How do you all talk about your project(s) without feeling like you're shilling?
I feel like I run into this every time I have thoughts or questions about something I'm working on - I feel like it'll all come across as just self-promotion.
But at the same time it's our projects that've brought us all together here, so whenever I want to contribute it does usually have some tangent to my own work and ideas and projects.
Or maybe I'm just jaded 😂
People appreciate being helpful. If you always bring up your product, then people are going to think you are shilling.
People are going to appreciate more if you bring it up in the context of a problem, provide multiple solutions, and also mention you have solved it with your product. Then you can gauge the reaction and decide if you should expand more on your product.
I read a good advice on some other thread. Always provide some value first, before you promote your product or solution. That provides an incentive for people to listen.
Agreed on all points. Also, as a reader, I have no issues with someone plugging their site as long as they did actually respond / contribute value. This is location-dependent though! People will react differently on IH versus other sites.
Yeah pretty sure having been on Reddit for so many years has instilled the fear of god for self-promoting, I'm still so surprised how optimistic everyone on IH is (which is refreshing)
Great points and definitely agree. I think I'm still in the infancy of my latest project (first goal, one paying user 🤯) so the help I can offer is always pretty limited, but gotta start somewhere
Yeah this is good!
I try to acknowledge that I'm shilling. "Hey, this is how I make rent. feel free to roll your eyes and I'll drop it and move on"
I'm not great at it online just yet; but when I'm meeting people I use a lot of non-verbal cues. At a meetup last week I literally did the-old "Placing my hand in front of my face to symbolize a theater curtain and a change of roles from Normal Zee to Sales Zee" as a humorous juxtaposition.
To be honest, I don't feel like "person explicitly and genuinely pitching their product or service" is a bad thing. The more obvious you are about it, the easier it is for people to opt-out.
Over-doing it, however, can cost you a lot of social capital. I'm learning when and where to pitch and when and where to just be a helpful person; that happens to drop a link or business card for those who are interested.
I do like the owning approach, and definitely agree in person is much easier when there's more context than just the words on the page.
You say you're not great at it online, have you seen success with owning it in those cases?
I mean, it really depends. I'm working on finding my voice in long-form, promotional pieces. My latest piece I literally wrote "<single sentance about the services I provide> (OK! Pitch complete!)"
I don't know if it lands, or if it doesn't because there isn't any feedback.