The Beginner's Guide To Marketing Your App in 2025

Many no-code developers become so focused on building their application that they neglect a critical component of business success: marketing. Without effective marketing, even the most impressive application will struggle to find users and generate revenue.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know to start marketing your no-code application to a wider audience!

Here’s just a taste of what we’ll be covering in this guide:

the current state of marketing for no-code developers

essential concepts such as marketing funnels and channels.

explain each of the different marketing channels available to you (cold outreach, social media, etc.)

Before we dive deep into how marketing can help grow your no-code business, let’s start with discussing the current state of marketing and defining a few key terms you’ll need on this learning journey.

Part 1: What is Marketing in 2025?

In this section, we’ll introduce the key marketing concepts for developers who are ready to promote their no-code applications. We'll explore essential terminology, approaches, and mindsets that will help you successfully market your app in 2025.

Why You Need Marketing

Consider this classic saying: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, did it really make a sound?" Now replace "tree" with "your app" and "forest" with "App Store":

If your app launches in the App Store, but no one’s around to see it, did your app really launch?

Technically, yes, but to the world, it might as well not exist. Without marketing, you've potentially wasted months building something that no one will discover.

In today's digital landscape, where creating software has become more accessible through no-code platforms like Bubble, development itself is no longer the most challenging part of building a successful application.

The real challenge is capturing attention in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Attention is a very finite resource these days, so you’ll need to think about how to ensure that your app breaks through the noise and gets you customers.

Marketing vs. Sales in 2025

The traditional division between marketing and sales has blurred significantly.

In the past:

Marketing created awareness for brands

Sales involved direct interaction to close deals

In 2025, especially for digital products like Bubble applications, marketing effectively becomes sales. The entire process—from awareness to purchase—often happens online without human interaction.

Modern marketing should directly generate revenue for your business. Without revenue, your app will struggle to survive, regardless of how well it's built or how many features it offers.

A thought-provoking question to consider: Would you rather have the best product or the best-perceived product?

A mediocre app with thousands of paying customers will outperform a technically superior app with no users. While building quality matters, marketing determines business success.

You’re not just trying to build some app that's going to inflate your ego because you know it's correctly built. What you want to do is actually generate an income so you can continue working on the things you love and continue establishing a business.

Key Marketing Terminology

First, let’s start debunking some of the jargon you're going to hear throughout this guide.

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing: Customers come to you

Examples: demo call bookings, social media engagement, word-of-mouth referrals

Customers discover your content and take action to learn more

Outbound Marketing: You reach out to customers

Examples: cold emailing, automated email campaigns, direct outreach

You actively pursue potential customers rather than waiting for them to find you

While inbound marketing is ideal (customers coming to you without effort), new applications typically require significant outbound marketing initially. As your brand grows, inbound marketing will naturally increase.

A lot of the work you're going to need to do in order to find your first paying customers is through outbound marketing. Remember, at the beginning stage of your app, no one has heard of you. You don't have a brand. You don't have any recognition. You’ll have to take charge in reaching out to the market hoping that you’ll eventually convert someone into a customer.

Outbound marketing does require a lot of manual work. So I hope you're ready to get your hands dirty later on!

Organic vs. Paid Marketing

Next, let’s discuss the difference between organic and paid marketing.

Organic Marketing: Free marketing activities

Examples: social media posting, content marketing, SEO, cold outreach

Requires time and effort but not direct financial investment

Paid Marketing: Advertising that costs money

Examples: Facebook ads, Instagram ads, Google ads, YouTube ads

Requires financial investment to reach potential customers

For new Bubble applications or if you’re completely new to marketing, focus on organic marketing channels first. If you can't find customers through free channels, paid advertising will likely be ineffective and potentially waste valuable resources.

Paid marketing works best to scale strategies that are already working organically. Don't use paid channels to test unproven approaches.

What Happens When Organic Marketing Fails?

If you really struggle to find a customer through organic marketing, this may speak to a greater problem about your app, the product that you're trying to sell or maybe even the messaging or the brand that you have.

So before you start throwing money at the problem, try and look at the foundations of what you're building before you get started and scale things up.

The Marketing Mindset

Many technical founders and Bubble developers have misconceptions about marketing, viewing it as sleazy, pushy, or intrusive. However, effective marketing is about providing value.

Good marketing:

Helps your audience discover solutions to their problems

Connects people with products that improve their lives

Provides value through information, entertainment, or solutions

If your Bubble application genuinely solves a problem, you're doing potential customers a favor by making them aware of it. Marketing is simply the process of connecting your solution with people who need it.

The Power of Finding Your Channel

The marketing landscape offers countless channels and approaches. The good news? You only need to find one effective channel to start growing your business. The challenge is discovering which channel works best for your specific application.

Once you identify a reliable source of customers, you can focus on optimizing that channel before expanding to others.

Later in this guide, we’ll explore each of the different marketing channels you can use to start growing your audience.

Leads, Users, and Customers

In marketing terminology, people interact with your application in different ways:

Leads: People who have discovered your brand and shown interest but haven't taken action. They might be following your social media or reading your content.

Users: People who use your application, regardless of whether they pay. This term is often misused.

Customers: People who pay for your application. This distinction is crucial—once someone exchanges value for your product, they become a customer, not just a user.

For most Bubble applications, the goal is to convert leads into paying customers. While some apps (like social networks) may focus on maximizing users, subscription-based applications need to prioritize customer acquisition.

The Golden Rule of Marketing

The most important principle of marketing has nothing to do with marketing techniques: No amount of marketing can fix a poor product.

If your Bubble application doesn't genuinely solve a problem for users, even the most brilliant marketing campaign will fail. Before investing heavily in marketing:

Validate your app idea with potential customers

Ensure your application effectively solves a real problem

Test your solution with actual users

Marketing amplifies your product's value, it can't create value where none exists.

As we continue working our way through all of the modules, we're going to start focusing on all of the different marketing channels and strategies that you can use in order to start getting your first paying customers.

In the next section, we'll start with a deep dive into marketing funnels and how to use various different marketing channels.

Part 2: Understanding Funnels and Channels

A marketing funnel represents the customer's journey from discovering your product through to making a purchase. Think of it as the path that transforms leads into paying customers.

The funnel concept gets its name from its shape: wide at the top where many potential customers enter, and narrower at the bottom where fewer people complete a purchase. This natural narrowing occurs as people determine whether your solution fits their needs.

The Three Stages of a Marketing Funnel

A basic marketing funnel consists of three main sections:

Traffic: Where potential customers first discover your brand or product

Leads: Where interested prospects research more about your solution and how it fits their needs

Customers: Where committed prospects make the decision to purchase

At each stage, some people will exit the funnel, which is perfectly normal. The goal is to optimize how many people progress through each stage.

Let's examine a practical example of how a marketing funnel might work for your Bubble app:

You generate 1,000 website visitors (Traffic)

Approximately 5% of those visitors (50 people) submit a lead form, request information, or book a call (Leads)

About 10% of those leads (5 people) convert into paying customers (Customers)

While converting 5 customers from 1,000 visitors might seem low, this represents realistic conversion rates for many businesses.

Understanding the science behind your funnel metrics allows you to reverse-engineer your marketing needs:

If you need 50 sales per month…

You'll need approximately 500 lead submissions…

Which requires generating about 10,000 website visitors

This mathematical approach helps you create appropriate marketing strategies to meet your specific business goals. Instead of guessing how much marketing activity you need, you can calculate it based on your funnel conversion rates.

What Are Marketing Channels?

Marketing channels are the vehicles or platforms you use to reach potential customers and drive them into your marketing funnel. They are simply the places where you can perform your marketing activities.

Examples of common marketing channels include:

Social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.)

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Content marketing

Email marketing

And so on!

Selecting the Right Marketing Channels

Choosing which channels to focus on is one of the most challenging aspects of marketing. The decision should be based on two key factors:

Where your target customers spend their time online

B2B SaaS products might perform better on LinkedIn, Twitter, or work-related forums

B2C products might be more suited to Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook

Which channels you personally enjoy working with

Marketing requires consistent effort and attention

Channels you enjoy will feel less like work and more sustainable long-term

The ideal marketing channel sits at the intersection of these two factors - effective for your audience and enjoyable for you to manage.

The Power of Channel Focus

While there are numerous marketing channels available, you only need to find one channel that works well for your Bubble app. Once you identify a successful channel, you can focus your efforts on optimizing and scaling it.

The initial challenge is experimenting with different channels to discover which one delivers the best results for your specific situation. This experimentation phase is crucial for finding your marketing sweet spot.

Six Key Marketing Channels for Bubble Apps

Throughout this guide, we'll explore six primary marketing channels that can help your Bubble app gain traction:

Cold Outreach: Directly contacting potential customers

Social Media: Building awareness and engagement on platforms where your audience spends time

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Helping potential customers find your app through search engines

Product-led Growth: Using your product itself as a marketing tool

Content Marketing: Creating valuable content that attracts and educates your target audience

Email Marketing: Nurturing leads and maintaining relationships with customers

Each channel has its strengths and weaknesses, and the right mix will depend on your specific app, target audience, and personal preferences.

Part 3: Cold Outreach

Cold outreach might be every software developer's worst nightmare, but it's one of the most effective marketing channels for new Bubble applications. In this section, we’ll cover everything you need to know about implementing cold outreach in your marketing strategy.

Why Cold Outreach Should Be Your First Marketing Channel

Cold outreach is an outbound marketing strategy that involves directly contacting potential customers who haven't previously expressed interest in your product. While it requires significant manual effort and comes with frequent rejection, it offers several unique advantages:

Best channel to get reliable feedback from potential customers about your product

Human, direct conversations that build trust faster than other channels

Quick validation of your product idea

If you're thinking about building a marketing strategy without cold outreach, you might be making a critical mistake. When no one knows about your product yet, cold outreach provides the fastest path to meaningful customer conversations.

Cold Outreach as Product Validation

Here’s an interesting perspective to consider: every MVP can just start as a cold email.

Before spending months building a product in Bubble, consider sending emails to potential customers saying: "This is a product I'm thinking of building. Do you have this pain point and would you pay for it?"

Your cold email could even just contain a screenshot or a mockup of the product you’re hoping to sell.

This approach allows you to:

Test product-market fit without building anything

Save development time by validating ideas first

Gather feedback to refine your product concept

When starting cold outreach, don’t jump straight to automation. Try to do the process manually and down the line, you can identify what parts of your workflow you can start automating with software.

Cold Outreach Examples

There are several effective methods for cold outreach:

Cold Emails: The traditional approach of sending personalized emails to potential customers

Social Media DMs: Reaching out through platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram

Posting To Your Network: Publicly sharing your product concept and asking for interested parties to contact you.

Each method has advantages depending on your target audience and product type. Social media outreach often works better than email because recipients can verify you're a real person by checking your profile. Meanwhile, public posts about your product can be highly effective in something like the B2B niche.

The main idea here with any of these three methods is to just put yourself out there. You’ll essentially be creating a “landing strip for luck”, which leaves you open for potential opportunities to come your way.

The Dos and Don'ts of Cold Outreach

Cold outreach only fails when executed poorly. Follow these guidelines to maximize your success:

Dont’s

Don't be pushy - Avoid immediately pushing your product onto people. Don’t just talk about you, talk about how you can help your potential customer.

Don't assume they know you - Never assume recipients know who you are, even if they've interacted with your content before

Don't use hard calls-to-action - Asking someone to sign up immediately is too aggressive for first contact. Some softer CTAs could be to start a conversation with them, either through scheduling a call or asking a question directly

Do’s

Keep it short and succinct - Respect people's time with concise communication. Don’t tell them your entire life story!

Make it all about them - Focus on their problems and needs, not your product

Use common language - Write how you would speak in a normal conversation

Keep it personal - Sound like a human being, that a person is actually writing these emails

Anatomy of an Effective Cold Email

Let's compare a poorly written cold email with an effective one:

Poor Example:

Hello, Rachel.

I hope this email finds you well. My name's Lachlan Kirkwood and I'm the founder and CTO of AirBakery. I'm reaching out to you today as I've just developed an app that helps revolutionize the way bakeries manage their daily production. Using a proprietary algorithm that I developed, we're able to ingest all of your past order history, then predictively determine what quantities you need to cook each morning.

As I'm planning to launch the app in a month, I wanted to see if this is something you'd sign up for. If you follow this link, it'll take you through to the pre-launch sales page.

Kind regards, Lachlan

This email fails because it:

Includes unnecessary formalities ("I hope this email finds you well")

Contains technical jargon and excessive detail about the product

Focuses on the sender rather than the recipient

Includes a hard call-to-action (asking for immediate sign-up)

Lacks personalization and human connection

Effective Example:

Hey Rach ,

You don't know me, but my name's Lachlan Kirkwood. I've spent the past 3 years working at my family's bakery in Happyville.

I apologize for the cold email, but I'd love to learn more about the preparation process from experienced bakers like yourself. At Baker's Delight, do you have a specific process to determine what quantity of goods you prepare each day?

The reason I ask is because I'm in the process of building an app that aims to remove the manual guesswork from this. I always find it useful to hear how each bakery approaches this.

I know you're busy, but if you had 15 minutes in your day, I'd love to give you a call to ask a few specific questions. Would you have any time this week? I completely understand if not. In that case, I wish you all the best.

Cheers

While this email is a bit lengthier, it’s much more effective as a cold email for the following reasons:

Uses casual, conversational language

Establishes credibility without bragging

Acknowledges and apologizes for the cold contact

Asks a specific question about the recipient's process

Only briefly mentions the product. This will allow them to be more curious about the product you’re building

Offers a soft call-to-action (15-minute call)

Respects the recipient's time and gives an easy way to decline

Cold Outreach as a Numbers Game

Cold outreach is fundamentally a numbers game with its own conversion funnel:

Send 100 cold emails

Get approximately 10 responses (10% response rate)

Convert about 3 responses to calls (30% conversion of responses)

The biggest drop-off happens at the first stage, but once someone has responded, they're much more likely to continue engaging. Understanding this funnel helps set realistic expectations and plan your outreach efforts.

If you need 30 phone calls with potential customers, you'll need approximately 100 responses, which requires sending around 1,000 cold emails. While this sounds daunting, the quality of feedback from these conversations is unmatched by any other marketing channel.

Part 4: Social Media Marketing

In 2025, social media has become an unavoidable marketing channel for app creators. In this section, we’ll explore how to develop an effective social media strategy for your Bubble application, identify which social media platforms to prioritize, and generate content ideas that drive engagement.

Why Social Media Matters for Your Bubble App

Social media sits at the core of most modern marketing strategies, and for good reason. It’s established as the most commonly known channel. It's where potential customers spend significant portions of their day, making it an invaluable channel for app creators looking to build awareness and generate leads.

What makes social media particularly powerful for Bubble app developers is its effectiveness at every stage of the marketing funnel:

Top of funnel/Traffic: Excellent for creating brand awareness

Middle of funnel/Leads: Effective for generating qualified leads

Bottom of funnel/Customers: Can convert leads into paying customers

Unlike some marketing channels that specialize in just one part of the funnel, social media can drive results throughout the entire customer journey.

Social media also focuses on connecting with humans at scale. Because of the internet, you now have the ability to connect with anybody around the world.

Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms

One of the most challenging aspects of social media marketing is selecting which platforms to focus on. Each platform has its own culture, audience, and content style—almost like different countries with different languages.

This makes it vastly different from a marketing channel like SEO, where you’re really only targeting the Google search platform. With social media, you’ll need to sit down and think about where you think your potential customer base would frequent.

Here's a breakdown of major platforms to consider:

Platforms to Prioritize

LinkedIn: Ideal for B2B SaaS applications

X (Twitter): Works well for both B2B and B2C with concise messaging

Instagram: Perfect for visually appealing B2C applications

TikTok: Excellent for reaching younger audiences with engaging video

Facebook: Good for reaching a broad demographic, especially older users

Platforms That May Be Less Effective

These platforms are more difficult to use as marketing channels. While they can certainly lead to success if done right, these are channels to de-prioritize as a beginner to marketing.

Reddit: Difficult to consistently generate traffic as moderators often remove promotional content

Pinterest: Better suited for lifestyle or e-commerce products than applications

Snapchat: More useful for deepening relationships with existing customers

Platform Selection Strategy

Rather than trying to maintain a presence on every platform, focus on one or two channels that align with your:

Target audience: Where do your potential users spend their time?

Industry type: B2B apps generally perform better on LinkedIn and X, while B2C apps may see more success on Instagram and TikTok

Personal preference: Which platforms do you enjoy using? This matters more than you might think

However, there’s one major exception to this rule: short-form video content can be effectively cross-posted across multiple platforms with minimal additional effort. Most major platforms now support this format (Instagram Reels, TikTok, LinkedIn video, Facebook Reels, X video).

Developing Your Social Media Strategy

So, you might be wondering now, how do I even get started?

Research Phase

Before creating any content, invest time in thorough research:

Start by managing everything yourself

Before considering outsourcing your marketing, try figuring the process out yourself.

Your product’s brand should be an extension of their founder

Study competitors in your industry:

Which platforms are they active on?

What types of content do they post?

Which posts receive the most engagement?

How frequently do they post?

Research brands outside your industry:

Look for innovative approaches from unrelated sectors

Find fresh perspectives that could differentiate your brand

Create a "swipe file":

Collect screenshots, recordings, and examples of effective content

Note what you like about each piece

Organize them for easy reference when you need inspiration

Implementation Phase

Start small, you can always scale later.

Choose a manageable posting schedule:

Begin with 2-3 posts per week on your primary platform

Consistency matters more than volume

Gradually increase frequency as you develop a workflow

Create organic and authentic content:

Your brand should feel like an extension of your personality

Avoid overly promotional or salesy content

View your content through the eyes of potential customers

Focus on providing value through content that:

Educates: Teaches your audience something useful

Entertains: Makes your audience laugh or smile

Relates: Connects with your audience through shared experiences

Shows behind-the-scenes: Offers glimpses into your development process

Example Brands to Check Out:

Here’s some brands you can use for inspiration to start your marketing journey. If any of their content resonates with you or your brand, add it to your swipe file for future reference!

Ryan Air

LED Light Guy on Tiktok

Hismile

HubSpot

Morning Brew

Gymshark

Content Ideas for "Boring" B2B Bubble Apps

Many Bubble app developers worry their product isn't "cool" enough for social media. This couldn't be further from the truth! Even the most technical B2B applications can create engaging social content.

Let's use an example: a CRM system for veterinary clinics. While the software itself might seem dry, the industry it serves offers plenty of engaging content opportunities.

Instead of focusing on how the software looks, you can focus on the impact, showing how your product helps veterinarians and animals!

Short-Form Video Ideas

Founder Story Videos:

Explain why you created the app

Describe the problem you're solving

Share your mission (e.g., "save vets 5 hours per week")

Cutscene Videos:

Start with popular viral content

Cut to a scene showing how your product relates

Add humor to make technical features more approachable

Relatable Industry Memes:

Create content that resonates with industry pain points

Use trending sounds or formats with industry-specific twists

Showcase insider knowledge that builds credibility

Educational Quick Tips:

Create snappy, fast-paced tutorials

Show specific features solving real problems

Keep production simple (phone recordings are fine)

Organic vs. Paid Social Media

In the beginning stages of your marketing strategy, focus exclusively on organic content:

Build your strategy: Determine what content resonates before investing money

Test and learn: Discover which messages convert before amplifying them

Save resources: Preserve your budget for scaling what's already working

If you can't find customers organically, paid advertising likely won't solve the problem. Only when you have a proven strategy should you consider adding paid promotion to accelerate growth.

Is Social Media Marketing For You?

Social media marketing represents a tremendous opportunity for Bubble app developers to reach potential customers at every stage of the funnel. By selecting the right platforms, researching effectively, and creating value-driven content, you can build a social presence that drives awareness, leads, and conversions.

In the next section, we'll explore search engine optimization (SEO) and how it can help potential customers discover your Bubble application through organic search.

Part 5: Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial long-term marketing strategy for any Bubble application. This section explains how to create an effective SEO strategy that drives sustainable traffic to your app.

Before we move forward, just keep in mind that we’ll assume you already have a basic understanding of what SEO actually is. We’ll mostly focus on optimizing our content for Google search.

Understanding SEO in the Context of Bubble Apps

SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank highly in search engine results, primarily Google. While it may not be the most exciting marketing channel, it's essential for long-term growth and visibility.

Unlike social media marketing where you post content directly on platforms like Instagram or Facebook, SEO work happens on your own website. It involves making strategic adjustments to your content and structure so Google can better understand what your site offers.

Why SEO Requires Patience

SEO is arguably the slowest marketing channel to show results. When starting a new SEO strategy, you should expect:

Initial results to take approximately 6 months to appear

Full benefits to develop over 12+ months

A gradual but sustainable increase in traffic

Because of this timeline, SEO is generally not the best first marketing channel for a new Bubble app. If you're just launching, consider other channels like cold outreach or social media that can deliver more immediate results.

However, once your app has found initial traction, implementing an SEO strategy becomes essential for long-term growth.

Important note for Bubble developers

There's an important distinction between your Bubble app (the dynamic web application users interact with) and your marketing website (the static site that explains your product). While both are important, most of your SEO efforts will focus on the static marketing website rather than the Bubble app itself.

When creating long-form blog posts for content marketing, we don’t recommend using the Bubble platform to host this type of content. Other platforms like Webflow or Wordpress would fare better.

Content Marketing

Content marketing forms the cornerstone of any effective SEO strategy. At its core, this involves creating blog posts and other content that target specific keywords your potential customers are searching for.

Rule #1

Only create content that people are actually searching for.

This is fundamentally different from social media content. On social platforms, you can create entertaining or engaging content regardless of whether it directly answers a search query. With SEO, your content must specifically address what users are typing into Google.

For example, if you're building a CRM for veterinary clinics:

Poor SEO content: "My First Week Building a Vet CRM SaaS"

No one is searching for this specific topic

Won't rank in search results despite being potentially interesting

Effective SEO content: "How to Choose the Right CRM for Your Vet Clinic"

Addresses a specific query potential customers are likely searching for

Provides value while promoting your solution

So how on Earth do we know what exactly people search for?

Keyword Planning: Finding What People Are Searching For

To discover what your potential customers are searching for, you need to conduct keyword research. Several tools can help with this process:

Ahrefs Keyword Generator

Shows monthly search volume for keywords

Provides keyword difficulty scores

Offers related keyword suggestions

SEMrush

Similar features to Ahrefs

Good for competitive analysis

Google Keyword Planner

Completely free tool from Google

Less restrictive for viewing large numbers of keywords

Originally designed for Google Ads but useful for SEO

When conducting keyword research, focus on:

Long-tail keywords: Longer, more specific search phrases (e.g., "CRM for veterinary clinics" instead of just "CRM")

Lower difficulty keywords: Terms with less competition that are easier to rank for

Relevant search intent: Keywords that match what your product offers

Don't be discouraged by lower search volumes for niche keywords. A targeted audience of 50-100 monthly searches from potential customers is more valuable than thousands of irrelevant visitors.

Streamlining Your Content Strategy

Creating quality content consistently is challenging, especially while simultaneously building and managing your Bubble app. Here are strategies to make content creation more manageable:

Leverage AI writing tools

Use tools like ChatGPT to draft initial content

Edit and personalize the AI-generated content to add your unique perspective

Be careful about publishing completely unedited AI content, as some search engines may penalize this

Repurpose video or audio content as written transcripts

Record videos explaining aspects of your industry or product

Use AI tools to automatically transcribe the video

Publish the transcript as a blog post with the video embedded at the top

This creates text content for Google to index while providing an engaging video experience for visitors

With this method, you get the benefit of increased time spent on a page when visitors watch the video

The Hidden Power of YouTube SEO

YouTube is the world's second-largest search engine and is owned by Google. This creates a unique opportunity for Bubble app creators, especially when targeting competitive keywords.

While a keyword might be extremely difficult to rank for in Google's main search results, the same keyword might have much less competition in YouTube search results. This is because:

Fewer businesses create video content compared to written content

YouTube prioritizes recency more heavily than Google

New channels can compete more effectively on YouTube than new websites can on Google

When you create a YouTube video, it can appear in both YouTube search results AND Google search results. Google often displays video results prominently at the top of search pages, giving you another avenue to visibility.

While it requires a certain amount of dedication, the additional effort to create videos over blog posts can be rewarding when you really need to grow your brand’s SEO.

Hosting Your Blog Content

When implementing an SEO strategy for your Bubble app, you'll need to decide where to host your blog content. Here are the recommended options:

Don't Use Bubble for Your Blog

While Bubble is excellent for building dynamic web applications, it's not ideal for hosting blog content because:

Long-form text content consumes significant database capacity

Bubble isn't optimized for SEO compared to dedicated blogging platforms

Loading times can be slower for content-heavy pages

Recommended Blog Hosting Options

WordPress

The most popular blogging platform

Excellent SEO capabilities out of the box

Thousands of plugins and themes available

Webflow

Designer-friendly interface

Strong SEO capabilities

Steeper learning curve than WordPress

Ghost

Focused specifically on blogging

Clean, minimalist interface

Excellent for publishing without distractions

These platforms are designed specifically for content publishing and have SEO features built in from the ground up.

Connecting Your Blog to Your Bubble App

Use a subdomain approach to connect your blog to your Bubble app:

Create your blog on a subdomain (e.g., blog.yourdomain.com)

Link to it from your main Bubble app

Maintain consistent branding across both properties

This approach keeps your content-heavy blog separate from your app while maintaining a cohesive user experience.

Backlinks: Building Authority for Your Site

The second major component of SEO is backlinks—links from other websites to yours. Backlinks serve as "votes of confidence" from other sites, signaling to Google that your content is trustworthy and valuable.

Suppose you are a new website after launch, search engines like Google will likely not rank you highly in their results since they’re not able to assess your website’s value. But if a lot of reputable websites link to your site, then Google will consider that a sign of trust or importance.

Quality Over Quantity

Not all backlinks are created equal:

Links from highly reputable, relevant websites carry significantly more weight

A single backlink from an authoritative site in your industry can be worth more than dozens of low-quality links

Backlink Strategies for Bubble App Developers

While backlink building can be a full-time job on its own, here are some manageable strategies for busy app developers:

Guest posting on industry blogs

Identify reputable blogs in your industry

Pitch them valuable content ideas

Include a link back to your site in your author bio or within the content

This provides value to their audience while earning you a quality backlink

Create unique industry reports that can be referenced

Conduct original research in your field

Create data visualizations and graphs that others will want to reference

Publish the report on your site

Other content creators will naturally link to your research when citing your data

Podcasts

Being a guest on industry podcasts often results in backlinks from show notes

These links are then frequently syndicated across podcast aggregation platforms

This strategy provides both backlinks and exposure to new audiences

While backlinking is important, it shouldn't be your primary focus when first building your app. Focus initially on creating valuable content and consider a more deliberate backlinking strategy once your product has gained traction.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Paid Ads

Search Engine Marketing involves paying for placement in search results through platforms like Google Ads. For new Bubble apps, it's generally recommended to avoid this approach initially.

Similar to other paid channels, SEM works best when:

You've already validated your product through organic channels

You have a clear understanding of your customer acquisition costs

You've identified high-converting keywords through organic content

Paid search can quickly deplete your budget if implemented prematurely or without a clear strategy. Save this approach for scaling a validated product rather than finding initial customers.

Should I Invest in SEO?

While SEO may not be the fastest or most exciting marketing channel for your Bubble app, it's essential for long-term sustainability and growth. By focusing on creating valuable content that addresses specific search queries, hosting that content on an SEO-friendly platform, and gradually building quality backlinks, you can develop a strong organic search presence.

In the next section, we'll explore product-led growth as another form of marketing strategy for your Bubble application.

Part 6: Product-led Growth

Product-led growth is perhaps the most appealing marketing strategy for Bubble app developers. This approach transforms your product itself into your primary marketing channel, creating a self-sustaining growth engine with minimal ongoing investment.

What is Product-Led Growth?

Product-led growth (PLG) is a marketing strategy where your product itself drives customer acquisition, conversion, and expansion. Rather than relying solely on external marketing efforts like ads or content, PLG leverages features within your application that naturally encourage sharing and referrals.

This approach is particularly attractive to founders and developers because it aligns perfectly with what we enjoy most—building features in Bubble that solve real problems. Nothing is more rewarding than bringing a vision to life in the Bubble editor and seeing it work in real-time.

With product-led growth, the features you build become your marketing engine.

When Product-Led Growth Works Best

While product-led growth is incredibly powerful, it's important to understand when it's most effective:

Better for scaling than starting: PLG typically works better for getting from 10,000 to 100,000 users rather than your first 100 to 1,000

Requires an initial user base: Since your product becomes the marketing, you need existing users to kick-start the process

Particularly effective for: Social networks, marketplaces, collaboration tools, and productivity apps

Depends on product quality: Users only share products they genuinely enjoy using

For most Bubble apps, product-led growth should be viewed as a supplementary strategy to implement alongside other marketing channels, especially in the early stages.

Embrace The Flywheel Effect

A successful product-led growth strategy creates what's known as a "flywheel effect"—a self-reinforcing cycle where:

Users discover your product

Users adopt your product

Users share your product (through built-in features)

New users discover your product from existing users

The cycle repeats, accelerating with each iteration

When functioning properly, this creates exponential growth. If each user brings in at least one new user, your customer base can double with each cycle. For sustainable growth, each user needs to attract at least one new user.

Real-World Examples of Product-Led Growth

Let's explore some successful implementations of product-led growth across different types of applications:

1. Strava's Shareable Activity Cards

Strava, the exercise tracking app, masterfully uses product-led growth by creating shareable activity cards after users complete workouts.

How it works:

Users track their runs, cycles, or swims in the app

After completing an activity, Strava generates a visually appealing summary card

Users can share these cards on social media, showcasing their accomplishments

Friends see these posts, discover Strava, and download it themselves

This approach works because it taps into users' natural desire to share their achievements. The product creates value first (tracking exercise), then makes it easy to share that value with others.

2. Typeform's End-Screen Promotion

Typeform, a form-building tool, implements product-led growth through a simple but effective end-screen promotion.

How it works:

When someone completes a Typeform survey or form

The final screen displays "Create your own Typeform"

People who were impressed by the experience can immediately become users themselves

This strategy works because:

The promotion appears only after users have experienced the product's value

It targets people at the moment they're most impressed with the experience

The call-to-action is clear and directly related to what they just experienced

3. Dribbble's Invite-Only System

Dribbble, a platform for designers to showcase their work, uses an exclusive invite-only system to drive growth.

How it works:

New users can only post on Dribbble if invited by an existing member

Each member receives a limited number of invites

This scarcity creates value and encourages careful selection of invitees

The exclusivity enhances the platform's reputation for quality

This approach works particularly well for community-based platforms where maintaining content quality is essential.

4. Outlook's Email Signature

One of the simplest yet most effective examples of product-led growth was Outlook's automatic email signature.

How it works:

Every email sent through Outlook automatically included "Sent from Outlook" at the bottom

Each signature included a link to download Outlook

Every email sent became a micro-advertisement for the platform

This strategy was particularly effective because:

It reached potential users through trusted contacts

It demonstrated the product in action

5. Uber's Referral Program

Uber's referral program is a classic example of incentivized product-led growth.

How it works:

Users receive a unique referral code

When they share this code with friends, both parties receive ride credits

New users are motivated to sign up to claim their discount

Both parties benefit from the transaction

This dual-incentive structure creates a strong motivation for existing users to promote the service.

Other Notable Examples

Many successful applications leverage product-led growth:

Figma and Slack: Workspace collaboration naturally requires inviting team members

Whoop: Referral program with rewards for both parties

Spotify Wrapped: Annual shareable statistics that users naturally want to post on social media

Calendly: Meeting scheduling links expose new potential users to the tool

Why Choose a Product-led Growth Strategy?

Product-led growth represents the dream scenario for many Bubble developers—building features that not only delight users but also drive customer acquisition. The most successful product-led growth strategies share a common thread: they add value to users first, then make it beneficial and easy to share that value with others.

In our final section, we'll explore how to leverage email marketing as part of your overall marketing strategy for your Bubble application.

Part 7: Email Marketing

Email marketing is an inevitable and essential channel for any Bubble app. Unlike other marketing strategies, email provides direct access to your audience and offers unparalleled control over your messaging and timing.

Understanding Email Marketing's Role

Email marketing differs fundamentally from the other channels we've discussed so far. While social media, SEO, and content marketing are public-facing channels that help potential customers discover your brand, email marketing operates differently:

Not for top-of-funnel growth: Email marketing isn't typically how new users discover your app

Great for conversion: Helps move leads down the funnel to become customers

Powerful for retention and upselling: Keeps existing customers engaged and reduces churn

You own your audience: Creates a direct line of communication with your audience

The key advantage of email marketing is that you can deliver the right message to the right person at exactly the right time—the marketing trifecta that's difficult to achieve with other channels.

Two Types of Email Marketing

Email marketing generally falls into two categories, each serving different purposes in your overall strategy:

1. Broadcast Emails

Broadcast emails are one-off messages sent manually to your entire list (or segments of it) at a specific time:

Manually created and scheduled: You write the email and decide when to send it

Same message to multiple recipients: Everyone on your selected list receives the same content

Perfect for time-sensitive announcements: Sales, product updates, or special events

Example: A Black Friday promotion offering 30% off your premium Bubble app subscription

Broadcasts are excellent for converting leads into customers, especially during limited-time promotions or when you have news to share.

2. Automated Email Sequences

Automated emails are pre-written messages triggered by specific actions or timeframes:

Set up once, run continuously: Create the sequence once and it runs automatically

Triggered by behaviors or timelines: Sent when users take specific actions or after predetermined delays

Personalized to user journey: Different users receive different emails based on their actions

Examples: Welcome emails, onboarding sequences, re-engagement campaigns

Automation allows you to scale your marketing efforts without requiring constant manual work.

Creating Effective Email Automation Sequences

Let's examine a basic email automation sequence for a new customer of your Bubble app:

Welcome Email (Immediate)

Thank the user for signing up

Provide login information and next steps

Feature Explanation (1 day later)

Highlight essential features they should try first

Encourage them to explore the application

Referral Request (7 days later)

Ask satisfied users to refer colleagues or friends

Provide a referral code or link

Upsell Opportunity (14 days later)

Introduce premium features or higher subscription tiers

Explain the additional value they would receive

This simple sequence nurtures new users through their first two weeks with your app, gradually deepening their engagement and eventually presenting opportunities for business growth.

Handling Complex User Journeys

In reality, not every user follows a linear path through your email sequences. Users might:

Not open certain emails

Or even cancel their subscription mid-sequence

To manage these complex scenarios, email marketing platforms allow you to:

Tag users based on their behaviors and attributes

Create conditional logic that sends different emails based on user actions

Set up exclusion rules to prevent irrelevant emails from being sen t

Build branching automation paths to accommodate different user journeys

This is where email marketing becomes similar to programming in Bubble—you need to anticipate various scenarios and build logic to handle each one appropriately.

Planning Your Email Automation Strategy

Before implementing any email automation in your chosen platform, it's valuable to map out your strategy visually:

Create a flowchart showing:

Entry points to your email sequence

Email content and timing

Decision points based on user behavior

Alternative paths for different scenarios

Exit points from sequences

Include details for each email:

Subject line

Key content points

Call-to-action

Tags to apply or check

Tools like Whimsical, Canva, or Miro are excellent for creating these visual maps before building them in your email platform.

Choosing the Right Email Marketing Platform

There are numerous email marketing platforms available, each with different strengths and pricing models. When selecting a platform, consider:

Choosing an Email Marketing Platform

When choosing a platform, prioritize:

Feature set: Ensure it supports the automations you need

Pricing model: Most platforms charge based on subscriber count

Ease of use: Some platforms are more intuitive than others

Integration capabilities: Check if it connects with Bubble and your other tools

Analytics: Look for detailed reporting on open rates, clicks, and conversions

Remember that while you can easily export your email list from one platform to another, rebuilding complex automation sequences is time-consuming. Choose carefully to avoid painful migrations later.

Recommended Platforms for Email Marketing

HubSpot

Comprehensive marketing suite

Powerful visual automation builder

Free tier for startups

Can become expensive as you scale

Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Creator-focused platform

Strong automation capabilities

Simple interface

Fair pricing model

Email Octopus

More affordable option

Simpler feature set

Good for beginners

Active Campaign

Advanced automation capabilities

CRM functionality

Comparable to HubSpot with different pricing structure

Quality Over Quantity in Email Marketing

More is not always more.

A critical principle in email marketing is that more subscribers don't automatically mean better results.

There are several important reasons for this:

Cost implications: You pay for your total subscriber count, including inactive subscribers

Deliverability concerns: Low engagement rates can hurt your sender reputation

Focus dilution: Managing a large, unengaged list diverts attention from your most valuable subscribers

It's far better to have 100 highly engaged subscribers who open and act on your emails than 10,000 subscribers who never open them. Regularly clean your list by removing long-term inactive subscribers to:

Reduce costs

Improve deliverability rates

Maintain accurate engagement metrics

Focus on serving your most interested prospects and customers

Should I Start Email Marketing Today?

Email marketing is an essential component of your Bubble app's long-term marketing strategy. While it may not be your primary channel for acquiring new users, it excels at nurturing leads, converting them to customers, and retaining them over time.

By understanding the difference between broadcasts and automation sequences, planning your email journeys visually, choosing the right platform, and focusing on engagement quality over subscriber quantity, you can build an email marketing system that drives sustainable growth for your Bubble application.

Ready to transform your marketing approach from guesswork to guaranteed results? The Building with Bubble Marketing Course takes you far beyond the basics you've learned here.

📚 Detailed Step-by-Step Instructions

Get granular, actionable guidance through over 3 hours of video content!

🎯 Live Strategy Demo

Watch over our shoulders as we build a complete marketing strategy from scratch.

📋 Ready-to-Use Marketing Strategy Template

Simply plug in your business details and follow our step-by-step framework to create a winning strategy in days, not months.

Now it's time to go all-in on building the marketing engine that will drive your business forward consistently and predictably. Enroll in the Building with Bubble Marketing course today!

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Konstantin Elovenko

Head of Marketing & Chief AI