"it's a bit depressing that they couldn't make a decent salary off their best web applications."
As someone who comes from the traditional old school world where you had to do traditional marketing to gain business (pre-internet and obviously pre-social media) one theme I see (which I highlighted in a comment on patio11's post yesterday) is the lack of traditional marketing to move the product.
Specifically I'm wondering what type of outreach Brennan or Patrick have done to gain business? Patrick was thinking about flying to industry conferences which was a step in the right direction although I thought the payback for such a low revenue product wouldn't make it worthwhile and I suggested a few traditional ways to test out (that had worked for me in the past).
One thing that I see happening is people thinking that the way to build a business is strictly by WOM online by low or no cost methods while there are a host of things out there that work and have worked for years (that people aren't using to push their apps). They cost money for sure but after you are established and have some cash flow the are possible.
This year I'm going to heavily invest in experimenting with paid advertising.
Surprisingly, about a quarter of my growth comes in organically. People find me through a blog post, research the product, and then buy. Can't beat that :-)
"People find me through a blog post, research the product"
.001% of your market (arbitrary to prove a point) reads blog posts. So you have to get to the others who are a virgin market (with no competition by the way) for the same product.
Off the top I'm thinking airports or places where consultants spend time or publications which consultants read where you could write some articles and get mention that way. (As a start anyway). Card packs are good (if they are offered and I don't know they are in that biz.) Maybe even advertise in the inflight magazine (for ads that is) which I did at one time. Back in the 90's I did ads in The Economist, the WSJ (marketplace) and Business Week. (Not saying they are good today I don't know but they did work then I picked up customers who are still with me today..)
Feel free to email me and bounce any ideas/costs and I will give you my opinion.
One last thing. You need a .com name if you are advertising to the traditional world. They are thrown a loop by anything that isn't .com . You can still use .io just get another one under .com.
You might also want to put up consultant specific sites for planscope that cater to specific industries (more targeted) "engineering consultant" "city planning consultant" (with templating) it will go a long way toward getting you businesses in specific areas and making you the go to resource.
I don't think you understand the market he is focused on. Everything you said is counter to that market. You pull .001% out your ass and I'm willing to bet a large portion of this market is reading blog posts. Also, in my opinion of course, your advertising advice is stuck in the 90's and not the way to go. Business Week, WSJ, Economist? I think Brennan is trying to reach freelance consultants not IBM consultants (or whoever reads those publications). Bang for buck you are going to lose BIG advertising on those type of pubs/sites. The fact that you need a .com is complete bullshit, again points to you not understanding the market.
It sounds like you've had experience and success but not necessarily with this market or maybe you are still stuck in the 1990's.
Sponsorships are really low impact, because they're a distraction to the thing people showed up for (the podcast, the event) and your CTA is by necessity very weak. I am anti-interruption marketing, and not just because it doesn't work.
As someone who comes from the traditional old school world where you had to do traditional marketing to gain business (pre-internet and obviously pre-social media) one theme I see (which I highlighted in a comment on patio11's post yesterday) is the lack of traditional marketing to move the product.
Specifically I'm wondering what type of outreach Brennan or Patrick have done to gain business? Patrick was thinking about flying to industry conferences which was a step in the right direction although I thought the payback for such a low revenue product wouldn't make it worthwhile and I suggested a few traditional ways to test out (that had worked for me in the past).
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4982785
One thing that I see happening is people thinking that the way to build a business is strictly by WOM online by low or no cost methods while there are a host of things out there that work and have worked for years (that people aren't using to push their apps). They cost money for sure but after you are established and have some cash flow the are possible.