Goleko is my project management tool. It's the best in the world. I might be biased, but you can check it out for free and see its simplistic beauty and magical functionality.
Why stay on this article?
You will get inspiration for your marketing campaign.
Project management tools are very saturated in the market, with the current project management tools having millions to billions behind them, and not accommodating being unprofitable.
This makes it hard to do proper marketing for a small team like ours. You’ll probably see some things to add to your business/startup to get asymmetric returns for your marketing.
I don’t know what works, so I need to iterate that I have a team. We are small and don’t have enormous funding behind us. If our marketing works for us, it will probably work for you.
These strategies should work for all indie /startups.
1. Personal Branding
I know what I’m doing in terms of software development, but not in marketing. I worked with my team on numerous projects and did not want to take all the credit. We did everything as TigerTeamX which allowed for shared credit. I then realized that this was the wrong strategy. We now market ourselves as a personal brand as this works best. This was a recent epiphany for me. I noticed Nike and Adidas leveraging this. Their commercials highlight sporting legends and how they succeed. I never thought I’d do this as I like being anonymous, but I am doing it for my beautiful baby, Goleko. We chose to write everything personally for my blog, MartinBaun, and my brand name on Social Media.
Status of our personal branding
We have been making a lot of quality blog posts and, at the same time, started to distribute those to many different places. It seems like we're kickstarting the SEO by doing our own backlinking and writing.
Checkout more by reading Free Article Distribution Channels
2. Build in Public
People enjoy watching someone succeed or fail and learn through the experience. I am trying to do the most fascinating things in public while sharing my wins and failures. This has created content for Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Medium, YouTube, and my blog.
IT aligns with my branding and creates a lasting effect on people, as we can leverage this in the future with new updates. Each new feature, done by me or others on the team, is released on Social media. It is an excellent tactic we use to showcase what we do.
3. So good they can’t ignore you
Most project management tools are dismal. They are slow, bulky, bloated, ugly, and downright annoying. I have done everything to make my project management tool simple yet powerful. It’s so easy to onboard a new person in fifteen minutes, and you don’t have to pay anyone to set it up.
It simply works. It’s fast, beautiful, and powerful. The hope is that it will drive word-of-mouth recommendations, and that’s what we need to get it to spread to the general public.
Status of Goleko
We have released the last features and have been optimizing by using User Experience (UX) tests with potential customers. Every new potential customer I have personally onboarded and written down everything that they had issues with and then subsequently fixed. This has made Goleko so easy to use that we almost have no hiccups when onboarding people.
4. Blog Posts, but with a twist
Blogging is mostly on its final breath. I haven't searched for knowledge since the advent of ChatGPT, and I think this trend will continue. SEO/Blogging will be extinct for the people who spout basic knowledge, but there’s still a twist we can do.
We make articles that are not SEO-optimized but are optimized for sharing. These are provocative articles worth sharing with friends. These articles are available, and you can access them by signing up for our newsletter.
You get to enjoy articles like;
- Porn and Tech Innovation: Tech’s Unlikely Muse
- Happy Developers, it is possible
- Dying, Bitcoin and inheritance
5. Newsletters
We want to engage our readers with well-written articles that educate and leave them wanting more. We will build a good e-mail list where we share good information about interesting blog articles and new products. We make content that’s shared with friends who can hopefully subscribe to our newsletter. This will act as a different form of marketing for us along with keeping current subscribers informed on everything we’re doing and planning to release.
Status of our newsletter
We have gained some newsletter subscribers, but we have yet to send any emails. We have made a small engine in our admin interface to send out newsletter emails. We have done this ourselves as it was so easy to do, and other systems were expensive and cumbersome. It took 10 hours of developer time and was built using Djangos' admin interface Subscribe to our newsletter to see when we release this ;)
6. Engineering as Marketing
We use our engineering capabilities to create useful tools. We give these tools to the public for free and, in turn, get them to use our sites. We have created Toolbun.com, which offers developers free tools to conduct uptime checking, form submission, encrypt content in emails, and much more.
Aside from Toolbun, Goleko has a free tier, which can be considered a form of engineering as marketing. The free plan allows new users to experience the goodness of Goleko, leaving them wanting an unlimited experience.
Status of marketing products
We have launched Toolbun but had too many bots signing up, so we had to disable signup for now until we put some checks up first.
Besides that, we have released a free video tool similar to Loom that works without any users. It took around 15 hours of developer time, and we have yet to promote it.
7. Free
“The best things in life are free” is a lyric in Kanye’s song, Good Life. Free is infinitely less than one, and people love it. People get into a frenzy when they get free food like in a buffet or even a very trivial product. They’ll get into a frenzy as long as it’s free, and we leverage this by offering Goleko for free.
This is the classic “Bait and hook” business model. We can make Goleko free because it’s software, and we have a highly optimized backend. Before you try this, remember that “Premature Optimization is the root of all problems.” Do not optimize more than required.
8. ProductHunt
ProductHunt doesn’t seem to be as effective anymore. We still utilize it as it doesn’t cost a lot of time. I believe everyone should do it, but I also know this is why it’s not as effective. The saturation of people using it makes it less effective.
Take time to interact with people before you launch. Find friends and build a network, help people, and they’ll help you get to first place. Many people write that they can get you to first place. Some of these are probably truthful, but most are scammers, so don’t fall for it.
Status of the ProductHunt launch
We had a huge swing in traffic from the ProductHunt launch. However, it was short-lived. Most people didn't stay, and it was unsuccessful. ProductHunt is an oversaturated marketing channel, and thus, competing in the ProductHunt arena is not easy, and there are a lot of bots, too. I would not recommend spending time on ProductHunt in 2024.
9. AppSumo/BetaListen
AppSumo, also known as BetaListen, is a software directory that’s not as effective as it previously was. You can apply for it for free and it does not cost a lot of time. It is saturated mainly due to an influx of many people, making its effectiveness sub-standard, which is the opposite of what it once was.
You can also find friends and build a network of people that will help you get to first place. Be wary of scammers trying to pull a fast one on you with such claims and promises.
Status
We're in talks with AppSumo to release it there. They even contacted us, most likely from watching some of our content on Twitter or YouTube.
10. Video Content
We make fun and edgy videos showcasing what we do on Goleko and educate people with some tips on tricks in software development. These videos are short, precise, and welcoming, conveying a peaceful aura.
These videos help spread our brand to many people worldwide, creating awareness of our presence in the software development world. Creating videos may seem daunting, but it can be the missing link to your marketing strategy. All you need is confidence in yourself and passion for your craft.
Do not be overly critical of yourself. Just take that step if you’ve been waiting to do so and see where it takes you.
11. Old School Meet-Ups
Old-school meet-ups are a good way for marketing. I go to conferences and meetups as the leader of Goleko and listen to what other people are doing. I also get to know what problems they are facing in their line of work. Some of what I find is interesting and some of it isn’t.
People like talking about themselves and what they do. I learn a lot from these interactions and pick up vital information that I need. This puts me in a prime position to gain knowledge I can use for Goleko. People become more engaged when they ask you the same question as well.
I explain what I do when people enquire. I’m not pushy with details or what I’ve been asked. I explain everything and educate people on Goleko. This way, people can get what Goleko is and what it does. These meetups have been beneficial for networking and I’ve made some friends in the process. This is an underrated bonus aspect of these old-school meetups but one that’s still invaluable.
Status of meetups
I went to a few meetups, but I need to do this more. I also talk with people I meet about Goleko if it is relevant, e.g., they ask what I do or if I have problems with project management tools.
12. Cold Emailing with a twist
Cold emailing is a time-consuming venture, but we do it with a twist. We scrape a lot of information automatically from their Github, Blog, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We combine this information with AI and make personalized messages that explain how they move us in some way.
I then wrote within the email body that I’m building a project management tool with a few friends of mine and that I’d love to get their honest feedback. This strategy mostly pulls in unpaid people, but it gets people talking about it and seeing it in action.
13. Twitter/X outreach
We have fifty (50) signups for our waiting list so far. This strategy has borne some fruits. I make personal meetings with everyone to ensure they get onboarded well, and I receive information about how they use it.
I help them if they are struggling, and I write down where they are and improve on it. This is the iterative process that I talk about in the videos I’ve done in the past.
14. Reverse Sales Talks
Reverse sales talks do not follow conventional tactics such as sales pitches but instead prioritize using tact. Lure people in with a little cunning instead of approaching them to buy things.
Goleko.com is our project management tool. Software houses try to sell software development services. We prioritize optimizing our LinkedIn profile to get more contacts to sell their products, only for us to introduce our project management tool to them that will help them be more efficient, get things done, and have a better overview of everything.
Reverse sales talks involve listening to your client’s needs, problems, and concerns and actively solving them through the products and services you provide. This sales tactic requires bravery, character, and confidence to undertake.
Current Focus
Continue with blog posts and YouTube videos as these are less demanding on my time and energy at this point.
My new focus is on the Workshop coming up soon.
Conclusion
I have come a long way with my team in this development journey. I’ve built Goleko from the ground up. I’ve implemented unconventional tactics to help raise the popularity of Goleko.
You can follow our journey to the top on Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. Don’t be left behind and become a part of the Goleko ascendancy.
For these and more thoughts, guides, and insights visit my blog at martinbaun.com.
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