Ali

And I no longer think of marketing as the thing you think about after you’ve created your product, but rather, a core part of creating your product in the first place.

, I want you to think of marketing as teaching. You are teaching people how to value your product.

Upstream is where we find the source of the river, its origin. Like the river, your marketing requires a source, a core message from which all marketing activities flow.

What is a core message? It’s the central argument for why someone should choose your product or service.

A core messaging document, on the other hand, focuses on the beliefs your prospects need to hold for your product to be an obvious purchase.

Many of them claim to be marketing experts, but they are not. They are channel experts. There’s a difference. And now that you know the river metaphor, you know the distinction.

They put most of their effort into creating a compelling core message.

They don’t put too much hope into a single marketing channel. They test multiple channels.

When they find a channel that works, they double down on that channel until it fails to deliver an acceptable return on investment.

Never make the mistake of thinking your success rides on a single marketing channel.

How to Spot Advice around Channels

Well, here’s the good news: you can ignore 99% of these articles until your core message is set.

Focus on your core message first. Only then will those articles make a difference.

With channels now addressed, let’s look at our downstream section. This next section is where we find what’s commonly known as “shiny objects.”