Beginning Marketing and Working on Issues
Hello,
Marketing is not easy and a bit of a complicated thing when on a budget. I've been working on this problem for about a week and so far I give it mixed reviews.
I've done some organic posts on Reddit with some success. Timing of posts are really important for creating breakout momentum. I threw a post up in the middle of the day, no optimal, and received about a 150 upvotes, not bad. I received a lot of positive comments, so that was nice, but getting people to hop onboard of a preorder has proven to be difficult so far. (Thank you mom)
Posting on X, and even paying for marketing, $10, has yielded almost nothing. In fact, one person? told me to give up, lovely.
My current plan is to build a nice display box that is also a backpack and to walk around farmers markets to generate some interest. It's pretty difficult to grab attention online, and to give all the details of the item, so I'm willing to try IRL.
Facebook was positive, although a lot of it seems like a ghost town these days. I haven't attempted Instagram or Ticktock yet. I don't frequent those sites often. we'll see what happens.
Issues that I'm currently working on in terms of the physical product is getting the hinge to be better. It wobbles a bit, which really irritates me. I'd like to see a nice solid swing when the door is open or closed by the user.
Finding scratch proof acrylic is also on the list. The sheets I'm using now scratch way too easily, which is bad, so I've been looking at getting the scratch proof coating. The problem is finding the correct size, and finding a place to cut it down correctly. I'd like to have a CNC machine, or water jet cutter to handle that eventually. The whole process of outsourcing the cutting is a bit pricey and full of friction. Ask any manufacturer.
Programming has been coming along nicely. I use Claude AI a lot to handle most of that. It messes up and breaks sometimes, but overall it's working pretty easily. I'll be setting up the water timing here shortly.
My 3D printer is currently down. The nozzle and extruder unit have been utterly clogged with filament to the point of being nigh impossible to unclog. So I'll be ordering spare parts on that soon. I need to print a new reservoir bottom. I printed the view window too large and accidentally cracked the area, after much force. Oops.
I've been slowly improving the website. I'm planning on scheduling studio time to get more/better pictures and video done so that you can see more details, etc.
All in all most things are pretty minor. I just need to collect enough preorders so that I can move on to the next/final stage of developments (PCB development).
Onwards,
RB