What's New: Stand out from your competitors

(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)

Looking to differentiate yourself from competitors?

• Create strong graphics that appeal to potential users from the top to the bottom of your sales funnel. Start with a side-by-side comparison.
• Don't put all your efforts into chasing the wrong thing. Is what you're pursuing actually worthwhile to you, or are you simply following others?
• $25K MRR from a coaching business. Robin Waite used his books as a powerful marketing tool to convert potential users seamlessly.

Want your product seen by over 85,000 founders and businesses? Sponsor an issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter. Choose between 3 affordable tiers that can fit almost any budget.

Graphics Differentiating You From Your Competitor 💡

by Andrea Todorova

Check out these tips to effectively differentiate yourself from your competitors!

Problem-solution awareness

A side-by-side comparison of your product and your competitor's product can help showcase the main difference (i.e. your product’s superiority) at a glance.

Pose questions to encourage reflection and critical thinking. Lead them to the desired conclusion: Realization that there’s a better way. Finally, promise them a benefit or positive outcome to entice them to click through.

Resource download

Pose a question in the visual’s headline to spark curiosity. The question itself should hint at the possibility of a change for the better with your product.

Use powerful illustrations that bring your headline to life. Complement them with bold colors for a scroll-stopping, engaging ad.

In the CTA, use a catchy line to highlight the change you imply. Use literary devices to make it stand out.

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Use an impactful fact in the ad visual to create FOMO. Then, emphasize the benefits of choosing the new solution to amplify fear, encouraging them to take the next step.

Include photos of people to complement the text and add visual interest.

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Make your case against the substitute solution using a humorous metaphor. Make your graphic memorable, modern, and engaging. It should be in line with the change and improvement you’re promising.

Don’t forget about clarity. State your product category, call out your buyer persona, and specify your offer. Otherwise, the prospect can easily get lost in the metaphor.

For more B2B ads and breakdowns, check out Adfolio!

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Boost Backlinks and Gain Coverage 🚀

This issue is sponsored by Submit Juice

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• Manually submit your startup to 100+ top-tier directories and blogs.
• Build high-quality backlinks from high DA sites to boost SEO.
• Attract early adopters and potential customers.
• Get you in front of journalists for game changing press coverage.
• Create custom launch graphics for your startup.

With Submit Juice, you can focus on running your startup, while our skilled team takes care of the rest.

We'll leverage our extensive network to amplify your brand's visibility across numerous respected directories and blogs.

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Choosing What Mountain to Climb ⛰

by Kevin Bronander

In today’s world, speed is increasingly rewarded above everything else. The best employees get work done quickly. Friends thank us for texting them back quickly. Losing weight is always lauded, but it’s more impressive the faster we do it.

But speed and efficiency only matter if we are pursuing something worthwhile. Don't put in all your efforts into chasing the wrong thing.

The allures of the fast lane

There are two reasons we fall victim to climbing the wrong mountains. The first is the speed trap. We crave instant gratification, and want to feel like we’re making progress on whatever we’re pursuing.

These desires make us choose pursuits based on the speed of progress instead of outcomes.

The second reason we climb the wrong mountains is our desire for acceptance. Thinking deeply about what we want to pursue, and how to craft our lives, is much harder than using the acceptance of others to choose which mountain to climb.

In many cases, these two factors work in tandem. Many people pursue something because they receive instant gratification and make immediate progress. Others pursue the same thing because it’s become socially acceptable and rewarded.

The speed of our progress, and the number of others pursuing the same thing, should be irrelevant in choosing where we invest our time and energy.

Choosing the right trail

To find what is worthwhile and meaningful, we need to ignore what others are doing and disregard the speed at which we can progress. Making progress on the wrong thing is not making progress at all.

Learn to prioritize where you are going instead of how fast you're getting there!

Prompts

1. What temptation affects you more: Instant gratification or the approval of the masses?

2. What mountains are you climbing in your life today? Why are you focusing your energy on them?

3. Are you pursuing what is worthwhile?

Check out Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown.

This post is part of Prompted, a series on Indie Hackers. Subscribe to join 500+ ambitious and thoughtful folks who receive new insights and prompts every week.

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In the News 📰

from the Growth Trends newsletter

🧐 A deep dive into how Notion does marketing.

✨ How to transform your Google Ads headlines with anti-audiences.

💲 Link to your product here. Our most affordable ad.

💕 The science of customer loyalty.

📝 Crafting your growth strategy.

🚰 The drinking fountain button is tragically misunderstood.

Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

Books Can be a Powerful Growth Tool 📚

by Marc Andre

At Founder Reports, we publish in-depth interviews with founders that give behind the scenes access into how they grew their businesses. Robin Waite ran a successful design agency for over a decade, but eventually sold it to escape hectic agency life. After selling the agency, Robin started a coaching business to help others. Currently, he's at $25K MRR.

The background

I'm a husband and dad of two girls, who are nine and seven years old. I run a coaching practice called Fearless Business, where I help coaches, consultants, and freelancers escape charging hourly or day rates by packaging up their offers, and confidently charging more money. I do both group and 1:1 coaching.

I also have several paid speaking engagements per year, and due to my audience and website traffic, I have now started to acquire sponsorships for my content, which makes up a small portion of my income.

I launched Fearless Business in 2016 after exiting my marketing agency. I was lucky enough to have a three year earn-out from the agency, which gave me time to think about my next move. After selling the agency, I was approached by several freelancers and agencies who were interested in mentoring around how to build and sell their businesses. So, I kind of just fell into coaching.

The marketing

There was actually very little expense in starting up the coaching practice. My biggest investment was a marketing event; I booked the Aerospace Museum in Bristol to host it. When the expenses started to climb north of $3K, I put a message out to my network and advertised available sponsorship spaces. I ended up with five sponsors. Each one paid over $500 to have a stand at the event, which covered most of the costs.

We ended up hosting 200 guests at the event, and I enrolled several people into an early version of my group accelerator. Beyond that, the setup costs for a coach are minimal.

I collaborated with people and did a skill swap for other services, like branding and building my website. Had I paid for these, they would have cost over $3K each!

Another investment I made in myself at that time was joining the Key Person of Influence program run by Dent Global Founder, Daniel Priestley. It was about $3K at the time (2014).

The growth

I made a very commercial decision to self-publish my second book, Take Your Shot.

Whenever I speak at an event now, they get Robin, plus a box full of books for their guests. My goal is to give away as many books as I can, typically ~2.5K copies per year.

The reason books are so effective as a marketing tool is because they take people 2-3 hours to read, and they deliver a ton of value to the reader. Take Your Shot has five simple business frameworks, and it's told as a story, making it easier for the reader to engage with. Books are a remarkable marketing asset. I can have hundreds of prospective clients quietly reading my book, then reaching out to me when they are ready.

Speaking and podcast appearances are also great tools for growing one's personal brand. I was fortunate to be a guest on Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal in August 2023, and that one interview led to 1.3K leads in the first 60 days after it went live, and approximately $169K in new business.

Podcasts are a fantastic way to build credibility and authority in the business world if you can leverage them properly!

Discuss this story.

The Tweetmaster's Pick 🐦

by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Andrea Todorova, Darko, Kevin Bronander, and Marc Andre for contributing posts. —Channing