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Hi Jared and Trevor, I am working on a marketplace through which publishers and journalists can sell the ability to be quoted and linked to in an article to th

Hi Jared and Trevor, I am working on a marketplace through which publishers and journalists can sell the ability to be quoted and linked to in an article to the highest bidder. A realtor, for example, might be willing to pay to be quoted and linked to in an article about how a city's real estate market has been accelerating. My question is how to get started with marketing it. While the growth hacking crowd would say to simply spam a bunch of reporters to get inventory, I have found in other ventures that people absolutely hate receiving any form of unsolicited email with any kind of pitch.

snowmaker 11y ago
One challenge with this business that you didn't mention is the difficulty getting to critical mass. Reporters, broadly, write such varied articles that if you have a handful of reporters and a handful of businesses on the platform, the chance that any of them actually match for a given article is miniscule. To solve that, I would consider starting in a very small vertical. You could pick one small town and their local businesses (geographical vertical), or pick one industry and go deep into that industry. If you start in a small vertical, the marketing becomes easier because you have a very targeted pitch that doesn't feel spammy. About your original question on marketing, though, there is no alternative to talking to users. Before you start pitching people, though, you could go talk to journalists and ask them for feedback on the idea. You can ask them if they would value this service, and what else they wish someone would build. Rather than just selling them, you should try to build a relationship so you can get feedback from them over time.
- downandout 11y ago
  Thank you very much for responding. I definitely see your point about starting in a small vertical. I already have a couple of potential solutions in mind to solve the critical mass problem, but the fact that you saw it immediately as my number one issue makes me want to revisit them. Re: marketing, I will try the relationship building route rather than an outright pitch. Thanks again.
nradov 11y ago
Mainstream publishers and journalists would consider it unethical for their sources to pay for placement in editorial content. That's a clear conflict of interest. You would be better off targeting bloggers.
- exolymph 11y ago
  Agreed, no journalist worth their salt would use this service. Some bloggers definitely would. Even then, without disclosure your users would risk running afoul of FTC rules.

snowmaker 11y ago

One challenge with this business that you didn't mention is the difficulty getting to critical mass. Reporters, broadly, write such varied articles that if you have a handful of reporters and a handful of businesses on the platform, the chance that any of them actually match for a given article is miniscule. To solve that, I would consider starting in a very small vertical. You could pick one small town and their local businesses (geographical vertical), or pick one industry and go deep into that industry. If you start in a small vertical, the marketing becomes easier because you have a very targeted pitch that doesn't feel spammy. About your original question on marketing, though, there is no alternative to talking to users. Before you start pitching people, though, you could go talk to journalists and ask them for feedback on the idea. You can ask them if they would value this service, and what else they wish someone would build. Rather than just selling them, you should try to build a relationship so you can get feedback from them over time.

downandout 11y ago
Thank you very much for responding. I definitely see your point about starting in a small vertical. I already have a couple of potential solutions in mind to solve the critical mass problem, but the fact that you saw it immediately as my number one issue makes me want to revisit them. Re: marketing, I will try the relationship building route rather than an outright pitch. Thanks again.

nradov 11y ago

Mainstream publishers and journalists would consider it unethical for their sources to pay for placement in editorial content. That's a clear conflict of interest. You would be better off targeting bloggers.

exolymph 11y ago
Agreed, no journalist worth their salt would use this service. Some bloggers definitely would. Even then, without disclosure your users would risk running afoul of FTC rules.