First of all, declaring failure at this point is so ridiculous that I'm pretty sure that the only purpose of your blog post is to advertise that "Iron Conversion" thing.
Second, Reddit and adwords aren't the only marketing strategies out there, especially when it comes to small businesses. I mean, C'mon, how many small businesses owners turn to reddit in search for "inventory management app". Even more than that - how many business owners actually turn to the web to look for solutions?
I don't know how you imagine them, but small businesses owners aren't hackers.
They want solid solutions and they surely would be interested in something that solves a problem and is cheaper than their current solution.
As I see it, your only marketing strategy is phone calls. I mean, hundreds of them.
Just open Yellow pages and start making them calls.
Pitch your product, ask business owners about their problems with their current system, describe how yours would solve their problems. Try to get business owners interested, offer a free trial, ask for email addresses, do follow up -phone calls-.
I'll reiterate - small businesses owners aren't hackers.
Edit: I just saw this - "Online Inventory Management without the suck"? Seriously? I really want to know how you imagine your average customer (genuinely interested)
"Small business owners aren't hackers" is what I've learned recently, and I wish I learned it months ago. In hindsight I know I went about finding my problem-to-solve in the wrong way.
Instead of interacting with my potential customers, I only read what they were talking about from afar, and somehow divined that "real time inventory management" was the solution.
I didn't ask them what they thought, and I didn't validate the product. That was a big mistake and could have saved me months of effort building something I'm no longer interested in.
Re: "Online inventory management without the suck". All copy so far has been written in a vacuum. I have had literally zero feedback from random internet visitors (until today, from HN). My only way to gauge if my copy was working was by the amount of trial signups I was getting each week.
It happens that that was one of the last messages I tested before losing interest. Trust me, the copy has gone through numerous iterations over the last few months trying to find something that sticks.
I've tried long copy, short copy, "hybrid" copy, screenshots, no screenshots. I didn't just stick that message up there and call it good for a few months.
This might sound like I'm irritated or angry, I'm not. I genuinely appreciate all of the feedback I've been getting. Thank you!
Second, Reddit and adwords aren't the only marketing strategies out there, especially when it comes to small businesses. I mean, C'mon, how many small businesses owners turn to reddit in search for "inventory management app". Even more than that - how many business owners actually turn to the web to look for solutions?
I don't know how you imagine them, but small businesses owners aren't hackers. They want solid solutions and they surely would be interested in something that solves a problem and is cheaper than their current solution.
As I see it, your only marketing strategy is phone calls. I mean, hundreds of them. Just open Yellow pages and start making them calls.
Pitch your product, ask business owners about their problems with their current system, describe how yours would solve their problems. Try to get business owners interested, offer a free trial, ask for email addresses, do follow up -phone calls-.
I'll reiterate - small businesses owners aren't hackers.
Edit: I just saw this - "Online Inventory Management without the suck"? Seriously? I really want to know how you imagine your average customer (genuinely interested)