How to promote your startup with no followers:
John Rush@johnrush
36 views
Sep 21, 2024
~3 min read
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How to promote your startup with no followers:
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1) Reddit subreddits.
- entrepreneur
- saas
- sideproject
- bootstrappedsaas
Be genuine, tell the story, from the start. No marketing. Make it sound like a story or diary entry.
- entrepreneur
- saas
- sideproject
- bootstrappedsaas
Be genuine, tell the story, from the start. No marketing. Make it sound like a story or diary entry.
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2) hackernoon.
They allow one branded article per startup. Brings good backlink and trafffic. But don’t just promote, but again , give more than you take. Use stories, guides, lessons, analysis etc
They allow one branded article per startup. Brings good backlink and trafffic. But don’t just promote, but again , give more than you take. Use stories, guides, lessons, analysis etc
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3) Launchpads
List for free
- DevHunt
- Product Hunt
- uneed
- micro launch
- betalist
Or buy sponsored spot.
E.g. @devhunt_ brings sales to @listingbott every day almost due to this banner:
List for free
- DevHunt
- Product Hunt
- uneed
- micro launch
- betalist
Or buy sponsored spot.
E.g. @devhunt_ brings sales to @listingbott every day almost due to this banner:
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4) Directories.
Paid: Betalist, 1000tools, futurepedia.
Free: betapage, saashub,..
Automation: listingbott.com to submit to 100+ directories (from a db of 10,000+).
Directory ads: pick smaller directories who sell a week/month banner for $100.
Paid: Betalist, 1000tools, futurepedia.
Free: betapage, saashub,..
Automation: listingbott.com to submit to 100+ directories (from a db of 10,000+).
Directory ads: pick smaller directories who sell a week/month banner for $100.
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5) search for posts and reply with your tool.
Don’t spam, make sure it’s actually relevant.
Ideally look for actual questions.
Don’t spam, make sure it’s actually relevant.
Ideally look for actual questions.
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6) Sponsor influencers.
Find small influencers (3-10k followers). Make sure they have real stats, simply read their posts and comments to see.
The price is around $100 too, can bargain down to $50.
But influencers almost never bring positive ROI.
Find small influencers (3-10k followers). Make sure they have real stats, simply read their posts and comments to see.
The price is around $100 too, can bargain down to $50.
But influencers almost never bring positive ROI.
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7) sponsor newsletters.
Same here, pick small newsletters.
Once I paid for Product Hunt newsletter ad and got zero sales. Just wasted money.
But right after a small one brought me sales.
Same here, pick small newsletters.
Once I paid for Product Hunt newsletter ad and got zero sales. Just wasted money.
But right after a small one brought me sales.
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8) sponsor events.
- hackathons
- workshops
- education programs
I did it with one a month ago and it brought 100+ sign ups for $999.
- hackathons
- workshops
- education programs
I did it with one a month ago and it brought 100+ sign ups for $999.
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9) cold outreach
- emails
- LinkedIn (don’t do it on X, you’ll be instantly banned)
- telegram DMs
It works if you find relevant emails, not just anyone.
Also keep the message short.
- emails
- LinkedIn (don’t do it on X, you’ll be instantly banned)
- telegram DMs
It works if you find relevant emails, not just anyone.
Also keep the message short.
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10) affiliate partners.
I have about 100 partners in total, some do pretty well.
There are marketplaces for affiliates or do cold outreach to find them.
I have about 100 partners in total, some do pretty well.
There are marketplaces for affiliates or do cold outreach to find them.
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11) channel traffic from directories.
It’s easier to win traffic for directories than for main project. Make several directories for your audience and place your banners there.
To quick start
> use @unicornplatform to build them
> guide to learn johnrush.me/directory-guid…
It’s easier to win traffic for directories than for main project. Make several directories for your audience and place your banners there.
To quick start
> use @unicornplatform to build them
> guide to learn johnrush.me/directory-guid…
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12) free side projects.
Same as with directories.
E.g: uigenerator.org is on top 10 by traffic source for @unicornplatform .
It’s a free project. Purely for traffic. That needs no maintenance and has no costs. It grows on itself via SEO.
Same as with directories.
E.g: uigenerator.org is on top 10 by traffic source for @unicornplatform .
It’s a free project. Purely for traffic. That needs no maintenance and has no costs. It grows on itself via SEO.
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@unicornplatform 13) Communities.
- Join them on discord/slack/etc.
Introduce yourself and mention your product.
- Or, launch your own community based on the topic. When I launched @allgpts_ I made a community of gpt makers in discord with 5k members.
- Join them on discord/slack/etc.
Introduce yourself and mention your product.
- Or, launch your own community based on the topic. When I launched @allgpts_ I made a community of gpt makers in discord with 5k members.
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@unicornplatform @allgpts_ 14) partner up.
Find a win win case and pattern up.
E.g. me and @d4m1n did this.
He promotes my @unicornplatform as a banner on @hunteddotspace,
And I promote his @shipixen as top featured nextjs boilerplate on nextjsstarter.com.
Find a win win case and pattern up.
E.g. me and @d4m1n did this.
He promotes my @unicornplatform as a banner on @hunteddotspace,
And I promote his @shipixen as top featured nextjs boilerplate on nextjsstarter.com.
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15) SEO.
It takes 3-6 months to get traffic, but nobody ever regretted investing in it early.
Manual:
- earn backlinks to grow DR & publish 2 articles a week.
- Launch micro tools on subdir & pSEO.
Automated:
- listingbott.com - for backlinks
- seobotai.com ai blog
- indexrusher.com indexing pages
It takes 3-6 months to get traffic, but nobody ever regretted investing in it early.
Manual:
- earn backlinks to grow DR & publish 2 articles a week.
- Launch micro tools on subdir & pSEO.
Automated:
- listingbott.com - for backlinks
- seobotai.com ai blog
- indexrusher.com indexing pages
