Be the migration guide when a tool in your space shuts down
A tool shutdown orphans users who are actively searching for what to use next. Publish a genuinely fair migration guide — the shutdown facts, every real alternative including competitors, who each suits — and share it, disclosed, in the threads where refugees are asking. Fairness is the growth mechanic: one-sided guides get called out; honest ones get pinned.
By The Marketinque TeamReviewed June 2026
The play
When a known tool in your category sunsets, write the honest migration guide — what died, why, and a fair map of the alternatives including direct competitors — and share it where that tool’s users are asking what to do. Disclose your stake up front.
How to run it
- Verify the shutdown facts from the primary source (the tool’s own announcement) — dates, reason, data-deletion deadlines.
- Write the guide with a real comparison table covering ALL credible alternatives, including your competitors, and say who each one suits best.
- Publish on your own site first, then share in the shutdown discussion threads with your affiliation disclosed in the first line.
- Answer every comment for 48 hours; update the guide with corrections and credit the commenters.
Watch out for
- Never celebrate or dunk on the dying tool — its users are grieving a workflow, and its builders are watching.
- The guide must be genuinely useful with your product removed from it; you earn the mention by writing the best map.
- Disclose your affiliation in the post body, not a buried comment.
Best for
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Plays like this one
- The disclosure-first founder answerOpen with the bias disclosure, then write the best answer in the thread — including when a competitor is the right pick. Disclosure converts skepticism into credibility: readers upvote founders who show their hand, and moderators leave disclosed expertise standing. Concealment is the pattern platform trust-scoring exists to catch; candor is the loophole that is also the rule.
- Answer every "is there a tool that…?" thread in your nicheMonitor your niche’s communities for "is there a tool that…" and "looking for an app" threads, then answer fast and honestly: recommend genuine options including competitors, disclose your affiliation, and explain the fit. These threads are purchase intent in plain text, and they keep converting from search for years.
- Run a 90/10 contribution ledgerKeep an actual ledger of community contributions and hold a 9-to-1 ratio of genuine help to self-promotion — banked in advance, not promised after. The discipline compounds twice: the answers themselves surface your expertise where buyers already look, and the account’s platform trust score rises, which is what decides whether future posts render at all.
- Build-in-public origin story in a niche subredditPost your product’s honest build-in-public origin story in the single subreddit where your buyers already gather. Open with the problem and what you learned, not a pitch. Mention the product only when a commenter asks. Genuinely useful, transparent founder posts earn upvotes, comments, and durable referral traffic without tripping self-promotion rules.
Sources
Compiled by The Marketinque Team to our editorial standards.