Marketing Strategies - Be brutal but honest

I think it's not that easy. You cant market a bad product. Finding PMF is a moving target. There is no recipe.

Talk to your customers, talk to your competitors, talk to industry experts. But actually when you "Talk" to them, shut up and listen

Absolutely agree with Joel Comm's quote But there are also many great cases where the product didn't need marketing tools or strategies at all, like Slack, Notion, Facebook, Reddit and many more. Today I think times have changed and we need to use marketing to its full potential, especially in the early days to get the first users. My team and I are currently using all possible and impossible methods, it can be content marketing, SEO, Google ads, podcasts and press releases

Go where your people are. That's it. That's the first principle in marketing. It sounds simple but executing it well means you need to, one, know who your people are and, two, where they go to learn information, keep up to date on things they care about, and hang out in their free time. The messaging, content, call to action, and even the exact channels can all be tested and optimized. But without a clear understanding of who your target audience is and where they congregate, there's no path to success.

1) Double down on sales. This means good quality in prospecting and good quantity in reaching out. 2) Go to places where your audience hang out. Start providing value there. Eventually, people will like to know about you and your product. 3) Share short yet valuable content on socials. Comparably easy to create and probably, your best shot at content during the initial stages.

Talk to the user is my secret marketing strategy. It is not only about the product improvement or new feature discovery. It can also help let your user talk loud and share your story! The more users you talk, the more traffic you will get!

I've seen this true Especially with technical founders who are obsessed about improving the product you can have an ok product with great distribution and marketing and make a lot of money but obviously in the long run you need to have a product that people actually love using along with various different distribution channels

Some hacks as taught to me by experienced social media managers: 1) Are you on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, or Facebook? If someone compliments your product, use their words as the caption to your next post! That's your target demo and they're voicing what they love about your product. Your demo always knows what to say. 2) ALWAYS talk about what problem you're trying to solve. There is no faster way to get customers than this. People are always looking for the fastest, cheapest, and easiest ways to make their lives easier. 3) BACKLINKS BACKLINKS BACKLINKS - guest blog, create your own keyword-rich blogs with a mix of keywords (and don't overdo the keywords), internal linking, site trust/safety/speed, and the look and UI of your site are critical. Optics = trust = brand = sales. Be careful who you get into bed with because shitty backlinks degrade your site. Always aim to go after companies who have a DR of 50 or higher. I've quintupled my own domain rank in the past 7 months by doing this. And remember, nofollow links are worthless. You want dofollows. 4) Sign up for Qwoted and Haro. Be prepared to get 20 emails a day from their digests. It takes 2 hours to comb through them all at first, but you'll soon be able to get it down to about an hour a day. Respond to all the matching queries. Do NOT use AI to answer -- everyone knows AI a mile away and you'll never get an answer from journalists. But it's true what they say -- what you're looking for is looking for you. And this is the fastest, easiest way to get backlinks. Even so, for every 10-15 queries you answer, you'll get maybe one email response. And you aren't even guaranteed a backlink - especially if the source is ultra ethical/unbiased in their journalism. 5) Influencers - give away your product for FREE in exchange for content, reviews, shoutouts, etc. It's painful but your reach becomes exponential. I have 22 influeners signed with a total of 7.5 million followers. It's hard work but you have to do it. Good luck. This is the free way to become a millionaire. It's slow, awful work, and only converts after a year or so. But as your SEO matures, you will require less energy to keep the ball going.

What about using newsjacking to get your brand in front of people? It's easy and cheap with https://www.newsjack.me/. It helps people recognize your brand in a positive and innovative way 🚀

I've been in marketing for 22 years, and the biggest mistake I've seen is trying to go too broad too soon. Determine your ICP, write like you're talking directly to that person, know which industry your product is best suited for, personalize your content accordingly, and choose a geographic location that's small enough to get an adequate share of voice that matches your marketing budget.

Be prepared to grind. Product Hunt is a competitive platform, so you need to be willing to put in the work to get your product noticed. This means promoting it on social media, reaching out to influencers, and engaging with the Product Hunt community.

Focus on your target audience, not everyone, prioritize content that provides value, measure and adapt constantly, optimize your website for conversion, do not neglect email marketing, and analyze competitors' activities but do not copy blindly.

Here's what worked for the teams I was part of when we were launching new products: 1. You need to talk to your first customers A LOT. Ask for their feedback, listen to their insights, use their words in your copy. Feature them everywhere and whenever possible. Grow them as your first advocates and they'll bring you new customers. People trust people. 2. Measure properly but don't fall into the trap of "we need more data". Define several crucial KPIs to track and do this all the time: conversions throughout the buyer journey, sales cycle length, CAC. 3. Don't choose marketing channels based on your own gut feel. Invest time into asking your ideal prospects what they read, how they choose a solution, what are their preferred content formats. Good news is: those channels are "free" (you don't need to pay for clicks or impressions). Not so good news: they're not completely free because they need your time and attention (being active on social media, participating in community discussions, attending relevant events).

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Don't be afraid to ask for help. If you don't have a large network or following, don't be afraid to ask your friends, family, and colleagues for help promoting your product.

I wholeheartedly agree with you Kartike Bansal. As a developer myself, I am deeply invested in perfecting our products, but marketing can be incredibly time-consuming. It's challenging to engage with the audience and maintain daily content updates, and it's especially difficult when you want to allocate your most crucial time to product development. We believe in delivering a flawless product, but marketing is undeniably essential in today's competitive landscape. Without it, even the most authentic and exceptional product may struggle to generate leads in the market

Define your target audience, go the places/platforms where they hangout, talk about the pain points that resonate with them instantly, painting a vivid picture of their challenges.

I think people think that they can do the same methods for every product. Marketing strategies are not a one-size-fits-all.

Purchasing email lists might seem like a quick way to reach a large audience, but it's a surefire way to damage your brand's reputation and violate privacy regulations like GDPR. It's better to build your email list organically with opt-in subscribers.