Common marketing wisdom is superficial. Here are three subtleties to enrich and make it actionable.

#1 Keep the scale and the compass

Different channels have different dynamics and metrics.

Likes and retweets on Twitter differ from likes and shares on Reddit, which differ from LinkedIn.

I used Reddit a lot in 2024 for consulting projects.

What numbers do you think a truly viral Reddit post has?

Here are the metrics behind one of my viral Reddit posts: 1.7M+ views, ranked #2 all-time in a 700k+ member subreddit, and an unprecedented number of new signups.

Moderators deleted it on the 11th day, but it was enough time for the campaign’s success.

Here’s are the post insights available only to the post author and moderators:

Numbers are good but they don’t paint the full picture. 🔦

Here are metrics for two posts about the same product, posted two months apart.

Post A: 200 comments, 311 shares - A short post announcing the launch of an initiative to help people with a desire. I plugged the app’s usage as a part of the initiative.

Post B: 7 comments, 806 shares - Detailed 'how-to' guide addressing problem our app solves.

Despite both posts' similar success on Reddit, Post A generated 9x more signups.

The lesson?

Over-educational content (Post B) encouraged DIY solutions instead of product adoption.

This is a counterexample to the general advice of creating value content—too much education hurts conversion.

#2 Harnessing the voices in the shadows

Everyone knows user feedback is gold, but let's be honest - most of us don't do it enough.

✅ For product launches, I've repeatedly found two specific personas who'll happily share insights:

1. Strugglers: People wrestling with problems your product can solve. Offer them a solution to their pain and early access, and watch them open up.

2. Up-and-coming winners: The ambitious ones making progress. They balance the response sample and help avoid skewed feedback.

✅ For ongoing engagement, a community (e.g. Discord server) works wonders. Selling a CRM? Build a sales community. Add channels for feature previews and early access. When you have a community of users with ongoing two-way communication, engaging them and gathering insights becomes much easier.

The key isn't talking to many people - it's having deep conversations with a few carefully chosen ones.

#3 AI changes many things, then little

Monopoly businesses don't do marketing. Your business needs marketing because of competitors.

Thus, the goal of marketing is to cut through noise and get your prospects' attention.

AI has made many things remarkably easy, from coding to customer support. But probably no AI use-case is as widespread as content creation. The allure of one-click content is too magnetic to ignore.

However, here's a cold-hard truth:

In 2024, almost all high-performing posts, both for my business and clients, were human-created. We used AI thoughtfully for refining statements, reframing ideas, suggesting synonyms and idioms. That's AI enhancing existing content, one statement at a time, rather than generating entire posts from briefs.

At the content generation layer, feeding business content (support tickets, forum discussions, email communications) does help create better output.

The key takeaway? Go for human-created, AI-assisted content over AI-generated to move your SaaS growth needle.

"Before I go, let me leave you with a lesson learned in SaaS marketing: Don’t give up—growth on the internet is not linear.

Now, it’s your turn. Leave a comment below!

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Ankur Tiwari

Thoughtlytics.com