# Go-to-Market Plan The product is approximately feature-complete. The priority now is getting real users in front of it to surface the remaining 10% of issues through actual use, not internal testing. This plan runs two tracks in parallel: fast direct outreach (weeks) and slower discoverability work (months). --- ## Track 1: Direct Outreach (weeks) Inbound SEO for a niche B2B tool takes 12–18 months. The faster path to customer zero is warm outreach to specific people. ### Target personas - **Factory line managers / production supervisors** at small-to-mid manufacturers — the ticket submitters - **Quality consultants / lean/six-sigma practitioners** — the experts answering tickets; getting one consultant onboard may pull in their clients ### Channels - **LinkedIn DMs** — search for quality managers, production supervisors, ISO 9001/lean practitioners at manufacturers. Be specific: "I built a tool for this exact problem, would love 30 minutes of your time." - **Consultant communities** — LinkedIn groups, Slack/Discord communities for lean manufacturing, quality management, ISO 9001 circles - **Pablo follow-up** — he is still customer zero; a gentle nudge with a specific ask ("can you try submitting one ticket this week?") is worth doing now ### Goal Get at least one real user submitting a real ticket. Their feedback is worth more than any internal testing. --- ## Track 2: Discoverability (weeks to months) ### Done (in the repo) - [x] **sitemap.xml** — Auto-generated by Next.js at `https://quality-intelligence.co/sitemap.xml`. Includes all four marketing pages with priority weights. - [x] **robots.txt** — Auto-generated at `https://quality-intelligence.co/robots.txt`. Allows crawlers on marketing pages, blocks all app routes. Points to sitemap. - [x] **metadataBase** — Set on root layout so all OG/canonical URLs resolve correctly against the production domain. - [x] **Per-page metadata** — Homepage, About, and Company now each have specific ``, `<meta description>`, Open Graph `url`, and `canonical` tags rather than inheriting the generic root fallback. - [x] **JSON-LD structured data** — Organization, SoftwareApplication, and WebSite schema added to the landing page. This is what search engines and AI tools use to understand what the product is and who it is for. ### Your actions: immediate (this week) #### 1. Google Search Console > The most important external step. Without it, Googlebot crawls passively and slowly; this gets you indexed within days. 1. Go to [search.google.com/search-console](https://search.google.com/search-console) 2. Click **Add property** → choose **URL prefix** → enter `https://quality-intelligence.co` 3. Verify ownership via **HTML tag** method: copy the `<meta name="google-site-verification" ...>` tag it gives you, add it to the root layout's `metadata` object in `src/app/layout.tsx` under a `verification` key, deploy, then click **Verify** 4. Once verified, go to **Sitemaps** → enter `sitemap.xml` → click **Submit** 5. Go to **URL Inspection** → enter `https://quality-intelligence.co` → click **Request indexing**. Repeat for `/about`, `/company`, `/contact` #### 2. Bing Webmaster Tools > Bing feeds Perplexity and some ChatGPT web-browsing results — this is the indirect lever for AI search. 1. Go to [bing.com/webmasters](https://www.bing.com/webmasters) 2. Sign in with a Microsoft account → **Add a site** → enter `https://quality-intelligence.co` 3. Verify via **XML file** or **Meta tag** (meta tag is easiest — same approach as Google above, but a different tag; Bing accepts its own verification tag in the same `metadata.verification` object) 4. Once verified, go to **Sitemaps** → submit `https://quality-intelligence.co/sitemap.xml` 5. Use **URL submission** to manually submit the four marketing pages **Adding both verification tags to the code:** In `src/app/layout.tsx`, inside the `metadata` export, add: ```ts verification: { google: 'paste-your-google-verification-code-here', other: { 'msvalidate.01': 'paste-your-bing-verification-code-here', }, }, ``` #### 3. LinkedIn company page > A verified LinkedIn company page acts as a backlink and social proof signal. If one already exists at `linkedin.com/company/quality-intelligence`, make sure it links back to `https://quality-intelligence.co` in the website field. 1. Go to the Quality Intelligence LinkedIn company page 2. Click **Edit page** → ensure the website field is set to `https://quality-intelligence.co` 3. Post a short update announcing the product is live and linking to the site — even one post starts generating crawlable signals ### Your actions: short-term (this month) #### 4. Product Hunt > High domain authority, builder-friendly community. The backlink alone is worth it even if the audience isn't perfectly targeted. 1. Go to [producthunt.com](https://www.producthunt.com) and create an account if needed 2. Click your avatar → **Submit a product** 3. Name: `Ask QIEN` · Tagline: something like `AI-augmented quality support for regulated manufacturing` 4. Website: `https://quality-intelligence.co` 5. Add the brand mark (`/public/brand/qi-mark.png`) as the product logo 6. Write a maker comment explaining who it is for and what problem it solves — this is the first thing visitors read 7. You can schedule a launch date or post immediately; scheduling for a Tuesday/Wednesday morning (US ET) typically gets more traffic #### 5. G2 and/or Capterra > These are where B2B buyers in manufacturing actually research software. Even a sparse listing is worth the backlink and future discoverability. **G2:** 1. Go to [g2.com/products/new](https://www.g2.com/products/new) and create a vendor account 2. Category suggestion: search for "Quality Management Software" or "Customer Support Software" — pick whichever fits best 3. Fill in product name, URL, description (reuse the About page copy), and screenshots if you have them **Capterra:** 1. Go to [capterra.com/vendors](https://www.capterra.com/vendors/) → **List your product** 2. Similar process — look for "Quality Management" or "Help Desk" categories Both are free to list; paid placement comes later if relevant. #### 6. Reddit post > Frame it as a genuine "I built this, would love feedback" post — not a promotion. These communities are receptive to builders. Suggested subreddits (post in one at a time, not all at once): - r/manufacturing - r/qualityassurance - r/sixsigma - r/pharma (if comfortable with the audience) Draft angle: "I've been building a tool to replace the email-and-spreadsheet workflow that quality teams use to manage issues with external consultants. Wondering if this resonates with anyone in here — happy to share a link and hear what you'd do differently." ### Ongoing - [ ] **Monitor Search Console** — check weekly for the first month; it takes 4–8 weeks to see real impressions data after submission - [ ] **Content (3–5 posts)** — target problems your users are already googling: "how to manage quality consultant communication", "structured issue tracking for production lines", "reducing back-and-forth with external consultants". Even a small amount of relevant content accelerates SEO and gives you something to share in outreach. - [ ] **OG social image** — create a 1200×630px image (the brand mark + product name + one-line tagline on a clean background) and add it as `og:image` in the root layout metadata. Without this, link shares on LinkedIn/Slack look bare. - [ ] **Iterate on feedback** — treat every early user as a source of product signal, not just validation. --- ## Notes on AI search discoverability Getting suggested by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, etc. is largely a function of being well-indexed by Bing and having enough web presence (backlinks, mentions). There is no direct submission path. The levers are: 1. Bing Webmaster Tools (most direct) 2. High-authority backlinks (G2, Capterra, Product Hunt) 3. JSON-LD structured data (done — tells AI crawlers what the product is) 4. Content that answers questions people ask AI tools This has real lag time — start now, expect results in 3–6 months.