Someone reached out directly with question and personal experience about the still very present challenge of "how to get in front of HubSpot users…"
This problem (marketing/acquisition) has definitely earned the front spot of my mind too. Our team has moved at the outset from answering "can we do it?" to "who are the specific people that need this and where will we be able to reach them?" (and even even more importantly - "how can we confirm that first?")
I do think a targeted B2B marketplace, like HubSpot's, provides strong tailwinds to help solve marketing and acquisition (e.g. users with targeted needs, platform handing-off traffic directly from the main app, many needs don't have a lot of products directly competing yet [and even less that are differentiating through solid product and support work], etc.)
In case it's helpful to others - here's the playbook we've been working for product validation (should we make it?) and marketing/positioning that can help gain early traction (if we can't successfully complete a step, the subsequent steps won't work or be worth doing) –
1. Find evidence a problem exists, has demand, and is valuable
- via expressed customer demand/value (current product sales, market analysis above, etc)
- via expressed customer desire (online forums, user groups, etc - e.g. HubSpot's Ideas forum)
2. Find specific users experiencing problem
- reach out to specific users who've expressed demand/desire (via product reviews, user forums, etc.)
- if we can't find enough folks willing to look for help/better solution than we haven't found a problem worth making or that we'll be able to market & sell later effectively
3. Get an accurate & specific understanding of problem
- talk to the users we've collected in step above (this doesn't take a lot of time per individual, or even a ton of individuals to get a proper picture - but, this is one of the steps most folks aren't willing to do [maybe too shy or nervous?]; if you're willing to talk to actual people experiencing a problem you'll be in top 5% of builders in my experience)
- gain understanding of their goal(s), challenges, current solutions, and the contexts that they are trying to solve problem within (place, time, device, etc)
4. Ideate a specific solution
- based on understanding of problem, or abilities, and product focus determine a likely product solution
- important: the solution is expressed in as low fidelity as possible while still communicating how it uniquely solves problem and what makes it valuable
- if at all possible we explain and communicate the idea in writing only - something that could be easily communicated and understood in a brief email - you really have to fight the desire to design/make the some version of the solution here, but almost any idea can be effectively summarized and communicated in writing first
- the reason for low-fi is to move as quickly as possible into validating it and not wasting any more effort than necessary to validate it (wasting time here is the most common death of most products, teams, and would-be software businesses IME)
5. Validate demand for solution
- shop low-fi solution to target users - e.g. email solution concept to current group of users (that has been built from their input) and solicit a specific action from them
- important: is the word 'shop' - your solution needs to have pricing as part of it; you need to confirm if users value product at the price you expect to sell it at
- you want users to take action that expresses the value they see by making a commitment - this can be small, but a simple "yes I'd buy it" is much less meaningful than something being exchanged that expresses their commitment - e.g. "if you'd like us to build this, we're taking pre-orders - first customers will receive a XX% discount…"
- the best validating actions are when users are so interested that they're willing to put cash on the line, but pre-purchase isn't always an option for business products - however you can often think of some equivalent commitment, like asking for a referral to another user that may be interested in order, etc.
6. Determine product pricing that can create social proof
- HubSpot shows the approximate amount of installs for each product in the marketplace and like anywhere else, social proof helps drive selection - "if a product has more installs, it's likely better, right?"
- a smart approach to leverage "# of installs" as a form of social proof for marketing is sorting out a free plan that makes sense for your product, if possible
- you do have to do this thoughtfully - free users can negatively affect a product if you can't provide them value and have a way to successfully support them
- but if you can create a free plan that gives folks a sense of the product and provides some level of on-going value (this is important to keep it actively installed) this can help dramatically increase your overall number of installs and early perception of quality and demand
7. Build v1 of product
- of course, this is step is work, but it's the type of work most of us are eager to jump into
- the hardest part here is keeping the lid on scope - be ruthless on what really is necessary to make good on solving the problem, based on earlier solution idea - and spend time doing that well.
8. Pre-launch product
- craft an effective marketplace listing page – taking the time and thought to focus and clearly present the product's value (using specific language and situations learned from earlier users conversations is a great tool for this)
- work to get product in use with initial user group - including circling back to those who may have not bit on the low-fi solution idea initially
9. Promote within platform
- proactively solicit to HubSpot users who have expressed similar needs at HubSpot
- in HubSpot's forums
- from reviews of competing Marketplace products
10. Support product
- another currently high-leverage marketing strategy on HubSpot is reviews
- most products have relatively few reviews
- pro-actively solicit reviews from initial user group and addition new users; do this in a way that authentically solicits feedback for improvements first; as users are known to be satisfied solicit a review from them on the product's listing page; relationship with early users will be stronger making this easier initially
- continue to proactively solicit offline feedback and then reviews throughout life of product - this is definitely one of the highest-leverage marketing efforts in a marketplace like this
11. Promote outside platform
- proactively solicit to HubSpot users who have expressed similar needs in forums / user groups outside of HubSpot
- create public marketing site, landing pages, etc with standard approaches to building SEO (again utilizing specific language and situations learned from earlier users conversations and comments from reviews are great resources for this)
- product partnerships, optionally paid search, targeted affiliates, etc.
Whew, that ended up being a lot longer than I expected ;) I hope it's helpful to others!