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$200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

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Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#41

Post by justiceforsaas »

This is an interesting case study, but my research on acquisition channels that consistently work for founders [1] has shown that sponsoring blogs/web-based "real estate" is hit-or-miss (and doesn't work) for most founders. Here are some dev SaaS examples:

1. SnapShooter ($1k+/mo), a tool to create daily backups of DigitalOcean droplets:

" I tried sponsoring blog articles with a little bit of success." [2]

2. BugFender ($35k/mo), a log storage service for app devs:

"Here's what didn't work: sponsoring developer newsletters and podcasts" [3]

The reason for this (IMO) is that most products that advertise themselves (especially on dev blogs) are not unique/compelling enough. Why should you buy a sponsored app logger when you know 10 other look-alikes with 5 other friends using them? The fact that these guys managed to invest $6k and get $200k in return from sponsoring a blog just shows how unique/compelling/valuable their value prop. is. Good luck!

[1] https://firstpayingusers.com

[2] https://www.indiehackers.com/interview/how-starting-small-he...

[3] https://www.indiehackers.com/interview/turning-an-internal-c...

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#42

Post by bobbob1921 »

I’m not clear on the (uplink/upstream , ie internet) bandwidth costs. Who provides/pays for that monthly bill?

Surely if you buy a 20 K pop that doesn’t include upstream bandwidth for life (ie for your pops customers to use).

I spent about 25 minutes reading every page of the website but didn’t see this part mentioned, apologies if I in fact missed it.

Thanks, interesting project!

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#43

Post by mdorazio »

Inhibit wrote: post #22
mildlyclassic wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great question. You're right, It's a commercial agreement, not equity. We think it counts as a sale, but I'm totally open to a more appropriate term.

"Investment capital"

Same thought exactly. "We crowdsourced 200k in investment capital with 6k in a blog sponsorship" is the actual sequence here.

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#44

Post by petercooper »

d33lio wrote: post #33
marban wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you've never visited Producthunt ;) Clap

More people NEED this sentiment. I kid you not, the last time I accidentally visited Product Hunt there was literally an app on the front page intended for the sole purpose of "mapping where you've cried". This type of Indie Hackers (as much as it saddens me to say) hype noise is nothing but counter-productive to "helping" side project hackers or aspiring founders.

Maybe this app currently doing very well on the iOS App Store will cheer you up? ;-) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/poop-map-pin-and-track/id13032...

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#45

Post by davidrusu »

garganzol wrote: post #23

3% is good but fairly common conversion rate for an ad. Not really groundbreaking nor newsworthy. But why it's on HN then? The answer - you are the product and HN is a marketplace. This makes HN kind of spoiled place to be at, as it amplifies the illusion of "good things" you "must have" or "participate in". I really miss the golden era of BYTE magazine in the 80s. That was a classy act. But what we have now is a noi…

3% conversion on a product that costs $20k is normal? I don't think so.

As to your cynical meta-analysis, these people are doing something really difficult. I'm very happy to celebrate with them in any of their little victories, good on them! I hope to see more from them in the future

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#46

Post by echelon »

derefr wrote: post #39

I have to commend this article for actually doing the thing HN constantly demands. The article introduces the company and the problem it's solving to contextualize the story, rather than assuming you're a faithful reader of their newsletter. The article structure here assumes a successful viral spread out of its little bubble into the wider world, where people have no idea what this company is. Copywriters working fo…

I saw your comment before reading the article, and I was skeptical. After reading, I think you've captured this perfectly.

I'm not a marketer and I don't typically take an interest in this subject, but the blog post breaks down the problem in a way engineers can appreciate.

They describe how they characterized their unique market, the funnel to attract new buyers for their cell installations, and how Gruber's audience fits the necessary parameters. There's a lot more, and I'm not doing it justice, but it was a fantastic read.

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#47

Post by petercooper »

Crazyontap wrote: post #10

Interesting product. Since this is kind of related what avenues do you guys (HNers doing SaaS) use for SaaS advertising nowadays? I used to get good results from FB ads (AdWords never worked for me after 2012) but now FB ads are also a loss. So wondering what other people are using for advertising?

No links as I'm not here to sell but I do seven figure revenues in the newsletter space from sponsorships by such companies looking to extend their audience (and most of them return so it must work most of the time!)

More broadly, I've seen a lot of people have good experiences with email newsletter advertising/sponsorship generally if they use the right publications and audiences (for instance I saw https://twitter.com/DenehyXXL/status/1326172165616570368 earlier today).

Podcast advertising is worth looking at too, but it mostly succeeds in a somewhat different way (podcasts seem to work better as a branding and door opening play than for trackable conversions despite what coupon codes imply). Reddit may also be worth investigating but you really need to play it right there, it's not a hugely forgiving place for sponsored items.

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#48

Post by [deleted] »

mildlyclassic wrote: post #11
dtwest wrote: post #9

Is it really $200k in sales if the people that are buying are guaranteed a rate of return? When I looked at the site a month ago it looked like these PoPs were being marketed as an investment. Given the capped upside, it looked as if the buyers were not buying equity, instead providing more of a loan with an expectation of getting their money back and more. Don't get me wrong, I think this is a very cool project. I j…

That's a great question. You're right, It's a commercial agreement, not equity. We think it counts as a sale, but I'm totally open to a more appropriate term.

[deleted]

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#49

Post by marcosdumay »

derefr wrote: post #39

I have to commend this article for actually doing the thing HN constantly demands. The article introduces the company and the problem it's solving to contextualize the story, rather than assuming you're a faithful reader of their newsletter. The article structure here assumes a successful viral spread out of its little bubble into the wider world, where people have no idea what this company is. Copywriters working fo…

Yes, the article structure is just great. It also doesn't let the long term readers hanging while it introduces everything.

Article's structure:

- The results, shorter than a paper abstract

- A small paragraph introducing the company and the goal the results apply into (long term readers will get the context of the results here).

- Some larger text explaining the product, in a section long term readers can jump.

- The main contents

- A well disguised large selling hook

- A link to more explanation on the product

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