The biggest marketing mistake in AI education, and in most service marketing, is leading with the tool. The client's honest reaction to a tool demo is: when would I even use that? Nobody wakes up wanting software. They wake up wanting the quotes done faster, the inbox handled, the leads answered. The marketing needs to step away from the tool and focus on the business process you're solving.
“The marketing needs to step away from the AI tool and focus on the business process you're solving.”
Map to the life of their business
- Frame every offer against the lifecycle every owner recognizes: finding clients → nurturing them → selling → onboarding → delivering → keeping them. "AI for your follow-up" lands; "an agentic workflow platform" doesn't.
- Collapse the jargon on purpose, even "lead generation" makes normal business owners cringe. Say "getting more of the right people to find you." Clarity is a kindness and a conversion tactic.
- Sell steps with outcomes attached: by step two of my workshops, attendees have already built something real for their business. Transformation you can feel beats features you can list.
- Position on the process, not the toolbox: I'm an expert in how to use AI in your business, that's not the same as knowing every tool, and it's worth more.
Tools change monthly; processes are forever. The advisor who sells "never lose another inquiry" will outsell the one demoing software every single time, with the same product underneath.
Claire's own numbers
The framework, step by step
- 1
Frame every offer against the lifecycle every owner
recognizes: finding clients → nurturing them → selling → onboarding → delivering → keeping them. "AI for your follow-up" lands; "an agentic workflow p
- 2
Collapse the jargon on purpose, even "lead generation"
makes normal business owners cringe. Say "getting more of the right people to find you." Clarity is a kindness and a conversion tactic
- 3
Sell steps with outcomes attached
by step two of my workshops, attendees have already built something real for their business. Transformation you can feel beats features you can list.
- 4
Position on the process
not the toolbox: I'm an expert in how to use AI in your business. That's not the same as knowing every tool, and it's worth more.
Claire's own framework from this essay, in the order she teaches it.
Source: Claire B. Soares, from her own travel business and live trainings.
Common Questions
How should you market AI services?
By naming the business problem, not the software. Clients wake up wanting faster quotes and a handled inbox, never wanting a platform.
How do you make technical offers understandable?
Map them to the business lifecycle everyone recognizes: finding clients, nurturing, selling, onboarding, delivering, keeping. Collapse jargon that makes owners cringe.
Why does process-based positioning last longer?
Tools change monthly; processes do not. Expertise in how to use AI inside a business outlives expertise in any particular product.
Written By
Claire B. Soares
Claire B. Soares is the founder of Travel AI University, a 6x Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist, and a Certified AI Consultant with a B.S. in Computer Science. A top 10% enterprise sales executive, she sold $3.4B+ in enterprise software to Google, Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, the federal government, and the DoD, then built $16M+ in luxury travel sales.
About Claire
