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Comment by rjeli | Hacker News Reader

Do you have advice for how a programmer can learn to become a marketer?

Ask an experienced marketer for help, we don't bite :) Several times now I've been invited to coffee or a beer in Mountain View while people pick my brain. I love teaching people about this stuff and it is fun to help them apply this info to their specific products.

Beyond that, you can learn a ton to start just by reading things like the Google analytics or AdWords/FB help docs. All of them.

Everything else is all about experience and learning what works and what doesn't and why. There's a lot of good stuff to read out there if you can separate the good stuff from the "gurus" peddling their latest course. Industry sites like Marketingland, ClickZ, industry subreddits like /r/ppc and /r/analytics, etc.

Sell something. Anything. Not just software or online. Just like in code, it takes 10,000 hours of practice. If you need help getting started shoot me an email. No bs or strings.

Build something small and try to sell it. Doing it is really the only way to learn it fully.

Building something is a common approach devs take. But there is also the option to just selling something you did not make. Its a shortcut to learning because you can jump right into the action.

What are some examples of selling something that you didnt make? Where can I go to begin?

Can you also recommend any resources that helped you become a better seller and marketer?

Books, lectures, etc? Thanks!

One example of selling something you didn't make would be to set up a drop shipping agreement with a factory. Build a website and advertise the products, then collect a portion of the sales.

Another example would be outright ordering products, warehousing, selling, and fulfilling the orders. That is riskier, but the rewards are much higher.

As far as how to become a better marketer, sadly, you just have to do it. With practice, you will find a style that works for you and that you're comfortable with.

Go to a local store. Buy a product you use or have used before. Maybe a pair of shoes ,some headphones, a keyboard, mouse, or even a box of cookies. Anything. Then talk to your friends or people you know and tell them about what you are doing. Say how you are learning how to sell and that you are selling whatever you bought. Explain how and why you are doing it. Ask them if they can buy it. Let them know this is a product you have used before and that its good. They will buy it.

Point is that you dont have to sell onlinem or setup a website, store or anything to start learning. My first experience was selling stuff from a catalog. I was 14.

Aim to make your side projects popular: write a blog post, do a show HN, launch on PH. Pick a popularity metric and then nail it.

Ok, but how do you get the mindset of believing what you say in marketing?

For many technical people it's quite exhausting to preach what they think is nonsense.

Don't. Marketing and sales isn't about features it's about benefits.

Think of who and how people benefit from your project.

You are setting yourself for failure if you try to sell something you dont believe in. Always sell something that you absolutely believe in. Never lie or exagerate. The mindset is the result of knowing that something is good and will benefit whoever acquires it.

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