The #1 best tactic for winning PH (and huge mistakes to avoid)

Hello,

In the past two years, I've launched 10+ products on Product Hunt, many of which won 1# of the Day, #1 of the Week, and one of them even got #2 of the Month.

I wanted to share the absolute #1 top tactic that helped me with 100s of upvotes every launch, over and over again:

🔥 Create a mini-network of recent PH launchers.

TL;DR: Support other products in the week prior to your launch and make sure the makers know about it — they will definitely remember you whenever you launch yourself.

An actionable plan:

In the 7 days before every launch of mine, I have upvoted, commented, reviewed, and shared the top 10 products on PH each day. It took me about 30 minutes per day (totally worth it). I made sure all the makers knew me by following them, connecting with them on Linkedin, and sending this DM:

Hey FIRSTNAME!
Love your launch on Product Hunt today 🔥
My teammates and I are so happy to give you a dozen votes and a few comments to PRODUCTNAME❤️
I will launch my product on PH next week. Support me then?

During my own launch, I then approach these makers and ask for support, and they are really glad to help. Some told me they even asked their entire team to support me back.

It works like magic. As you might know already, launching on Product Hunt is hectic. You have 24h to get people to upvote. Your mental state is "I gotta do whatever it takes". That's why it's super helpful to help others on their hectic day. They remember.

The key here is “recency” - it can only work with launches of the last 1-2 weeks (because after that no one will remember you).

That's my golden, proven tactic.

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In addition, based on my experience and some unfortunate mistakes I've done, here are a few lesser-known tips & best practices for launching on Product Hunt:

❶ Don't forget the "GET IT" button.

When you ask your friends & family to support your launch, you must also ask them to click on the "GET IT" button on Product Hunt. The reason is that PH wants to know that people actually visit the product before creating a buzz around it (part of their fake detection algorithm). So don't forget to ask your fans to click on the button before upvoting!

❷ Never launch at 00:01.

You should always launch at 00:10 or 00:15.

Why? Because luck plays a huge role in Product Hunt success. There is no telling when Spotify, Amazon, Google, or Shopify will launch a new feature that day (they can crush any other launch thanks to their existing audience). That's why you must take 10 minutes to review the day's launches, and only if there isn't a major brand launching can you launch yourself.

❸ Plan your day like the greatest launchers.

Make a plan for each moment of your launch day. Here's a great example of such 24-hours plan from a startup called Amy, and we created something very similar to our own.

❹ Name & tagline must be ridiculously short.

I know, I know. You want to explain everything about your new product. But the more words you write, the less impact you'll get. Research shows people respond better to shorter words and sentences, and since people discovering products on PH see dozens of products, it's important to stand out and create a message that's super-short and clear.

❺ Create a mute-ready video.

Product Hunt auto-plays videos without sound. Therefore, it is crucial that the first few seconds include big text / captions. I saw so many startups creating beautiful videos to waste, just because the sound was an important element in the first few secs!

❻ Engage with everyone.

I sometimes see startups that launch products, bring all their network to upvote and comment, and don't reply to the comments. Huge mistake! You should reply to all comments immediately. The algorithm rewards products with a high number of comments.

❼ Get a famous hunter.

It's easy to say "meh, I'll just hunt myself or ask one of my friends" but NO! You'll gain a huge impact from big-name hunters. Most of them have thousands of followers, and they will all get notified once you launch. It's better for your brand, too :-) These hunters are mostly very nice and cooperative when you just ask them to hunt you. Here's a list of the top hunters you can approach.

That's it!

I'm available in the comments if you have any questions :)