🗞 What's New: The power of organic user acquisition

Nailing organic growth can be difficult:

• Don't underestimate well-written, value-packed Medium articles. Be vulnerable and genuine, then seal the deal with a great lead magnet.
• Checklists may sound dull, but they help you remember and prioritize. Implement them for your team to improve everyone's workflow.
• $50K MRR and 100M+ TikTok impressions. Declan and Derrick built a simple college essay writing tool, and used TikTok to go viral.

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by Neel Bhattacharya

25 days after launching Alternative AI, we had our first paying customer and a community of nearly 1.3K members. Here’s how I did it!

Posting on Medium

One of my most surprising discoveries was the impact of writing content on Medium.

My articles generated a steady stream of users interested in our product. The key was creating content that offered genuine value and insights, rather than just promotional material. I trudged along sharing my experiences, both wins and losses, as authentically as possible. People appreciated my vulnerability.

Engaging on Indie Hackers

Whenever I post my detailed articles or stories on Medium, I also repost them here.

Because of that, I was interviewed and featured on the front page of Indie Hackers, which boosted my site visits and user registrations overnight!

Lead magnet

Creating a lead magnet was a game changer. I had been marketing most of my life, so lead magnets weren't new to me, but creating something that appealed to my target audience was!

So, I designed an exciting offer and strategically placed it on various platforms, like Facebook and LinkedIn, gating it to capture leads. This approach not only drove traffic, but also helped me build a list of interested users who were more likely to convert.

Engaging on Reddit

Reddit can be a goldmine for organic user acquisition when approached correctly. I participated in discussions related to AI SaaS strategies, offering my own two cents without spamming.

Leveraging existing newsletters

We released our first product newsletter. Although this tactic didn’t yield the massive success I hoped for, it provided valuable lessons.

I learned the importance of understanding our audience’s interests and tailoring my message accordingly. It’s a reminder that every strategy has something to teach, even if the results aren’t immediately spectacular. If you have any existing channel at all, leverage that before exploring new waters.

Engaging friends and social circles

Sometimes, the most valuable feedback comes from those closest to us. I reached out to my friends for feedback, and their input was encouraging and helpful!

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from the Growth Trends newsletter

🔎 Four insights for founders from the Google leak.

📈 Six ways to drive up your CPM.

💲 Link to your product here. Our most affordable ad.

📖 TikTok's new ad manager guide.

🤖 Using AI to market your small startup.

💋 X has new rules that officially allow porn now.

Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

by Martin Baun

Last week, we talked about how checklists can help with productivity. Below, let's dive deeper.

Utilize checklists in your business to improve everyone's workflow!

Creating effective checklists

1. Keep it simple: Keep everything detailed and focused. Less is more.

2. Break down checklists into multiple sections: This step breaks down larger tasks into smaller, more manageable steps.

3. Kill your ego: You won't get it right the first time. Creating checklists takes regular revisions, but your task management flows will gradually improve!

Our five checklist phases

1. Preparation: Add all vital points to your task description.

2. Writing: The initial to-do list can guide whomever needs to take the list further.

3. Deployment: Our writer deploys the articles, and ensures all steps are covered.

4. Distribution preparation: This phase has multiple people handling every section. Everyone completes their assigned task. They check the task once it's complete, and assign it to the next person to take over. It has helped our time management, and improved collaboration between our team members.

5. Distribution: One person handles our distribution section. We have multiple tasks highlighted in a template. It helps the entire productivity checklist, and allows everyone to stay focused.

For more thoughts, guides, and insights, visit my blog!

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by Rob Hope

Strengthen your landing page with these design, development, and conversion tips!

Include a support email address in your error messages.

If your landing page payment integration offers message customization, include a support email address for when a problem persists.

Subscribe to Rob's One Page Love newsletter for his favorite UI, design, and development finds.

by Rushab Jain

They went from zero to 100M+ impressions, 800K+ users, and $50K MRR in a span of six months. Declan and Derrick were college students at UC Berkeley when they came up with a hit idea.

Building on the side

Declan and Derrick love building side projects: Avo Alaram, YouUp, and Steady Soles are a few that they've built.

One of their friends suggested that they focus on a single project, instead of splitting their attention across various tools. So, they chose JotBot, an AI essay generator that used writing samples to write like the user. They built it in one week.

Marketing

Due to the nature and target audience of the project, the most obvious marketing channel to go with was TikTok. They committed to posting 6-10 short form videos every single day, across three platforms: Reels, TikTok, and Shorts. But...nothing worked.

After a lot of failed short form content, they got creative. They bought a super long, specific URL: idontwanttodomyessay. They redirected it to their site, and it worked like a charm.

Next, they reworked their existing TikTok content and re-published it (3.2M views, 10M views, 8.9M views). Other products began using their templates, and this pushed them to $25K MRR.

The pivot

Because they didn't want their product to be branded as a cheating app that students used and forgot about, Declan and Derrick recently pivoted their tool. It's now a research copilot, using the same sets of templates. They updated them, and that took their tool to $50K MRR!

For more, consider subscribing to our free newsletter, BuilderOS!

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by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.

Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.

Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Neel Bhattacharya, Darko, Martin Baun, Rob Hope, and Rushab Jain for contributing posts. —Channing