Developer Marketing

In this article, we will explore the fascinating realm of what is developer marketing and its significance in driving product awareness, adoption, and advocacy among software developers. From understanding the growing influence of developers in software purchasing decisions to uncovering the unique challenges and effective strategies, we’ll provide insights and actionable tips for successful developer marketing campaigns.

Key Takeaways:

• Developers hold substantial influence in software purchasing decisions, making developer marketing a vital focus for software companies.
• Traditional marketing approaches fall short when targeting developers who seek detailed information and hands-on experiences.
• Effective developer marketing strategies involve educating, empowering, and building a vibrant developer community.
• Measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) such as awareness, adoption, engagement, community growth, and developer satisfaction is crucial for evaluating success.
• By embracing the distinctive characteristics of developers and aligning marketing efforts with their preferences, software companies can unlock the full potential of developer marketing.

What is Developer Marketing?

In today’s ever-evolving digital landscape, there’s a unique niche that holds the key to success for software companies—the realm of developer marketing. But what exactly is developer marketing? Well, it’s not just about catching the attention of software developers; it’s a multifaceted approach that encompasses principles, strategies, and tactics aimed at enhancing product awareness, adoption, and advocacy among various technical audiences. Developer marketing goes beyond mere promotion; it’s about educating and empowering technical communities to solve their problems using your product, thereby increasing adoption and usage.

For more detailed information, download our free e-book ‘What is Developer Marketing’

Why is Developer Marketing Important?

Why should you pay attention to developer marketing? Here are three compelling reasons:

1. Developers are wielding more control over software purchasing decisions

Research by Evans Data reveals that a staggering 95% of developers have some influence in the purchasing process. Another survey conducted by DeveloperMedia suggests that 60% of developers possess the authority to approve or reject technology purchases. Moreover, Stack Overflow’s extensive Developer Survey revealed that 57% of developers exert significant influence over technology procurement. The influence of developers is undeniable, and it’s crucial to cater to their needs and preferences.

2. The developer population is on the rise

If you think developers are just a small subset of your target market, think again. According to SlashData’s State of Developer Nation Report, as of Q1 2023, there are 35.6 million active developers worldwide. That is an increase of 11.3 million as of Q1 2021. Moreover, developers play a substantial role in the consumption, influence, or purchase of $40 billion worth of products, as highlighted by Dinesh Chandrasekhar, Cloudera’s Head of Product Marketing. Ignoring this significant and growing population would be a missed opportunity.

3. Traditional marketing methods fall short with developers

Developers possess unique characteristics that set them apart from other audiences. They are highly analytical, critical thinkers who delve deep into problems that your product aims to solve. They don’t want to be bombarded with marketing fluff or vague claims about benefits. Instead, they seek comprehensive information about your product’s features. Their focus lies in hands-on experience rather than hearing about potential benefits. To effectively engage developers, it’s crucial to be descriptive, accurate, and efficient in your communication, providing them with frictionless access to your product’s hands-on environment, which holds more value than any marketing material.

The Benefits of Developer Marketing

Now that we understand the importance of developer marketing let’s explore the five benefits it offers:

1. Developer Adoption

A successful developer marketing program should focus on increasing the number of developers who sign up for your product, access your API, or begin building applications for your marketplace. While developer sign-ups are not the sole measure of success, they are a crucial key performance indicator (KPI) that garners attention from stakeholders and executives. By measuring and understanding the drivers of developer adoption, you can build support and secure resources for your developer marketing initiative.

2. Developer Success

Developer success hinges on ensuring that your developer community becomes well-versed in your product, API, marketplace, etc. Traditionally, developer success relied on platforms like GitHub Pages and Read the Docs for hosting and distributing documentation. However, for modern developers, interactive and hands-on documentation is essential. Offering hands-on product environments, often called playgrounds, provides developers with a learn-by-doing experience, enabling them to assess how your product addresses their specific problems.

3. Developer Usage

Increasing ongoing usage among the developer community is vital for the long-term growth and success of your product. Once you’ve acquired developers, it’s crucial to ensure they continue using your product in the long run. To achieve this, focus on reducing friction in their learning experience, provide helpful product context when needed, and offer incentives that encourage developers to remain engaged with your product over time.

4. Lowering Developer Support Costs

As more developers adopt your product, the number of support tickets will inevitably increase. However, with proper handling, your developer advocacy team can identify common issues raised by the community and develop targeted product courses to address those concerns. By proactively addressing these support tickets, you can lower support costs and optimize resources.

5. Orchestrating Activities with Marketing

Once you’ve successfully engaged developers and they are actively using your product, it’s crucial to coordinate communication and engagement efforts between your developer marketers, traditional marketers, and sales staff. From product training offers to product roadmap announcements and potential license purchases, effective coordination ensures that the right messages reach developers at the right time, facilitating their journey through the funnel.

For a more detailed discussion on the benefits, download our free e-book ‘The 5 Benefits of Developer Marketing’.

Drivers for Business-to-Developer (B2D) Marketing Success

To achieve success in B2D marketing, consider the following three key drivers:

1. Lowering Friction for Developers

Minimizing the effort developers must exert to access or use your product is paramount. Developers value their time and require easy access to a live product experience. By providing a frictionless environment, developers can efficiently assess the effectiveness of your product and make purchasing decisions more swiftly.

2. Educate, Don’t Market or Sell

Developers despise traditional marketing tactics. If they sense that you’re merely pushing a product on them or using vague marketing jargon, they will look elsewhere for assistance. Instead, focus on educating developers and providing insightful information about how your product can address their specific needs. An educated developer is likelier to adopt your product when they fully understand its capabilities, potential, and limitations. To delve deeper into education’s importance in developer marketing, check out Forbes’ article titled “Why Education Is Key To A Developer Marketing Strategy.”

3. Adopt a Community-Centric Mindset

The ultimate goal of developer marketing is not just converting developers into leads or MQLs (marketing qualified leads). It’s about demonstrating that your product has the backing of an experienced developer community. A robust developer ecosystem provides invaluable resources such as technical support, best practices, and access to product experts. This ecosystem instills confidence in potential buyers, encouraging them to adopt your product and integrate it into their business infrastructure.

Challenges to Doing Effective Developer Marketing

While developer marketing offers immense potential, it comes with its own set of challenges:

1. Traditional Means of Marketing Won’t Work

Developers are unlikely to respond to traditional marketing or advertising efforts. Ad blockers, a lack of interest in external emails, and an aversion to generic marketing lingo create barriers. To effectively engage developers, focus on showcasing how others use your product and how it addresses their specific problems. Stay away from mainstream marketing language and instead empower developers with practical solutions.

2. Let Your Product (and Its Features) Do the Talking

Rather than relying on high-level marketing messages about potential benefits, developers prefer detailed descriptions of your product’s features. Avoid making assumptions about their problems and instead communicate the features clearly, enabling developers to determine if your product aligns with their needs. Moreover, ensure that your product is easily accessible, providing developers with a hands-on experience that allows them to explore its capabilities firsthand.

3. Ensuring Ease of Access

Simplifying access to your product is crucial in establishing trust with developers. Avoid unnecessary barriers like gated demos or content that hinder developers from exploring what you have to offer. Make it easy and streamlined for developers to access your product and save data collection for later stages. An initial positive impression is key to building long-term engagement.

4. Crafting the Right Messaging Approach

Effective developer marketing requires adopting a different mindset when crafting content. Developers should not be treated as leads but as professionals eager to learn, improve, and find the best tools for their needs. Analyze how other organizations approach developer marketing, learn from their messaging strategies and provide educational resources that empower developers to enhance their understanding of your product.

5. Avoiding the Early ‘Sell’

Timing is crucial in developer marketing. Avoid reaching out to developers immediately after they sign up for a product demo or trial. Developers dislike traditional sales tactics and are unlikely to respond positively. Instead, focus on empowering and educating developers about your product. Let them explore and understand its value at their own pace. Only when developers explicitly express interest should your sales team engage in purchase conversations. Remember, it’s better to be slightly late than too early regarding sales discussions with developers.

Creating a Developer Outreach Program

Building a robust developer outreach program starts with assembling the right team. A technical content writer, well-versed in your product, API, or marketplace, is essential. Consider leveraging internal engineers who possess in-depth knowledge of your product, as they can seamlessly transition into technical writing roles. Additionally, a community or marketing manager plays a vital role in developing the analytics and measurement framework for your developer marketing initiative, amplifying your content’s reach, and organizing developer events to boost awareness and engagement.

Measuring the Success of Your Program

Tracking the performance of your developer marketing efforts is crucial for continual improvement. Here are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to consider:

1. Awareness

Measure the reach of your developer marketing program through metrics such as the number of registrants for your developer newsletter, impressions on your developer portal or content, social media subscribers on developer-specific channels, hackathon and event attendees, blog article views and reads, and social media mentions. These indicators provide insights into your awareness within the developer community, the first step toward adoption.

2. Adoption

Analyze the number of developers signing up for your product, spinning up virtual labs or playgrounds, initiating trials, building applications, and integrating third-party platforms. Adoption rates help gauge the effectiveness of your awareness efforts in driving tangible results.

3. Engagement

Assess how frequently developers are using your product, which specific features they are utilizing, the number of API calls, average logins per developer, and the percentage of developers engaged with your product 30 days after sign-up. Engagement rates offer insights into whether developers actively incorporate your product into their daily workflows.

4. Community

Monitor the growth of your developer community, the number of developer groups, meetings, and participants, and the overall developer satisfaction. A strong community indicates a vibrant ecosystem, giving technical buyers the confidence to adopt your product and make it an integral part of their business infrastructure.

5. Developer Satisfaction

Determine your Net Promoter Score (NPS) and track the time it takes for developers to experience your product’s value (Time to First Hello World). A high NPS and low Time to First Hello World indicate satisfied developers who are more likely to become long-term users.

To gain deeper insights to Virtual Labs, a technology that enables hands-on product experiences, consider downloading the comprehensive guide available

Examples of Developer Marketing Initiatives

To inspire your developer marketing efforts, let’s explore three examples of successful initiatives:

Redis Labs

Redis Labs, the provider of the world’s leading real-time in-memory data platform, launched Redis University through Appsembler for Developer Marketing. Redis University offers online learning courses for Redis users to collaborate, gain insights from renowned database experts, and enhance their skills. This initiative combines education with marketing collateral, providing developers with valuable resources.

Check out our webinar to get an inside view of how and why Redis Labs created their dedicated education team to take advantage of Appsembler and use their online learning courses as effective marketing collateral.

Chef Software

Chef, a pioneer in Continuous Automation software and DevSecOps partnered with Appsembler for Developer Marketing to provide hands-on educational experiences through Learn Chef. By offering interactive learning courses, Chef successfully tailored their marketing efforts to the technical expertise of their target audience, generating high-volume lead generation and engagement.

Dremio

Dremio, the SQL lakehouse platform enabling high-performing BI and analytics, improved their product trial experience by streamlining the installation process through Appsembler for Developer Marketing. This optimization increased the volume of product trials delivered to potential buyers, enhancing user experience and conversion rates.

These examples illustrate the power of developer marketing and how tailored strategies can drive success.

Conclusion

Developer marketing is a dynamic field that empowers software companies to connect with developers, leverage their influence in purchasing decisions, and foster long-term adoption. By understanding the unique needs and preferences of developers, employing education-driven strategies, and building a thriving developer community, you can unlock the full potential of developer marketing. Embrace the challenges, measure your success, and embark on a journey to propel your product to new heights in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Remember, developer marketing is not just about capturing attention; it’s about building meaningful relationships, providing valuable resources, and empowering developers to achieve their goals. Now, armed with this comprehensive guide, it’s time to embark on your own developer marketing adventure and unleash the full potential of your product in the hands of developers worldwide.

Frequently Asked Questions