Where Does Great Marketing Actually Begin? Hint: It’s not with the product.

💧 Let’s say your friend builds an app to remind people to drink water.

It has a sleek design, smooth animations, and even a virtual plant that grows when you stay hydrated.
Sounds cool, right?

But a few weeks after launch…
Crickets. Hardly any downloads. 🦗📉

She’s confused.

“The product is so good! Why isn’t it working?” 🤯

Here’s why:
She fell in love with her solution — not the problem.
(Relatable, right? Happens more often than we'd like to admit.)

💡 The Real Game-Changer: Fall in Love with the Problem

When you love the problem, you stop asking:

“How do I make people want my product?” 😬

And start asking:

“What’s actually frustrating the people I want to help?” 🤔

That tiny shift changes everything.

It’s not about showing off cool features.
It’s about solving something people actually care about — like staying alert during a 3 PM meeting, not just watching a digital plant thrive. 😅

Product-First Thinking

• “How can I promote my water reminder app?”

• “How do I make people notice the animations and design?”

Ah yes, because nothing says hydration urgency like a plant doing a Bollywood dance every time you sip water. 💃🪴

Or this classic pitch:

“We added gradient buttons, confetti pop-ups, AND a meditation chime when you hit your water goal. Why aren’t people using it?”

Because maybe… just maybe… they’re too thirsty to care. 🥵

Here’s the real kicker: Most users don’t care how pretty your product is if it doesn’t fix what’s bugging them. Trying to “wow” your audience before understanding their needs is like launching a dating app with no one on it — beautiful UI, but you’re still single. 💔📱

✅ Problem-First Thinking

• “Why do people forget to drink water at all?”

• “What’s happening in their day that gets in the way?”

Maybe people are overwhelmed.
Maybe they’re glued to back-to-back Zoom calls.
Maybe they know hydration is important — but what they really want is more focus and less burnout.

That’s where great marketing begins.

What This Has to Do with Marketing

Marketing isn’t about showing off your product.
It’s about positioning it as the answer to a real, annoying, persistent problem.

The deeper you understand that problem,
the more obvious your product becomes.

Step 1: Customer Research = Problem Hunting

Talk to people. Don’t pitch — just listen.

Ask questions like:

• What’s frustrating you?

• What’s one thing you wish was easier?

• What have you already tried that didn’t help?

If you’re selling healthy snacks, don’t start with “10g of protein.”
Start with:

“Why do you reach for junk food at 4 PM?”

(Hint: It’s not lack of protein — it’s stress, boredom, or “just one more email.”)

Step 2: Messaging = Problem Mirroring

The best copy feels like you’re reading someone’s mind. 🧠

Example:

✅ “We help tired parents get energy without the caffeine crash.”
❌ “Now with clean label ingredients and low GI carbs!”

One makes you feel seen. The other sounds like the back of a cereal box.

Step 3: Campaigns = Problem Education

Your content shouldn’t start with:

“Buy our productivity drink.”

It should start with:

“Feel drained after every meeting?”

You're not just selling a solution — you're helping people recognize there's a real problem worth solving.

That’s how you build demand.

🏠 Case in Point: Airbnb

They didn’t launch with:

“A peer-to-peer home rental platform.” 😐

They launched with a real problem:

“Hotels are expensive, boring, and often booked out.”

Then they followed up with:

“Book rooms with locals. Save money. Feel at home anywhere.”

That’s problem-first marketing. And it worked.

Final Thought: Great Marketers Are Problem Lovers

The best marketing doesn’t start with the product —
it starts way before that.

It starts with empathy. Curiosity.
The kind that digs into what people struggle with and refuses to settle for surface-level answers.

Once you understand what’s really going wrong for someone,
your product becomes the obvious next step — not a sales pitch.