After Reddit, HN, Betalist, ProductHunt where do you market your startup next?
Help everyone telling your marketing strategies other than the platforms mentioned above where you use word of mouth for your product.
Let's build the list.
Mention the paid ones as well.
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I've been analyzing this topic for 2 years actually (see Zero to Users). I've analyzed all 481+ IndieHackers interviews and identified 34 acquisition channels that worked consistently for them. here are the top 10:
SEO (after getting results with another acquisition channel). Worked for 84 founders
Marketplaces & Existing Platforms. Worked for 78 founders
Product Hunt. Worked for 78 founders
Reddit. Worked for 45 founders
5.Cold email outreach. Worked for 42 founders
6."Powered by" marketing. Worked for 42 founders
Hacker News. Worked for 39 founders
Having an existing media brand. Worked for 39 founders
Using your own network. Worked for 37 founders
Google Ads (AdWords). Worked for 31 founders
Great insights, SEO sounds very boring but is still something we can't forget
Thank you for sharing with us!
Places your audience goes to seek information, advice, and resources.
This
Just be sure to read their self-promotion policies. Some communities don't like people just posting about their products. Be sure to be involved in the community and then when you see a thread where someone is mentioning some pain point, that's a great opportunity to introduce your product.
Oh yeah, don't just show up and drive by!
I'd actually go one step further and say most of the time you don't want to introduce your product but instead, offer something useful/valuable that's related to your product to earn trust. That could be knowledge or helpful resources right in a comment like this one, OR it could include something like a tiny FREE product that you offer them to help them solve that problem, creating adjacent awareness of your products.
I did a deep dive on this strategy with a podcast host who was looking for similar techniques to grow his show, you can check that episode out here: https://stackingthebricks.com/podcast/ep39-grow-your-audience-with-kevin-chemidlin/
In this list (https://github.com/mmccaff/PlacesToPostYourStartup) you'll find a lot of places for posting your startup.
@xavier knows about this
Hi @Michael_Andreuzza, thanks for the ping!
What you can do after PH,HN:
-Post to Startup directories (the big ones)
-Post to Facebook groups
I posted a long article on how you can use Reddit as an Indiehacker: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-to-use-reddit-as-an-indie-hacker-f842d3e8c4
I'm also the creator of a database of 400+places to promote your startup (use the code black_friday_stw for 20% discount): https://gumroad.com/l/iIZdb
I wanted to link to your Notion list too — which I found super helpful.
Thanks! That list is pretty much the freemium version of my new product, so yes, happy to share it as well
Great advice. Also pretty meta haha.
Facebook groups,
Affiliate marketing,
Sales funnel via Instagram and Facebook ads.
I also asked myself the same question.
I am curious of the answers so I comment for later.
Your list is a pretty good start I think, since I am still early in my projects I did not market yet, but personnaly I think it also depends on your target customers. Where they hang out and is there dedicated website for them to communicate ?
Your idea of building a list is a good one, categorise it also it will be more precise, I think first time builders will appreciate it a lot.
You could hone in on the people that are already using your product as much as possible and continue making it as best as possible to the point where they begin promoting it to others at a higher rate.
For a change, try to find out where your customers are? If you are an ed-tech startup focusing school-going kids then being on the front page of PH or HN won't do much.