Introduction

You already know more about marketing than you think. Every time you compare brands, notice a price change, or wonder why that ad showed up in your feed—you’re thinking like a marketer.

This book is here to take that instinct and sharpen it into strategy. You’ll learn how to spot real opportunities, build a plan that works, and measure what matters—without getting buried in buzzwords or business-speak.

By the time you’re done, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Identify target markets and customer needs

• Build a winning marketing mix

• Analyze what’s working (and what’s not) in real campaigns

We’ll keep things clear, practical, and grounded in the real world.

You’ve already started. Let’s keep going.

It means that for every marketing skill taught in this text, AI will be your creative and strategic sidekick—helping you frame the game before the game begins. You’ll teach AI how to think like a marketer by answering four simple framing questions, then watch as it translates your logic into positioning, targeting, and early mix decisions.

As you move forward, AI will help you become a trend miner and SWOT whisperer, uncovering new opportunities and spotting threats in fast-changing markets. When it’s time to understand your customer, AI helps you build realistic buyer personas and simulate interviews—revealing not just what customers buy, but why. As you craft a bold vision and competitive angle, AI becomes your pitch coach, pressure-testing your positioning and helping you find what truly sets your offer apart.

In the budgeting phase, AI helps you allocate resources wisely, offering first-pass marketing mixes and cost estimates aligned with your brand strategy. When numbers matter most, AI walks you through breakeven and ROI calculations, helping you refine your plan with real financial logic. And when the market pushes back, AI is there again, analyzing struggling products and simulating high-potential pivots and giving you a safe space to test new ideas before you commit. From first draft to final pitch, AI is with you—not doing the work for you, but walking you through new concepts, challenging your thinking, and unlocking your best ideas.