New to WIP?
We're a group of makers shipping together. We help each other stay accountable and reach our goals.
Apply for access
Other questions
Back
Question
How do we solve being shit at marketing?
Hi, my business partner and I have been building multiple products including Shopify Apps as well as other online services over the years. We are good a what we do and really bad at marketing these products and let people know about them.
How did you solve that problem in your own products? Do you know people to help you out with that?
We decided to add a member to our team, instead of hitting our heads against the wall trying to learn it ourselves.
Any advice or any acquaintances that you could recommend? Could be somebody inexperienced but motivated or somebody who knows what they are doing looking for their next challenge.
How did you solve that problem in your own products? Do you know people to help you out with that?
We decided to add a member to our team, instead of hitting our heads against the wall trying to learn it ourselves.
Any advice or any acquaintances that you could recommend? Could be somebody inexperienced but motivated or somebody who knows what they are doing looking for their next challenge.
👋 Join WIP to participate
The problem with great makers is they treat marketing similarly to product building – when I hit the compile button, the result must be shown.
In reality, marketing takes time. Even more so if you delay it.
I didn't say that because I'm experienced in marketing. But I have scars that came from neglecting marketing.
Here is what I'm doing until now:
Sometimes I got down because I couldn't see the result instantly. But then I remember: Marketing takes time, so I need to do it consistently.
Hope that helps, Joda.
It does, thank you. Yes, we noticed this after the first few projects we built. Validating an idea first, before you build it and collect interested customers, makes a lot of sense to not waste your time. The typical traps.
We mostly left all of our products online, even if we don't focus on them at the moment, and play the long game.
Our main weakness is our failure to keep being consistent with the marketing approaches we take. Doing a little every day. Especially, if there is other stuff going on, including part-time freelance work.
With the lack of consistency we also didn't try all the avenues, never produced videos and did not try enough actual advertisement.
I see... :)
I would also say that you don't have to try everything, but with caveats.
In my case, I only try new things at the early stage or when the current channels get saturated. Once something works, it's better to double down on that.
Hang in there and keep experimenting, Joda.
I believe you guys will make it.
I'm a brand strategist and marketer, but I'm learning the other side of building (actually building things). Marketing is just a skill like any other, and it takes time to figure out what works since there's no one-size-fits-all strategy.
What I'd do in your position is identify the top 3 things that need to change/grow such that if you improved those things it'd cause a snowball effect. Then triple down on those by setting clear metrics (I recommend quarterly OKRs) and not getting distracted by shiny objects.
If you haven't already, one of THE best things you can do is focus on your brand: understanding your audience, the problems they want to solve, how your solution fits in there, and what your competitors are offering. Not just your direct competitors but adjacent ones too.
(For ex: I'm a content marketer and copywriter, but my competitors aren't just other content marketers and copywriters. They're website designers, brand photographers, etc. Similarly, your competitors are anyone your ideal customer COULD pay to solve their problem, even if they're not a direct competitor.)
Understanding your brand (and crafting a message from there) will solve a ton of your marketing problems because marketing (IMO) is just branding in practice. And because you've said you're struggling with marketing, I'm willing to bet that there's a disconnect in your brand somewhere.
I'd be happy to talk with you more to see what you'd need and help you with a direction (and/or deliverables if you'd like). :)
Thank you for the feedback and insights.
I agree with most of it, and I am always interested in improving myself. Representing the brand in person was never an issue, it's the online part of it all.
Learning something new is exciting, even though I rather delve more deeply into tech, not marketing. For now, we still want to see if an addition to our team makes sense, to play into everyone's strengths.
I'll think about the 3 things that we need to grow in and see, if there is more insight there, than my first thought's I had about it.
Thank you for the offer to chat about it. I might take you up on that.
I so feel your pain. I can build and ship. I've worked at software companies for 15+ years.
I'm dreadful at marketing.
Have you found someone to partner with for marketing? I want to do the same.
We are starting to talk to some friends and acquaintances to see if there is a fit. No results yet to report.
Let's see 😊
Good luck!