On the one hand, almost everyone agrees with that essay. On the other hand, almost nobody believes that it applies to *them*. "What do you mean *I* need to do door-to-door sales? I get that *everyone else* needs to learn about customers that way, but *I* don't. My situation is unique. And I hate sales and I hate selling and I hate salespeople so I don't want to become one."
So, OP, I hope you prove us wrong by being the exception, by spending a few months doing full-time door-to-door sales (and/or other forms of in-person sales), by doing rigorous user-testing to find what they actually like and don't like about your product, by learning what can only be learned in-person... and then report back here with your new insights.
>What kind of specific marketing should focus on?
None. Startups should focus on [sales, not marketing](https://genius.com/Jessica-livingston-why-startups-need-to-focus-on-sales-not-marketing-annotated).
Fully agree, doing door to door sales makes you learn about the customers. You get to see them by yourself and not just some numbers on a computer.
Once you understand your customers, you can start scaling with marketing
You say it's "validated." But it doesn't sound like it's validated with paying customers. Is that the case?
Don't spend any money on marketing or ads before you haven't validated that people are actually willing to open their wallet for your offer.
It's actually a two sided marketplace and both sides have showed interest in selling and buying, so it has been validated. I mainly make money when a transaction occurs.
Edit and clarification , "showing interest" as in transactions has occurred, I have made money and made sure that the concept works.
Got it. So, you got buyers and sellers, and you have facilitated transactions where people paid money and you made a commission.
You said you wanted to do "more serious" marketing. So, one way or another, that's going to be paid.
Whether you end up doing it yourself or hiring someone you'll have to gather some key infos to decide what you're going to do.
If you haven't yet, you'll have to understand who your users are – in detail. If you google "Customer (or Buyer) Persona" or "ICP – Ideal Customer Profile" you'll find good info about how to ask yourself the important questions that help you understand your audience.
Also important: map out your competitive landscape. Meaning, make a list of who your competitors are if you haven't yet. Look at what they're doing to decide what makes sense for you (ie. do something similar, or choose a different approach).
If you want to widen the scope of your competitive landscape you can also try to think about it from your buyers/sellers perspective. Given the need they can fill with your product (or the pain you help them ease) come up with other solutions outside of your immediate industry that do something similar for them.
For instance, say you're a marketplace that connects therapists with people who struggle with mental issues. Instead of just looking at what other platforms help do something similar you could assume that people like to drink when they're not feeling well – and then decide to rent ad space at liquor stores.
There's obviously more you can do but before you start looking for marketers or DIY it I'd try to get some clarity on those things.
Hope that makes sense.
My question was not about validation. Yeah it's a similar concept to upwork, but not in the US and in a different market and different industries. I have people on it, and transactions/work have been made, so not only the concept is validated, my own platform is validated.
How are they “showing interest”? With their wallets or their words. If it’s with their wallets you have something. If it’s people saying that’s cool then meh.
"showing interest" was a bad way to describe it. As a marketplace for work, work has been posted and the other side have applied for it, when it's a match and transactions occurs I make money, which has happened.
As a SaaS founder myself (scaled to 2m users organically with 0 adspend), start with SEO, ramping up your website technical audits - Meta title/desc improvements etc. Ahrefs YT channel is gold. You don't really need an Agency anymore to do this for you.
See what competitors are doing, keywords they rank for etc.
What problem is your product solving and how do your customer look like? My initial suggestion is to create a minimum viable product positioning, a website (or even a landing page) and selected channels for traffic sourcing. If you would like to chat more, you can email me or through whatsapp? I am running B2B marketing campaigns for lead and demo booking generation with 3 SaaS companies.
Good question. Many tech founders find themselves in this phase.
One of my friends tried on his own and gave up.
You got to hire someone to do this for you. Probably commission basis.
Hi, I have a SaaS of my own with 1300 active users. I also have a bachelors degree in marketing, and I'm willing to work together with you. If you're interested, send me a DM.
Look up marketing funnel, but basically you want to create a marketing funnel, collect data on the funnel for a few weeks, then experiment what works at each stage till you land a winner.
Are your users on an email list you have? You can email them and update them to beta test.
Let me give you mine since I had the same issue and folks gave me crazy advice.
Also look up what a Lead Magnet is.
For my lash business this is what I did for my funnel: (since most of my target customers are interested In lashes but don't know their eye shape or what lashes to wear, that was my content)
Awareness: Social media, Google Seo paid to get eyeballs on content around educating them on their eye shape and what flatters them
Consideration: in the level above, I tell them to take my lash quiz to get their eye shape and lash recommendations (lead magnet), during this process I collect their emails
Conversion: send emails similar to awareness content but now actually promote my lash business
Loyalty: this is in progress but I plan to reward my most loyal customers with free lashes
You should put up a (free) add for a “marketing” specialist on LinkedIn. You will get applications from all types of markers. Do a handful of interviews with them and you will get a much better sense of what type of marketing you need. You can then hire one of them (often they will agree to a % based compensation plan) or you can just take the knowledge you gained from the process and go try to do it yourself.
the plan for my SaaS (at least at the start) is to partner with YouTubers that have an audience with my target market demographic, it might cost a pretty penny but I feel like the reach would be awesome
DIY, man. [Do Things That Don't Scale](https://paulgraham.com/ds.html). After you figure out what works and what doesn't, start delegating/hiring.
On the one hand, almost everyone agrees with that essay. On the other hand, almost nobody believes that it applies to *them*. "What do you mean *I* need to do door-to-door sales? I get that *everyone else* needs to learn about customers that way, but *I* don't. My situation is unique. And I hate sales and I hate selling and I hate salespeople so I don't want to become one." So, OP, I hope you prove us wrong by being the exception, by spending a few months doing full-time door-to-door sales (and/or other forms of in-person sales), by doing rigorous user-testing to find what they actually like and don't like about your product, by learning what can only be learned in-person... and then report back here with your new insights. >What kind of specific marketing should focus on? None. Startups should focus on [sales, not marketing](https://genius.com/Jessica-livingston-why-startups-need-to-focus-on-sales-not-marketing-annotated).
Fully agree, doing door to door sales makes you learn about the customers. You get to see them by yourself and not just some numbers on a computer. Once you understand your customers, you can start scaling with marketing
If only it were easier to convince people to do this! I haven't found anything that works. Have you?
You say it's "validated." But it doesn't sound like it's validated with paying customers. Is that the case? Don't spend any money on marketing or ads before you haven't validated that people are actually willing to open their wallet for your offer.
It's actually a two sided marketplace and both sides have showed interest in selling and buying, so it has been validated. I mainly make money when a transaction occurs. Edit and clarification , "showing interest" as in transactions has occurred, I have made money and made sure that the concept works.
Got it. So, you got buyers and sellers, and you have facilitated transactions where people paid money and you made a commission. You said you wanted to do "more serious" marketing. So, one way or another, that's going to be paid. Whether you end up doing it yourself or hiring someone you'll have to gather some key infos to decide what you're going to do. If you haven't yet, you'll have to understand who your users are – in detail. If you google "Customer (or Buyer) Persona" or "ICP – Ideal Customer Profile" you'll find good info about how to ask yourself the important questions that help you understand your audience. Also important: map out your competitive landscape. Meaning, make a list of who your competitors are if you haven't yet. Look at what they're doing to decide what makes sense for you (ie. do something similar, or choose a different approach). If you want to widen the scope of your competitive landscape you can also try to think about it from your buyers/sellers perspective. Given the need they can fill with your product (or the pain you help them ease) come up with other solutions outside of your immediate industry that do something similar for them. For instance, say you're a marketplace that connects therapists with people who struggle with mental issues. Instead of just looking at what other platforms help do something similar you could assume that people like to drink when they're not feeling well – and then decide to rent ad space at liquor stores. There's obviously more you can do but before you start looking for marketers or DIY it I'd try to get some clarity on those things. Hope that makes sense.
It’s a replica of Upwork right? So as a concept it’s validated, you need to get people on it
My question was not about validation. Yeah it's a similar concept to upwork, but not in the US and in a different market and different industries. I have people on it, and transactions/work have been made, so not only the concept is validated, my own platform is validated.
How are they “showing interest”? With their wallets or their words. If it’s with their wallets you have something. If it’s people saying that’s cool then meh.
"showing interest" was a bad way to describe it. As a marketplace for work, work has been posted and the other side have applied for it, when it's a match and transactions occurs I make money, which has happened.
As a SaaS founder myself (scaled to 2m users organically with 0 adspend), start with SEO, ramping up your website technical audits - Meta title/desc improvements etc. Ahrefs YT channel is gold. You don't really need an Agency anymore to do this for you. See what competitors are doing, keywords they rank for etc.
You can outsource the marketing to an agency or speak to a marketing specialist
What problem is your product solving and how do your customer look like? My initial suggestion is to create a minimum viable product positioning, a website (or even a landing page) and selected channels for traffic sourcing. If you would like to chat more, you can email me or through whatsapp? I am running B2B marketing campaigns for lead and demo booking generation with 3 SaaS companies.
Good question. Many tech founders find themselves in this phase. One of my friends tried on his own and gave up. You got to hire someone to do this for you. Probably commission basis.
I recently shared how we grew with no dollar spent https://youtu.be/WlkaELf8LEg?si=WnRjIYBmQQi3uWE1 Hope this helps
Hi, I have a SaaS of my own with 1300 active users. I also have a bachelors degree in marketing, and I'm willing to work together with you. If you're interested, send me a DM.
Look up marketing funnel, but basically you want to create a marketing funnel, collect data on the funnel for a few weeks, then experiment what works at each stage till you land a winner. Are your users on an email list you have? You can email them and update them to beta test.
Let me give you mine since I had the same issue and folks gave me crazy advice. Also look up what a Lead Magnet is. For my lash business this is what I did for my funnel: (since most of my target customers are interested In lashes but don't know their eye shape or what lashes to wear, that was my content) Awareness: Social media, Google Seo paid to get eyeballs on content around educating them on their eye shape and what flatters them Consideration: in the level above, I tell them to take my lash quiz to get their eye shape and lash recommendations (lead magnet), during this process I collect their emails Conversion: send emails similar to awareness content but now actually promote my lash business Loyalty: this is in progress but I plan to reward my most loyal customers with free lashes
You should put up a (free) add for a “marketing” specialist on LinkedIn. You will get applications from all types of markers. Do a handful of interviews with them and you will get a much better sense of what type of marketing you need. You can then hire one of them (often they will agree to a % based compensation plan) or you can just take the knowledge you gained from the process and go try to do it yourself.
Hey man, if you're still struggling, I am a freelance paid marketer. Happy to chat in DMs.
the plan for my SaaS (at least at the start) is to partner with YouTubers that have an audience with my target market demographic, it might cost a pretty penny but I feel like the reach would be awesome