Ask HN: How do you get visibility if you're suuuuper bad at marketing?
23 comments
Here's what has worked for me on day 0:
What problem does your tool solve? Write a blog on "how to solve/do XYZ".
Share an easy and free way to solve the problem without using your tool. Then introduce your tool and share its advantages and drawbacks. Be genuine and honest, don't oversell it. Acknowledge alternative tools and solutions.
Quick tips on how to write well - https://codecrafters.io/blog/writing-for-developers
What problem does your tool solve? Write a blog on "how to solve/do XYZ".
Share an easy and free way to solve the problem without using your tool. Then introduce your tool and share its advantages and drawbacks. Be genuine and honest, don't oversell it. Acknowledge alternative tools and solutions.
Quick tips on how to write well - https://codecrafters.io/blog/writing-for-developers
I’m a indie developer and do marketing for my products. Build in public is a good way because building becomes the content which is the hard part. If you have an idea of your ICP, then cold outreach on LinkedIn specially if you are building and have people following you and commenting on your post. Don’t rely only in just the posts.
I recently deleted every post on my linkedin with the goal of starting building in public and following this method which is the answer to your question. I belong to a paid community of very successful bootstrapped business developers and this is what the top members do, granted they are very successful and paid people to write their content which can be time consuming.
Would love to hear your views on being part of a paid community,
is it worth it for new builders?
I've had a similar problem in my personal development journey.
I haven't solved it, but my experience has lead me to believe that building in public and blogging/vlogging your journey (why you started and what you learned) is promising. That type of content drives brand and product hype via views/engagement, helps you filter ideas (if your vlog is getting no traction, maybe not a great product?) and avoids promotional post rules in a lot of communities.
My new years resolution is to dial in my content driven development pipeline.
I haven't solved it, but my experience has lead me to believe that building in public and blogging/vlogging your journey (why you started and what you learned) is promising. That type of content drives brand and product hype via views/engagement, helps you filter ideas (if your vlog is getting no traction, maybe not a great product?) and avoids promotional post rules in a lot of communities.
My new years resolution is to dial in my content driven development pipeline.
> That type of content drives brand and product hype via views/engagement
Product hype might be hard with developer/tech types of tools. Devs have very good BS radar and "hype" is sometimes all there is in a lot of content. I see and hear a lot of the "build in public" being promoted as the way to do things with the "build an audience" mantra.
There is a huge hurdle to produce good video content, it takes a lot of time to record, edit and publish quality videos. Publishing quality videos can help get traction/views/subscribers but that doesn't mean it will translate into paying customers either. Do people really want to watch software developers code or talk about it? There has to be other ways to market a product.
Product hype might be hard with developer/tech types of tools. Devs have very good BS radar and "hype" is sometimes all there is in a lot of content. I see and hear a lot of the "build in public" being promoted as the way to do things with the "build an audience" mantra.
There is a huge hurdle to produce good video content, it takes a lot of time to record, edit and publish quality videos. Publishing quality videos can help get traction/views/subscribers but that doesn't mean it will translate into paying customers either. Do people really want to watch software developers code or talk about it? There has to be other ways to market a product.
There are some hacks to make video content easier:
1. Just do split screen videos where you talking head with slides on the other, and read off the slides.
2. Record in segments, with a full reset between each segment. Makes editing really fast.
3. Don't stress about small mistakes. People are into authenticity, it's ok.
Lighting/"studio" design is still an art, but you can get something set up in a day or two. The harder part is coming up with good video ideas, and doing a compelling title/thumbnail/hook. That's a rabbit hole.
If you have a social media following you can leverage that. Cold calls can work if you're selling big ticket items, but you also need to be good at sales and do a lot of legwork so I wouldn't go down that route. I wouldn't start advertising until you can demonstrate product market fit.
1. Just do split screen videos where you talking head with slides on the other, and read off the slides.
2. Record in segments, with a full reset between each segment. Makes editing really fast.
3. Don't stress about small mistakes. People are into authenticity, it's ok.
Lighting/"studio" design is still an art, but you can get something set up in a day or two. The harder part is coming up with good video ideas, and doing a compelling title/thumbnail/hook. That's a rabbit hole.
If you have a social media following you can leverage that. Cold calls can work if you're selling big ticket items, but you also need to be good at sales and do a lot of legwork so I wouldn't go down that route. I wouldn't start advertising until you can demonstrate product market fit.
Thanks for the reply. To be honest I love the coding part, but getting users or even testers to actually try the tool is a nightmare for me. I am still trying to figure out a clean way to commercialize my projects without getting flagged as spam everywhere.
And yeah the building in public idea is exactly what I just started doing. If you are curious, I have a blog page for the tool where I am writing what I am learning. Happy to share the link: https://clipnotebook.com/blog
You are not alone. You like coding. That's where all the fun is. You code things uou want, things that interest you. Since you like to, you know, eat occasionally, you start thinking about monetizing your code.
Unfortunately, as you are learning, this is 100% backwards. Writing something that is commercially successful starts by identifying a potentially commercial product.
In other words, you need to start by Marketing, not programming. You're looking for 3 things;
A market you can reach; That have money to spend; That are prepared to spend money to make some pain go away.
It might be obvious that a market might exist (say something that makes govt more effective) but selling to govt requires enormous resources you don't have.
It might be obvious a market exists (a tool for refugees to apply for aid) but they have no money to buy anything from you.
It might be obvious a market exists (trips to the moon) but you can't build that.
Once you have found a market you can reach, who have some money, and are willing to spend (perhaps with a deposit) then (and only then) should you start coding.
Commercializing stuff you have already made is hard because the product was tailored to a specific user, and he already has it (aka you).
Unfortunately, as you are learning, this is 100% backwards. Writing something that is commercially successful starts by identifying a potentially commercial product.
In other words, you need to start by Marketing, not programming. You're looking for 3 things;
A market you can reach; That have money to spend; That are prepared to spend money to make some pain go away.
It might be obvious that a market might exist (say something that makes govt more effective) but selling to govt requires enormous resources you don't have.
It might be obvious a market exists (a tool for refugees to apply for aid) but they have no money to buy anything from you.
It might be obvious a market exists (trips to the moon) but you can't build that.
Once you have found a market you can reach, who have some money, and are willing to spend (perhaps with a deposit) then (and only then) should you start coding.
Commercializing stuff you have already made is hard because the product was tailored to a specific user, and he already has it (aka you).
Have you tried affiliate/influencer marketing? Influencers are kinda the polar opposite to developers, as far as putting yourself out there shamelessly is concerned. They don't have to force themselves to be extroverted. While most established influencers will require upfront payment, the ones building a following will be more amenable to taking a commission. The key thing obviously is to identify influencers who have established community trust in your ICP segment.
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You work to get better at marketing. That's it.
> If you were starting from zero today, how would you get the first 100 real users in a clean way?
Beg everyone I know. When that doesn't work, start Googling, pick up the phone and start calling people.
> If you were starting from zero today, how would you get the first 100 real users in a clean way?
Beg everyone I know. When that doesn't work, start Googling, pick up the phone and start calling people.
Have you tried a Show HN post?
Another angle that works well when you have zero budget is partnering with small creators who already talk to your target audience. Not big influencers, micro-creators with a few thousand very engaged followers.
If you offer a simple performance-based deal (e.g., a small reward for each signup or free premium access for their audience), many will happily try your tool because there's no upfront cost for them. Give them a short demo, a clear value story, and a unique link so they can track referrals.
A single well‑matched micro-influencer can easily get you your first 100 real users. It could be a fastest ways to get distribution without spending money.
If you offer a simple performance-based deal (e.g., a small reward for each signup or free premium access for their audience), many will happily try your tool because there's no upfront cost for them. Give them a short demo, a clear value story, and a unique link so they can track referrals.
A single well‑matched micro-influencer can easily get you your first 100 real users. It could be a fastest ways to get distribution without spending money.
Do super personalized outreaching
Thanks, that makes sense, but when you say personalized outreach, do you mean emailing people, DMing them, replying to relevant threads...? What is the best way to do it without looking spammy?
Look people hate being sold, give them a little % of what they actually needed. I mean do something value added for free, build connections, do it with 1000's of your targeted audience. You're conversion rate will automatically go high next time you offer or introduce them something useful.
People don't hate being sold they hate being taken advantage of and disrespected.
I’m also pretty bad at marketing, so I’m still figuring this out myself.
What I’ve been trying recently is to treat “visibility” as a side effect of building, not a separate activity.
A few things that seem at least directionally helpful for me:
• Sharing my work-in-progress on social platforms — not launches, but the actual process: what I’m building, problems I hit, and how I solved them. This feels more like documenting than promoting.
• Writing about concrete technical or product decisions I made, especially when I had to compare different approaches or tools. Those posts sometimes get picked up organically because they’re useful on their own.
• Analyzing competitors carefully, then selectively submitting my product to directories or communities where similar tools already exist. I avoid mass submission and try to match the audience instead.
None of this has “worked” in a big way yet, but it feels sustainable and doesn’t get me blocked or downvoted. For me, that’s already a win.
What I’ve been trying recently is to treat “visibility” as a side effect of building, not a separate activity.
A few things that seem at least directionally helpful for me:
• Sharing my work-in-progress on social platforms — not launches, but the actual process: what I’m building, problems I hit, and how I solved them. This feels more like documenting than promoting.
• Writing about concrete technical or product decisions I made, especially when I had to compare different approaches or tools. Those posts sometimes get picked up organically because they’re useful on their own.
• Analyzing competitors carefully, then selectively submitting my product to directories or communities where similar tools already exist. I avoid mass submission and try to match the audience instead.
None of this has “worked” in a big way yet, but it feels sustainable and doesn’t get me blocked or downvoted. For me, that’s already a win.
If you were starting from zero today, how would you get the first 100 real users in a clean way? I would love specific ideas like where to share, what kind of write up works, how to approach niche communities, or what you would build into the product to make sharing natural.
Thanks.