Sharing on IH & Product Hunt Didn't work. Now what?
Probably like many here I was excited to post and share on IH and PH and was met with little to no interaction from the community.
The best I got was bots on LinkedIn reaching out to me after my PH post trying to get me to pay for a "collab" where they will boost my site to their followers.
Not really sure where to go from here. I've tried reaching out to people I already know in my network and received no replies. Even worse messaging strangers on LinkedIn just feels so cringe.
I didn't expect to be the number one trending post, but it's a ghost town even for feedback. Now what? I know I gotta keep trying, it's just hard not to get discouraged.
Hopefully sharing my launching failure and hearing from others will help.
Trending on Indie Hackers
I don't know where you are in your process but you talk a lot about "general" platforms like PH, Linkedin, etc. Who is your target and where are they on internet ? The "community" is everything and nothing at the same time. What is YOUR community ? You need to find where they are and talk to them. If you didn't have any replies in your own network it means that either they are not your target, so they don't care or your value proposition is not clear enough. And believe me, contacting strangers on Linkedin is weird at first but if you have something that is interesting to them they will answer you anyway ;)
Try Reddit! r/SideProject is a good place to get feedback.
Also, be careful not to post in subReddits where it's not allowed, can get you banend quickly :)
try reddit and hackerenews. I am experimenting with my analytics and it shows highest traffic from reddit followed by hackernews.
+1, Hackernews can also bring in good traffic
Reddit and Twitter.
It depends what your product is.
You should take this as feedback that what you’re building is in some way broken.
You’re not solving a problem that anyone cares for or your marketing copy explaining it is awful. Or it just looks bad.
So your options:
Keep iterating.
Pivot to a new product.
But if you got absolutely no traction you might find similar results to your first launch.
You should know as a founder why people do or do not like your product. You should be talking to users.
If you post the product here I’m sure there are many that can explain why it’s not working out and they’re not using what you built.
Also usually you want to get some initial traction before launching on PH. I recently ranked 1st place on PH and waiting till I had a few paying users before launching there. I was able to establish some interest in the product beforehand. And was marketing the landing page waitlist months in advance of the launch.
I did a video on my launch here: https://youtube.com/elie2222
And the product is https://getinboxzero.com if you care.
If we’re talking about this agency:
https://modulardesignco.com/
Then the reason it didn’t rank is because there are 10 million agencies out there.
I ran a 7 figure agency and never posted it to Product Hunt. I wouldn’t have expected sales there. Things like reaching out to your network is the best way to start something like this. If you can’t make any sales you’re in the wrong business. Also 12k per month is pricey with no track record.
I think i could try lowering the pricing to see if that changes any of the responses or interest I get. It's a great suggestion.
$7–12K is a lot for pricing, but I don't want unlimited clients, I want 1–5. The pricing I made is competitive with with full-time mid-senior UX salaries, so yes expensive, but comparable.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying. I've done sales as a freelancer years and consultant years ago, but I gave it up for a W2 because of the inconsistency of it.
I think the issue now is re-building a new network and connections in a much more competitive and dry market.
If you look at the DesignJoy story, he started at $400 per month. And today it's $5k per month. He has posts on IH from years back about his early journey.
Also it may just be better to charge for the project. If you want 5 projects * $12,000 who is paying you $60,000 per month for your time?
The way I grew my agency was having too much freelance work for me to handle alone, then getting other freelancers I knew to take on projects, building a reputation and then going from there. The agency website brought in almost no clients. It's all world of mouth. Start small. Freelance yourself and expand from there.
I've also had some success reaching out to target customers on LinkedIn asking for feedback on your product.
Instead of trying to sell them, you convey your intention to build a product that can solve their needs but you'd like feedback on how to make it better.
If the product/service resonates they'll want to buy and if not, you'll get some insight into what you can do to improve it!
I'll try this out! good suggestion
Here's a fun idea -- make an alter ego and reach out to people via that persona rather than yourself. Could help abate some of the shame/embarrassment you feel. Then if someone bites, your alter ego would hand off the customer to their boss Mr. Renfro.
TBH I think I saw this in a movie or something but I totally get where you're coming from, had been thinking along the same lines myself, and now that I've thought of it I really like the idea.
Other thing, I don't post on social media as myself but as the company/app.
Your contribution hD once been a life savior. I also think is a bad idea building a business with your personality because personal judge you before they even know your person. But when it's focused in company and product they will probably judge base on product you provide..
I recently had an exciting experience launching my project, and throughout this journey, I've been exploring different avenues for feedback. As part of this process, I've shared my project on various platforms like IH and PH. While the response has been limited, I've also been reaching out to niche-specific communities and forums. Additionally, I've been showcasing my project on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
One platform that has provided valuable insights and connections related to Finnish cuisine is Finland Food Menu. Exploring this community has added a unique dimension to my experience, allowing me to connect with individuals who share a genuine interest in Finnish food and culture.
Despite the initial challenges, I'm committed to learning and growing. If you're facing a similar situation, I encourage you to explore diverse channels and communities. You never know where you might find the most meaningful connections and feedback for your project."
Feel free to adapt the text to better suit your narrative!
We are in the same boat. Our productized software testing service, Quteo, has not had significant traction.
Currently, we are biting the cringe bullet and just cold messaging IT companies in Finland. Our strategy is basically to find leads with LinkedIn Sales Navigator and then cold email them with a heavily personalized email. No fancy stuff, just basic emails.
I just started, so no real insights yet. We are committed to 10 companies a day speed, so we may get something within the month.
I have a question for you. Who's your ideal client brother? I went over your website and have no clue who you're trying to reach. I don't mean that to discourage you at all, but rather to have you think deeper and more specific. Maybe attacking a smaller niche audience might resolve your problem.
Once you figure it out who your CUSTOMERS are. You can then ask a simple question:
Where do they hangout? And post your product in front of them and sell them into your service.
Just might 2 cents
That's a good point. Ideally it would be SAAS companies or other agencies with overflow needs for UX contractors.
I could try to focus it in more and share it with those communities specifically
I can see that you launched a subscription based design agency.
3 things that might have caused unsuccessful launch (in my opinion):
Try to change your positioning. Niche down on specific type of businesses. Maybe try to think of some other twist that might spark interest.
Good luck!
PH is shit.
If you don't have massive followers who can upvote you, it's worth nothing.
You have 2 options:
There is no winning formula or overnight success, and you didn't share your business / business model, so try to think what works for your business and attack it. Keep in mind it can take months to get traction (if at all, considering the market you are competing in, your product, etc).
Very easy to get discouraged, I know. It's all part of the game though.
There are many other platforms you can also go to for feedback - not just PH.
Try X (Twitter), Reddit, Telegram channels, niche groups and communities, Discord servers, etc. 👍
Hey Tyler! Thanks for sharing and this kind of things happen. Keep pushing through other channels like Reddit, Twitter or Quora.
Hey! There's been a lot of good ideas in the comments and I think you have a good backlog of ideas on what to do next.
What I've found works for me is having a framework/method to prioritise, flesh out and launch experiments.
I used to run probably 30+ marketing experiments in a month with my team previously using this 6-step method
I came up with this free tool that guides you through this exact process. Check it out it's 100% free and I hope you find it useful: https://launchexperiments.gumroad.com/l/the-launch-experiments-method
Don't be discouraged, friend. I'm also going through this process. But it's okay, as long as we keep improving, I believe things will get better and better. Here are some tips to share with you. When introducing our product, try to be as sincere as possible. Sincerely talk about the background of making this product, the difficulties we encountered, what problems it can solve, and then invite everyone to try it and look forward to their suggestions. I hope this can be helpful to you.
Ads on Reddit.
Not sure what your product is but maybe you could draw some insights from my experience. I'm currently in the research phase and have nothing to sell. My product is in the financial markets field. The way I'm engaging (on reddit currently) is by posting my own analysis on financial markets and engaging with other people's posts and comments.
Im seeeing good engagement and most of all im learning a lot! Plus it's very encouraging to keep working.
I have no traffic except my friends with whom we run a competition on my project. As my project is a side hustle I just relax and consider this as I have more time to add features and fixes.
I am in a similar boat. I think that marketing is probably just very delicate at the beginning. There are so many people out there that want to be seen and most people seeking content are looking for things that feel comfortable and familiar. But, it seems like growth is generally exponential which means small numbers at the start and huge numbers at the end, so stay consistent.
Have you tried cold email? There's a lot of resources out there for cold email marketing and could find ways to not do it in a cringe fashion
Good suggestions! I’ll try them out and see what happens. Thanks for the encouragement
It can be difficult to launch, and people's first impressions might not always accurately represent the potential of your idea.