Developers, what marketing strategies work on you? • Hacker News Board

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#21

Post by 1123581321 » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:16 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #7

I wish marketers realized that as a developer, and a senior one at that, I have no say in what software my company pays for. I have a daily flood of messages from salespeople on email, linkedin, even text and calls asking me to "try out for your team", and I get frustrated trying to explain that no, that's now how things work at corporations beyond a certain size. A simple software license or subscription that will m…

Lots of reasons to still talk to you.

- it costs them nothing to 'reach out'

- your company might not be so bureaucratic

- you might be willing to set up shadow IT (run software without permission)

- you might move to another company that is more permissive

- they might be able to roll up developer interest into an enterprise-level sales pitch

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#22

Post by sxg » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:17 PM UTC

iaabtpbtpnn wrote: post #10

Make your website look like this: https://curl.se/ And not like this: https://www.databricks.com/

Definitely not a fan of the Databricks site, but the curl site also isn't very informative for a brand new user.

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#23

Post by Saulivar » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:19 PM UTC

Direct Response Copywriting works very well. So well that I even quit developing and started doing it full time. Launched a product and then another. Moved out of software development and into health. Like most successful marketers, I started by reading the great Gary Halbert Letter.

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#24

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:19 PM UTC

willquack wrote: post #6

Some trends in the responses for developers self reporting what influences their buying decisions: - Trusted peers using a product - Being able to test the product for free - DevRel with genuine developer chops and mindset - Good documentation - Guides and tutorials - No marketing fluff Also a lot of developers report that they think marketing doesn't affect their behaviour

[deleted]

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#25

Post by esafak » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:24 PM UTC

iaabtpbtpnn wrote: post #10

Make your website look like this: https://curl.se/ And not like this: https://www.databricks.com/

curl is a single product. Databricks is a brand with a product portfolio; they need brand- not product marketing. Their site is actually clear for a company of their size. Compare them with sap.com.

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#26

Post by pydry » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:24 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #2

The replies to the tweet that say some variation of ‘no marketing strategies work on me’ crack me up. If you think you’re too clever, it suggests to me that you could stand to be more introspective.

Why do you assume that it's necessarily false or that it's some kind of brag about intelligence?

There's not necessarily shame in reacting positively to marketing and a lot of marketing directed at developers is truly dire. Your product isnt getting any more sales because you hired somebody who printed some t shirts.

Anecdotally I'd say the most effective marketing done by software companies is done at bosses who are not very tech savvy. Microsoft is especially good at playing upon their emotions.

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#27

Post by notok » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:25 PM UTC

It's doubtful that people are conscious of what "works on them", so the question is unlikely to be answered accurately.

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#28

Post by pydry » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:25 PM UTC

dewey wrote: post #18

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #2

The replies to the tweet that say some variation of ‘no marketing strategies work on me’ crack me up. If you think you’re too clever, it suggests to me that you could stand to be more introspective.

Developers saying marketing doesn’t work on them while wearing a free Datadog T-shirt from some conference.

Because t shirts translate directly into sales, right?

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#29

Post by tithe » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:27 PM UTC

Not turning purchasing / procurement into an obstacle course.

A company burns a lot of goodwill by not being direct (which makes me even more suspicious of their offering): if what you have to offer is so great, then SHOW IT.

Re: Developers, what marketing strategies work on you?

#30

Post by bartonfink » Thu, Apr 04, 2024, 5:27 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #7

I wish marketers realized that as a developer, and a senior one at that, I have no say in what software my company pays for. I have a daily flood of messages from salespeople on email, linkedin, even text and calls asking me to "try out for your team", and I get frustrated trying to explain that no, that's now how things work at corporations beyond a certain size. A simple software license or subscription that will m…

Why reply? This is spam, it might not even be worth deleting regularly, let alone arguing with salespeople.