How would you market a small web service without paid ads?

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I went through this with a tiny SaaS and a services thing in parallel, and trying to push everything at once just muddied the message. What worked for me was picking one ICP and one painful use case and building around that first, then layering the rest on top.

I started with direct outreach plus “proof” content, not broad organic. I’d DM or email people with the exact problem, then send a short Loom walking through how I’d fix it, and turn those into mini case studies on the site. Once I had 2–3 real before/afters, landing pages got way easier because I wasn’t guessing language.

Referrals only started to work after those wins. I just asked every happy client “who else is dealing with this?” with a simple rev share, nothing fancy.

On the product vs problem angle: I got better replies when I led with the problem and outcomes, then showed the tool. For discovery, I used LinkedIn and native Reddit search a lot, tried TweetDeck and Awario, and ended up on Pulse for Reddit because it kept surfacing niche threads about my exact use case I was missing manually.

I would go with them all

create content, and do outreach (this gives you some trust)

facebook groups and reddit marketing

landing page, maybe with SEO

and keep experimenting

maybe use some tools to help

All five of those work for a small business, just not at the same time. Half-effort across four channels for a few weeks and concluding nothing works is the mistake most people make. One channel for a real month, judged by replies received and not impressions, tells you more.

On product vs problem there is a simple test: when you describe it to someone who fits, do they react more to the problem or to what you built? That one is what you lead with. I am solo on something similar right now and that test changed how I write everything. What kind of web service is it?

I’ve been in a similar spot, and honestly trying to do all of those at once just spreads you thin.

What worked better for me was starting with case studies + landing pages, then layering everything else on top. Early on, people don’t trust you yet, so showing real work matters more than posting generic content.

I’d build 2–3 very specific pages for clear use cases, like “website for X type of business,” with actual examples or even mock projects. I usually draft the structure in Notion, run the landing page through Runable, then tweak copy after seeing how people respond. That alone gives you something concrete to send in outreach.

Then direct outreach becomes way easier because you’re not pitching an idea, you’re showing something real.

Content helps, but it’s slower. Referrals/affiliates work best once you already have a few happy users. Early stage, I’d focus on proving value first, then scale distribution.

the two-business thing is the harder problem. I'm doing the same — building two things — and the biggest early mistake was trying to market them in parallel. customers couldn't tell what I was. you split energy AND message.

pick the one that gets a 'wait, that exists?' reaction when you explain it, and put the first 30 days of energy there. the other one isn't going anywhere.