Ask HN How do I learn marketing? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#21

Post by kuba_dmp » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 8:52 AM UTC

AlexITC wrote: post #12

I'm also learning about marketing and while I can't comment on that, I can share an alternative. I have been trying to do "marketing as engineer" (not sure where I read the term). In short, let's make cool engineering stuff where you can place your own ads. For example, I was able to get one of my toy projects at the hn frontpage, I have been speaking at some tech events where I could have mentioned my project. Relat…

I think they called this channel "engineering as marketing" in the book Traction from Weinberg.

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#22

Post by tonyoconnell » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 9:06 AM UTC

Read 100million offers and Russel Brunson books. And watch frank kerns videos. And learn from Aaron Fletcher. And Digital Marketer. Then use OpenAI to create your strategy, campaigns, ads and content.

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#23

Post by aww_dang » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 9:14 AM UTC

Try cold calling or knocking on doors. There's nothing else like it. Not sure any other experience can teach you as much. Doubtful that any courses or eBooks can provide the same fundamentals.

There's no substitute for being able to look the customer in the eye and observe the cues provided. You know instantly when something isn't working. When you go back to the keyboard you'll be able to understand customers more intuitively.

Analytics, multivariate testing and technical approaches make more sense once you grasp the basic premises. I'd describe in-person sales as an intangible. Maybe you can divine some of those cues from statistics after testing, but that doesn't give you the same intuition to craft a pitch to test.

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#24

Post by JimDesigns » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 10:07 AM UTC

Read books mentioned here in the comments. Everyone should learn Marketing (and Sales), especially tech folks. It's often undervalued or ignored because they don't teach it in college.

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#25

Post by terrycody » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 10:37 AM UTC

Hey man

I suggest you check blackhatworld.com, you will find a ton of valuable things.

It is the biggest internet marketing forum online and only 1 now, and don't be intimidated by its name, its non related with "black hat".

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#26

Post by terrycody » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 10:37 AM UTC

terrycody wrote: post #25

Hey man I suggest you check blackhatworld.com, you will find a ton of valuable things. It is the biggest internet marketing forum online and only 1 now, and don't be intimidated by its name, its non related with "black hat".

If you hate the black theme, don't worry, in the left corner, turn it into "white theme" .

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#27

Post by XCSme » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 11:07 AM UTC

I am trying to do the same. What I find the hardest is getting into the marketing/sales mindset. I hate selling. I am a developer, I like creating, improving things, I don't find natural having to tell others how awesome my product is and how it might help them, I have an intrinsic and wrong expectation of "build it and they will come" that it's very hard to get over.

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#28

Post by XCSme » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 11:08 AM UTC

throwawaysalome wrote: post #2

You don't learn marketing. You merely pay for it.

I am trying to pay for marketing, but it's almost impossible to find good marketers/partners to market my product. If someone is really good, they don't need a product, they just market themselves and become influencers.

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#29

Post by dhruvkar » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 11:38 AM UTC

I see a lot of comments focusing on reading books about marketing.

I've tried this and it didn't work for me.

What worked for me, was starting a project that required a mostly marketing and very little engineering.

First project was a keto newsletter. I needed content and subscribers. So I learned how to tap into Reddit to get stories of people who were already sharing (for content) and then sharing/ask to share on Reddit (marketing 101).

Next project I bought. A weekly lead report (https://www.fundedlist.com). I'm learning cold emailing, setting meetings and learning to close (marketing 102?).

Realizing however, that the easiest customers are searching for what I offer anyway. So next foray will be into content - blog posts (marketing 201?)

Learning through real life projects with a little bit at stake is the sweet spot for learning. I learned programming the same way.

Re: Ask HN How do I learn marketing?

#30

Post by trojanalert » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 12:21 PM UTC

Marketing is mostly good writing. Start by writing and opining on things you're building, or what you find interesting in the ecosystem you operate in. The more you write, the more articulate you get. Social media platforms like twitter and Linkedin are great places to start voicing some of these writings. Another way to do this is to analyse a company; understand its P&L, its business model, its growth levers and write about it obsessively. It's what folks like Packy do with their newsletters. Eventually, you get better at content dissemination; this is the second part of the puzzle. If attention spans are bad, how do you bait a reader in. How do you frame headlines and get people to read something by invoking their curiosity etc...

If you have these two elements baked in, the next step is to focus on digital and performance marketing aspects — you will learn these in 2-3 weeks tops given how simple and easy to digest they are.