Action plan: steady, long-term users without ads¶
A step-by-step order for a solo maker or small team whose product is live (App Store, direct download, web or a browser store) but who feels stuck: blog SEO is slow, X has no reach, Reddit rules feel scary, ASO changes feel like guessing, and there's no budget or experience for ads.
It doesn't name a product. Run each step against your product, and save the output in a growth/ folder next
to your code so your agent can pick it up next session.
The one rule: channels in order¶
Most people get stuck because they run 6 channels at once and can't tell which one works. Go in this order:
| Order | Channel type | Why this order |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Measurement | Without per-channel links you can't tell what worked, so every later step is guessing. |
| 2 | Owned (users of your other products, email list) | Free, no community rules, and the users stay yours. |
| 3 | Search (ASO, directories, a few high-intent pages) | Set up once, keeps working for months. |
| 4 | Attention (short video, Reddit, X, Facebook groups) | Fast, but only pays off when steps 2–3 are ready to catch the visitors. |
| 5 | Paid ads | Only after you know your store or landing page conversion. |
Steps¶
| # | Step | Weeks | Done when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Measure first | 1 | Every channel has its own tracked link; baseline numbers written down |
| 2 | Turn your other products into a funnel | 1–2 | Cross-promo and one email capture point live in each fitting product |
| 3 | ASO, one change at a time | 2–3 (then monthly) | Keywords chosen, one listing change shipped, review date set |
| 4 | Listings and a few high-intent pages | 2–3 | Listed on the main directories for your platform; 3–5 intent pages live |
| 5 | Short video, batch-produced | 3–6 | 9 videos posted, one winning format kept |
| 6 | Community posting without getting removed | 4 onwards | 1 compliant post a week; daily answers to existing questions |
| 7 | Weekly rhythm and monthly review | 6 onwards | A fixed weekly schedule and a monthly numbers log |
| 8 | Paid ads gate | when the gate passes | A small, capped test with a stop rule |
Steps 3 and 4 can run in parallel with step 2. Don't start step 5 before step 1 is done.
Stop doing now¶
- Writing many blog posts hoping some rank. A few intent pages beat volume (step 4).
- Changing title, subtitle, keywords and screenshots at the same time (step 3).
- Dropping a bare product link into groups whose members aren't your users (step 6).
- Fake accounts or self-praise "seeding". It gets accounts banned and kills trust (step 6).
- Paying for ads before you can measure conversion (step 8).
Files this plan creates in your repo¶
growth/
├── tracking.md # step 1: links per channel + baseline
├── audience.md # step 2: give → get map, capture rate
├── keywords.md # step 3: chosen keywords, change log
├── listings.md # step 4: where you're listed, status
├── video-log.md # step 5: per-video numbers
├── community.md # step 6: rules snapshot, post log
└── monthly.md # step 7: monthly numbers
With an AI agent¶
"Follow skills/growth/action for my product, starting at step 1. Save outputs in growth/." Back to the router: growth.