Community Marketing: The Art of Not Being Spammy
Community platforms like Discord and Reddit are goldmines for startup marketing—but they're also minefields. Spam, and you're banned. Be too subtle, and no one notices. Here's how we walked the line and generated 2,000+ signups from community marketing alone.
Discord Marketing: Build First, Promote Later
Finding the Right Communities
Not all Discord servers are created equal. We targeted:
- Indie Hackers communities: People building products
- Startup/entrepreneurship servers: Our exact target audience
- Tech communities: Early adopters who appreciate good tools
- Niche SaaS communities: People looking for productivity tools
The 3-Week Value-First Strategy
Week 1-2: Pure Value
- Answer questions in help channels
- Share helpful resources (not your product)
- Engage in general conversations
- Build reputation as a helpful community member
Week 3: Soft Introduction
- When relevant questions come up, mention "I'm building something for this"
- Ask for feedback on your solution approach
- Share your journey and challenges
- Don't pitch, just be transparent
Launch Week: Community-First Approach
- Post in designated #show-and-tell channels only
- Offer exclusive discounts to server members
- Host live demo sessions or AMAs
- Thank people for feedback and actually implement suggestions
Discord Tactics That Worked
- Partner with server admins: Offer them free lifetime access in exchange for a post
- Create value-add content: We shared a free "50 Validated Startup Ideas" PDF
- Run mini-contests: "Best problem statement wins free premium"
- Be present during peak hours: Most activity happens 6-9 PM local time
Reddit Marketing: The Fine Line Between Helpful and Promotional
Understanding Reddit Culture
Reddit users hate ads. They can smell promotional content from a mile away. But they love genuine stories, transparent entrepreneurs, and truly useful products. Our approach:
Subreddit Selection
We focused on 8 key subreddits:
- r/Entrepreneur: 3M members, perfect for startup tools
- r/SideProject: 200K members, loves "I made this" posts
- r/startups: 1.5M members, high-quality discussions
- r/SaaS: 100K members, our exact niche
- r/indiebiz: Smaller but highly engaged
- r/EntrepreneurRideAlong: Loves journey stories
- r/IMadeThis: Perfect for launches
- r/alphaandbetausers: Looking for new products
Content Strategy
We created different post types for different subreddits:
1. The "I Built This" Post (for r/SideProject)
- Transparent title: "I built a database of 50K startup problems"
- Honest introduction: timeline, tech stack, challenges faced
- Screenshots and demos
- Ask for feedback, not sales
- Respond to every single comment
2. The Journey Post (for r/Entrepreneur)
- Story-driven: "How I went from idea to 100 customers in 30 days"
- Share failures and lessons learned
- Include revenue numbers (Reddit loves transparency)
- Mention product naturally, not as the main point
3. The Value Post (for r/startups)
- Educational content: "10 places to find startup ideas"
- Genuinely helpful, not promotional
- Mention our tool at the end as one option
- Provide value even without our product
Comment Strategy
90% of our Reddit marketing happened in comments, not posts:
- Sort by "New" and answer questions first
- Provide detailed, helpful responses
- Only mention our product when genuinely relevant
- Use format: "I had this problem, here's how I solved it... [link]"
- Never say "Check out my product" - instead say "I built something for this, would love your feedback"
Metrics That Matter
After 3 months of community marketing:
- Discord: 800 signups, 15% conversion rate
- Reddit: 1,200 signups, 8% conversion rate
- Time investment: 2 hours/day across both platforms
- Cost: $0
- ROI: Infinite (organic traffic)
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Joining and immediately promoting: Build karma first
- Copy-pasting the same message everywhere: Mods will ban you
- Ignoring negative feedback: Address it publicly and honestly
- Only posting about your product: 80% value, 20% promotion
- Not reading community rules: Each subreddit is different
Community marketing takes patience, but the results compound. Those 2,000 signups became our most engaged users, our best word-of-mouth marketers, and our most valuable feedback source. All for zero ad spend.
