Developer Marketing. Do s and Don t s

Transcription

1 Developer Marketing Do s and Don t s Hello. I m Michael Coté with RedMonk. Developer for a decade at all sorts of places: doomed startup to slow-and-steady enterprise. Spend time talking with developers, being a complaining/solution post for them. Two parts: the problem of selling developer tools, then tools to market. Not all will work for you, sure, but some will. 1

2 The Most Important Things Developers buy tools because their friends like the tools Developers want respect Contrasts to corporate mandated software. Build a sales force of developers Create developer-to-developer marketing. 2

3 Who? *-monkeys Not managers and VPs (directly, at least) Developers - the people writing and testing the code diagram-, code-, or test-monkeys: Architects, coders, QA ers. May purchase on their own, or request/demand company purchase the tools. Contrasts to selling to management. Final sales force to make too look good, be used. Undoubtably upward dev influence, devs are the final sales team. 3

4 What? Paying for Tools Paying for tools & services Free + works = easy Pay + works = struggle The culture of paying for tools has changed. The tool has to work; getting money for it is the struggle. 4

5 What s the last tool you bought?...i don t remember... I asked the question what are the last 3 things you paid for? The answer was always a brain-gear-clunk. 5

6 The Problems Marketing is developer attention poison Boot-strapping word of mouth Getting developers to pay attention Getting developers to pay for tools Getting developers to switch, invest time Marketers are viewed like vampires once you invite a vampire in, it s bad times. Switching: optimized developers thinking with their fingers. 6

7 Need & Niche No alternative available No pretty alternative available Killer feature(s) Culture of paying Luxury and function. Killer features: refactoring, early ruby language support 7

8 The ROI Gambit The relative cost of these tools in comparison to the amount we make using them makes the cost seem almost irrelevant. If it confers a 1% productivity increase, then even assuming your developers cost $60K (a pretty bare minimum) then you're making $600/year per developer. Sort of a marketers wet dream: just throw up some graph and you re done. The closer to the money the developer is, the more this will work. Not as universal as you might hope with developers. 8

9 Example: The Apple Tribe TextMate TextMate: pretty, culture of paying, killer feature (ruby) OmniGraffle: pretty, culture of paying, no alternative Apple: luxury and function Others: Adobe Suites, Windows, OmniGraffle 9

10 sales_cycle.code 10: MARKETERS.get_attention(DEVELOPER); 20: DEVELOPER.trial(SOFTWARE); 30: DEVELOPER.buy(SOFTWARE); 40: MARKETERS.add(DEVELOPER); 50: GOTO 10; This is the cycle, from a marketer s side. Make the developers join your sales and marketing team 10

11 Tools for Getting Attention Publishing Participating Giving something away 11

12 Showing with Screencasts Screencasts Time-shifting Webcasts? [Attention] Short, Small, self-contained. If it can t fit in 5-10 minutes, something prolly wrong. Separate introduction episodes from update episodes. Tools: Camtaisa, IShowU, Scripts. 12

13 The Endless Cocktail Hour Moving away from faceless - be informal Sell your people, culture, and then product Blogs, podcasts, forums Vampires - Avoid phone calls Sending out your developers - find passionate people and let them love the world Getting attention with engagement/talking Adobe blog squad Twitter/Pownce/Jaiku, blogs, flickr, IRC, open src prjs 13

14 Messaging Medic - Avoid you re broken; we can fix you Boasting - Avoid we re better than Brand X Heros - You want the developer to succeed, not (just) the software Be sensitive to developer s ego as expressed in existing mess. Let the community do the boasting, not the commercial company. 14

15 barcamps Still a best kept secret Developers getting together to synch culture, show-off, hangout, drink foo, bar, baz - but booze applies too All over the place - barcamp.org Sponsor, attend, organize, look for 15

16 Giving Something Away Scenerios for test driving - quick & easy The more compelling, the more limited it can be Virtual images and appliances? Vampires - avoid the siren call of lead collection Trial the software. Limit production use? Small enough to subvert need for training. Support: Forums, , IRC. 16

17 Getting Input Move from file a feature request Spiceworks Spiciness Showing respect by involving developers in full process. Prove that you re listening. 17

18 Marketing Rewards & Tools Driving traffic Driving business Put them on the (press) referral list IRC & Forums Badges and canned messaging 18

19 Making Rock-stars It is easy to convince your bosses to adopt pay software when you are convinced that you can become a rock star executing your ideas. The positive energy that employee-type developers feel when desiring this incentive, Identify leaders by participation & innovation Points systems Book deals Conference passes is very infectious as well. MVP programs. Some type of recognition of community status. 19

20 Other References 20

21 Thank you! License Contact Michael Coté

22 Developer Bullets Developers have become nearly immune to traditional marketing Developers spend far more time online than they do with print publications Developers would rather talk with someone than be talked at by something Developers are starting their own mini communities via blogs Developers don't just code at the office Developers are not content to sit back and wait for updates or news; they can make their own From sog s Bottom-up Marketing 22

23 When? Two Times for Marketing Before the sale - collecting the cash After the sale - using and loving the tool Shelf-ware avoidance - Devs will make you look good or bad in using the tool 23

24 Boasting Boasting Slam videos Caustic cultures These are things you want to happen organically. Not from you directly or indirectly. 24

25 Hanger-ons Bloggers Podcasters Analysts Press Conference orginizers Book publishers 25

26 barcamp board, Blake Burris: Pay Here sign, sparklefish: Apple Laptop, hyku: Thinking Monkey, JoVivek: Cocktails & Napkin, Spine: Apple on Dell, Teresa Sheehan: Apple under ice, Lazy Lightning: Credits & Co. 26