# Marc Lou's Free Distribution Checklist

> A 10-step checklist to get your first 1,000 visitors for $0

A zero-budget marketing playbook by indie hacker Marc Lou outlining ten specific platforms and tactics to drive initial traffic to a new product. It focuses on community launches, video, and social outreach, paired with the strategy of creating a free utility tool to act as a permanent distribution board.

## The list

Anyone can get 1,000 visitors for $0 by doing this:

- Post in r/SideProject

- Post in Show Hacker News

- Launch on Uneed

- Launch on TinyLaunch

- Launch on Product Hunt

- Make a short video for Instagram

- Make a longer video for YouTube

- Write 280 characters for a tweet

- Write your story on IndieHackers

- Cold outreach an influencer, give your product for free

No visitors yet? Build a free tool (aka. your own advertising board) and repeat all the above.

## What it is for

- Plan a zero-dollar product launch campaign across online communities
- Drive initial traffic and early adopters to a newly launched side project
- Brainstorm free tool ideas to serve as ongoing lead magnets

## Key points

- Community posting targets including r/SideProject and Show HN
- Product launch directory targets including Uneed, TinyLaunch, and Product Hunt
- Short-form and long-form video content ideas for Instagram and YouTube
- Story-driven text formats for Twitter/X and Indie Hackers
- Influencer outreach strategy offering free access in exchange for attention
- Side-project marketing fallback: building a free tool as an owned ad board

## Pricing

Free

## Details

- Type: List
- Category: [Marketing & Sales](https://xiry.app/topics/marketing-sales.md)
- Open source: no
- Platforms: other
- For: Indie hackers, solo founders, and bootstrapped product creators
- Tags: distribution, marketing, indie hacker, growth, launch, bootstrapping

## Why it was saved

- [@marclou, 1 April 2025](https://x.com/marclou/status/1907089321775206810): Concrete, actionable distribution playbook for launching a product with zero budget; each entry is a specific place or format to post.

## Related

- [A Practical Guide to Get Your First 100 Users for $0](https://xiry.app/resources/a-practical-guide-to-get-your-first-100-users-for-0): A zero-budget marketing playbook for acquiring early SaaS users (Framework, Free)
- [John Rush Marketing Channel Mind Map](https://xiry.app/resources/john-rush-marketing-channel-mind-map): A structured breakdown of marketing acquisition channels for bootstrapped SaaS products (Framework, Free)
- [John Rush's Semi-Automated Distribution Engine](https://xiry.app/resources/john-rush-s-semi-automated-distribution-engine): An 8-part bootstrap distribution playbook for solo founders across multiple products. (Tip, Free)
- [Product Launch Channel Checklist](https://xiry.app/resources/product-launch-channel-checklist): A practical distribution checklist of channels to hit during a product launch. (List, Free)
- [Startup Launch Guides for Reddit, Product Hunt, and Hacker News](https://xiry.app/resources/startup-launch-guides-for-reddit-product-hunt-and-hacker-new): Launch framework focusing on follower-agnostic platforms instead of audience-dependent social channels (Tip, Free)
- [Unicorn Platform Marketing Channel Breakdown](https://xiry.app/resources/unicorn-platform-marketing-channel-breakdown): Channel-by-channel marketing breakdown of growing a SaaS from 25k to 250k users (List, Free)

Updated 11 October 2026. Page: https://xiry.app/resources/marc-lou-s-free-distribution-checklist

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