Professional marketer, AMA.
Bit of background, I've been in advertising and marketing for 8 years. I'm qualified too. If you have questions and want honest answers, please ask away.
I do offer consultancy, so please feel free to talk with me privately if you'd like.
What makes you a professional marketer other then your own claim to be one?
Spend five minutes on here https://twitter.com/SamuelBrealey
Alternatively I can send you references? Will Tom Goodwin suffice?
Your opinions make you a professional marketer. Got it.
How would you answer it?
I would link to a portfolio, case studies, and other tidbits that show results that you’ve achieved. Twitter and your blog are just a collection of your thoughts which don’t necessarily mean anything in regards to your validity as a professional marketer. This would also bode well for those lurkers on the forums that might be looking to hire you for marketing services.
Thanks, helpful.
This comment was deleted 4 years ago
So you don't even have a real website, only a social media account?
What long-term efforts should Indie Hackers itself be doing to improve its marketing efforts?
Hey, that's a good one. First of all, well done on creating indiehackers!
In regards to long term efforts it's a question of consistency and the goals you want to reach, once you have a goal in mind you can work backwards to plan the marketing tactics to fulfil that goal. Forgive the simplicity but it's the usual SMART approach to goal setting. So really It's about being strategic, not tactical.
In regards to the current marketing tactics I've seen I think the events are great and need to continue, as it's that kind of public visibility that helps raise general awareness of what indiehackers is all about. It also helps that certain figures in the industry are plugging the site on their social media, such as Rand Fishkin who drew me here.
It's also important to note that the site will grow through acquisition of new customers, which in turn will increase retention. That might sound strange but it's directly correlated to the size so always keep the focus on new user acquisition, there is little evidence that retention based strategy works. If you want sources on that look at the works of the Byron Sharp from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science.
I'm sure you already know but listening to users is important, you can take that information and quantify it too where traits are similar to give you a general idea of what people love or dislike about indiehackers. If you track that over time it's a really good indicator of success and a means to communicate to potential users, you play to strengths and sell on that.
I hope that's helpful.
Hey, thanks for doing this. IH needs more marketers. I have three questions:
I have a marketplace business and have somehow solved the chicken and egg problem to enough degree to get some paying customers. While I get some organic growth, I still need to invest time to grow both sides of the marketplace. How should I decide which side I invest my energy (or what is the optimal way to divvy up my energy to both sides)?
I want to launch a referral program eventually. How should I decide the referral fee?
What is something you believe to be true, which few other marketers would agree with you on?
Thanks.
Do you propose PPC services?
Hey Olive, I see you have https://www.adwatch.me/ under your belt? That's a useful tool.
I occassionally execute tactics like PPC, If I'm working inhouse then that's part of the job but when it comes to client consulting then I generally tend to advise, research, develop strategy and instruct others to do the actual execution etc.
Thanks.
Thanks for you reply.
Yes I'm going to launch soon adwatch.me, and currently looking for some feedbacks
What make some ideas go viral?
1: Instagram Egg
2: #10YearsChallenge
3: Gillette Ad
No the OP, but look up STEPPS - it's the acronym to the following characteristic features of the highest viral achievements: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotions, Public, Practical Value and Stories
Good question, honestly you can only review these things in retrospect. It's very difficult to take learnings from them and apply them to future ideas because they are by very nature abnormal. Chances of becoming "viral" are very slim. There are many similar ideas, just as great, that never really caught on. In regards to viral media that is actively planned, publicity is often the one to go for, like Tesla did with the car in space.
Do you have any recommendations for entrepreneurs building/marketing community sites (like IndieHacker)? I would love any pointers to resources.
Thanks for doing this!
Do you mean an indiehackers for marketers? Honestly, twitter is where it's at.
Apologies for not being clear - I was trying to be one level more abstract. I meant how should entrepreneurs build a startup that is community oriented (specifically with regards to marketing and building the of the community).
So for example, if I wanted to build a community site like IndieHackers for DataScientists - how would you suggest I market it?
Okay, well the first thing to do is market research. You have to think outside of your idea and see if anyone else is doing that already. If they are, you have to weigh up whether or not it's feasible.
To do this properly you have to commit to market research again.
Simple approach is generally a qualitative survey based on attributes that people would find desirable and then calculating a relative sample size and putting out a survey again to generate quantitative results.
Once you do that you can then look at the things people want from the community and develop a product that fulfils that want and position it in a way that appeals to them.
Once you have that you can do some outreach, some press releases to relevant publications and news sites where your audience may be to raise general awareness. You could invite respected professionals in the field as well and use their endorsements to gain interest in what you do. For example, it was Rand Fishkin who I follow, that directed me here.
Once you've got the market research, it'll point you in the right direction as to how to communicate and "sell" it to your audience.
This comment was deleted 8 years ago
Hey, it depends on what you'd like to achieve with it. It's a nice concept. Would you like people to use the site or licence the technology? For example. Additionally, have you had any user feedback on it yet?