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Lebanese tech-community outreach plan

Distribution beats product at this scale. Most Lebanese PC builders today open six retailer tabs in their browser; 961tech needs to surface in the channels they already trust.

Channels (priority order)

1. Reddit r/lebanon + r/buildapc

The Lebanese diaspora subreddit (r/lebanon, ~200k members) cycles through "where do I buy X in Beirut" and "is Y reliable" threads weekly. r/buildapc (~7M members) sees occasional Lebanese asks.

Plan: Post a soft-launch announcement once M2 has ≥ 4 working scrapers + working build flow. Tone: build-in-public, not advertorial. Link to /transparency for the affiliate disclosure. Engage in comments for 72h.

2. Lebanese Telegram groups

Several active gaming/PC-building groups exist. They're invite-only; access requires being invited by an existing member.

Plan: MASTER asks 1–2 trusted contacts to vouch + post the launch link. One post per group, no follow-up unless asked. Don't spam.

3. WhatsApp PC-builder groups

The most-used channel in the Lebanese PC market per personas.md §5.5. WhatsApp groups are typically 50-200 people, exchange retailer recommendations daily.

Plan: Same as Telegram — vouched introduction. WhatsApp is more sensitive to spam; one well-crafted message + link, then silence.

4. Tipster / influencer channels

Lebanese tech YouTubers / TikTokers are a long-tail surface. Reaching out cold rarely works; reaching out via a mutual friend works.

Plan: Defer until post-launch. When a YouTuber organically mentions 961tech (search Twitter / YouTube comments for "961tech"), thank them publicly and offer them a retailer-side affiliate code if they're interested in becoming a Stage-3 partner.

5. University CS departments

LIU, AUB, USJ, LAU all have CS programs. Students build their own machines.

Plan: Post on the relevant Discord / department mailing list once M2 ships. Frame as "tool built by a graduate solving this problem." Don't pitch.

6. Retailers themselves

Once a retailer signs a Stage-3 partnership, ask them to mention 961tech on their site as a partner. Reciprocal promotion is normal in the Lebanese B2B layer.

Plan: Part of #81 retailer-affiliate-relationship outreach.

Message templates

Each channel has its own templated message. Drafted in docs/marketing/outreach-messages.md (filed at launch time). Common shape:

Hi <channel>,

I built 961tech, a price comparison tool for Lebanese PC retailers — covers
PC and Parts, 961Souq, Macrotronics, Mojitech, Sbeity, Expert-Zone, Ayoub
Computers (so far). It's free, the source is on GitHub, and there's no
sign-up required.

The thing nobody else does: compatibility-checked builder. You can assemble
a PC and the tool flags incompatible parts (CPU/socket, PSU wattage, case
clearance, etc.).

Live at <url>. Feedback welcome. Open issues at <github-link>.

Adjust per channel — Reddit / WhatsApp / department list each get a different framing.

Evangelist recruitment

Per the launch criteria, the soft-launch goal is ≥ 50 active users for ≥ 14 days. The fastest way to that is identifying ~10 evangelists pre-launch:

  • Active commenters in the channels above
  • People who post Lebanese tech content publicly
  • Friends of MASTER who build PCs

Recruit them with: "I'm launching this thing in 2 weeks. Try it now, tell me what's broken, you'll be in the credits page if you want." No commercial relationship.

Anti-patterns

  • Don't announce on every channel the same day. Stagger: Reddit Monday, Telegram Wednesday, WhatsApp Friday. Spreads any backlash, lets feedback land before scaling.
  • Don't quote anyone without permission. Beirut tech is small; one misquote burns the network.
  • Don't promise what we can't deliver. "Live prices on every retailer" is fine; "always cheapest" is not.
  • Don't beg for upvotes. A post that asks for support reads desperate.

What success looks like

T+30 days from launch: - 250+ unique sessions - 50+ outbound clicks per week - ≥ 5 active evangelists organically referring others - 0 hard-bounce critiques (someone saying "this is broken / sketchy / wrong")

If we hit those numbers, scale outreach. If not, run a postmortem before more outreach.

See also