Becoming a marketer

I've set a goal in 2021 to better grow my products.

I have four SaaS products, three of which were newly launched in 2020 and have some decent potential for growth:

ilo.so
Better Twitter analytics
Launched July 2020
Current MRR: $254

Cove
Comment tool for Ghost
Launched April 2020
Current MRR: $271

Gloat
Ghost blog/newsletter hosting
Launched November 2020
Current MRR: $85

I am great at dreaming up products, building them, launching them and getting some early traction. But it's the long-term growth that I struggle with.

Case in point: the last of my four SaaS products is Subsail. I launched it in 2017 and it has grown to around $2k MRR, but has been very stable at $2k for the past 1.5 years.

The game plan

I will be looking into different ways to market the products, my main focus being ilo.

Twitter has a very active user base, with a lot of people (especially in the indie maker sphere) looking to grow their following and know which tweets work well for that.

I think ilo has the biggest growth potential out of these products (both in user base and feature development), so I'll be largely looking to grow that product while trickling down any applicable knowledge to the other products.

Buying knowledge

I've bought two courses to kick-start my marketing, for $328.

Lean SEO by Pat Walls ($79)

Refactoring Growth by Corey Haines ($249)

Both Pat and Corey are people I've been following for years online. I'm excited totap into their knowledge and experience and apply what they're figured out onto my own projects.

Although courses are great, they don't offer personalised teachings. To get more specific actionable marketing advice, I'm thinking of also paying for marketing consulting. I'm happy doing the work, but it may be a good idea to have a “second brain” to help create a marketing playbook. Once I'm done wit the courses—and if I still feel like I need some extra help—I may hire someone in the new year.

My one main goal I'm going after in 2021 is to reach $10k MRR from side projects. As of the end of November 2020, I'm at around $2,500. I love to joke that I fix slow growth by building new products, but I'm going to take growth and marketing more seriously in the new year, and hopefully reach my goal.