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How did you build your marketing & sales strategy when you started out?
r/Entrepreneur
7/1/2025
SAAS TOOLS
| SaaS | URL | Category | Features/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phantombuster | Automation/Scraping | Scrapes emails from forums and communities | |
| Zapier | Automation | Automates workflows, used to fire DMs | |
| Pulse for Reddit | Social Media Management | Helps surface relevant Reddit threads | |
| Hypefury | Social Media Management | Schedules replies and manages engagement |
USER NEEDS
Pain Points:
- Marketing is difficult and time-consuming
- Spending money on ads that reach uninterested audiences
- Manual engagement on platforms like Reddit is extremely time-intensive
- Lack of clarity on effective marketing strategies
- Difficulty scaling marketing efforts without automation
Problems to Solve:
- How to build a marketing strategy from scratch
- How to acquire customers efficiently without a large budget
- How to automate outreach and engagement to save time
- How to identify and target the right audience
- How to validate messaging and channels quickly
Potential Solutions:
- Cold outreach in niche communities and forums
- Using automation tools for scraping and outreach
- Focusing on one marketing channel first before expanding
- Personalizing outreach messages with specific pain points
- Creating a 'reverse approach' where customers state needs first
- Seeking mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs
- Continuous experimentation and iteration ('fail fast' approach)
- Building content on platforms like Twitter, Reddit, and blogs
GROWTH FACTORS
Effective Strategies:
- Starting with a tight focus on one channel until predictable leads are generated
- 'Fail fast' approach: rapid experimentation to identify what works
- Reverse lead generation model (customers state needs first)
- Mentorship from successful entrepreneurs
Marketing & Acquisition:
- Cold outreach in niche forums and communities
- Leveraging Reddit discussions for organic traffic
- Using Facebook ads for messaging testing
- Personalizing outreach messages to increase reply rates
- Automating outreach with tools like Phantombuster and Zapier
- Content marketing through blogs and social media (Twitter, Reddit)
Monetization & Product:
- No specific pricing models discussed, but emphasis on low-budget approaches
- Implied need for product-market fit through community listening
- Feature development driven by understanding customer pain points
User Engagement:
- Actively participating in communities to understand audience problems
- Using tools like Pulse for Reddit and Hypefury to manage engagement
- Building relationships by helping others first ('I help first' approach)
- Creating a human-centric approach to lead generation