Marc Lou has made millions of dollars by doing marketing extremely well. Most of his revenue has come from his NextJS boilerplate, ShipFast. As someone remarked on YouTube, it's something any developer could have done. So why was Marc successful? Because he's great at marketing. Here's how he does it and what you can learn from him.
Make a great slogan
A slogan can be incredibly powerful and Marc's slogan is Ship Fast. It’s a simple enough slogan. Two words. Concise. You know exactly what it means if you are in the founder community. ShipFast is snappy. So is "Just Ship It", a playful alternative to Nike's "Just do it".
So people like Ship Fast and Just Ship It. And he can put it at the end of all of his tweets. And his fans can use it to signal they buy into his message. So it acts as a sort of secret code amongst his followers.
Be aspirational
It’s empowering to feel like you can start a business and change your life for the better. Marc knows this and taps into people’s hunger for a better life. He talks about being successful after having been fired. That's very motivational for anyone who has been laid off.
He also shows off the benefits of living cheaply in South East Asia as a digital nomad and things like surfing at the beach or working with a beautiful view. This is the lifestyle lots of people desire, especially if you are stuck in rainy Northern Europe. Selling something that people want is obviously easier than selling something boring. What Marc is saying: you could have my awesome lifestyle.
Stand out
Marc first got my attention with his great marketing videos. Whenever he launched a SaaS product he would make a silly video with his face added to scenes from films like Wolf of Wall Street. It was something no-one else was doing so it was a brilliant way to stand out from the crowd.
Most people launching on Product Hunt put up a link, add a few images, spam all their contacts on social media and call it a day. Marc puts lots more effort in with these videos and immediately stands out from everyone else.
There are loads of developer/marketing/indiehacker influencers. Sometimes I confuse people with one another because they are all so similar. I don’t confuse Marc with anyone else. That should be your goal as a marketer.
Have a great profile picture
It’s hard to explain exactly why his profile photo is so great but it really stands out. There’s a sort of joker feel to it. His eyes are wide open. His mouth is curled up in a slight smirk. His eyebrows stand up in surprise.
But it’s really different to most other startup influencers. It’s silly instead of serious. It’s also presented off-kilter, which adds a cool, experimental vibe to his image. The background is orange which is associated with youth and experimentation. It just stands out.
Have a positive vibe
Being negative all the time attracts negative people. Sure, you can get followers by putting people on blast and being negative towards other people. But you’ll find a lot of people loathe you. Marc seems to get a good balance between being positive while still appealing to his tribe. You can be upbeat without trying to appeal to everyone.
Lean into YouTube
Marc plays the YouTube game really well. There’s not really any point in doing YouTube if you aren’t going to do what the algo wants and make well-edited, well-produced videos.
His thumbnails are really great. Most of them involve an image of him showing shock or smiling. His titles mostly feature numbers in some way, be it money or time:
• I made these 23 websites (and earned $562,943)
• I earn $1,753/day with this SIMPLE tech stack
• I built a startup in 31 hours (SaaS)
• Why your side project makes $0
Lots of indie hacker influencers still stick to written platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn. It’s safe. It’s easy. You don’t need to learn video editing, buy equipment like a nice camera or show your face. But you also don’t get the benefits of being discoverable on YouTube, the second biggest search engine in the world. I suspect these videos have contributed a lot to Marc's revenue.
Promote your newsletter
After most of Marc’s tweets there is a call to action to join his newsletter. Some people will find this annoying but who cares?
It’s a great idea to convert passing visitors from social media into dedicated fans who open every email you send. Don’t shy away from promoting your newsletter to your social media following. It’s a smart way to stay in touch and promote your next startup launch. Here's an excellent article on pulling people away from social platforms and back to your website.
Link to your other projects
Marc has over 20 mini SaaS projects. And the great thing is that each of his startups promote the other ones. So if a person buys one of them, there is a good chance they will check out and pay for the other ones as well.
Each of his SaaS products has the same footer section, which lists out the other SaaS that Marc runs. So if you go to his CodeFast page, you'll also see links for his newsletter, ByeDispute, IndiePage etc. If you go to the IndiePage, you'll see the same footer and this time with a link to CodeFast as well.
This is smart because it's always easier to sell to someone you've sold to before than to sell to a brand new person who doesn't know you. I imagine a large number of people who buy Marc's coding course will also buy his SaaS template and his other apps.
Conclusion
You don't have to sell a SaaS boilerplate or a coding course like Marc does. There is still a lot you can take from his successful approach. Having a slogan is great because it makes you memorable and improves your brand. Being aspirational does great on social media - given the choice between listening to an optimist or a pessimist, most people will choose the optimist.
Your ultimate goal in marketing is to stand out and show how you or your product is different. Otherwise, you'll just get buried in the noise of the social media feed. Marc is very good at standing out and getting noticed. So here's some homework for you: think how you can stand out too.
