What is Marketing with Taste

What is marketing with taste? What is a marketer with taste?

I saw "taste in marketing" floating as a topic around LinkedIn so I felt like adding my snobby, pseudo-profound take.

At first I thought it sounded like a new way to sell branding to founders, but I think it's something worth having a conversation about.

Let's state the obvious first.

Taste is not something some people have and others don't - everyone has it. It's just different and personal.

It should go without saying that taste is developed long before you get the concept of work, a career, or an office.

It comes from your childhood, your parents, where you grew up, the culture around you, and what you obsessed with - art, history, and people.

Before we use taste as a bridge to marketing, differentiation, and authenticity, let's take a step back.

For the founders who want to understand how all of that ties to revenue - either leave now or stick with me for a minute - I got you.

Taste is not about knowing the trendy buzzwords, fonts, or colors to use in your story, website, or product.

It's not about being customer-first or user-friendly.

For sure it's not being data-driven.

At first I was gonna say it's about how you steal but it's not that either.

Taste is instinct.

Having the ability to feel why something works, not just how.

Knowing that data without context means nothing.

Being the one who understands narratives are more important than sounding smart.

When it comes to marketing - that shows in what marketers build, create, and decide whether to ship or not.

The market is obsessed with racing to generate more, but is still failing to understand people and what makes them tick.

The marketers who actually want to shape something more than signups? They are the ones who want to shape perception, real change, and land a message that impacts people's minds, not just bottom lines.

Those are the marketers who value taste above vanity metrics and building real human connection with their audience instead of signups that will mostly churn.

When AI can generate endless “good enough” content, taste becomes the filter and the last way to actually stand out - if you're lucky enough to work with people who value that.

What is marketing with taste?

Marketing with taste is the practice of using refined judgment, not just data - to decide what to create, how to present it, and what to leave out.

It combines:

• Aesthetic awareness - design, layout, visual identity

• Strategic clarity - positioning, narrative, audience focus

• Editorial judgment - what’s worth saying vs what’s noise

Marketing with taste is not about doing more but about choosing better.

What is taste in marketing?

Taste in marketing is the ability to intuitively align messaging, visuals, and product narrative into a cohesive, high-signal experience that not just resonates with the right audience - but gets remembered.

It shows up in decisions like:

• Killing a “good” idea because it’s not sharp enough

• Choosing a cleaner, simpler message over a complex one

• Designing for clarity and feeling, not just conversion

Taste is what makes something feel intentional, coherent, and memorable.

Without it, marketing becomes generic.

What is a marketer with taste?

A marketer with taste is someone who can curate, refine, and elevate ideas into a clear, compelling narrative that brings change, rather than just producing content.

They are known for:

• Strong point of view

• High standards for quality

• Ability to say “no” to average ideas

• Consistent, recognizable style

They don’t rely only on frameworks or data.
They rely on judgment shaped by experience and exposure.

Why marketing with taste matters in 2026

AI has commoditized execution and changed how value is delivered, experienced, and paid for.

You can now generate landing pages, ad copy, social content, visual assets and entire products - in seconds.

So the bottleneck is no longer production.
It’s decision-making.

Taste becomes the differentiator because it:

• Filters out noise

• Creates emotional resonance

• Signals credibility instantly

• Builds a recognizable identity

In other words- when everything is easy to create, what matters is what you choose to create.

How taste strengthens B2B products

Most SaaS products fail because they try to appeal to everyone.

Which leads to:

• Generic messaging

• Inconsistent visuals

• No clear narrative

Taste forces focus.

It helps you:

• Choose a specific audience

• Build a clear positioning story

• Maintain visual and narrative consistency

This aligns directly with strong positioning principles:

You’re not trying to be better than others.
You’re trying to be the obvious choice for a specific type of problem.

Taste is what makes that positioning feel real.

How to apply marketing with taste

1. Define a clear visual identity

Your design is not decoration - it’s an integral part of your positioning that instantly tells who you're speaking to and what you mean to say.

A tasteful B2B SaaS brand doesn't just use consistent colors, typography, or whitespace.

It knows how design helps move the story forward and prioritises first impressions because it knows that the right people will resonate with that.

The visual identity design is what helps people understand if this is for them or not - before reading about the what, why, and how - which makes it a big part of product marketing and it's main purpose - to understand the market and the ideal buyer.

2. Build a positioning narrative (not just copy)

The current obsession with creating content at scale without having a positioning narrative you tested, validated, and identified is a unique phenomenon.

Before you start scaling GTM engines, you need to figure out your messaging basics and story fundamentals. If you're not able to articulate to someone what you do, why you do it, and who it's for - the only thing you're scaling is your decline.

Instead, anchor everything around:

• A market shift - what has already changed in the world

• A clear problem - why is that a problem for your ideal buyer

• A simple promise - what is the desired outcome they will achieve

This creates coherence across your website, content, and overall messaging in the channels you want to automatically scale.

From there, you need to be able to instantly answer the following 3 questions:

• Why buy anything - problem framing and awareness

• Why buy now - urgency around the consequences of not solving the problem

• Why buy you - why you are the only one to solve the problem in the way they need

3. Optimize for resonance, not reach

Not everyone should like your work. Every B2B SaaS product takes effort to utilize and build a habit of using to keep getting the job done. It's not enough for someone to start paying you for them to stay motivated to use you.

When you prioritise signups as fast as possible - you bring people into your product without enough context and buy-in for why they should actually use it and what they will be able to do with it.

Instead, focus on:

• The right audience recognizing themselves

• Clear alignment with their problems and goals

• Strong use cases about what your capabilities enable

That’s what drives real opportunities, low churn, and high activation once people sign up.

Example: Generic vs marketing with taste

Generic positioning:

“B2B marketer helping SaaS companies grow.”

With taste:

“Founding marketer helping early-stage B2B startups tell a story worth scaling”

Same capability.
Completely different impact.

Final takeaway

Marketing is no longer about who can produce the most.

It’s about who can:

• See changes clearly

• Understand customers deeper

• Execute with intention

In 2026, it’s one of the few advantages that doesn’t get commoditized.

Does this resonate? Let's talk >