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Comment by noemit | Hacker News Reader

Hire someone who has done this exact thing at another startup. You don't know how to do it, and even if you learn a few things here and there, you're clearly not an expert in marketing (just based off your post.) Not trying to offend you, but I'm being straight - hire someone. Someone good, who has done exactly this before, preferably several times, at several different companies, with several different strategies. Someone that can see what's happening with the numbers and feedback and tweak smartly. Pay them well or give them equity. Then retire.

This idea is excellent, useful, and very timely. You have a huge potential customer base out there.

I don't like your pricing structure, but that's just my opinion. Don't want to go too in depth on this.

Good luck.

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Presuming that there’s a market for this service, which will support your recommendation, is reckless, and ill-informed.

Please, don’t listen to this person.

You’ll lose all of the ground you have gained, in the hopes of attaining something that does not exist.

> Presuming that there’s a market for this service, which will support your recommendation, is reckless, and ill-informed.

They're making 8k a month with a product that their own customers are saying is criminally underpriced. How can you possibly entertain the idea that there's no market for this service?

There is a market.

What I said is that there isn't a market which will support the recommendation.

Thank you for the suggestion and kind words.

Do you have any thoughts on how to find someone like that? I've had mixed experiences with marketing people.

A good shortcut is hiring from high fame startups. Not foolproof, but marketing people at uber outclass the average marketing person that might answer an ad.

Another shortcut is ask other business owners who are similar to you. Hopefully you have a small network or community. If you don't, it's worth finding 2-3 people who run businesses similar to yours to regularly connect with.

You might not even need to find a marketing "person" - there are agencies that do full service. You can talk to a few, listen to the pitch, and ask them for references. Few people do this, but you can and should, and its a great way to meet other business owners like you.

Thank you for the advice, I'll do some research :)

I will add my best unsolicited advice to this.

If you do not understand what a marketing or advertising professional is telling you and you ask them to explain it further and it still does not make sense—lots of jargon, buzz words, and “secret sauce”—do not hire that person.

There is nothing in marketing that is so conceptually difficult to understand that it cannot be explained at a high-level to a lay person. If they do not explain it well they either A. Do not understand it well themselves, or B. Do not want you to understand it.

Also be wary of big promises up front. No one can actually promise XX% increase or XXX more leads without having advertised your specific product before. They might be able to provide a general estimate based on past experiences, but that is it.

Best of luck.

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