Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Marketing is scary for a solo developer

raumet.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 280 posts

Re: Marketing is scary for a solo developer

#111

Post by pjc50 »

libertine wrote: post #99
lbriner wrote: post #83

Here's the thing. Developers are generally perfectionists and marketers are realists. As a Developer, I am naturally uncomfortable with marketing because my default view is that I don't want to lie or over-promise and I don't like fluffy claims. Marketers and sales people can be less bothered about facts but I think much of the time, we just think that, the truth is that there can be a lot of fact-based marketing but…

> my default view is that I don't want to lie or over-promise This is the greatest prejudice around marketing in the tech community. A simple exercise you can do that debunks that frame of thought: lies are unsustainable. Unless you're a government or a monopoly that has their predictable flow of revenue, lies aren't affordable. You can lie and scam people, but that's not a long term strategy, because you'll burn off…

> lies are unsustainable.

All sorts of things are "unsustainable". It only has to be sustainable long enough to cash out.

Re: Marketing is scary for a solo developer

#112

Post by Invictus0 »

vbezhenar wrote: post #105
magicroot75 wrote: post #26

I work solely in marketing/advertising and have no clue how to code. I generally enjoy technology, which is why I'm on HN. I think marketers and developers need a stronger culture between ourselves. The tools of marketers (data mining, consumer behavior analysis, surveys, market testing, etc) aren't just a veneer to be applied at the completion of a development project. Marketing, when done correctly, informs UX. Mar…

Many developers don't want to deliver a high-impact product. They want to enjoy the process of creation, earn some reasonable money and make lifes of some people better.

> don't want to deliver a high-impact product

> earn some reasonable money

These two are in opposition

Re: Marketing is scary for a solo developer

#113

Post by ebiester »

vbezhenar wrote: post #105
magicroot75 wrote: post #26

I work solely in marketing/advertising and have no clue how to code. I generally enjoy technology, which is why I'm on HN. I think marketers and developers need a stronger culture between ourselves. The tools of marketers (data mining, consumer behavior analysis, surveys, market testing, etc) aren't just a veneer to be applied at the completion of a development project. Marketing, when done correctly, informs UX. Mar…

Many developers don't want to deliver a high-impact product. They want to enjoy the process of creation, earn some reasonable money and make lifes of some people better.

However, may developers do want a high-impact product. That's orthogonal to making gazillions of dollars.

"I want what I write to matter to someone" is the fundamental calling of many founders.

Re: Marketing is scary for a solo developer

#114

Post by koonsolo »

Zealotux wrote: post #6

I have been running into that exact problem for months now, I have early users messaging me with "why don't you talk more of your product? this just what I was looking for it took me hours to find it". So while I agree with the point but honestly: this kind of advice is not helping much, it's like telling an introvert to socialize. Courses could help maybe? Hiring a consultant for a few hours? Looking for a co-founde…

Can you reframe it as informing/educating your (potential) users?

Your product is important, but users knowing how to use it, and what new features are there is also important.

At least for me this different mindset made a difference.

Re: Marketing is scary for a solo developer

#115

Post by hasmolo »

Invictus0 wrote: post #112
vbezhenar wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many developers don't want to deliver a high-impact product. They want to enjoy the process of creation, earn some reasonable money and make lifes of some people better.

> don't want to deliver a high-impact product > earn some reasonable money These two are in opposition

not really, you can make good money not at a big corp, amd not work on high impact stuff. yelp, intuit, adobe all fit the bill

Re: Marketing is scary for a solo developer

#116

Post by derwiki »

Invictus0 wrote: post #112
vbezhenar wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many developers don't want to deliver a high-impact product. They want to enjoy the process of creation, earn some reasonable money and make lifes of some people better.

> don't want to deliver a high-impact product > earn some reasonable money These two are in opposition

Not at Megacorp they aren’t

Re: Marketing is scary for a solo developer

#118

Post by sulam »

enriquto wrote: post #44
magicroot75 wrote: post #26

I work solely in marketing/advertising and have no clue how to code. I generally enjoy technology, which is why I'm on HN. I think marketers and developers need a stronger culture between ourselves. The tools of marketers (data mining, consumer behavior analysis, surveys, market testing, etc) aren't just a veneer to be applied at the completion of a development project. Marketing, when done correctly, informs UX. Mar…

> This is not the optimal means to delivering a high-impact product. This is just a single data point, but for a view "from the other side", my honest and immediate answer to this question is: "I don't care". When writing programs, my concern has never been "to deliver a high-impact product". In fact, I find this language very annoying; and saying that my program is a "product" feels like a very offensive insult. The…

Do you work in research, or maybe open source?

Re: Marketing is scary for a solo developer

#119

Post by dempseye »

pawelwentpawel wrote: post #100
itsmemattchung wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The tools of marketers (data mining, consumer behavior analysis, surveys, market testing, etc) aren't just a veneer to be applied at the completion of a development project. Marketing, when done correctly, informs UX. Up until a couple months ago, I thought Marketing teams/organizations were a bit hand wavy. But recently, I took a digital marketing course at Georgia Tech, which changed my perspective completely: ma…

What's your opinion of the Georgia Tech course? I'm just on their website checking out the curriculum, seems pretty straight to the point.

Can you drop the link to it? I'm not sure if you mean the bootcamp.

Re: Marketing is scary for a solo developer

#120

Post by playpause »

fny wrote: post #52
magicroot75 wrote: post #26

I work solely in marketing/advertising and have no clue how to code. I generally enjoy technology, which is why I'm on HN. I think marketers and developers need a stronger culture between ourselves. The tools of marketers (data mining, consumer behavior analysis, surveys, market testing, etc) aren't just a veneer to be applied at the completion of a development project. Marketing, when done correctly, informs UX. Mar…

No. Marketing and sales should be siloed away from devs. This is why you need a product person to intermediate. Marketing and sales has very different incentives from developers. Marketers are often trigger happy with features because they "sell" despite the fact that these feature may have a short shelf life and may take resources away from developing of more essential product features. Developers are similarly alle…

Off topic, but there is something intensely irritating about replies that start with “No.” It’s fine to disagree and argue whatever point you want, but when you open with “No.” it seems like you’re saying “You are objectively wrong; I will now enlighten you with the correct viewpoint.”
Post reply on HN