{"id":460,"date":"2025-05-09T20:09:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T20:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hamanship.com\/?p=460"},"modified":"2025-06-02T15:41:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T15:41:29","slug":"the-ai-messaging-pivot-happening-across-saas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hamanship.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/09\/the-ai-messaging-pivot-happening-across-saas\/","title":{"rendered":"The AI messaging pivot happening across SaaS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hello and welcome to The GTM Newsletter by GTMnow <\/strong>– read by 50,000+ to scale their companies and careers. GTMnow shares insight around the go-to-market strategies responsible for explosive company growth. GTMnow highlights the strategies, along with the stories from the top 1% of GTM executives, VCs, and founders behind these strategies and companies.<\/em><\/p>\n

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In 2023, we saw a surge of SaaS brands adding anything \u201cAI-powered\u201d or \u201cAI-driven\u201d into their website headlines. A quick use of Wayback Machine for the top 100 SaaS brands will show you just how pervasive it was.<\/p>\n

The optics were that if AI wasn\u2019t integral to your roadmap and marketing, you were losing relevance.<\/p>\n

Many venture capital firms shifted their investments almost entirely into AI startups.<\/p>\n

As this flood of AI messaging hit, a lot of people quickly became numb to it.<\/p>\n

Now in 2025, AI promises have simply become baseline expectations. Describing your product as \u201cAI-powered\u201d is like saying it\u2019s internet-connected in 2005. It\u2019s expected, not a value add.<\/p>\n

With this expectation, we\u2019re now seeing companies ditching AI messaging in their website headers.<\/p>\n

Companies are testing, and the results are showing. We see brands, such as Notion, testing the impact of:<\/p>\n

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  1. AI in the hero headline<\/li>\n
  2. AI in the hero headline and hero sub-header<\/li>\n
  3. AI just in the hero sub-header<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In the test example below, AI messaging in the sub-header won out over having it in the header.<\/p>\n

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    \n
    \"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    They kept the focus on the core value proposition of helping teams write, plan and collaborate to create better workspaces, while still having the AI inclusion.<\/p>\n

    This trend of AI reinforcing and amplifying the core UVP (unique value proposition) is gaining momentum.<\/p>\n

    We see this shift towards having no AI in the hero header (but including it in the sub-header) across dozens of top SaaS brands: Klaviyo, Monday, Freshworks, MongoDB, Snowflake, Braze, Cloudflare, GitLab, ActiveCampaign and countless others.<\/p>\n

    For example, here is how Freshworks positions it:<\/p>\n

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    \n
    \"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    3-step AI messaging differentiation framework<\/h3>\n

    In a market where almost every product claims to have AI, differentiation can\u2019t come from the tech itself. It has to come from the outcome<\/em>, the problem you solve<\/em>, and the clarity of your message<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    If you’re building or marketing an AI product, use this simple 3-step framework to test and refine your positioning:<\/p>\n

    1. Start with the pain (what\u2019s broken?)
    \n<\/strong>Don\u2019t lead with tech. Lead with the real problem your buyer is facing. Make it visceral, specific, and urgent.<\/p>\n

    For example: \u201cSellers spend 40% of their time manually triaging email.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    2. Move to the outcome (what improves?)
    \n<\/strong>Next, show what your product actually helps people achieve.<\/p>\n

    For example: \u201cOur users reclaim 4+ hours per week and use it to close deals.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    3. Then show how AI enables the outcome
    \n<\/strong>Now that the user cares<\/em>, you can explain how AI helps make that happen. But avoid buzzwords, make it visual and concrete.<\/p>\n

    Bad: \u201cWe use AI to streamline sales workflows.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    Better: \u201cOur AI automatically categorizes, prioritizes, and drafts replies \u2013 so reps can focus on revenue.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    A quick cheatsheet for better AI messaging:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    1. Replace \u201cAI-powered\u201d with outcomes – what does it enable?<\/li>\n
    2. Use your customer\u2019s language – not your internal jargon.<\/li>\n
    3. Get specific – \u201claunch campaigns 2x faster\u201d beats \u201ctransform workflows.\u201d<\/li>\n
    4. Anchor with proof – even directional data builds credibility.<\/li>\n
    5. Show, don\u2019t tell – demos and workflows > buzzwords.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Leading with \u201cAI-powered\u201d used to signal innovation. Now, it risks blending you into the noise. Companies are putting product value back at the center and letting AI show up only when it adds clarity to that story.<\/p>\n

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      Share<\/a><\/p>\n

      Tag GTMnow so we can see your takeaways and help amplify them.<\/em><\/h6>\n
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      \"\u2705\" Recommendations<\/strong><\/h4>\n

      Watch the AI SDR Summit (it\u2019s on-demand and free!)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

      Stream Qualified\u2019s first annual AI SDR Summit on-demand and hear how leaders from companies like G2, 6sense, Salesforce, and so many more are leveraging the power of AI SDR agents<\/a> to scale their inbound and outbound pipe gen motions.<\/p>\n

      Check out candid conversations<\/a> about the state of the AI SDR agent landscape, inbound and outbound playbooks, and real results from marketers at the forefront of the agentic marketing era.<\/p>\n

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      \"\ud83d\udc42\" More for your eardrums<\/strong><\/h4>\n

      GTM 145: What Happens When a CRO Owns the Entire Customer Journey, How to Build a Unified GTM Engine | Marcy Campbell<\/a><\/p>\n

      Episode guest Marcy Campbell<\/a> is the CRO at AppFolio, where she leads sales and client services with a focus on delivering unified, end-to-end customer experiences. With 30+ years of experience scaling revenue teams across FinTech, SaaS, cloud computing, and communications, Marcy has held executive roles at Boomi and PayPal\u2014where she led an 800+ person global team. Her deep expertise in aligning sales, customer success, and operations makes her a standout leader in the GTM space.<\/p>\n

      Listen on Apple<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, or wherever you get your podcasts by searching \u201cThe GTM Podcast.\u201d<\/p>\n

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      \"\ud83d\ude80\" Startup to watch<\/strong><\/h4>\n

      Jeeva <\/a><\/strong>– just launched: your superhuman AI agent for top of funnel.<\/a> It finds leads, writes outreach, and proves ROI so your reps can focus on closing.<\/p>\n

      Coffee <\/a><\/strong>– the AI-first CRM for SMBs, just launched ICP Builder<\/a>\u2014a free tool that lets you describe your ideal customer in plain English and instantly see matching companies.<\/p>\n

      Stotles<\/a><\/strong> – launched a major revamp to their single platform to growth public sector business<\/a>. One tool where teams can: create strategy, build pipeline, track tenders and win bids. They help public sector teams move from disconnected workflows, mountains of data, unqualified opportunities and painful collaboration to a single, end-to-end process.<\/p>\n

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      \"\ud83d\udc40\" More for your eyeballs<\/strong><\/h4>\n

      Sendoso has acquired Postal, uniting the two top players in the global gifting and direct mail world<\/a>. Corporate gifting has exploded into a $260 billion space. Sendoso and Postal have powered 15 million+ sends and hybrid experiences for leading companies to date, and this acquisition strengthens Sendoso\u2019s position in the space.<\/p>\n

      The former CPO of iconic companies Typeform and Calendly speaks to how AI is rewriting product and GTM playbooks<\/a>. AI is transforming the process of building products.<\/p>\n

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      \"\ud83d\udd25\" Hottest GTM jobs of the week<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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      1. Founding Growth Marketer<\/a> at Create (San Francisco)<\/em><\/li>\n
      2. Sales Development Representative<\/a> at Cube (Hybrid – New York City)<\/em><\/li>\n
      3. Growth Manager<\/a> at Seso (Remote – US)<\/em><\/li>\n
      4. Content Strategist<\/a> at Owner.com (Hybrid – San Francisco)<\/em><\/li>\n
      5. Director, Marketing Operations<\/a> at Vanta (Remote – US)<\/em><\/li>\n
      6. Business Development Representative<\/a> at Tavus (Hybrid – San Francisco \/ New York City)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        See more top GTM jobs on the GTMfund Job Board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

        If you\u2019re looking to scale your sales and marketing teams with top talent, we couldn\u2019t recommend our partner Pursuit<\/a> more. We work closely together to be able to provide the top go-to-market talent for companies on a non-retainer basis.<\/em><\/p>\n

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        \"\ud83d\uddd3\" GTM industry events<\/strong><\/h4>\n

        Upcoming go-to-market events you won\u2019t want to miss:<\/em><\/p>\n