This. The backbone of all effective marketing is product. Period. Your first goal is to identify who, exactly, wants your product, and who wants it the most. Y

This. The backbone of all effective marketing is product. Period. Your first goal is to identify who, exactly, wants your product, and who wants it the most. You do this by getting the product in the hands of as many objective, unaffiliated users as you can -- ideally without spending too much money doing so. Not everyone will dig it, and that's fine. If you find yourself in a situation where everyone tells you they love it, something is either ridiculously right (highly unlikely) or nobody is really, really telling you the truth. You'll want to have a hypothesis in mind as to whom you're targeting -- start by identifying and sampling among these people. But don't be afraid to consult total randoms. The key is to seek objective feedback and observe actual usage. Also, think of your hypothesis testing the way a scientist would. In some respects you are seeking disconfirming evidence, not confirming evidence. If you seek feedback with a conscious bias towards confirming your preconceived beliefs, you risk "leading the witness" and nudging people down the path you want them to. You also risk overcounting the positive feedback and emotionally discounting the negative feedback. Once you believe you've found evidence of a core user group, stick to that group and overservice it. Be the absolute best solution for that group. Kill it with that group. Just be...absurdly, undeniably awesome for it. Then play around with referral hooks, mechanics, and incentives. This is how you sew the seeds of word of mouth. A word on gauging positive user feedback: when someone really loves your product, you'll know. They will be begging you to let them know when and how they can get it. Genuinely positive feedback is usually very enthusiastic. Beware of "meh" feedback disguised as positive feedback. Remember: you are seeking awesome.