1. Find where your buyers already ask
Write down the problem your product solves in the words a buyer would use, not your feature names. Search Hacker News, Indie Hackers, dev.to and Reddit for those phrases and note which threads are recent and still take replies.
Most early customers come from a few places. One founder who spent about 30 minutes a day on Reddit got around 5 visitors in the first two months; by month three Reddit was 23% of their signups (Indie Hackers case study). Consistency matters more than volume.
2. Reply to help, not to pitch
Answer the question fully, the way you would for a friend. Mention your product only if it truly fits, say you built it, and follow each community's self-promotion rules. Links in a minority of replies, at most.
Never use multiple accounts or work around a ban. Communities notice, and it costs more than it brings.
3. List on the directories that still send visits
Submit to a short list of directories and launch platforms with a clear description and real screenshots. Use a tracking link per listing so you can see which ones send visits.
A Show HN post has a median of about 2 points; a Product Hunt launch without a feature usually brings 100-500 visitors. Treat launches as one step among many.
4. Write the pages buyers search for
Comparison and alternatives pages ("X alternatives", "X vs Y") and use-case pages match searches from people who are ready to choose. Start with low-volume phrases; of pages that reach the top 10, about 40% get there within a month (Ahrefs). Most pages never reach the top 10, so write several and cite every fact about a competitor.
5. Check what AI assistants say
Ask ChatGPT and Perplexity "best tool for <your problem>". Note which sources they cite. Each source that mentions competitors but not you is a task: a thread to answer, a directory to join, an author to email, or a comparison page to write. Re-check after about four weeks.
6. Measure every step
Count visits per step, not just totals. Give each step a tracking link where the platform allows links, and label anything you can't match as unattributed instead of guessing. After a few weeks you will know which channel deserves your hour.
This is the loop GTMorganic runs for you every Monday: 5 ranked steps, drafts you post yourself, and a Proof Ledger of the visits from your steps.