7
15 Comments

Ask IH: What techniques you use to market a new product?

Hi all,

I just recently released my product and I'm in the stage of planning a strategy of marketing my product. I've been doing research and I often read content marketing to be the best approach. But I'm not sure where to start. What techniques would you recommend for marketing a new product?

About the product

It's a product that allows people to process checkout forms without filling in your card details. Customer can request their details during checkout with businesses that are partners with us.

Thank you.

  1. 2

    If you have a budget, paid advertising is perhaps the fastest way to see some traffic numbers.

    If you don't have a budget, content marketing is what I would recommend. Create useful content about your product, the way you built it, the way it can be used. Provide value first of all in your content.

    • Answer questions real people have, solve issues for people and include messages on how your product can improve their lives too.

    • Compare your products honestly to the popular competing products in "alternative to" or "best tools" types of posts too. How do you stand out? What's better about your product? Who should use your product and why?

    Most importantly, do some marketing and outreach for each post that you publish. Share it in relevant communities. Contact targeted and relevant people and tell them about it.

    I've published a SaaS marketing guide here on Indie Hackers. Take a look https://www.indiehackers.com/@markosaric/ten-lessons-from-1-000-days-of-marketing-a-startup-7fe9b1d723

    1. 1

      Hi,
      Thanks, what are your thoughts on the idea?

      1. 1

        Perhaps I'm not the best to ask as I may not be the target audience for this. In general, I personally prefer not to involve too many third-parties when dealing with personal data/payment data etc. There's a lot of trust (and policies) involved in this so something to be aware of.

  2. 1

    If it were me, I'd talk to five people I know who want this thing or who have a problem it can solve. Listen carefully to what they say and make content using their exact phrasing. This will generally resonate with others like them who may be searching for the same thing.

    I'd definitely focus on email signups over sales early on.

    1. 1

      Hi,
      Thanks, what are your thoughts on the idea?

      1. 1

        I don't need it.

        If you don't even know any people who have expressed that they have this problem and you haven't seen any online talking about it, then the question is "why did you choose this product?"

  3. 1

    Your site seems to target developers who are building ecommerce. If I were you, I'd go with emailing/messaging developers. Maybe find them on freelance sites like Upwork or straight into Linkedin?

    1. 1

      Do you like the idea?

    2. 1

      Can you explain more about Upwork? Are you saying I should contact developers so then they can deploy the platform to new websites?

      1. 1

        Depends on which stage you are at, but your company seems like B2B so direct sales seems like a right framework than marketing. It's probably true in the very beginning.

        I read (forgot where, sorry) someone trying to land user interviews for video editing app and went into Upwork to ask video editors for inputs.

        You can also check out this article (Linkedin case study). https://marketingexamples.com/direct/jason-cohen-sales

        1. 1

          So just contacting businesses directly and see if they are interested or not?

          1. 1

            Yes directly contacting. Apology for the late response. It's for specific business need, so emailing and asking if you will be interested in this makes sense. Landing the first paying customer would be the hardest I imagine so. As for your idea, I was confused a little of who the target was, when I went to your site first. And the first thought was "is it like Stripe?" If you can clearly show how it fits in the existing payment ecosystem, it might reach out to people (I used Braintree before for implementing web checkout).

  4. 1

    I've been researching the same thing for https://trackmylift.app for whenever I release.

    My biggest advice: Reach your target audience!

    • Facebook Targeted ads,
    • Related forum posts on forums where you know your potential users live
    • Local advertising maybe, through flyers etc?
    1. 2

      Is that what you have tried (so far)? Was Adwords or maybe Reddit Ads any good?

      1. 1

        I'm leaving all my marketing and promotions til post-launch, so no pre-launch hype. I decided on this so I didn't miss any potential opportunities and so I can put my all into it after my main development work is done.

        I've got all my social accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) where I've been posting progress on the project and keeping hype to organic traffic. Facebook and Twitter are quite big for the organic traffic which is quite good.

        Post-Launch though that's my plan.

        1. Facebook Targeted Ads (already designed and audience set)
        2. Massive facebook post from my personal account tagging all people I know who are big into the gym or own fitness businesses
        3. Offer 3-5 free unlimited plans if you (sign up for free trial, tag 3 "gym" friends, like the page, share the page)
        4. I've got 6, 000 flyers ready, I'm gonna travel around Northern Ireland to all local gyms and hand in flyers, I'm also gonna go to some of the bigger cities and engage with randomers and hand out flyers (targeting with my eye)
        5. I've secured 3 local gyms to display a pop-up banner which I have ready as well to promote my product!
        6. This was an impulse decision lol but I have a black hoodie with my logo on it which I wear to the gym, occasionally I wear it to work as well and believe it or not a lot of people ask what the logo is.
        7. Reddit posts, bodybuilding forum posts <- where my target audience lives
        8. Gonna contact fitness / gym websites and ask to do a write up about the app and product
        9. Product Hunt Launch and HackerNews Launch
        10. Word of Mouth

        The facebook ads I am hoping will be the biggest of the lot after the initial launch. These are what I'm hoping will drive traffic to my site and ultimately convert, on a recurring basis without having to do too much heavy marketing once it gains some traction. 👏 Sorry for the long response!

        I'm so excited to release 🤓

Trending on Indie Hackers
Yayy! Made my 2nd sale in one month 43 comments Help me positioning my SaaS product 24 comments Need feedback about the landing page 22 comments 🤯Blown Away, Everyday. 20 comments Productized service: Got my 1st client (€2500/m) with 100% upfront payment 17 comments Need Feedback About My Landing Page 14 comments