M
M. Haddad
Contributing Editor, Marketing & SEO
Updated
Your first 100 customers will rarely come from paid ads or SEO. They come from doing things that do not scale. Here is the playbook.
Direct outreach beats funnels
Make a list of 200 people who plausibly need your product. Reach out personally, one by one. Aim for conversations, not conversions.
Be where your audience already is
Communities, podcasts, niche subreddits, and Slack groups outperform broad social channels in the early days. Contribute first, promote second.
Seed content that compounds
Publish a handful of deep, useful posts that solve real problems. They will keep working for months while you focus on conversations.
Key takeaways
- -Outreach is leverage in disguise
- -Show up in niche communities
- -Seed evergreen content early
Frequently asked questions
- When should I start running ads?
- Usually after you can convert organic traffic. Paid amplifies what works; it does not create what does not.
Keep reading
Run a workshop on this
Turn the ideas in this article into a structured working session.