TechCrunch is not a marketing plan
freshbooks.com
freshbooks.com
I think many hackers tend to underestimate marketing. They look at it as something that's sleazy and below them. I can't blame anyone for thinking this, with marketers making asses of themselves everywhere you look, but it can kill your business.
You need to be trying everything you can imagine with marketing, then testing the results and pumping as much money as possible into the channels that deliver high ROI. The product is only half the business, the other half is delivering it to the right group of people.
I've had the hardest time selling even my best friends on some of the things I've made because my heart just wasn't in it. When you make something you use yourself, it's not marketing, it's doing the other person a favor.