
Ask HN: Launching side project in 2wks with $4k mktg budget. How do I spend it? - swyx
Pretty much what the title says - I&#x27;ve spent the last couple months writing a career advice guide for early career developers (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.crackingthecodingcareer.com&#x2F;). I have 4k in presales thanks to early supporters from Twitter and my blog. I just set a launch date for Jun 1st and realized I might as well go for broke on this thing and just use the presales entirely on prelaunch marketing.<p>I&#x27;ve hired a friend to help me do some small design work, but I feel like I could go for something a little more ambitious with this budget. Got any ideas for how to spend my money?
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brudgers
After launch, you will have a better idea about how to spend the money...or to
put it another way, after launch hype fades, how you follow up really matters.
The bigger the launch the more it matters and the more resources it takes.
Good luck.

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swyx
definitely, prepared to do 1yr of followup. just focusing on the launch now.
thanks!

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brudgers
The question suggests the money might be a distraction in the form of
shopping. "Marketing" is not a concrete plan. Easy brainstorming might be
displacing the hard concrete things that need to be done and the things that
can be improved between now and launch in two weeks. Good luck.

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cacozen
Give it free printed book samples to hundreds of influential people and media.
Ask for honest feedback in return (preferably on Amazon)

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swyx
maybe not hundreds, but yes reviewers are planned for. thanks!

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saaaaaam
I’m working on a similar project at the moment - marketing a relatively niche
book to a quite specific market (though very different to this one - an
examination of how money moves through the digital music streaming ecosystem,
targeting people working deep in the music business).

It’s hard to say “spend $x here and $y on this”. But here are 20 things that
you can try.

Some things we are doing or will try, and in no particular order:

1\. You’ve not got any pixels on this site. You probably want to use them ASAP
as many people who are hitting this page won’t necessarily buy immediately,
and so you will probably want to remarket them.

2\. Worth doing a couple of what MarketingBro types call tripwires - a reduced
version of your content (but that still gives some value) for which you charge
a relatively nominal amount like $5. This gives you a qualified lead but also
lets you take that $5 and roll it into further marketing.

3\. In a similar vein - worth providing a couple of free “checklist” or cheat
sheet type resources - and then a little drip email campaign showing the value
in your book. Get an email address. Look at engagement across the emails (use
email octopus or something similar to monitor clicks and opens) and make a
personal offer to people as they give signals that look like they are engaged.

4\. Maybe think about also upselling book sales into an e-learning product.

5\. Embed the newsletter sign up button in that page, don’t make me click.
This is your primary way to get potential leads.

6\. Sharing content when you have a pixel in place is a good way to start
building audiences to market to.

7\. Think about the different channels you can use to market - site like hn,
Reddit, Twitter. Offer genuine value so that you’re not just spamming tide the
thing you are shilling.

8\. Find relevant Facebook groups and other communities where you audience
hangs out.

9\. Set up a Facebook page for your book (either with the name of the book or
your name, and focus on you as the brand).

10\. Join groups as your page.

11\. Share a video explainer to those groups about why you made the book and
the value it offers. Plug the first chapter (or one of the pieces of content
above) in exchange for an email address. By sharing the video as your page you
can pixel the people who watch and retarget.

12\. Spend on good video content.

13\. Work out who your audience actually is - what age they are, where they
live. Who has $50 to drop on your book and why?

14\. Use something like dux-soup to do some automated LinkedIn lead gen, but
again, light tough is important here, and ensure you are giving real value.
Maybe focus first of all on finding 20 people who you can give the book to for
free who will give you strong testimonials - ideally video. Work out what that
testimonial should say. Target based on criteria that make sense for your
audience - first or second job in dev roles.

15\. You can probably target Facebook ads against people who have completed
various coding boot camps or other criteria.

16\. Use your personal experience as a hook. For this sort of thing my gut
feeling is that a personal approach will appeal much more than a fake
“corporate” identity. I have really struggled with this with one of my clients
over the years and he’s finally admitted that trying to present his business
as a sizeable concern when actually it’s just him and a couple of other guys
punching way above their weight was a mistake. When we finally shifted the way
we presented things from “we are a business with 7 divisions” to “this is me
and I’m the expert” he got much better results.

17\. Check out convertkit (no affiliation).

18\. Try some guest blogging focusing on your story and why you wrote the book
(and why you are in a position to offer the advice to people). Work out who
might carry this content and reach out with a suggested article.

19\. Are there any podcasts you can guest on or sponsor?

20\. Strategic partnerships - who has a list that this is relevant to? Offer
them a commission (“affiliate marketing”) for people who buy through their
list - discount coupon is an easy way to track.

Happy to chat more about this - we are both tackling the same thing.

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seanwilson
> When we finally shifted the way we presented things from “we are a business
> with 7 divisions” to “this is me and I’m the expert” he got much better
> results.

That's a nice list! Can you go into more detail about the tip above and what
happened?

I'm undecided what to do here when e.g. I'm launching a paid app that's just
me behind it. I think for a book though, it feels obvious that when you're
selling a book or a course, you should really be pushing that you're behind it
and you're the expert. Similar for consultancy/freelancing.

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mybestaccount
read the book "traction" \- you'll have a better idea on how to spend it
without wasting it.

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swyx
thank you!

