Start with the free channels where Indian customers already look. Claim your Google Business Profile, fill in every field, add photos and reply to every review, which Google lists among the ways to improve local ranking; set up the WhatsApp Business app with a business profile, your products, and greeting and away messages; and post short videos on the one platform your buyers use, usually Instagram for consumer products and LinkedIn for B2B. Then make sales repeat: a referral offer for existing customers, a WhatsApp broadcast list for repeat buyers, and a simple website so search and ads have somewhere to send people. Pay for ads only once a free channel is working, and put money behind posts that already did well. The rule: one channel done properly beats five done half-way.
Part of Scaling a business on eChai Explore.
7 resources, 7 link-checked.
Google's own guidance on what decides where a business shows in local results: a complete, verified profile, accurate hours and category, photos, and responding to reviews.
From support.google.com by Google 5 min
Most WhatsApp pieces are pitches from tool vendors. This one is closer to an honest operator's map: it lays out the five flows Indian D2C brands actually run on WhatsApp (abandoned cart, COD confirmation, post-purchase, win-back, launch broadcasts) and pairs each with real numbers. Crucially, it also names the limits (opt-in rules, template approval delays, the WhatsApp Pay transaction cap, account-flagging risk), so you go in knowing the downside, not just the ROAS.
From ProductGrowth.in by ProductGrowth.in ~15 min read
When you have no budget, the worst move is to pour your limited time into a channel that was never going to work for your product. Traction gives you all nineteen ways a startup can reach customers and a simple way (the Bullseye framework) to bet on two or three worth testing first. Treat it as a menu and a method, not a verdict: your free channels will come from this list, you just have to find the ones that fit you.
From Portfolio (Penguin Random House) by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few customers. The cheapest, most honest way to validate demand is to go get it one person at a time.
From paulgraham.com by Paul Graham ~15 min read
Google's free listing that puts your business on Search and Maps with photos, hours, reviews and a link to your site. The page walks through setting one up in three steps.
From business.google.com by Google
Google Business Profile on eChai Explore
If your customers run their business on WhatsApp, being reachable there yourself is the point. The free Business app gives you labels to track your early customers, quick replies, and a catalog, so you can be the founder who responds fast on the same number they message everyone else on. A simple way to operationalise the be reachable and onboard them personally approach.
From Meta / WhatsApp (Google Play) by WhatsApp Free app
WhatsApp Business on eChai Explore
The only honest way to answer "is SEO working" is to look at real search data, and Google Search Console is the free, first-party tool that shows exactly which queries bring you clicks and impressions. Set it up on day one so you can see traffic build (or not) instead of guessing. It also flags indexing and crawl issues that quietly keep new sites out of search.
From Google by Google Free web tool
Google Search Console on eChai Explore
The same ground, over in Launch & get your first customers, our D2C track.
How founders actually use AI for this, over in Sales Prospecting.
The same ground, over in Build pipeline, our GTM track.
