Marketing Guides
Practical guides for indie founders. What actually works in 2026 — not generic checklists.
- Flagship20 min read
How to promote a new mobile app — the indie founder playbook
Five phases, idea to first 1,000 users. Pick a launch date, work backwards. No hype, no "growth hacks" — just the steps that actually compound.
- 5 min read
Getting your first 100 users — without paid ads
Practical channels for going from zero to a hundred. Cold-DMs, communities, manual outreach. Boring works.
- 6 min read
App Store Optimization (ASO) basics that actually move the needle
What to put in your title, subtitle, screenshots, and preview video so the App Store + Play Store rank you and the right people tap install.
- 6 min read
Using AI for marketing without sounding like a robot
Where AI is genuinely a force multiplier (copy variations, customer-review synthesis), where it's a trap (generic posts that nobody reads), and the workflow recipes that work.
- 8 min read
Video marketing for a new app — strategy + the AI video stack
Vertical short video is the highest-leverage channel for a new app in 2026. Here's what to make, and the AI tools that turn a one-person team into a content factory.
- 8 min read
Marketing on autopilot — running Claude on a schedule
Three real ways to put Claude on a cron (Claude Code scheduled tasks, Vercel Cron + AI SDK, or your own cron). Three concrete recipes — including weekly content batches that flow straight into the scheduler. Plus MCP for marketing.
- 7 min read
Design automation — making marketing visuals without a designer
Four paths from copy to image: Vercel OG (code-driven), Figma (template-driven), AI imagery, and paid SaaS. Honest trade-offs and one recommendation for each use case.
- 2 min read
Use any Instagram account — switch to a Creator profile in 30 seconds
Why this app (and Buffer, Later, every other scheduler) needs a Creator or Business account, and how to switch without your followers noticing.
- 3 min read
Content strategy: the 70 / 20 / 10 rule
A simple ratio that keeps your feed from turning into an ad break — and keeps your audience showing up.
- 3 min read
Hashtags in 2026: use fewer, more specific ones
The 30-hashtag spray-and-pray approach died years ago. Here's what actually works now.
- 3 min read
Why Reels eat everything (and how to ride them)
Instagram is now a Reels-first platform. If you're not posting vertical video, you're invisible to non-followers.
- 2 min read
On DM funnels: this app doesn't do them (and why)
If you want keyword-triggered DM auto-replies ("comment LINK and I'll DM you"), you need a different tool. Here's the honest landscape.
- 3 min read
Posting cadence and timing: stop optimizing the wrong thing
Generic 'best time to post' charts are mostly noise. What actually matters: consistency and your own audience's pattern.
- 3 min read
Twitter / X playbook for marketing (it's mostly replies)
X is a conversation platform with a posting feature attached. If you only post and never reply, you'll get nowhere.
- 3 min read
What to actually measure (and what to ignore)
Follower count is a vanity metric. Here are the numbers that predict whether your account makes you money.