Reshaping Marketing's Job: From AI Hype to GTM Systems That Actually Drive Growth

Navigating AI hype, building real GTM systems, and why speed of learning is the new competitive advantage for marketers.

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This week was one of those weeks. Deep in client work, head down, and juggling just enough things that the long-form guide I wanted to finish never quite crossed the line. I’ve been spending a lot of time lately inside Claude Code, and I had plans to break down how marketers can actually use it in practice.

I didn’t get that guide done, but I still wanted to ship something genuinely useful. Instead, I’m sharing a podcast conversation I recently participated in on the Agents of Insight podcast with Will Sullivan. We got into AI hype, GTM engineering, and how the marketer’s role is changing in real time.

This week’s Stack is a little different but worth your time.

Here’s what we cover in this conversation:

• How to build “always-on” GTM systems that quietly fill the funnel without relying on spammy outbound or rented lists

• The look-alike playbook: how to start from one closed-won deal and systematically find hundreds of high-propensity prospects

• How to turn competitor weaknesses into pipeline using G2 reviews, sentiment analysis, and smart positioning

• Why de-anonymizing website visitors is becoming table stakes — and how to separate real buying intent from casual research

• The real framework behind GTM Engineering (and why most teams get it wrong by focusing on tools instead of systems)

• How to navigate AI hype vs. real leverage — what’s noise, what’s useful, and where marketers should actually invest time

• The “speed of learning” advantage that separates teams that win from teams that stall

• A clear north star for CMOs: how to think about markets, messaging, and execution as AI reshapes the role

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Hope you enjoyed that conversation. It was a fun one, and honestly a good reminder that beneath all the AI hype, the real leverage still comes from systems, clarity, and speed of learning.

I’m heads-down this week finishing up a Claude Code guide for marketers, so stay tuned for that next week.

– Brandon

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