When ProductClank needed to grow awareness and build community, we faced a choice: hire a traditional marketing team or prove our thesis by using our own campaign system.
We chose to eat our own dog food.
In 72 hours, we mobilized 200+ creators across 7 campaign types, rewarding them with $50K in Superfluid streams. The result: ProductClank jumped from #100+ to #4 on Farcaster's trending apps, achieved 5x growth in website visits, and 4x increase in daily active users.
This case study shows how we did it - and how you can too.
As a solo founder, I had a challenge every bootstrapped team faces: I needed results fast, but didn't have $100K+ to spend on traditional marketing.
Hiring a marketing manager meant months of runway burned before seeing results. Agencies wanted $15K+ monthly retainers. Influencers charged thousands per post with no guarantee of lasting impact.
But I had something traditional marketing doesn't: a thesis that community-driven building beats centralized control.
So instead of renting attention, we decided to build ownership. We used ProductClank's own campaign system to mobilize our community - proving the model works while getting the growth we needed.
If this worked, we'd validate our entire thesis and create a playbook for every budget-conscious builder who comes after us.
We launched 5 different campaign designed to help us grow attention, build community, and activate existing members to amplify the platform - essentially using ProductClank's own system to solve the exact challenges any builder faces.
Each campaign had a clear CTA and evaluation metric how we value submissions and choose reward winners.
200+ unique submissions across all campaigns
Content spanning TikTok, Twitter/X, Farcaster, visual designs, and technical contributions
Creators from different communities discovering ProductClank for the first time
Organic referral chains as contributors brought in other talented creators
We expected volume. We didn't expect this level of creativity and production quality:
Video Content:
Written & Visual Content:
Thoughtful breakdowns on various social networks
Infographics, memes, and diagrams explaining our system
The sentiment from contributors validated our approach:
"This is genuinely one of the most exciting campaigns I've seen. The meta aspect of using ProductClank to build ProductClank is brilliant." - @nirwana_eth
"This campaign proved that community > traditional marketing. The creativity here is insane." - @kimo6910
"Finally, a platform th-at actually rewards contributors properly. This is how building should work." - @cryptomadn3s
"Love how transparent everything is. You can literally see the rewards flowing on-chain." - @Jackson77699939
Visibility:
🚀 Farcaster Ranking: #100+ → #4 trending app
X (Twitter) post engagement hit record engagement
Website Visits: 5x growth
Engagement:
Viral spread across TikTok, Twitter/X, and Farcaster
Organic discovery from communities we'd never reached before
Self-reinforcing momentum as early contributors brought others
X engagement skyrocket
Network Effects Kicked In:
Creators referred other creators, creating chains of aligned contributors
Content cross-pollinated across platforms - TikTok videos became Twitter threads became Farcaster discussions
Community members started explaining ProductClank better than we could
Brand Positioning:
Became known as "the platform that builds itself"
Validated our thesis through demonstration, not just explanation
Created proof points for future builders considering the model
Long-term Asset Creation:
Library of high-quality explainer content we can use indefinitely
Network of aligned creators who now understand and advocate for ProductClank
Case study proving the model works (you're reading it)
Speed: Traditional marketing would take weeks to plan and execute. This mobilized in days.
Authenticity: Community-created content felt genuine because it was. No corporate polish, just real people explaining why they believe.
Discovery: Contributors found angles and use cases we hadn't articulated. They improved our messaging through their interpretations.
Sustained Engagement: Unlike a one-time ad campaign, contributors remain invested because they're earning as ProductClank grows.
Marketing Manager: $104K-156K per year (months to ramp up, single perspective)
Marketing Agency: $25K-75K for 3-month minimum (external team, cookie-cutter approaches)
Influencer Marketing: $100K-400K for 200+ pieces of content (one-time posts, no ongoing stake)
Freelance Content Creators: $55K-175K for equivalent output (coordination overhead, no commitment)
Traditional Marketing: $100K-400K+ for temporary content, no lasting community
ProductClank Campaign: $5K creating:
200+ pieces of professional content
Network of invested contributors
Ongoing advocacy (contributors keep earning)
Proof of concept for the entire model
Long-term community asset
We spent 95-98% less and got better results.
The real difference: Traditional marketing rents attention. Community campaigns build ownership.
1. Quality Exceeded Expectations We thought we'd get volume. We got professionally-produced content that rivaled agency work.
2. The Meta-Narrative Resonated "Building ProductClank with ProductClank" wasn't just clever - it was proof. People got it immediately.
3. Referral Chains Created Compounding Value Contributors bringing in other talented creators created network effects we hadn't fully anticipated.
4. Speed Was a Massive Advantage From launch to 200+ submissions in 72 hours. Traditional marketing can't move this fast.
1. More Guidance Upfront Some contributors wanted more examples and templates. We'll provide more scaffolding next time.
2. Better Real-Time Communication A dedicated Discord or Telegram for campaign participants would improve coordination.
3. Celebration Moments We should have done more to celebrate standout contributions publicly during the campaign.
4. Clearer Reward Visibility While Superfluid streams are transparent on-chain, we could better showcase "You've earned $X so far" in the UI.
Insight #1: Your Community Knows Your Product Better Than You Think Contributors found use cases and messaging angles we hadn't articulated. Let them interpret.
Insight #2: Skin in the Game Changes Everything When people earn from growth, they become invested advocates, not just hired guns.
Insight #3: Distributed Creativity Beats Centralized Control 200 creative minds exploring different angles > 1 marketing manager with a plan.
Insight #4: Transparency Builds Trust On-chain rewards, public submissions, clear criteria - transparency made people trust the process.
Insight #5: The Model Scales If this works for ProductClank, it works for any builder who needs community support.
Centralized control and limited perspectives
Temporary campaigns with no lasting community
Contributors have no stake in your success
Expensive and slow to execute
Often feels inauthentic and promotional
Distributed creativity from diverse perspectives
Contributors become long-term advocates
Aligned incentives through ownership/rewards
Fast mobilization and sustained engagement
Authentic because it comes from real believers
The fundamental difference: Traditional marketing rents attention. Community campaigns build ownership.
We proved the model works. We grew 5x in 72 hours by mobilizing our community instead of hiring traditional marketing.
Now it's your turn.
Campaign Infrastructure:
Easy campaign creation and management
Built-in submission tracking and evaluation
Community dashboard for contributors
Superfluid Rewards Integration:
Automated streaming payments
Transparent, on-chain distribution
No manual payment processing
Proven Playbook:
Campaign templates based on what worked
Selection criteria and eligibility frameworks
Community mobilization strategies
Early-stage builders who need distribution without ad budgets
Products launching that need awareness and validation
Communities that want to reward value creation
Any founder who believes community beats traditional marketing
Define Your Needs: What specific tasks does your product need help with?
Design Your Campaigns: What would motivate your community to contribute?
Set Your Budget: How much can you allocate to rewards?
Launch on ProductClank: We'll help you structure and deploy your campaigns
The question isn't whether this model works - we just proved it does.
The question is: Are you ready to try it for your product?
Launch Your Campaign on ProductClank →
Reach out on X or Farcaster or join the community group chat
👥 Daily Active Users: 4x increase
📊 Content Created: 200+ unique submissions
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I like produk clank but I don't like people who give us reward with token that has no liquid
Product clank is the best 🫶
The creator I referred is still making her video which she said will be ready by tomorrow
We are just getting started.
*** Experiment #2- Testing GTM with ProductClank *** Our first experiment using ProductClank to grow attention to ProductClank was highly successful and above all expectation: - Hundreds of content pieces contributed by the community, amazing creativity unleashed in multiple platform (mainly X,TikTok, Farcaster) and across multiple content types (video, memes, long and short form explainers) - We now have a community of content creators who believe in what ProductClank is trying to achieve, and capable of achieving it together! Next : Let's see if attention can be converted into sales! Under the same logic - instead of hiring a BD or sales person, we leverage the platform to sell itself. How? Using the power of community of creators who understand and love the platform Watch this 1 min video to learn what could become the future of sales and GTM - a future that empowers ANYONE ANYWHERE to use their creativity to help builders grow! ProductClank first. Other Builders Next. We Walk the talk as always. https://app.productclank.com/take-action/2fc4c689-e52e-4186-9aec-5d5efaebd873
https://paragraph.com/@liorg/the-dollar5k-marketing-campaign-that-beat-dollar100k-agencies
The campaign went above all of my expectations, so I just published this case study to share the outcome after 72h. While the campaign still run, my focus would be to onboard other builders and projects to run their own campaigns, while we'll build all the features they need to make it a great success, as it is for @productclank itself https://paragraph.com/@liorg/the-dollar5k-marketing-campaign-that-beat-dollar100k-agencies