For example: If I was working on a solution for learning a language, how do I find people who are trying to learn a language?
Taking the example of people learning a language: For argument same I will assume ESL (English as second language). You could visit subreddits for ESL? Local ESL classes? Then Google the fuck out of ESL and related phrases for other hangouts, blogs and so on. When you read the subreddits you get more hangout ideas and so on.
Don't underestimate the power of word-of-mouth referrals. Building a user base takes time, so be patient and focus on building meaningful connections.
- Build content of value in the domain your startup is in. Could be Blog Posts, Social Media posts, youtube videos etc. For example, if you are working on a solution for learning a language, you must create content/guides on how to learn those languages. Free Guides, 10 tips, etc. Wuality over quantity. This takes time though so don't expect results overnight. 6-9 months in, you will start tremendous results but don't wait and start on Day 0 anyway.
- Free Tools that can drive traffic to your actual product. Hubspot is excellent at this. They have created many free tools (separate websites with their own ranking) that help them drive tons of traffic. https://www.hubspot.com/resources/tool
- Go where your potential customers are. Physically and/or virtually. For example, if you are selling to Real estate agents, go to real estate conferences/meetups and try to build genuine connections. Manual but can pay off over time. Do the same virtually on niche forums, association/membership websites etc. Pay to play if needed.
- Personal branding on social media/twitter etc to drive traffic to your company. This one is interesting to me and I have been trying to do better but it seems like this can work wonders as I see lot of people on Twitter etc building a Personal brand which is free marketing for their products.
- Plain outbound: Nothing fancy. Make a list of potential customers/companies/individuals and reach out to them manually through email/social network etc. This is related to the the point about go where your customers are but more focussed on outbound outreach through email/social/phone etc.
- Go to competitor's social media/forums/public communities if any and try to find users of those products. Reach out to them for feedback on your own without trying to sell.
- Get influencers/experts online in your industry to review your product. Could be pay to play but if they have good traffic, they can help you get leads. Also do things like affiliate program etc with online bloggers in your space.
- There is also "Help a Reporter" https://www.helpareporter.com/ website where you can connect with Journalists and Bloggers to help them write on topics they care about and in exchange you get a backlink to your website.
Marketing and Sales are an engine that take time to develop and every little thing adds up over time. Most of what I mentioned can be applied for any software business. Good luck!!
YouTube video comment from 2006?
Forum post, on a site with 10k members?
Doesn't matter.
Post there.
Start talking to them! By any means necessary.
yc has built startupschool.org that covers this stuff.
check it out!