4 ms·

Are there any good examples of 5x products you've learned about through marketing efforts (and not, say, trusted colleagues)? I can't think of one.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
themacguffinman 4y ago
How do you think your trusted colleagues originally found out about the stuff they recommend you? Even if they searched for it, SEO is marketing too (no doubt the search engine listing would be a marketing optimized webpage). I'm pretty sure I found out about FreeTaxUSA through ads. The HN submissions for Notion seemed promotional to me and it's how I found out about it, I'd also struggle to think of how Notion would have been discovered if a marketing or sales team did not make efforts to spread mentions of it. GitLab markets pretty aggressively on HN (or at least they used to) which is how I found out about it too.
- permo-w 4y ago
  >How do you think your trusted colleagues originally found out about the stuff they recommend you? probably youtube or a course of some variety. the only times I ever gain anything from advertising is adverts for new series of tv shows
  - golergka 4y ago
    > probably youtube or a course of some variety Which is marketing.
    - permo-w 4y ago
      not really
  - themacguffinman 4y ago
    Then how did the YouTuber or course creator originally hear about the product? Unless a technology is already well known from other marketing channels, it's unlikely that unaffiliated people will just magically know about a new product.
    - jackvalentine 4y ago
      Are you really so unimaginative that you’re going to follow the trail and at every point say “but surely THIS is where the marketing occurs!” without considering alternatives?
- powerhour 4y ago
  > How do you think your trusted colleagues originally found out about the stuff they recommend you? Probably other colleagues. I've been doing this a long time and the only 5x tools I can think of are things like git and Linux (if it counts as a tool), which probably didn't have much marketing behind them. Maybe IRC? It may have been 5x better than the BBSs I was using. Tools like Notion seem to be more like 1x or maybe 1.1x compared to plain text files or Google Keep (which itself is also incremental).
  - themacguffinman 4y ago
    Ok then I'll have to ask how those other colleagues or those other IRC people originally heard about those products, ad infinitum. Things like git and Linux were marketed, they just weren't marketed by professional specialists in return for money. Torvalds was out on mailing lists intentionally promoting his creations. For-profit startups will do this kind of informal marketing too, even technical founders will initially try to talk up their business amongst their circle of friends and associates. Without someone making a deliberate effort to tell people about new stuff, it's unlikely people will just magically know about it.
    - powerhour 4y ago
      You've certainly marketed your thoughts my way, so I'm now familiar with them. The meaning of marketing is diminishing rapidly here.
      - themacguffinman 4y ago
        That would be true if my thoughts & commentary were available as a product, but they're not. If I said "if you liked what I have to say, get my free or paid eBook that has my thoughts/commentary" then yes that would very clearly be marketing. This might also be true if my profile or skills were being marketed through my commentary, but I'm anonymous. Others on HN submit commentary and blog posts on HN with the intent of promoting their profile as a consultant or leader. Profit-driven corporations also do this, there's basically no non-altruistic reason to share any of their proprietary knowledge except to market their pedigree to engineers they might hire or customers they might want to impress.
- ghoward 4y ago
  I have a relative that works for FreeTaxUSA. Thank you for using it! I'll let her know the ads work, thank you. I'll be happy to give her your comments.
ketzo 4y ago
Easiest example is my iPhone. 5x is an understatement. Frankly, 500x probably is too. And there is exactly zero chance that I and everyone I know would have bought them (back in the day) without Apple’s marketing.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

themacguffinman 4y ago

How do you think your trusted colleagues originally found out about the stuff they recommend you? Even if they searched for it, SEO is marketing too (no doubt the search engine listing would be a marketing optimized webpage). I'm pretty sure I found out about FreeTaxUSA through ads. The HN submissions for Notion seemed promotional to me and it's how I found out about it, I'd also struggle to think of how Notion would have been discovered if a marketing or sales team did not make efforts to spread mentions of it. GitLab markets pretty aggressively on HN (or at least they used to) which is how I found out about it too.

permo-w 4y ago
>How do you think your trusted colleagues originally found out about the stuff they recommend you? probably youtube or a course of some variety. the only times I ever gain anything from advertising is adverts for new series of tv shows
- golergka 4y ago
  > probably youtube or a course of some variety Which is marketing.
  - permo-w 4y ago
    not really
- themacguffinman 4y ago
  Then how did the YouTuber or course creator originally hear about the product? Unless a technology is already well known from other marketing channels, it's unlikely that unaffiliated people will just magically know about a new product.
  - jackvalentine 4y ago
    Are you really so unimaginative that you’re going to follow the trail and at every point say “but surely THIS is where the marketing occurs!” without considering alternatives?
powerhour 4y ago
> How do you think your trusted colleagues originally found out about the stuff they recommend you? Probably other colleagues. I've been doing this a long time and the only 5x tools I can think of are things like git and Linux (if it counts as a tool), which probably didn't have much marketing behind them. Maybe IRC? It may have been 5x better than the BBSs I was using. Tools like Notion seem to be more like 1x or maybe 1.1x compared to plain text files or Google Keep (which itself is also incremental).
- themacguffinman 4y ago
  Ok then I'll have to ask how those other colleagues or those other IRC people originally heard about those products, ad infinitum. Things like git and Linux were marketed, they just weren't marketed by professional specialists in return for money. Torvalds was out on mailing lists intentionally promoting his creations. For-profit startups will do this kind of informal marketing too, even technical founders will initially try to talk up their business amongst their circle of friends and associates. Without someone making a deliberate effort to tell people about new stuff, it's unlikely people will just magically know about it.
  - powerhour 4y ago
    You've certainly marketed your thoughts my way, so I'm now familiar with them. The meaning of marketing is diminishing rapidly here.
    - themacguffinman 4y ago
      That would be true if my thoughts & commentary were available as a product, but they're not. If I said "if you liked what I have to say, get my free or paid eBook that has my thoughts/commentary" then yes that would very clearly be marketing. This might also be true if my profile or skills were being marketed through my commentary, but I'm anonymous. Others on HN submit commentary and blog posts on HN with the intent of promoting their profile as a consultant or leader. Profit-driven corporations also do this, there's basically no non-altruistic reason to share any of their proprietary knowledge except to market their pedigree to engineers they might hire or customers they might want to impress.
ghoward 4y ago
I have a relative that works for FreeTaxUSA. Thank you for using it! I'll let her know the ads work, thank you. I'll be happy to give her your comments.

ketzo 4y ago

Easiest example is my iPhone. 5x is an understatement. Frankly, 500x probably is too. And there is exactly zero chance that I and everyone I know would have bought them (back in the day) without Apple’s marketing.