Chris Donnelly recently shared something that caught my attention: "Marketing teams waste $1,000s chasing trends... But ignore the only thing that really matters: Having a great product." He followed it with a reminder that feels obvious, yet gets ignored under pressure: "Happy customers and word of mouth is, and always will be, the best marketing."

I want to expand on what Chris is pointing to, because it explains why so many teams feel busy but stuck. They keep rotating channels, tools, formats, and tactics, but the engine underneath never gets tuned. Chris laid out a simple hierarchy (from surface-level tactics down to the foundation). If you adopt it, your marketing becomes less of a slot machine and more of a system.

Key idea: marketing compounds when the product and positioning are clear enough that every tactic reinforces the same promise.

The trap: attention feels like progress

Chris described the "surface level" as the place where people focus first and typically get stuck. The goal is to get attention fast, and it is tempting because it offers immediate feedback. A post spikes, a new tool saves time, a trend gets you impressions.

But as Chris noted, the reality looks like this: short-term traffic spikes, algorithm dependence, inconsistent messaging, and very little learning that compounds.

Here is the uncomfortable truth: attention without a clear outcome and audience is just noise. You can win a week of reach and still lose the quarter.

A quick diagnostic

If any of these are true, you are probably over-invested in the surface level:

You celebrate impressions but cannot explain what problem you solve in one sentence.
You ship more content every month but pipeline stays flat.
You keep changing your hooks, tone, or target buyer because "the algorithm changed."
Your product reviews are mixed because expectations are unclear.

Layer 2: consistent output (useful, but not sufficient)

Chris called the next layer "what starts to work": content calendars, regular cadence, repurposing workflows, personal brands as distribution, and SEO execution and hygiene.

This layer matters because it turns sporadic marketing into an operating rhythm. Teams stop reinventing the wheel every week. You create a repeatable process.

But Chris also pointed out the common outcome: output increases steadily, visibility improves, teams stay busy, attribution stays unclear, and revenue impact remains limited.

Why? Because consistency amplifies whatever strategy you have. If your strategy is fuzzy, consistency just scales the fuzz.

What I would add

Use this layer to build a marketing machine, but make sure the machine is pointed at the right target.

Treat content as inventory tied to buyer questions, not as a schedule to fill.
Build a small set of repeatable formats (for example: problem breakdown, teardown, case study, opinion with proof).
Keep a single source of truth for messaging so your posts, pages, and sales calls sound like the same company.

Layer 3: the work that creates predictable demand

Chris labeled the next step "what actually matters": clear ICP and positioning, sales and content alignment, intent signals over impressions, warm outbound and partnerships, and SEO to AEO to GEO optimization.

This is where marketing begins to "work before the click." It is also where many teams hesitate, because it forces decisions.

1) Clear ICP and positioning

Without a defined ideal customer profile, every campaign becomes a compromise. A clear ICP is not a persona document that nobody reads. It is a decision rule for what you build, what you say, and where you show up.

Practical questions:

Who gets the fastest time-to-value from the product?
Who has the highest willingness to pay?
Who already has the problem you solve, and is actively trying to fix it?

Positioning is the promise you make to that ICP. It should be specific enough that the wrong buyer self-selects out.

2) Sales and content alignment

If sales is hearing one set of objections and marketing is publishing content about something else, you are leaking conversion.

A simple alignment habit:

Every week, pull 10 call notes.
Identify the top 3 objections and the top 3 desired outcomes.
Publish content that answers those objections with proof (screenshots, benchmarks, case studies, clear steps).

3) Intent signals over impressions

Impressions are cheap. Intent is expensive, but it converts.

Examples of intent signals:

Repeated visits to pricing pages
Comparing alternatives
Searching for "best X for Y"
Asking implementation questions

Design your marketing to capture and respond to intent. That might mean comparison pages, integration pages, use-case landing pages, and content that helps buyers make a decision.

4) Warm outbound and partnerships

Outbound fails when it is cold, generic, and disconnected from your positioning.

Warm outbound works when:

The ICP is tight
The problem is urgent
The message is specific
There is a credible reason you are reaching out

Partnerships work similarly. The best partnerships are not logo swaps. They are aligned audiences with a shared outcome.

5) SEO, AEO, and GEO

Chris mentioned the evolution from SEO to AEO to GEO. The labels will keep changing, but the underlying job is stable: make your expertise and your product easy to discover and easy to trust, across traditional search and AI-driven discovery.

To do that, you need:

Clear site structure around problems, use cases, and outcomes
Consistent language that matches how buyers search
Evidence (results, testimonials, examples) that AI systems and humans can reference

The foundation: what never changes

Chris ended with the layer that "never changes": a product that delivers a clear outcome, one defined audience, a strong value proposition, a simple repeatable offer, and clear positioning and USP.

This is where product-led marketing actually starts.

"Don't waste time on surface-level tactics if your product still needs work." That is not a motivational line. It is an operating principle.

Why product quality is the real marketing leverage

A great product does three things that tactics cannot:

It creates retention, which funds growth.
It creates referrals, which reduce CAC.
It creates proof, which makes every message believable.

Chris also pointed out something that founders often overlook: if you can develop your MVP and get real feedback from real users, those users can become champions for life. That is the compounding loop.

A simple order of operations you can apply this week

Define the outcome: what should a customer reliably achieve in 30 days?
Define the audience: who cares about that outcome the most right now?
Define the offer: what is included, what it costs, and what success looks like?
Define the proof: case studies, metrics, testimonials, demos that show the outcome.
Then scale distribution: content cadence, SEO, partnerships, outbound.
Only then optimize the surface: tools, automations, experiments, trend-driven formats.

Where Searchable fits (after the foundation is set)

Chris added a postscript about Searchable, describing it as "an autonomous SEO & AEO Growth Engineer that analyses, fixes, and scales your website for visibility with traditional and AI search." The way I interpret that is: once your ICP, positioning, and offer are clear, automation can help you execute and scale. But no tool can decide your audience or make a mediocre product lovable.

A closing prompt worth answering

Chris asked: "What are you prioritising in your marketing right now? What needs more of your attention?"

If you are not sure, start by labeling your current work by layer:

Surface: attention hacks and new tools
Output: cadence and workflows
Growth: ICP, positioning, intent, alignment
Foundation: product outcome and offer clarity

Then move one layer down. That is usually where the leverage is.

This blog post expands on a viral LinkedIn post by Chris Donnelly, Co Founder of Searchable.com | Follow for posts on Business, Marketing, Personal Brand & AI. View the original LinkedIn post →