Build moderator relationships through months of value-add before requesting promotion
Earn permission for high-visibility posts by first being a valuable community member for an extended period. Engage authentically, build features users request, and demonstrate you're genuinely invested in the community. When you've proven yourself, moderators are more likely to approve promotional posts that would normally be rejected.
When to use
When targeting communities with strict self-promotion rules (like most active subreddits). The time investment is worth it when the community contains a high concentration of your exact target users.
Don't do this
Immediately asking moderators for permission to promote without building any community presence first. Or being purely extractive - only showing up to promote rather than genuinely participating.
1 Founder Who Did This
Engaged in Reddit weekly comment threads for 3.5 months, built features community requested, established himself as helpful member. Then messaged moderator asking permission for top-level post about SaveWise.