Where should I go next with FamSync
It's now two weeks since the initial launch of the FamSync MVP... I have been very public about it sharing on twitter, having public development tracker and release notes, etc.
I never had any expectations of the project blowing up, but I had a hope for some more feedback.
Yesterday I added the product to IH's product list and it has been accepted, but I'm kind of clueless of where to go from here.
First sight:
Good thoughts and thanks for pointing them out! Currently it is a web application only but made to feel app-ish on phone. I'll also look into the landing page cases.
Currently it contains an agenda, todo lists and shopping lists. I have several new things in the list of upcoming features. I can make this more clear, do you have any suggestions on how to best achieve this?
thanks for sharing your toughts, really appreciated!
My suggestion is to test different landing pages with different people, but in order to do it you should identify them: family members (man & woman) without child, with one child, with more than one child and so on, so you can focus on user journey. One of the most useful advice I've read on IH is to start from the end: identify your happy customer using your app and define the path back to the beginning.
For explain better your ideas: do a video, small gif and so on!
Do you have a newsletter to be updated on next iterations?
That's an interesting idea and I'll see how I could achieve something like this for FamSync :-)
What do you want for FamSync to be? A project you can fiddle with as a hobby? A side project for some pocket money? A serious business to get a salary out off)? If the first, proceed as you are. If the latter two: the word you're seeking is marketing.
To that regard: what have you done so far? Ideally you've already talked/chatted to potential customers. You need to actively reach out to them. Don't work on your product, but fully focus on marketing.
Being public about development, features, launch, etc is only marketing if your product is built for "makers" or your goal is to gain more maker followers.
I want to make this a profitable product that can provide me with at least a side income to add to my current day job salary. I do also want to have a free plan for the reason I know not all families are in a position to add more expenses to their already tight budget. But paid members will of course get more features etc.
So far, I haven't done any marketing which is sort of why I reached out here to get some thoughts on where to go next. I'm completely new to this side. My initial thought though is posting on family related sub reddits and family forums.
The target audience of this product is definitely not only for "makers" ;-) Also I don't understand how being public about launches etc is only marketing if that was the audience or goal
Try to narrow that down a bit more: families who want to get better in managing their finances. Or even more: "mothers who want to start managing their financing". So not the ones that already do as they have their system in place already.
Create content—with well-researched keywords—to make yourself an authority of the subject. This will help push prospect over the line. Hand out freebies with: spreadsheets that can help them with their finances, or a simple "ten steps to start managing your finances".
This helps with customers to find you and makes it easier for you to point people to your site as you don't do a "hard sell", but point to a free resource. The free resource obviously does a "soft sell", either through an email drip campaign or more direct.
Not something that will pay dividends in the short run, but something you have to work on on a daily basis for a few months.
Thanks for good tips :-) I'll bring this with me. Got any pointers on how to find these "well-researched" keywords?
Also, I'm not considering FamSync as a short term project expecting money to start flowing instantly. It's something that I relate a lot to considering I've got my own family and it was initially thought started to solve a very critical problem our family's every day life.
maybe you should share the website's url when you do posts like this ? I almost closed the tab when I couldn't find it in the post ... The website looks great, you just got to promote it now !
Do you have any competitors ? Did you try researching what is the content they use for their content marketing strategy ? maybe start a blog to help families organize themselves with tips ? Did you try reaching out to their customers ?
Disclaimer: I'm going to shamelessly promote my own product a little bit here as I sincerely think it could help you :)
Maybe you could give a try to https://www.medialisto.com, it's a social media listening platform coming out this week that can help you monitor who is talking about your competitors, what they're posting, engage with potential customers ... Beta is going to be for free !
Thanks for a really helpful reply :-)
I do have some competitors indeed, and I have done some research on them, but only about functionality and UI/UX.
Regarding posting links, that's a very useful tip that I seem to forget :embarrassed:
The idea about setting up a blog is really a good idea and something I def should start asap! Do you think a wordpress blog would be good for this? Or should I look at any other options or write it myself?
Thanks for the tip on your product! It's something that definitely would be helpful, and I do see that it's free during beta. The issue for me is adding another expense once you're out of beta, if I still have no MRR when that happens :-( That being said, I have signed up for the beta :-)
wordpress could work ! if you have more money at some point just pay somebody to write the content
definitely understand about expenses ! Not looking to sell here, I just want a maximum of feedback from users to make Medialisto a useful and enjoyable tool, so you're welcome to use it for free during beta and let me know what you think :)
I will definitely give you feedback on it :)
I'll set up a wordpress on another server just to route the rouge bots traffic away from the people interested in the app :)
👏 best of luck !
Thank you!