41–50 of 73 posts
For Rollbar ( http://rollbar.com ) it's been a fairly random mix: friends, twitter, reddit ads, sponsoring the Node Knockout, the occasional HN comment, and a surprising amount of word of mouth. More recently we've done a bit of PR but it hasn't been targeted at customers.
I tried a Show HN for one of my projects. It's now dead. For my latest, Fork the Cookbook ( http://forkthecookbook.com ) I actually approached bloggers and talked to them, one by one. It's a tedious task, but I absolutely refuse to buy ads except for quick tests.
I tried a Show HN for one of my projects. It's now dead. For my latest, Fork the Cookbook ( http://forkthecookbook.com ) I actually approached bloggers and talked to them, one by one. It's a tedious task, but I absolutely refuse to buy ads except for quick tests.
hey, dont shut down forkthecookbook, i want to try it.
One thing that dramatically improved the conversion rate was a blog post giving the background on what problem the service solves: http://www.arcticstartup.com/2013/03/11/starthq-targets-and-...
Definitely get a Show HN up.
I would also recommend commenting on Sulia posts by recognized industry experts - It's a good way to get noticed by them and over the course of a few comments on different posts you can start to build a relationship.
I sold a product for business users. I presented myself as an expert in the field and became active in the field. Although the product actually came after the fact as I figured I might as well monetise on my publicity.
My first paying client contacted me days after I posted an open for beta landing page without any marketing.
Edit: after the first few customers, I failed to keep momentum and my business flopped. I folded it a year after.
When we launched matchist (http://matchist.com/talent) a few months ago, we wanted to get developers on board first. And since we knew a lot of quality developers hang out here on HN, we posted here.
About a month later, we wanted to started marketing to clients. We pitched at an in person event in Chicago, as well as started using a relevant existing newsletter from another business we run to reach potential clients for matchist.
Once you start getting a few initial customers using your product, talk to them constantly and get feedback.
I tried a Show HN for one of my projects. It's now dead. For my latest, Fork the Cookbook ( http://forkthecookbook.com ) I actually approached bloggers and talked to them, one by one. It's a tedious task, but I absolutely refuse to buy ads except for quick tests.
I'm curious as to why you refuse to buy ads.
Or in other words, spend your time and money not on advertising, but on making a product so compelling that your users/customers advertise for you. Think Dropbox, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Skype – no advertising, but a product that people will encourage others to use.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious as to why you refuse to buy ads.
"Advertising is a tax for having an unremarkable product", said someone ( http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/is-advertisi... ) Or in other words, spend your time and money not on advertising, but on making a product so compelling that your users/customers advertise for you. Think Dropbox, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Skype – no advertising, but a product that people will encourage others to use.
Am I wrong?