3 Free Marketing Tactics I Used to Grow 'Who Raised?' To $2K MRR

In September 2022, I took a leap and launched my first-ever startup project. I had previously worked for Meta, operationalizing political ads transparency globally and enabling governments, political parties, and non-profits in their usage of Meta’s products.

When trying to find my first few customers, I had two major constraints. First of all, I wanted to bootstrap. As every dollar counts, there is little to no budget for paid advertising tests and I needed to see a return fast.

Secondly, I was very new to marketing beyond Facebook and Instagram. With a background in law and tech policy, terms like CAC, LTV, and CPC were completely new to me.

Amazingly, in joining communities like Indie Hackers and Product Hunt, I realized that other founders were out there, ready and willing to share their advice and help me kick off this new adventure.

Through collating tips and feedback and ultimately building a network, I came up with the three following marketing tactics that grew who raised? to $2K MRR.

1) Product Hunt Launch

Launching on Product Hunt is a phenomenal way to kick-start one’s new venture, especially when bootstrapping. You get exposure to like-minded people who will not only provide invaluable early feedback but will also likely become your customers.

To successfully launch on Product Hunt, there are a few key factors to prepare in advance.

• First, find a prominent Hunter to Hunt your product on launch day. What this means is that user will assist you in launching your product, writing the first comment on your launch and hopefully, they will engage their community to support your launch by upvoting, commenting, and sharing the launch with their followers!

• I then collected a small group of Silicon Valley veterans (so to speak) and fellow bootstrappers who could help support them with posts to their networks.

• Developing my own Product Hunt presence was key, ensuring I interacted with fellow makers and product launches, as engagement earns profile points and frequent logging in and usage of Product Hunt ensures that your profile is sufficiently well-established for a successful launch.

On launch day, after securing more than 150 upvotes, I was even more elated by gaining my first 10 paying subscribers immediately!

2) Programmatic SEO

Thanks to inspiration from an Indie Hacker, I leveraged programmatic SEO to create a startup directory. Given that I was also using Webflow and already had a ton of data, it was simple to implement.

Thankfully, I’ve also had the opportunity to learn more broadly about the significance of a good SEO strategy from fellow Hackernoon contributors!

One of the key things to bear in mind with SEO is that it takes time to reap the rewards of the work done. After Launching a solid SEO strategy, it can take six months to a year to see results in the form of increased organic reach.

3) LinkedIn Posts

Given the broad expanse of work experience I have, ranging across various topics, I have cultivated a large LinkedIn network over the years. Hence, setting up LinkedIn posts from my personal account to keep my network informed and invested in my journey guaranteed decent traction at launch for who raised?

Understanding how to make the best use of the LinkedIn feed algorithm is key:

1. I added pictures to my posts to drive greater reach 📷
2. I drafted my posts with my personal, unique narrative in mind, in the same way, I wrote the introduction of this article - people want to hear about the stories and journeys of fellow humans 👋
3. I consciously excluded links within the text of my LinkedIn posts and included any relevant links in the comments, informing readers of my posts that the relevant link/s was/were in the comments 🔗

Conclusion

Let’s be frank about why all of this is great:

1. None of these tactics cost me a cent 🤑
2. These tactics have driven who raised? to a consistent MRR of $2K in the last year 💸
3. Now, I’m experimenting with cold outreach on email and via Twitter to see how much more who raised? can grow 🚀