The first rule of finding distribution if you're an indie developer or a startup is to be helpful. After all, you're building a product that purports to help someone solve a problem they have.
So with that frame in mind, where do people go to ask questions or vent or get information to solve the kind of problem your product claims to solve? Don't go to those forums to just pitch yourself. First, be helpful. Offer insight and advice, or ask clarifying questions, anything to demonstrate that you are listening and can add value.
Later on, after you've provided some help, you can pitch your product. But the first thing is to be helpful. Offer some kind of wisdom or insight that is currently lacking.
I think that's super common among technical founders (really, everyone).
But I'd gently reframe the problem. It's not really "building vs. marketing"; it's "building vs. distribution." After all, what you're talking about is getting more people to use your products. For technical products, that looks a lot like building: a thoughtful README, great documentation, spending time in communities where your customers are and both listening and helping. And, in the process of doing that, if there's an opportunity to pitch what you're working on, then pitch.
Don't worry about building complex "marketing systems" right now. Just get out there and help people in the communities you're trying to serve, and learn from the way they frame the problem (take careful note of the language they use to describe their problem...flip that around and turn it into your website copy!)
Also FWIW, I am not a believer in automation. Yes, automation for optimizing ad spend and fixing SEO/AEO site issues. That stuff is great. But automating social media is a terrible idea. You just come across like a bot. Speak like a normal person and, truly, have fun with it. You're connecting with teh people you're trying to serve!
So with that frame in mind, where do people go to ask questions or vent or get information to solve the kind of problem your product claims to solve? Don't go to those forums to just pitch yourself. First, be helpful. Offer insight and advice, or ask clarifying questions, anything to demonstrate that you are listening and can add value.
Later on, after you've provided some help, you can pitch your product. But the first thing is to be helpful. Offer some kind of wisdom or insight that is currently lacking.
I write about this in my blog post about helping indie developers get their first users: https://www.strategicnerds.com/blog/the-indie-developers-gui...