# Indirect demand creation (Michelin Strategy)

> Incentivize a behavior that naturally increases usage of your product, rather than marketing the product directly.

- Canonical HTML: https://growth.iangoh.com/growth-ideas/indirect-demand-creation-michelin-strategy/
- Source: [reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/SaaSMarketing/comments/1p6a0b4/top_10_saas_growth_strategies_that_can_help_you/)
- GrowthDex source hub: [reddit.com](/sources/reddit-com-reddit-com/)
- Last checked: March 21, 2026
- Rarity: common
- Budget: free
- Channels: Communities
- Stages: 0-100, 100-1K


## Why this can grow

Instead of pushing users to buy, you pull them toward an activity that makes your product indispensable. This reframes marketing as enablement, which feels generous rather than salesy. Users don't feel sold to — they feel supported. The strategy also creates secondary content and community assets (like awards or leaderboards) that generate their own distribution.

## Ian's take

From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. I would treat this as earning the right to be in the room, not dropping a campaign into a room. In community-led growth, the first job is to notice what people already care about, then bring a useful proof, tool, teardown, or question that makes the conversation better. I would run it small enough to learn quickly, then only scale the parts that real users repeat, save, reply to, or buy from. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.

## Action plan

1. Define one narrow startup segment where indirect demand creation (michelin strategy) can create a measurable lift.
2. Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Communities channel.
3. Use the evidence from reddit.com to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
4. Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
5. Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.

## Source-backed example

Michelin created restaurant star ratings to encourage driving (and tire wear); Nike tells you to run more (wearing out shoes faster); SaaS tools can create challenges, templates, or awards that drive deeper product usage and organic upgrades.

## Adjacent tactics in the same lane

- [Competitor mention hijacking](/growth-ideas/competitor-mention-hijacking/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 2 shared stages
- ["Break My App" challenge campaign](/growth-ideas/break-my-app-challenge-campaign/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 2 shared stages
- [AI agent as product wedge](/growth-ideas/ai-agent-as-product-wedge/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 2 shared stages
- [Reddit profile-as-funnel optimization](/growth-ideas/reddit-profile-as-funnel-optimization/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 2 shared stages

## Read GrowthDex essays

Browse the plain-English essay index at [GrowthDex Blog](/blog/).

## Advisory

If you want help turning this into a working growth system, Ian Goh offers advisory at https://iangoh.com/advisory.