what their GTM plan is and how much they’ve allocated to marketing. Usually this is met with blank stares and a lot of ums. They’ll then mumble something about a LinkedIn ad if B2B or
Marketing is so much more. It’s developing a brand people can spot in a feed. It’s crafting stories that highlight your value add in an on-brand manner. It’s building recognition and joy into the UX of the product. And it’s making the experience feel natural to the user as an extension of their current workflow.
Marketing is the reason someone chooses you instead of the other twelve tab-open competitors.
Build It. Then Make It Matter
Yes, build something useful. Only solve a problem if it’s there (so many solutions in search of a problem these days). And, of course, make sure the product works.
But don’t forget to build the brand. Brand experience is what will keep people engaged in your product. Features won’t do it on their own.
“If you build it, they will come” was great cinema. But it’s a terrible go-to-market plan.
Do the brand work.
Know the market.
Tell a story worth remembering.
That’s what brings them in. And keeps them there.