How technical does your messaging need to be when marketing to developers?

It depends! A common pitfall in developer marketing messaging is that the marketers spend a bunch of time trying to put things into terms they can understand as a non-developer. The trouble is, what works for you doesn't necessarily translate for them. Focus on the problem that your product is solving for them, how they would describe it, and what resonates with them.  That said, the messaging is often times going to veer away from classic organizational benefits: cost, ROI, competitive advantag ...Read More

Extremely. If you don't speak their language you will never be able to build credibility with them. Your messaging should also focus on education and explaining what your product does and how it does it instead of why your product is better. Developers tend to be skeptical of any such claims until they've verified for themselves, usually by playing around with the product. Your messaging also needs to be initimately familiar with their current worfklows, habits, and preferences so that you can h ...Read More

Developers want to know what something does and how it works. They want to jump in and try it out themselves. They want to see something new and get their hands on it. I’ve seen some persona work that says developers like to be the smartest person in the room and value content that stumps them. So you can say it does need to be technical, but it's not really about how technical the copy is and more around are you creating a message that caters to how the specific persona engages. If you lead wit ...Read More

Good question. You should definitely have the technical stuff at the ready, and usually docs will be your best friend for that, as would "Getting Started" guides, video walkthrough, etc.  But I tend to think of the technical stuff as the what and messaging as the how.  Developers are people too :) You don't have to throw the technical goobledygook at them outright. Especially when you're trying to convince them of your value props. That's where good messaging comes in. Be as straightforward and ...Read More

Your documentation needs to be extremely thorough (technical), and your resources need to leave no uncertainty in how or why to use new products and features, but your topline message doesn't necessarily need to be "technical"-- at least not how I think of the word, which is detailed and revealing-full-complexity. It just needs to be frank. Exactly what is the thing, and what can you do with it. Eliminate unecessary superlatives that developers often find dubious like "best" "fastest" "end-to-en ...Read More

The golden rule here is to make your messaging clear and actionable. A good template would be:  Achieve   by using our , which enables you to See how does it in action. Get started now Think of the journey you want your developer to go on. You wouldn’t jump straight to the manual of a particular model if you just decided to purchase your own barbecue grill. Start simple and keep increasing the level of technical detail as your developer audience makes their way from a Google search to your docum ...Read More

Agnostic of audience, a good product marketer will speak the common language of the audience they are serving. So when listening to the developer target audience via gong or chorus calls, you notice patterns in choice words/value props - it is necessary to weave those points into the overarching narrative. For example, at Crossbeam we are a data collaboration platform and have to navigate complexities in data sharing + information architecture before our customers can get value. We lightly cover ...Read More