8 ms·
Ask HN: How do you get visibility if you're suuuuper bad at marketing?
Hi,
I built a small tool that I have used daily for a long time. A few friends and classmates also use it and they keep telling me it is genuinely useful.
But I am stuck on distribution. I am a student, I have no budget for ads, and I am not good at marketing (i try but i'm super bad). When I mention it in other communities it often gets treated as self promotion and I get blocked.
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.
- OmKadam 9mo agoDo super personalized outreaching
- ClipNoteBook 9mo agoThanks, 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?
- OmKadam 9mo agoLook 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.
- paulcole 9mo agoPeople don't hate being sold they hate being taken advantage of and disrespected.
- CuriouslyC 9mo agoI'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.
- ClipNoteBook 9mo agoThanks 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 https://clipnotebook.com/blog
- bruce511 9mo agoYou 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).
- ricardonunez 9mo agoI’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.
- mr_o47 9mo agoWould love to hear your views on being part of a paid community, is it worth it for new builders?
- gethly 9mo agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46343355 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46343355
- ClipNoteBook 9mo agogreat, thank u so much
- victorymakes 9mo agoI’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.
- iamflimflam1 9mo agoHave you tried a Show HN post?
- awalkersweb 9mo ago[dead]
- paulcole 9mo agoYou 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.
- ManicInventor 9mo agoAnother 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.
- vitaelabitur 9mo agoHere'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 https://codecrafters.io/blog/writing-for-developers
- lloydsterling 9mo agoSterling Lead Generation - B2B lead gen with performance guarantee. We deliver 5 qualified sales meetings in 7 days for $997, or full refund. Built for B2B SaaS companies needing pipeline fast. AI-powered research + personalized outreach. Email: lloyd.sterling@doanything.com
- drewsski 9mo agoHave 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.