Not sure what to focus on
Hi!
I'm working on a cloud-based music library app for DJs - www.vibedrive.co - it's meant as an alternative to solutions like Dropbox for DJs to store their music collection in the cloud but that allows them to create playlists in their browser and then only sync the files that actually need at a given point.
In terms of development I can easily see where I'm going next. I have a good idea of the roadmap to MVP. I want to put an equal amount of time on the business side, but I'm not sure what I should do exactly.
I have a very basic landing page up and ready, with a form that will allow me to get emails. In terms of the marketing efforts, I started finding people I could talk with to find out if there's interest. For example, I found a thread on reddit that was about organizing one's music library, and one person's struggle with losing their files. I thought I could reach out to them since they ran into a difficulty my product could help with - but I'm not sure what to ask them.
I'm super excited about continuing building, but I feel like I should be focusing on other things first.
What should be my main focus in terms of marketing at this stage?
Probably the most natural and non-spammy pre-launch outreach strategy I've come across is to ask potential customers to help you test the product out.
This can be as unobtrusive as merely mentioning (and linking to) your product and asking for feedback on a particular feature, or as high-investment as inviting potential customers to become full-fledged beta users who register accounts and try out the software.
Either way, the entire interaction is natural and mutually beneficial. Better still, any beta users and beta testers you bring onboard will be making small early investments that build attachment and loyalty — at least that's what Nir Eyal would have us believe 😉.
Good luck!
There's an angle I hadn't considered: invitations. It does feel non-spammy because I am actively offering something valuable as opposed to trying to get something out of someone.
I didn't consider it before because there are operating costs that I don't want to invest so early in the project, but I could simply lower the storage limit to something that doesn't cost me too much yet still provides value.
Thanks for the advice!
You've actually done the hardest part - knowing where to find people to talk to. If you're active on Reddit in this niche, just start asking people about losing their files and what they did after or to prevent it. That could give you some ideas on what kinds of things they've tried and/or wished they had. Use that as research to see if you can build a solution for them.
Looking at your landing page though, it sounds like you are going for something else. I'm not really the target audience but your landing page is about syncing files on demand. Would you talk to the person who lost their files about this specifically?
I honestly haven't put enough thought into the landing page yet - I just wanted to at least have something. Regardless, you're making me realize that the wording is very unclear.
DJs use one solution to create their playlists (and edit mp3 metadata), and a different one to backup their files (in the cloud or using an external harddrive). Playlist files point to a specific location on disk. Eventually DJs end up organizing their files into folders which inevitably makes the playlists unusable.
What I'm doing is combining the playlist management with the file storage, while abstracting out the music organizing from the file organizing. You just put every file in the cloud, I back them up for you, and you simply manage your playlists through a beautiful interface while the software makes sure that the music files are available when you need them and that the playlist files always work.