Pre-launch marketing tactics for startups
Start the 17 tactics below in the weeks before you launch. They fall into five jobs: build an audience, capture sign-ups, test demand and price, prepare launch day, and publish pages that can rank in time. 3 are rated high impact and low effort: build in public, limited early bird pricing, and launch on Product Hunt.
- Tactics
- 17 of 133
- Rated high impact
- 4
- Rated low effort
- 11
- Ratings reviewed
Impact and effort are our own editorial ratings, printed on each tactic page. They are not measured results, and we have no launch data of our own behind them.
The order to start them in
- Start posting progress first. It costs nothing and every later step reaches more people because of it.
- Put up a sign-up page with a proper link preview, then add a referral waiting list if your product suits one.
- Ask the first people who want it to pay a little, or offer a launch price with a real end date.
- Publish the pages that answer your buyers’ specific searches, since they take the longest to start working.
- In the final weeks, prepare the Product Hunt listing, your supporters list and the launch-day reminder.
Build an audience before there is a product to sell
These cost time, not money, and they compound: every week you post or answer questions is a week of people who already know your name on launch day.
- How to build in public for marketing
Share progress as you build so early users and feedback arrive before the launch.
ImpactHighEffortLow
- Give influencers early access before you launch
Give the people your audience follows a first look, and collect their feedback while you can still change things.
ImpactMediumEffortLow
- Comment marketing without getting banned
Answer real questions in communities your buyers read, inside each community’s rules.
ImpactMediumEffortMedium
- How to find high-potential Quora questions
Find questions with many views and few answers, then write one useful reply.
ImpactMediumEffortLow
Capture sign-ups while you are still building
A launch needs somewhere to send people. These turn early interest into a list you own.
- How a viral waiting list grows by referral
Give each signup a referral link and a better place in line for every friend they bring.
ImpactMediumEffortLow
- How invite-only sign-ups work and when they pay off
Let people in by wave so early users get attention and your servers and support keep up.
ImpactLowEffortMedium
- Build a free side product that brings in leads
A small free calculator or grader draws buyers before the main product exists. It is the heaviest item here: High effort.
ImpactHighEffortHigh
- How Open Graph tags control your link previews
Set the preview card now, so every link shared during the waitlist phase looks intentional.
ImpactLowEffortLow
Test demand and price before launch day
Ask for a little money or a firm commitment early. A yes with a price on it tells you more than a thousand likes.
- Should you charge early adopters?
Ask your first users to pay something, even a token amount, to find out if the demand is real.
ImpactLowEffortLow
- Early bird pricing with a real deadline
A launch price that ends on a real date or after a real number of sales.
ImpactHighEffortLow
- How to manage early adopters' expectations
Tell first users what works and what is missing, so they stay and keep giving feedback.
ImpactMediumEffortLow
Prepare launch day on Product Hunt
Most of a Product Hunt launch is decided in the weeks before it: the listing, the supporters, the reminder and the offer.
- How to launch on Product Hunt in 6 steps
Prepare the listing, pick a launch time and avoid the vote-asking rules that get launches penalized.
ImpactHighEffortLow
- Find Product Hunt supporters without breaking the rules
Build a list of real supporters and tell them about the launch the allowed way.
ImpactMediumEffortMedium
- Product Hunt calendar reminder for launch day
Ask supporters to visit and comment on launch morning, without asking for upvotes.
ImpactMediumEffortLow
- A Product Hunt launch discount for launch-day visitors
A time-limited deal for people who find you on Product Hunt.
ImpactMediumEffortLow
Publish pages that start ranking while you build
Search takes months to respond, so the pages you publish before launch are the ones that can rank by the time you need them.
- Long-tail keyword landing pages that win specific searches
One useful page per specific search, instead of competing for broad head terms.
ImpactMediumEffortMedium
- Question-based keywords and how to use them
Find the questions your buyers type and answer them directly.
ImpactMediumEffortMedium
Questions people ask
What is pre-launch marketing?
Pre-launch marketing is everything you do before a product is on sale to build an audience, collect sign-ups and test whether people will pay, so that people are waiting on launch day instead of starting from zero.
Which pre-launch tactics take the least effort?
11 of the 17 tactics on this page are rated Low effort, including build in public, influencer early access, high potential Quora questions, and viral waiting list. The one rated High effort is free side product.
Should you charge for a product before it launches?
Asking early users to pay something, even a token amount, is the quickest test of real demand. The library covers it in two pages, “Should you charge early adopters” and “Early bird pricing with a real deadline”. The second is rated High impact and Low effort.
Sources
- The Growth List tactic library: 133 tactics, with the impact and effort ratings printed on each tactic page, last reviewed October 8, 2026. Every count on this page comes from it; each tactic above links to its own page and sources. Nothing here is measured launch data.
Want the whole library instead? See the 133 growth tactics by funnel stage, or browse acquisition and revenue tactics.