I've got a side project I've worked on for a while and I'm happy with the engineering side, but I'm terrible at marketing. I've made a couple of reddit comments, shown friends who would benefit from my project, but what is the best way to get it out there?
Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
1–10 of 13 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
#2Search HN this has been answered many times.
Re: Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
#3Who’s it for? Where do those people learn about new things?
Re: Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
#4Who’s it for? Where do those people learn about new things?
I'd say ICs and Team Leads in eng organisations. So far I'm thinking Reddit and HN? Maybe a bit of LinkedIn
Re: Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
#5Search HN this has been answered many times.
It has, but there are always new perspectives.
Re: Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
#6Put yourself in your customer's shoes and imagine where you'd be. Sometimes the answer is reddit, sometimes other forums, sometimes in-person events.
Re: Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
#7Who’s it for? Where do those people learn about new things?
I'd say ICs and Team Leads in eng organisations. So far I'm thinking Reddit and HN? Maybe a bit of LinkedIn
Be a little more imaginative. How would someone with the problem you solve behave? How can you catch them at the right moment in their journey?
Re: Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
#8Post it to "Show HN"
Re: Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
#9Why did you make it? Who faces this problem?
Good projects are the type that some people have been building a hack for themselves. Like a system that replaces bookkeeping or records. Payment systems that nobody wants to maintain. Most of the time, it's expensive and inefficient but they just don't have better tools.
Find the people who are doing this. If you can't think of any, well, you might have started wrong and your side project may not be worth anything.
A lot of people are trying to sell fish to the fishermen. It's not that those fish aren't worth anything; it's more that you have to leave the village.
Re: Ask HN: How do you market a side project?
#10Don't. It's a waste of time.
Spending money on ads is just burning cash. Posting in online communities will get you immediately banned for spam or unpaid advertising. Social platforms will bury your content without promotion(=burning cash). And sites like HN or Product Hunt will just give you a false hope. Reddit will get you two likes and one page view.
So... don't. The internet has change so much, that it makes no sense any more to try and do anything in this regard.
The only way is to slowly keep pushing it where you can, not intentionally but seize an opportunity if you see one. Don't hope for fast progress. It's a marathon, not a sprint.