What marketing tools are people actually using?
From what I am seeing across communities, here is what the tool stack looks like right now.
The Core Stack
Email & Capture: Mailchimp for launch updates and email sequences . Carrd for quick, clean launch-specific landing pages . Pre-launch tools like LaunchBuddy and Prefundia to build a waitlist and gather early feedback before you even hit the Product Hunt button .
Social & Scheduling: Buffer or Hootsuite to keep a consistent presence across X, LinkedIn, and Threads without it taking over your entire day . Canva for generating graphics that do not look like you threw them together in five minutes .
Analytics & Insight: Google Analytics and Hotjar to understand where traffic is coming from and where people are bouncing . Sprout Social and Twitter Analytics for real-time social engagement .
The Specialist Tools: LaunchKit for an all-in-one suite to track and promote a launch . Hunted Space for analyzing launch progress and results . For indie developers, some are even using AI tools like Niya AI as a career companion directly inside WhatsApp .
The New AI-Driven Layer: Rankfender is an AI agent that handles the entire visibility pipeline — monitoring where your brand appears in AI answers (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini), identifying content gaps, generating content that actually gets cited, and publishing it directly to your CMS. It also connects to GSC and GA4 to turn raw data into weekly priorities. The line between "tool" and "employee" is blurring. Start by analyzing your AI visibility for free using a free tool on the web.
The Distribution Mix
Product Hunt is the starting point, not the whole strategy.
LinkedIn & X: Founders are using both for posts, DMs, and building awareness with their existing networks . Some are even running low-budget retargeting ads on launch day to boost visibility .
Reddit: It is officially a go-to channel. With 50% US audiences and niche communities that mirror Product Hunt, it is one of the few platforms that has never peaked . It is also the only social platform officially partnered with Google, meaning your content shows up in LLMs and Google SERPs . But you have to join the discussion, not drop links and run .
Product Hunt Forums: Every product now has its own forum. Every thread posted notifies all followers of that product. Every thread you post notifies all of your followers . It is a direct line to people who already expressed interest.
Indie Hackers & Hacker News: Hit-or-miss, but when it works, it works . Indie Hackers is particularly good for founders building in public.
YouTube & Clippers: Streaming, video content, and even hiring clippers to create short-form content is becoming a low-cost way to reach broad audiences
The Shift
People are moving away from single-tool approaches. The pattern emerging is less about finding the perfect "marketing tool" and more about building a distribution system.
The most effective launches are coordinating emails, social posts, communities, and paid retargeting simultaneously, not in isolation . The folks who just "post and pray" are getting left behind.
Imed Radhouani
Founder & CTO – Rankfender
Replies
Email is still the channel I trust the most.
Hello Inbox
@juhan_polinert 100%. Remains the channel with the highest ROI.
@imed_radhouani Has Reddit brought you better users than X?
Rankfender
@casper_voigt Yes. Reddit users are more qualified. They read the thread, understand the problem, and already know what they need. X users are browsing. Reddit users are deciding.
@imed_radhouani Which platform surprised you with the best conversion rates?
I'm slowly replacing manual work with AI wherever it makes sense.
I use ChatGPT alongside Canva for most marketing tasks and it booms.
AI has definitely made execution faster, but it feels like distribution is still the hard part. Creating content is easier than getting the right people to pay attention to it.
@imed_radhouani What new marketing tool are you most excited to try next?
@imed_radhouani What's your favorite marketing tool at the moment?
Rankfender
@cameron_jordan1 Rankfender. We use it for Rankfender. It handles AI visibility, content generation, SEO, keyword tracking, and competitor analysis all in one place. We are also building our email and outreach tools, which will be part of Rankfender soon. Backlinks and social we handle manually for now, but the real driver is still direct human outreach—contacting people directly and starting conversations.
Reddit has been more rewarding than I initially thought.
What stood out to me was your point that PH is the starting point, not the strategy. A lot of people seem to expect a launch itself to generate momentum, when distribution before and after launch is often what makes the difference.