I hear it almost each time someone tells me about his new project of venture, and I ask: “So, how many customers/users/guests do you have so far?”

Too often the answer looks like: “Well, we didn’t really start marketing yet.”

You can’t create a great product by staying in your garage working on it, and then suddenly “start doing marketing” and expecting people to love it.

Business means solving problems.

You need to be close to those who have the problem you try to solve. To solve it better than your competitors, and at the right cost.

Even at Reconnect, which is a resort (so you’d expect us to build it first, then market it). We started to have guests before finishing the place.

And even before having guests, I constantly shared about the project on social media, and enjoyed a ton of feedback while we didn’t even start to build.

Without such feedbacks, I would have lost tons of money, and wasted a ton of time doing things that didn’t make sense.

In 2020, more than ever before, you need to document.

Talk about what you are building, write, take pictures, make videos to share about it.

Learn from the people who will pay for your product, while you build the product.

Share stories with them about the journey, the obstacles, the resolutions, the surprises, the victories.

People will feel connected to what you do, because they are part of it. They are part of its story, and will happily be your first users, and ambassadors.

Do this, and you won’t have a “marketing problem”, ever again.