How to promote plugins?
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Hey everybody I know it sounds off topic but I'd really like to hear your experience for better selling or promotion stuff of the plugins.
What are you guys doing for your plugins to be heard in the world?
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Facebook marketing is the way to go. 2.9 BILLION users, with the ability to target specific markets.
Dan Korneff - Producer / Mixer / Audio Nerd
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@steve-mohican You've got several options:
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The first channel is social media marketing (Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube) as @dustbro mentioned.
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The second channel is email marketing. Still today it is very effective and all of the big brands do it continuously. But to do it, you need user emails, do not buy any bulk email addresses. The users should be subscribed to your newsletter email list themselves. For collecting emails, I suggest giving away a free plugin. This way you can collect audio industry-specific user emails.
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Another channel is forum websites. I highly suggest GearSpace, KvR, vi-control...etc. But be careful on this, forum websites (especially GearSpace) can be very dangerous for a new company because you can get lots of noise, arguments, attacks, even if your product is good
But if the GearSpace audience accept your product, then you're ready to go everywhere 
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You can contact Audio Industry Blogs such as Rekkerd, Bedroom Producers Blog...etc to publish your product release news. Also, you can publish one news per week in the KvR blog for free!
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I also suggest resellers (ADSR Sounds, APD, Producer Spot, Plugin Boutique...) Because they have thousands of existent customer database and the resellers can reach to them for you with a commission price.
develop Branch / XCode 13.1
macOS Monterey / M1 Max -
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@steve-mohican You can also make some shark-aggressive -95% to compete with the -90% of some unscrupulous platforms out there. Sorry, Iām just slightly irritated when reading my promotion emails sometimes
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@orange Wohaaaa below words are GOLD for me, thank you so much for these precious suggestions. Every developer should benefit from these words of experience. You are GREAT!!
@orange said in How to promote plugins?:
@steve-mohican You've got several options:
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The first channel is social media marketing (Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube) as @dustbro mentioned.
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The second channel is email marketing. Still today it is very effective and all of the big brands do it continuously. But to do it, you need user emails, do not buy any bulk email addresses. The users should be subscribed to your newsletter email list themselves. For collecting emails, I suggest giving away a free plugin. This way you can collect audio industry-specific user emails.
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Another channel is forum websites. I highly suggest GearSpace, KvR, vi-control...etc. But be careful on this, forum websites (especially GearSpace) can be very dangerous for a new company because you can get lots of noise, arguments, attacks, even if your product is good
But if the GearSpace audience accept your product, then you're ready to go everywhere -
You can contact Audio Industry Blogs such as Rekkerd, Bedroom Producers Blog...etc to publish your product release news. Also, you can publish one news per week in the KvR blog for free!
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I also suggest resellers (ADSR Sounds, APD, Producer Spot, Plugin Boutique...) Because they have thousands of existing customer database and the resellers can reach to them for you with a commission price.
And thanks to everyone who shared their ideas.
I think GS forums are one of the toughest places. I see topics from uad, ssl, slate digital, plugin alliance, and other big names... And all of them are bombed by people, bad words, insulting...etc. all the things are there. I think it is a very hard place for a small company to start with, I don't suggest actually
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@orange said in How to promote plugins?:
- I also suggest resellers (ADSR Sounds, APD, Producer Spot, Plugin Boutique...) Because they have thousands of existent customer database and the resellers can reach to them for you with a commission price.
Yep this one has helped me loads, once your stuff is on there it's basically a passive income stream
I believe if you really make really great products, price them appropriately and get on ALL the major stores you could do 20-40k a year from affiliate stores alone
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@dustbro Do you setup the campaigns yourself or have a dedicated marketer(s)?
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@iamlamprey It's a two man show over here. I'm doing the social media marketing and my partner takes care of email and drip campaigns.
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wow thanks, everyone for this cool feedback!
ļøwithout any doubt, there are still lots of things to learn in this business...
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Really great tips. Thx everyone
Here, I think the most successful (probably the best selling - except Christoph, of course, he is the best) coders/developers / brands are @orange @dustbro @ustk @d-healey @Lindon @Natan @iamlamprey
And these tips are really important ones for new developers.
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hahahah no im definitely not one of the big sellers here
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@iamlamprey said in How to promote plugins?:
hahahah no im definitely not one of the big sellers here
Lol
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@harris-rosendahl My background is more about mixing engineering and sound design.
And I don't consider myself a good programmer. But definitely, I can say that being a good programmer only is not enough.
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@fortune said in How to promote plugins?:
I think GS forums are one of the toughest places. I see topics from uad, ssl, slate digital, plugin alliance, and other big names... And all of them are bombed by people, bad words, insulting...etc. all the things are there. I think it is a very hard place for a small company to start with, I don't suggest actually
As I understand, almost all of the brands are on the GS that they are promoting their stuff.
So isn't it worth it?
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A quick note on mean comments: people will hate no matter what you do - you could give away the best plugins for free, or even pay other people to use them, and someone somewhere would still complain
Avoiding posting your products on public forums or advertising them will guarantee 2 things:
- no one will leave mean comments
- no one will ever see or use your plugins
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Yes indeed.
But if you believe your product and if you think it is good enough, I highly recommend sharing the news/advertisements on the GS!
Because there are millions of active users monthly in that platform and it is more likely possible to make people hear your brand. Yes of course you'll get negative comments, because it is impossible to please everyone! You should read the comments for the big brands by the way
But in the end of the day, your product will get what it deserves.And believe in me, you'll learn lots of things about the customer relationships in there
My suggestion is, whatever negative comment you get, be polite, be honest, be political and keep the conversation in a positive way. Listen to the users, listen to their suggestions and redirections. If you cover the users, then you'll get the love of them and your brand will win the game eventually of course. Don't forget that you are representing your brand there
By the way, GS is more about the studio gears, so it might not be the best place for the virtual instruments, but definitely worth trying too!
@iamlamprey said in How to promote plugins?:
A quick note on mean comments: people will hate no matter what you do - you could give away the best plugins for free, or even pay other people to use them, and someone somewhere would still complain
Avoiding posting your products on public forums or advertising them will guarantee 2 things:
- no one will leave mean comments
- no one will ever see or use your plugins
develop Branch / XCode 13.1
macOS Monterey / M1 Max -
@orange Thank you for this great info! These suggestions are very valuable for me, I appreciate that!
@iamlamprey Yes there will be mean comments all the time
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@orange said in How to promote plugins?:
whatever negative comment you get, be polite
That's how we handle GS as well. Whenever someone says anything negative, I thank them for their valuable feedback.
