Suggestions for marketing a basic tool?
I'm a fairly confident thinker when it comes to marketing ideas but this one has stumped me!
I've done some reddit research and have an idea for something I'm about to make. However, i keep coming across the same problem; how to market a product when it's extremely basic.
Essentially, it's a productivity tool like a 'To-Do list' or a 'Gant chart' the only difference is the tool aids the users in their logic using chatGPT (yes, I'm afraid I've jumped on that wave 😅).
Anyone have any experience or able to suggest a method that worked for them?
I was thinking...
App Sumo?
Traditional SEO?
Product Hunt?
Google Ad's?
I look at app's like Tom's Planner and wonder how they've become MASSIVE!
Reddit is your friend both in terms of looking for users and actual validation. You just need to find the right threads.
We used Reddit like this for a lot of projects but manually searching the threads is a bitch so we recently decided to build our own tool for Reddit keyword monitoring (Surfkey.io).
Will be great for you with the right keywords. See what people say about other productivity tools and find people who're looking for alternatives - you can help them decide and pitch in there.
Thanks for sharing your tool, I'll take a look. I've also struggled with all the individual rules of each sub Reddit.
Yeah, we had some issues too.
But if you always try to be helpful and blend in rather than just shamelessly plugging your tool, you will do well there.
Well, technically, the more basic the tool, the easier to market it. As in, it is effortless to market a hammer. Because it is extremely basic, and its function is very straightforward.
That said…
That is a challenging market to penetrate. Like, there are a thousand competitors.
Well, just looking at it now, I can see that its earliest reviews (and the associated word of mouth) comes from its simplicity when the project management was done in complicated software. Its USP then seems to be simplicity and drag-and-drop (this is probably the wow-factor and hype-builder).
From your comments in this thread, I think, as @OrionSeven said, you can really focus on “project management for neurodivergent people” as your USP. That would carve a clear niche and provide a key differentiator.
Would also provide you ways and language to clearly target your niche.
Totally agree, I think i was afraid to niche down knowing it's potential for others/professions etc but it's always good (in the beginning at least) to focus on smaller audiences.
Something you said (thanks!) and as mentioned above in some of my responses, especially when it comes to putting content out etc.
You've got some great ideas here from @ozantoptas and @OrionSeven
To add my 2 cents to what they are saying, literally the most effective way to grow any business is to focus less on selling a product and more on selling a brand new belief system that leads back to that product.
A fantastic company for you to look at in this area is Bullet Journal. It too started as a side-project - essentially it sold a brand-new belief system around personal productivity and then built products to help believers implement that belief in their lives.
The products it created were also basic (physical journals, a book, a course and a basic mobile application) but the resulting growth was spectacular.
You already have a product which is not a problem - plenty of companies have used this approach with existing products (by taking what makes their solution unique and turning it into a brand new belief system).
This idea of neurodivergent people needing a different system is a good starting point for creating a whole new productivity methodology and belief system - something that will not only massively help you sell your product but also open up the doors to selling other products to your audience too.
I've got a whole website dedicated to this strategy complete with case studies (including Bullet Journal), explanations about why it works and more - you can check it out here: www.thebluntmethod.com
Hope that helps
Best
Chris
Thanks Chris,
This is one of the most comprehensive responses I've received here. I've just glanced over the site and looking forward to reading your articles tonight after work.
Thanks again!
No problem. Glad to help :-)
I’d need more info, but I’d you’re having a hard time figuring out how to market this you need to spend more time fishing out who this is for. What specifically it’s solving. And look to see how other tools that solve this problem are positioning themselves.
You may already know some of this. But when you get close to the problem the marketing makes itself.
Sounds like a pretty broad useful tool. Can you imagine just one segment / persona db start by only marketing to them?
Thanks for the input! :-)
Originally the idea can from responses that this post i put out on Reddit had:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dyslexia/comments/ze8xpj/idea_whats_the_main_problem_you_face_having/
Between the lines, myself and other people suffering from dyslexia tend to struggle with collating thoughts and piecing them together to make sense to neurotypical people.
The product would essentially collate those thoughts and ChatGPT would summarize/make sense of them for others to understand.
Having thought long and hard, I've come to realise it is a massively broad tool and dyslexia seems too niche (despite the nice sentiment) but several professions could use it.
Hence the unwillingness to knuckle down into one segment but as you've highlighted it's for the best!
Oh what an interesting application of GPT.
I agree summarizing input is massively broad. But is dyslexia too niche for a v1? 3-7% of the population suffer from it. My wife is a medical provider and says that it’s very common that those who suffer from it go partly diagnosed and struggle. That is there was a tool Oreo Ted towards the would to very well.
Heck I see adhd stuff on instagram all the time. While it’s a “popular “ problem to subs I think it’s still a good example.
Ads and a channel that spoke to this problem, gave tips on how to cope, etc would be a killer marketing channel.
To test this I’d stand up a page about my idea. Speak to the pain. Then spend time on Reddit and other places people talk about dyslexia and see what type of waitlist signs up I get.
Yeah maybe I'm casting my net far too big. I can always create multiple landing pages and test which works best for which niche (both for research and if validate getting the product out there). I like the suggestion for being an advice hub, I've look at chat GPT to 'hack' some SEO (like the other 100000000 people using it) and write content daily so could be a good resource. Thanks again.
Hey Oran, you can also try affiliate marketing /Influencer marketing :)
Newsletter marketing can be a nice low-cost option :) Use a platform like Swapstack, or reach out directly to some productivity tool/process related newsletters
Yeah, I was hoping to write 2/3 times a week articles with a blog section to the site. I don't have a large following but the idea is to gain traction and share the same articles via a newsletter! thanks for the suggestion.
No, I mean advertising in other people's newsletters, it's big shortcut to use their audience to test the viability of your idea rather than having to build your own audience before that :-)
Oh opps, fully get you now!, yeah that's a great idea!!! - thanks for the pointer.
Early on, the best way to market our product and validate it is to keep launching on multiple platforms.
You can promote on these platforms
I made a list of 50+ places you can promote your product and get feedback/users for free.
Check it out 👇
https://launchpedia.co/places-to-promote-your-startup/
PS: I'm still building it, please share your feedback, it will help in improving it.
This is a great resource, thanks!
Reddit is your solution. To gain idea validation as well as find customers. You can use Reddit as a platform. One of the reasons I created Promotee.
Thanks, I'll take a look. :-)
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Hey, you can also use social media to communicate, like twitter or instagram.
Absolutely, ideally rather then paid ads I could target influencers and their groups.
Hey Oran, here are some marketing tools I'm currently using in my startup:📚
No CRM right now!
Product Hunt and Appsumo are channels, not tools mate.
Thanks for the heads up, so much lingo it can get confusing! 😅
Appreciate the suggestions/resources.