Currently, I’m trying to figure out how to make the launch more visible - market the product (even though it's FOSS).
The common answer I saw was to "build in public", but as I, and many of us, don't have any sort of following online - that won't have as big of an effect. Still, useful advice.
Since the final release of the product is less than a week from now, I decided to focus a lot more on the marketing aspect.
I allocated a budget of 550$ which I will spend on the release. - 150$ of that will go into deploying bootstrap, relay and STUN/TURN servers around the world so that you can use the app without setting up your own infrastructure - path of least friction for users who just want to try the app out.
I'm left with 400$ which are going straight to getting the word out. And this is where I need your help and advice.
- What are some ideas and experiences? - What would you do with the remaining 400$?
Some ideas that I currently have are: 1. Funny video ad (it's different from what usual FOSS marketing does) 2. Paid ads on reddit, X and LinkedIn 3. Reaching out to FOSS communities 4. Writing more technical blogs about it
Free actions I did/will do -> I created a landing page ( https://kiyeovo.marindedic.com/ ), the app will come with platform-specific installers for less entry friction, and I will announce the launch on HN
For people who have successfully launched FOSS: what helped? What was a waste of time and money?
PaulHoule•1h ago
I takes >> $400 in spend to do the market testing to develop an effective campaign. If you don't have a following online expect to spend a year posting hard to make one.
I like (1) although it is hit and miss. (2) is counterproductive, people tend to assume anything advertised is trash (look at how nobody smashes that "windows" key on their keyboard because they all assume anything with a logo is crap!), I dunno what you mean by (3) but everyone is doing it. (4) will work but to be effective you are going to need to do 20-30x the work you think you do.