The Most Important API For Marketers in 2026

API. The marketer's API.

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When I decided to launch a podcast, I gave myself two weeks to get the first episode live. 

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Not two months to research microphones and hosting platforms and editing software. Two weeks to publish episode one. That's it.

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And suddenly, I didn't have time to deliberate. I couldn't spend three days comparing podcast tools. I couldn't poll my friends about the perfect name. I just had to pick things and go.

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Within the first few episodes, I learned more about what worked and what didn't than I ever could have learned from planning. The information came from the action, not the other way around.

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This is what most people get backwards. They think the sequence is: research, plan, prepare, then act. But in marketing (and honestly in most of business) the real sequence is: act, observe, adjust.

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You don't need to know how it will work before you start. 

You don't need to know what will happen. 

You don't even need to know how long it will take. 

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You just need to start.

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I had a prospect last year who wanted to launch a newsletter. He wanted to nail down the design, the segments, the automation sequences, the A/B testing framework - all before sending email number one. I told him: "What if we just sent a good email every week to your entire list? That's it." He wasn't ready to hear that. He wanted to keep planning. I guarantee he hasn't sent a single email.

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Meanwhile, the clients who just started imperfectly, with nothing but a basic template and a weekly cadence, are 50 weeks of data ahead of him.

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With AI, the "research and plan" phase has become dangerously seductive. You can now generate a 30-page launch strategy in 10 minutes. It feels productive. It feels smart. But it's still not action.

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The best use of AI isn't to plan better. It's to act faster.

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Use AI to write the first draft in 20 minutes instead of agonizing for a week. Use it to build the landing page today instead of next month. Use it to compress the distance between "I have an idea" and "I shipped something."

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Give yourself a deadline that's slightly unreasonable. Then use AI to help you meet it.

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Action produces information. This is the most important API to master.