Behind

The Struggles of a SaaS Startup with Viral Marketing through Open Chat

Getting Started

Most startups don't have a lot of money. Especially when it comes to marketing budgets! (Or they tend to be extra frugal.) Maybe that's why free marketing methods for startups are always a hot topic.

We were no different. From the end of 2022, when VideoStu started to take shape and our beta service became available, we pondered ways to create viral buzz without spending money.

This was influenced by our previous service, Tyle. We thought, “We have so many users who love our service. Wouldn't it be great if they could share their know-how and attract new users through a community?”

This post is a retrospective on viral marketing from our first year of offering our AI video editor, VideoStu. Although the term 'viral marketing' has been somewhat tainted in our country, I define it in its original sense: creating viral loops organically, not through paid marketing.

Among the myriad of viral marketing tactics and channels, let me start by sharing our modest success story with open chat rooms.

Infiltrating Targeted Open Chat Rooms!

Initially, we thought about running our own community internally. It would be a forum where people could freely ask questions about VideoStu and share their usage tips. However, such platforms need both information providers and seekers to work, which inevitably leads to the classic chicken-and-egg dilemma.

We decided to take a more immediate approach. We found open chat rooms where people related to our product were already gathered and infiltrated them to promote VideoStu.

So, around this time last year, I joined an open chat room for digital nomads run by Marketer Jay. Watching everyone actively share their know-how and recommend various solutions for video editing, I made a decision. "Alright... Let's get VideoStew mentioned here!"

But reality was harsh. Most people were already using well-known solutions, so it wasn't easy to get them to write about how great VideoStew is.

If you've been around online communities, you know what I mean. The first comment can set the tone for the whole discussion. If everyone knows the solution, the conversation flows easily, but if it feels like you're the only one who knows it, even mentioning it can be intimidating.

Content Marketing is the Answer Everywhere

At that time, there were about 500 participants in the open chat room. I had the opportunity to conduct a free lecture session with Jay's help, targeting these participants. It was a session on how to use VideoStew easily.

I was hospitalized due to health reasons during this period, and I vividly remember giving the lecture in a hospital gown.

< The cheap Bluetooth keyboard and mouse I prepared to lighten my load... there's a reason they're cheap >

I introduced VideoStew's wizard mode, demonstrating how easy it is to create a variety of videos. Plus, I offered a one-month usage voucher to the lecture attendees.

And after a month, tracking the paid conversion was disappointing. Actually, only a handful of people fully utilized the free one-month period.

But you can't give up after one attempt! We decided to include more practical tips that address the specific needs of our target audience for the next session.

We then immediately conducted two additional sessions on how to use VideoStew in conjunction with popular solutions on the following topics.

< Teaching how to use VideoStew with big brother solutions like chatGPT and Midjourney >

It was hard to engage the audience with VideoStew alone, but finding a natural connection with trending products and making it into a lecture content quickly got reactions. After two free lectures, paying customers who use VideoStew started to appear in this open chat room.

However, it still felt like only a few were using it and it wasn't going viral. Then, we had an interesting experience.

Customer Interviews that Sparked Virality

The VideoStew blog has a section where we interview actual use cases from customers. We share inspiring cases from various business clients to individual creators.

While conducting 1:1 customer consultations, we met a creator. After planning and conducting an additional interview, we found out that they had gathered 230,000 subscribers in just six months using VideoStew! The noteworthy point is that this person was not familiar with other video programs and was new to editing and YouTube activities.

While others attended our free lectures and stopped there, this customer saw the potential of VideoStew during the free 1-month trial period and dedicated themselves to running a channel, soon becoming a silver button YouTuber. (If you're curious about this interview, you can read “How the Video Editing Novice in Me Managed to Create a 230k Subscriber Channel in Just 6 Months.”)

Afterwards, their vivid experiences were shared as video content on YouTube, and they spread their know-how through free lectures, which helped raise awareness of VideoStew.

< The title might be provocative, but it's a fact... An interview with the phenomenal rookie creator, Ground >

From that point on, VideoStew began to be frequently mentioned and recommended in open chat rooms. It's always delightful to be mentioned alongside the big league solutions. (What? Premiere Pro? CapCut?)

< At least here, VideoStew stands shoulder to shoulder with the top-tier solutions >

As VideoStew started to gain a bit of a halo effect, spontaneous testimonials about how much growth was achieved in just a week using VideoStew, and the results obtained, began to pour in. Now, VideoStew is no longer a solution that users hesitate to mention; it's one they proudly share.

‘Engagement’, a Solution Growing Together with Customers

By deeply participating in open chat rooms and conversing with customers using nicknames, we discovered another great benefit. Customers could honestly express their requirements. We were able to quickly catch any inconveniences they faced while using VideoStew, any desired improvements, and even bugs caused by deployment mistakes.

Then, we updated the requested features as quickly as possible. Looking back, it feels like we were giving our precious customers a sense of engagement, just like in “Engagement” written by Xiaomi co-founder Li Wanqiang.

We also found out that even though we have 1:1 chat support within VideoStew, customers prefer to ask questions through open chat. They probably feel more comfortable knowing there's a real person who occasionally participates in jokes and lectures with their face visible. From an operational efficiency standpoint, this may not be the best scenario. But if spending a bit more time means our customers can use our service comfortably... why not?

How About Expanding This Small Experience?

Currently, VideoStew's paid customers are composed of 50% corporate clients and 50% individual creators. The viral marketing through open chat that I’m reflecting on now actually targets less than a quarter of our total customer segments. We aimed to create a viral loop for individual creators with specific interests, and we had a tiny bit of success.

Recently, we’ve also been trying similar strategies with elementary, middle, and high school teachers, as well as university professors. This has led to some success through school-wide purchases. However, this is still a success within a specific segment.

Since we decided to work with niche targets, we plan to continue using the same tactics for each target group. Most recently, we've been working with PR managers and real estate agents. (Well, trying to, at least.)

This made me wonder, “Will this success formula work on a bigger stage?”

Will we have the same experience if the segment size increases? What if we target the entire internet instead of just one chat room or one forum?

So, our next challenge is to make our name known in large communities or public opinion arenas. We are still unsure what strategies will be required in such unpredictable environments.

But that's the startup hustle, right? After thorough consideration, we’ll steadily move forward one step at a time.