I Built the Product. Marketing Is the Part That’s Breaking Me.
Source: Dev.to
When I started building Web2Phone, I thought the hard part would be technical: infrastructure, edge cases, deliverability, security, GDPR… all the stuff that can quietly ruin your week.
Marketing is the part that makes me feel like I’m guessing in public.
The weird emotional gap between “done” and “distributed”
- feature shipped
- tests passing
- user flow improved
- bug fixed
- server stable
But marketing progress is… foggy.
Marketing fog
- You can write a post and get no response.
- You can record a video and feel cringe the whole time.
- You can message people and worry you’re being annoying.
Silence doesn’t tell you what’s wrong.
- Is the audience wrong?
- Is the message boring?
- Is the channel wrong?
- Did you post at the wrong time?
- Or did you just not do enough reps yet?
The trap: “I’ll market it when it’s ready”
- onboarding could be smoother
- dashboard could be nicer
- docs could be clearer
- one more feature would make it easier to sell
The truth is: sometimes “not ready” is just a socially acceptable way of saying I’m not comfortable being seen trying.
What I’ve learned (so far) as a solo dev trying to market
- Stop trying to sound like a company – people connect with: “I built this because I got tired of missing enquiries.”
- Focus on one clear outcome – when someone fills your website contact form, you get a WhatsApp message instantly.
- Aim for conversations, not virality.
- Marketing is a skill, not a personality type.
Where I’m at right now
Web2Phone is in beta. I’ve got my first five active users, and I’m trying to onboard a few more.
Honestly, marketing still feels like the hardest part, but I’m trying to show up anyway — even when it’s messy — because building something useful isn’t enough if nobody knows it exists.
If you’re a dev who’s built something and now feels stuck at the “how do I get users?” stage… you’re not alone.
If you have any advice (or hard truths), I’d genuinely love to hear it.