The Truth About Building Products That Actually Sell Themselves

The Marketing-First Fallacy: Why Your Product Strategy Is Backwards

This tweet got 234 likes last week, and most people probably thought the author was crazy.

After all, isn't marketing supposed to be the lifeblood of any business?

But buried in this seemingly reckless advice is a counterintuitive truth that most founders miss entirely.

Your product strategy is probably backwards, and it's costing you more than just money, it's costing you time you can't get back.

The Marketing-First Trap

Here's the uncomfortable reality: Most founders are trying to market their way out of a product problem.

They build something they think people want, launch it, and when crickets chirp back, they immediately assume they need better messaging. More ads. A new landing page. Maybe some influencer partnerships.

They pour money into the marketing machine like water into a bucket, never noticing the gaping hole in the bottom.

I've seen companies burn through $50,000+ in ad spend trying to force product-market fit that simply doesn't exist. They get excited about their 3% conversion rate, ignoring the fact that 80% of customers never come back for a second purchase.

The truth? If you're having to convince people to want your product, you probably don't have a product worth wanting yet.

The Product Portfolio Strategy

So what did that viral tweet author actually mean? They weren't advocating for chaos—they were describing the fastest path to finding something people actually want to buy.

Instead of betting everything on one "perfect" product, smart entrepreneurs build multiple smaller bets. They create simple versions of different solutions and see which ones gain natural traction.

Take James Clear before Atomic Habits became a phenomenon. He didn't start with a grand marketing plan for a bestselling book.

He wrote hundreds of blog posts, tested different ideas about habit formation, and watched which concepts resonated most with his audience. The book that eventually sold millions of copies grew organically from what was already working.

This approach teaches you something no amount of market research can: what customers actually do versus what they say they want. When you build multiple products, you stop guessing and start learning.

The Tipping Point Framework

But how do you know when you've found "the one"—the product that's ready for serious marketing investment? Here are the specific metrics that signal it's time to scale:

Organic Word-of-Mouth: Are people sharing your product without you asking? If your Net Promoter Score is below 50, you're not ready for paid acquisition yet.

Repeat Purchase Rate: For physical products, aim for 30%+ repeat customers within 90 days. For software, look for 40%+ monthly active usage among new signups.

Low-Friction Sales: When people buy without extensive nurturing, you've hit something. One creator I know launched a course that got 200 sales in 10 days with minimal marketing—a clear signal the market was hungry for that specific solution.

Retention Before Acquisition: If you can't keep the customers you already have, getting more won't solve your problem. Focus on monthly churn rates below 5% for subscription products before scaling ads.

Case Study: From Product Chaos to Marketing Clarity

Consider Dollar Shave Club's journey. Before their viral video, founder Michael Dubin tested multiple product concepts—subscription boxes for different items, various pricing models, even different target demographics.

The breakthrough wasn't better marketing for a mediocre product.

It was finding a product so obviously better for customers (cheaper, convenient, quality razors delivered monthly) that the marketing almost wrote itself.

The famous video worked because it was selling something people actually wanted.

Contrast this with the countless "subscription box for X" companies that failed despite sophisticated marketing. They tried to market first, build second, and discovered you can't advertise your way to product-market fit.

Your Product Is Your Marketing

Here's what the "build lots of products" advice really means: Your best marketing strategy is having something remarkable to market.

When your product solves a real problem better than alternatives, customers become your marketing team. They tell their friends, leave glowing reviews, and come back for more.

Your retention rates climb, your acquisition costs drop, and suddenly that "marketing problem" starts solving itself.

Start with product experimentation, not marketing optimization. Build small, test fast, and watch for the signals that tell you when you've struck gold. Your marketing will only ever be as good as the product behind it.

Stop filling the leaky bucket. Fix the bucket first—then pour.

Ready to flip your strategy? 

Start by auditing your current retention metrics.

If they're not where they need to be, pause your marketing spend and focus on product iteration instead.

Your future marketing budget will thank you.end, boring marketing doesn’t just make money.

It makes businesses that last.

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