The Focus

I have 0 reach. Nada. Null. Nil. However you put it.

After interning at a startup this past summer and more recently working on my own product, InterTechTion, I am realizing how important and beneficial guerrilla marketing can be. Conventional ways of marketing involve contacting blogs and other news outlets. The problem with this is that unless you have a really really amazing product, you won’t get covered. So what are us little folks supposed to do? Guerilla Marketing.

Wikipedia has a great article on some guerrilla marketing tactics which I found to be very interesting. Below I’ll divulge into two tactics I’ve used and how successful I’ve been with them.

1. Instagram – As a hobbyist photographer and active Instagram user, I’ve gained quite a following in a pretty short time span. For InterTechTion, which targets student/inquisitive programmers, Instagram was not very helpful because of the very narrow target demographic. The company I interned for though had created an iPhone app and was mostly targeting younger folks – a perfect fit for Instagram users especially when Instagram was only available for iPhone.

Lesson: Leverage whatever online community/social network you are part of. Try to make your product appealing and relevant even if it isn’t a perfect fit.

2. Student Clubs – I knew from the get-go that InterTechTion would focus on students and programmers that are still developing their careers. While more labor-intensive, I found this strategy to be the most rewarding. Using a template email with a few modifications sent to the boards of various Computer Science related clubs, I got a lot more subscribers through this method than all others. The response was positive in many other ways as well. Guerilla marketing in most cases requires a more intimate connection with the target customer. By sending a slightly personalized email, I was able to garner a response from some individuals and gained some valuable feedback.

Lesson: Create a more intimate connection with a potential customer. Find clubs and societies relating to your product, many also have mailing lists that can reach even more users.

Discuss your thoughts/methods of Guerrilla Marketing on the Hacker News Thread. Oh and up-rank to help me get that reach