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  • How to start your product marketing from scratch ?

    Vlad Zivkovic
    104 replies
    Hey Product Hunters, share your strategy on how to start product marketing from zero.

    Replies

    1. Define your product 2. Research your target audience 3. Create a strategy 4. Develop content and market it
    Nina Austria | Afforai
    @ali_shaheen 100% agree. Would add to this: understand the competition and trends, build brand awareness by leveraging social media platforms, and regularly track performance using analytics tools.
    Antonio Jimenez
    Any thoughts on B2B SaaS?
    Kevin Lu
    @aajn88 I think the concept is pretty much the same~ Know about who is the contact window, to whom do they report to, who release the budget to procure your product, etc.
    Gary Sztajnman
    What tools do you use to create compelling marketing content when your product is early stage?
    Vincent Lonij
    Thread - Wireframe Generator
    Thread - Wireframe Generator
    A lot of other responses have already pointed out some great general strategies. But there is one more thing that's really important: Figure out how your users/customers can become advocates. ‼️ We've all become used to online ads to the point that many of us just tune them out. When a sales person tells me about a product I don't believe half of what they tell me. It's a recommendation from a friend that makes me really pay attention.
    Kevin Lu
    @vincentropy Agreed! Find "100 users who love you instead of 1,000 of them kind of like you"! Is it more like product-led-growth strategy?
    Vincent Lonij
    Thread - Wireframe Generator
    Thread - Wireframe Generator
    @dot_brand Love the "100 users who love you instead of 1,000 of them kind of like you", I had forgotten that phrase. I think this one is true even outside of a product-led-growth strategy. Even if you just do consulting, with a traditional sales dept, getting intros through happy past customers is super powerful.
    Cyril Gupta
    CloudFunnels AI
    CloudFunnels AI
    Well, since I've been making products for a while now I have a list of my users who want to hear from me. When I create a product the first thing I do right after is do a closed presale for my existing customers. They get the best prices and deal... Once they are done, then I start the process of introducing the product to the rest of the world. That means organic marketing, advertising... Launching on ProductHunt is a part of it. What about you? I'd like to hear about your process too
    Vlad Zivkovic
    @cyriljeet That's good when you have some customer base. For me it's social media, mostly Linkedin.
    Kevin Lu
    @cyriljeet It's awesome that you have a customer base right at the beginning! I work on Founder-led-growth strategy on LinkedIn and build my connections from 0 to 2000 right now. Keep working on it! Followed your product btw! God speed man!
    Cyril Gupta
    CloudFunnels AI
    CloudFunnels AI
    @patrick_sao_e14 Thanks! In most cases I recover the cost of building the product with a little bit on top
    Atticus Li
    @cyriljeet @vladimir_zivkovic What is your strategy with Linkedin? We have tried running paid campaigns and it is very expensive.
    Edward G
    Flavored Resume
    Flavored Resume
    1) Define your target market, create the message for them, and identify the channels you need to reach them 2) Define your lead gen system and how you will convert leads to customers 3) Launch, evaluate, adjust accordingly
    Kevin Lu
    @edward_g Launching as early as possible! In that way, you can iterate your product and narrow down your real TA sooner! It's so important!
    Clau Marin
    Since our product is basically niched on Festivals, we'll do targeted ads on the specific area of the festival 1-2 days before, and 1-2 days within the festival, on our specific target audience and see how this will behave. Did not test it yet and I'm excited to see how this goes, if someone things I'm terribly wrong please reply below haha!
    Vlad Zivkovic
    @claumarin That actually sound like a good strategy.
    Kevin Lu
    @claumarin Cool man! Based on what our target audience's lifestyle, I use LinkedIn and freelancer platforms! Followed your product, God speed!!
    Kenny William
    @vladimir_zivkovic Very interesting question. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you get started: 1. Understand Your Product 2. Identify Your Target Audience 3. Competitor Analysis 4. Set Clear Goals 5. Develop a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) 6. Pricing Strategy 7. Create Marketing Collateral 8. Build a Website 9. Content Marketing 10. Social Media Presence 11. Email Marketing
    Kevin Lu
    @vladimir_zivkovic This is a very nice question! At the very early stage, I started the marketing by acquiring the users from people around me, then, based on my target users, I visited the social platforms that they mostly use and engaged them their! How about you? I would love to know how did you start your product marketing from scratch?
    Vlad Zivkovic
    @dot_brand My first customers actually came through networking on LinkedIn, and I think one also came from my friends connections.
    Nina Austria | Afforai
    @vladimir_zivkovic @dot_brand We started off really similarly, just by speaking to people we already knew and focusing on building our presence on the social media platforms they used most. That's how we got our first hundred users. After launching on Product Hunt, we were able to double our user sign ups!
    Mark Curz
    Best of luck for the launch
    Kunal Mehta
    @vladimir_zivkovic To start product marketing from scratch, conduct thorough market research, define your target audience, craft a compelling value proposition, create a strong brand identity, develop a go-to-market strategy, leverage digital marketing channels, and measure and optimize your campaigns for success.
    Gabriel Greyson
    The first step is to identify your target market and create a strategy for reaching them. Next, you need to build a presence online by creating a website and social media accounts, and engaging with potential customers. Finally, you need to create a marketing plan for getting your product out there, which could include advertising, public relations, and even word-of-mouth marketing.
    Konok Nazmul
    Hey Product Hunters, I've got some suggestions on how to start product marketing from scratch. First, identify your target audience and conduct thorough market research to understand their needs and pain points. Next, develop a compelling brand story that resonates with your audience and sets you apart from the competition. You can leverage social media platforms and content marketing to create buzz around your product. Consider influencer collaborations and strategic partnerships to expand your reach. Lastly, track your marketing efforts using analytics tools and iterate on your strategy based on data-driven insights. Good luck!
    Bob Smith
    @konok_nazmul This reminds of finger soft gaming studios company they started developing apps but it did not work. The owner suffered but never stop trying. He started from scratch and now he has worlds most downloaded game Hill Climb Racing Mod APK. Thanks for the tips it really helped a lot Sir.
    I’m currently in my waitlist stage for my new product and am doing product marketing on Twitter with #buildinpublic. You should try it out!
    Priyanka Pahari
    Understand your product and who needs it. Check out the competition and be different. One should make a clear marketing plan with goals and how to reach people. Build an easy-to-use website is the key! Share helpful stuff on blogs, social media, and emails for more user engagement. Show off happy customers and their stories to attract new ones. Launch with a bang and track results.
    Magic Mike Paine
    These are all great answers. I love how most of the focus is on the audience, because that’s the foundation of every good marketing strategy. Try to solve that audience’s problem by helping them become the hero. Don’t make your product the hero, make your product the tool that helps them become the hero in their story. Communicate this message in the media channels that have their attention.
    I believe creating a plan and choosing the right Product Management platform (ie Notion) is key to set up shop. After that you should just identify the channels you want to use and go from there. For us it was Social Media -> Conferences -> Newsletter -> BD -> PR
    Antonio Jimenez
    @vladimir_zivkovic noob question - how to effectively use social media? Do you mean ads? Searching for target communities? Others?
    Chris Redfield
    Conduct market research to identify your target audience's needs, preferences, and pain points. Understand your competitors and what makes your product unique. I can share the links of the marketing scratch here:https://telgrouplink.com
    Chris Redfield
    Understand Your Product: Begin by thoroughly understanding your product. What problem does it solve? What are its features and benefits? Who is your target audience? Market Research: Conduct market research to identify your target audience, their needs, preferences, and pain points. Analyze competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses.https://schoenhalde.de/tierkrema...
    Vikram Aditya
    Here is how we think about it at our HQ 👉 Know who to target (Define ICPs) 👉 Identify the value prop that will resonate the most with your ICP 👉 Pick one or at max two platforms, and about 6-8 weeks before launch, create a manually qualified list of target early adopters. 👉 Indentify product loops. This means self-serving journey motions exist in your product which will help you distribute it on its own. For example, referrals. 👉 Create a list of frequent pain points that helps you refine your value prop. To identify these, you can go to a platform like G2, see who has talked negatively about your competitors and start identifying decision-makers from that company. Sometimes this also results in feature ideas. 👉 Create a content plan to highlight these pain points and the enhancements or proprietary stuff you're building. 👉 Create a user journey. A day-by-day plan of what the user will receive from you and what you will track for them. It's mostly best broken into stages like discovery, onboarding, adoption, engagement. 👉 Create a marketing journey. A day-by-day plan on what defines if your user is good enough. If they are good enough, what do they see? If they see your message but don't engage, what do they see next? Keep it simple. Don't go too granular; focus on one or two channels at max. This effort will primarily lead to the creation of a waitlist. 👉 Deploy for the first 100 customers manually on your own. Hold their hand while they do it, even if it's super easy to do so alone. Ask questions, and Qualify them. See if they do something and observe every single step. Sometimes, your internal data gives you this insight. Sometimes, it's an external tool like Bento. 👉 Don't worry a lot about Ads, or mass outreaches yet. You can squeeze in a Product Hunt launch though as its free. 👉Improve the product.