I Tested Dozens of Marketing Channels. These 10 Actually Worked.

Shipping a product feels like the hard part. Then you launch into silence and realize distribution was the real challenge. For a long time, I thought distribution meant posting more. Tweet harder. Reply to bigger accounts. Launch on Product Hunt. Hope someone noticed. None of that worked consistently. After two years of building startups, I’ve learned that the best founders aren’t everywhere. They’re where their customers are. These are the 10 places that consistently brought me users, backlinks, customers, and long-term growth. Pick the ones that fit your product. Show up consistently. Ignore everything else. Medium: Build Trust with Long-Form Content Source: https://medium.com/@kalashvasaniya/ Medium still works if you write for people, not algorithms. Write about the problems your audience faces. Teach what you’ve learned. Share the story behind your product. People don’t buy features. They buy clarity. A well-written article positions you as someone who understands the problem, making your product the obvious next step. I’ve had articles rank on Google, get picked up by AI search engines, and bring in users months after publishing. That’s the power of evergreen content. Tip: Focus on the pain your product solves, not your feature list. End with a natural call to action instead of a sales pitch. Link: medium Substack: Build an Audience You Own Source: https://substack.com/@kalashvasaniya If Medium is for discovery, Substack is for ownership. Every subscriber joins your email list. No algorithm. No disappearing reach. No platform deciding whether your audience sees your content. Share weekly lessons, startup updates, wins, failures, and behind-the-scenes stories. Over time, readers become your biggest supporters and often your first paying customers. I learned this the hard way after losing access to social platforms. Your email list is one of the few distribution channels you truly own. Tip: Keep your newsletter free at first. Earn trust before asking people to pay. Link: substack Product Hunt: Make Launch Day Count Source: https://www.producthunt.com/@kalashvasaniya Product Hunt is still one of the best launch platforms for SaaS and AI products. A successful launch can bring thousands of visitors, valuable feedback, backlinks, and your first wave of users. But Product Hunt isn’t just about launch day. Prepare your assets. Write a compelling tagline. Create high-quality visuals. Reply to every comment. The launch lasts 24 hours. The relationships you build afterward can last much longer. Tip: Treat Product Hunt as a spotlight, not your entire growth strategy. Link: producthunt ScrollLaunch: Launch Every Week Source: https://www.scrolllaunch.com/ Most founders don’t launch only once. They ship every week. That’s exactly why I built ScrollLaunch. Unlike Product Hunt, where you usually get one major launch day, ScrollLaunch gives founders weekly opportunities to launch, climb rankings, earn high-authority backlinks, and reach early adopters. The goal isn’t one viral launch. It’s consistent visibility. One launch rarely changes your business. Showing up every week might. Tip: Treat launching as a habit, not a one-time event. Link: scrolllaunch Hacker News: Reach Technical Founders Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=kalashvasaniya If you’re building for developers, Hacker News is one of the highest-quality traffic sources on the internet. The community values substance over marketing. Show what you built. Explain why it exists. Share what you learned. Skip the hype. Answer every comment honestly. People appreciate authenticity far more than polished marketing. A successful Show HN post can send thousands of highly targeted visitors to your product. Tip: Hacker News can spot fake marketing instantly. Be genuine. Link: Hacker News Indie Hackers: Share the Journey Source: https://www.indiehackers.com/kalashvasaniya Indie Hackers is where bootstrapped founders share real numbers. Revenue. Traffic. Experiments. Failures. Lessons. If you’re building without venture capital, this is one of the highest-trust communities you can join. People care about transparency. The more openly you share your journey, the more people remember your product. Contribute before you promote. Help other founders. The attention follows naturally. Tip: Build relationships first. Marketing becomes much easier afterward. Link: indiehackers Behance: Showcase Design-First Products Source: https://www.behance.net/kalashvasaniya If your product is visual, Behance is one of the best places to get discovered. Whether you’re building a design system, a creative tool, a branding agency, or a portfolio, people come to Behance looking for quality work. Don’t just upload screenshots. Tell the story behind the project. Show your process. Explain your design decisions. People hire designers because they trust their thinking, not just their final mockups. Tip: Treat every Behance project like a landing page with one clear next step. Link: behance Dribbble: Share Your Best Work Source: https://dribbble.com/ Dribbble is where great design gets noticed. UI. UX. Branding. Illustrations. Icon packs. Templates. If your product looks better than it sounds, Dribbble can become a powerful acquisition channel. One beautiful shot can introduce your work to thousands of designers, founders, and product teams. The key isn’t going viral. It’s building a recognizable visual style that people remember. Tip: Let your work speak louder than your captions. Link: dribbble GitHub: Let Your Code Market Itself Source: https://github.com/kalashvasaniya GitHub is one of the most underrated marketing channels for developer products. If you’re building APIs, SDKs, developer tools, boilerplates, or open-source software, your repository becomes your marketing. Every commit builds trust. Every star adds credibility. Every issue answered publicly becomes proof that you care. People don’t just use your product. They inspect how you build it. A great README is often more valuable than a polished landing page. Tip: Treat your README like your homepage. Make it easy for people to understand, install, and share. Link: github X: Build a Founder Brand Source: https://x.com/kalashvasaniya X rewards authenticity. Short updates. Behind-the-scenes moments. Lessons from building. Hot takes. Progress updates. If your brand is closely tied to you, X is a great place to turn strangers into followers and followers into customers. The platform still feels less saturated than many older social networks, making it easier to build an audience from scratch. Don’t try to sound like a company. Talk like a founder. People connect with people. Tip: Be consistent. Personality beats perfection. Link: X How I Think About Distribution Today I divide distribution into two categories. Rented Distribution Twitter (X) Threads Instagram YouTube These platforms help you grow quickly. But you don’t own them. An algorithm change or account suspension can erase years of work overnight. Owned Distribution SEO Email Your website Directories Open-source content These channels take longer to build. But they compound over time. More importantly, nobody can take them away from you. Today, my distribution playbook looks like this: Publish on Twitter and Threads to test ideas and reach new audiences. Launch regularly on Product Hunt and ScrollLaunch. Invest in SEO to build compounding search traffic. Grow an email list from day one. Publish content where your audience already spends time. Build in public so people follow your journey, not just your product. Every channel has a purpose. Together, they create a system. “Distribution isn’t a channel. It’s a habit.” You don’t need all ten channels. Start with two. Master them. Let them compound. Then expand. That’s how sustainable distribution is built. The biggest mistake founders make is trying to be everywhere. The best founders are exactly where their customers are. Build something people want. Then make sure they can actually find it.