Episode Details

Marketing exists to drive revenue. That might sound obvious. But given how obsessed many of us can be with AI tools, content calendars, and channel optimization, it’s a surprisingly easy fact to lose sight of.

Steve Cummins has spent more than 20 years making sure we don’t do that. He grew a B2B tech company to $75 million in revenue before acquisition. Their own VP of Sales said Steve took an unknown technology company to the point it was recognized as the global market leader. Today Steve works as a fractional marketing leader through Solent Strategies, helping startups and teams of one punch above their weight.

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Steve and Tim get into the questions marketing leaders are actually wrestling with right now: Where does the owned channel argument break down? How does a marketing team of one figure out where AI fits into their day-to-day, and not just in theory, but in reality? And if you have to start on rented land, what should you build while you’re there?

I hope you enjoy this candid conversation between two practitioners who’ve watched platform after platform change the rules on the businesses that depended on them.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Where the owned channel argument breaks down. And how that aligns with the TPA “hub and spoke” framework
• The B2B vs. hospitality distinction. Why earned media is table stakes in some industries and genuinely optional in others
• The educational sale problem. What to do when your customer doesn’t know they have a problem yet
• Why your toughest competitor is inertia. And what that means for how you position your brand
• The three ways to approach AI right now. And why Steve and Tim are skeptical of most standalone AI tools
• Why a marketing team of one probably shouldn’t be shipping code. And, most critically, what they should be doing instead
• Why one paid AI subscription puts you in the top 10% of all users. And what that tells you about your business
• The difference between genuine focus and going deep on rented land. More importantly, how to tell which one you’re doing
• Sometimes you have to start on rented land. Here’s what to build while you’re there.

Steve’s Three Ways to Approach AI Right Now

Every major platform — HubSpot, Salesforce, Adobe’s stack, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Riverside — is rolling out AI functionality. Start there. It’s in your existing subscription, you already know the platform, and it’s built to improve your workflows. This is where every marketer should begin.

A lot of these are still in development cycles. You may spend