Going Deepear Into Dev Marketing

Jakub Czakon markepear.dev

We go deep into developer marketing. Actionable insights that dev tool founders and marketers can use to grow today. Long interviews with top dev tool marketers, solo deep-dives, examples and teardowns. This will be fun.

Tập

  1. 1 NGÀY TRƯỚC

    #10 [Interview] Marketing dev tools on Reddit with Aditya Ramakrishnan

    Aditya Ramakrishnan (PMM at Reo.dev, ex-Stripe, ex-ImageKit) shares his learning from marketing dev tools and technical products on Reddit. Aditya focuses on organic strategies, hard-earned learnings and examples from years engaging on Reddit. Links⁠ Aditya Ramakrishnan https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaramakrishnan/ Jakub Czakon https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-czakon/ Aditya’s LinkedIn post on Reddit Marketing https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adityaramakrishnan_i-have-over-40000-reddit-karma-across-all-activity-7300967842558947330-vNbb/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAA6PPusBHGh3FZIjVWx49BUzJv6Bq6AODbEExample from Storylane https://www.reddit.com/r/ProductMarketing/comments/16piggb/interactive_demo_platform_comparison/ Example from CRMs https://www.reddit.com/r/CRM/comments/1l5pr1x/looking_for_a_solution_for_service_company/ Example from API GUI https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPTPro/comments/1bs3sp3/api_gui/ DevOps Engineer subreddit on promotion https://www.reddit.com/r/devops/comments/1kxn40o/devops_engineer_created_tools_and_appswhat_are/ Open Source Payments launch post 800 upvotes https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/10bmhpb/announcing_hyperswitch_open_source_payments/ Reddit Answers feature https://www.reddit.com/answers/194309d8-316d-4466-9cb5-e928f1e86319?q=image%20compression%20apis Tool promotion on StackOverflow example https://www.markepear.dev/example/brilliant-plug-comment-on-stackoverflowReddit Ads examples https://www.markepear.dev/examples/reddit Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Aditya Ramakrishnan and His Background06:14 The Importance of Developer Marketing12:08 Key Learnings from Marketing at Developer-Focused Companies18:17 The Role of Content in Developer Marketing24:11 Understanding Reddit as a Marketing Platform30:18 Engaging with the Developer Community on Reddit46:18 Navigating Reddit: Getting Comfortable50:09 Understanding Reddit's Unique Culture52:21 Building Reddit Skills: The 80-20 Rule55:19 Leveraging Reddit Tools for Research58:35 Authenticity in Reddit Engagement01:01:29 Effective Product Advocacy on Reddit01:12:24 Collaborative Reddit Strategies01:15:22 Community Monitoring and Tools for Engagement01:17:11 The Role of Marketers in Online Conversations01:19:14 Building a Reddit Muscle for Effective Engagement01:22:14 Establishing a Social Listening Strategy01:24:46 Open House: Sharing Insights Across Teams01:30:23 Metrics for Measuring Engagement Success01:42:10 Reddit Advertising: Strategies and Insights Takeaways Developers consume a lot of content and need to stay updated.Brand matters even to developers; they have brand affinities.Content marketing should be central to developer marketing strategies.Developers are involved in every buying cycle, even if not directly.Reddit is a unique platform that requires understanding its culture.Engagement on Reddit should be genuine and value-driven.Marketers should leverage developers as advocates in communities.Active participation in discussions is crucial for success on Reddit.Understanding the nuances of Reddit can lead to better marketing outcomes. Providing value is essential in content marketing.Authenticity in product advocacy builds trust.Marketers should create content guidelines for effective communication.Developers play a crucial role in writing authentic content.Transparency in promotion fosters trust with the audience.Avoiding quotas in community engagement leads to more genuine interactions.Social listening tools are vital for understanding community needs.Establishing a community engagement process is key to success.Reddit advertising should focus on brand recall rather than direct conversions. Keywords Developer marketing, Reddit, community engagement, developer tools, marketing insights, content marketing, product advocacy, community engagement, social listening, developer marketing, Reddit strategies.

    1 giờ 47 phút
  2. 10 THG 7

    #9 [Teardown] LinkedIn Ads from Aikido Security

    In this episode I go over LinkedIn Ads from Aikido Security. I love their no BS but tongue in cheek approach to marketing and fantastic brand stunts (remember OnlyScans?). I also explained a framework I like that fits quite nicely into this approach. Links⁠ Aikido Security in LinkedIn Ads library https://www.linkedin.com/ad-library/search?accountOwner=aikido+securityAikido Security https://www.aikido.dev/Jakub Czakon ⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-czakon/LinkedIn Framework from Impactable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqpiSyH7-Y8&list=PLkUlQWMs43Ej774fAkMc7kuTloulOu6zy Chapters 00:00 Understanding Aikido's Advertising Strategy03:13 Layers of Advertising: Cold, Retargeting, and Conversion06:28 Creative Approaches in Cold Layer Advertising09:26 Building Trust: Testimonials and Case Studies12:33 Differentiation and Competitive Analysis15:20 Thought Leadership and Community Engagement18:24 Final Thoughts on Aikido's Advertising Success Takeaways Aikido's ads are effective and engaging.Advertising can be broken down into three layers: cold, retargeting, and conversion.Creative content is crucial in the cold layer to attract interest.Testimonials and case studies build trust in the retargeting layer.Differentiation from competitors is key in advertising.Thought leadership can enhance community engagement.Using various ad formats can improve overall effectiveness.It's important to communicate product functionalities clearly.Building a strong pipeline is essential for growth.Continuous improvement in advertising strategies is necessary. Keywords Aikido, advertising strategy, LinkedIn ads, cold layer, retargeting, conversion, testimonials, case studies, differentiation, thought leadership

    21 phút
  3. 27 THG 6

    #8 [Interview] Adam Frankl's tips for developer marketers (not only founders)

    Adam Frankl is perhaps the GOAT of dev marketing but definitely the Triceratops who was the first VP marketing at 3 dev tool startups that became unicorns. Author of a must read book for dev tool founders - Developer Facing Startup. Had so much fun talking and learning from Adam. Links⁠ - Adam Frankl https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamfrankl/ - Jakub Czakon https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-czakon/ - The Developer Facing Startup (Adam's book) https://www.amazon.com/Developer-Facing-Startup-market-developer-facing/dp/B0D4KGHQML - Developer Facing Startup Founder's Academy (Adam's course) https://developerfacingstartup.dev/ - Value Proposition Design book ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Value-Proposition-Design-Customers-Strategyzer/dp/1118968050 - Lean Customer Development book https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Customer-Development-Hardcover-version/dp/1449356354 Takeaways Technical advisory board tweaks for dev marketers implementing this (including the chief scientist persona, social media marketing)Creating authority and actual thought leadership content as a non SME marketerExamples of owning the problem midnshare from Neo4j (graph database newsletter)Strategic narrative framing for dev tools + example from sourcegraphTechnology discovery loop for devs (and getting into those loops)Dark matter devs and how to solve it with targeting “alpha developers” who in turn speak to other devsFree anonymous piece of product + examples from Neo4j and SourcegraphAdjusted value proposition design framework (pains, gains, jobs to be done, AND changes in the environment)Why influencer marketing is the thing to do. Why Adam believes that paid flavor of this doesn’t work. And what you should do insteadWhen introductory developer content is actually the playCreating research-based content factory with an example from jFrog and TailscaleAnd finally, why Adam’s is even doing this.Chapters 00:00 The Importance of Iteration in Development 04:05 The Role of Feedback in Product Development 06:29 Understanding Intellectual Property in Tech 09:30 The Evolution of AI and Its Interfaces 12:39 The Value of Customer Feedback 14:53 The Journey of a Developer Marketer 17:38 Creating a Technical Advisory Board 20:44 The Role of Problem Framing in Marketing 36:55 Becoming an Expert: The Two Paths 39:06 The Social Nature of Development 40:02 Recruiting Top Talent: Strategies for Marketers 42:16 The Journalist Approach to Marketing 44:07 Building Authority Through Reporting 45:36 Engaging with Your Audience on Social Media 48:17 The Pitfalls of Content Marketing 51:18 Thought Leadership vs. Content Marketing 53:34 Defining Categories in Marketing 55:38 Effective Tab Interviews: Key Questions 01:00:53 Identifying Trends in Development 01:10:17 Understanding the Developer Discovery Loop 01:12:39 Understanding the Alpha Developer 01:17:49 The Importance of Free and Anonymous Products 01:21:53 Listening to Developers: The Key to Innovation 01:29:37 Identifying and Prioritizing Problems 01:36:38 Becoming a Developer Influencer 01:47:09 The Mission to Improve Software Tools Keywords podcast, teaching, feedback, iteration, intellectual property, AI, DevTools, marketing, content marketing, thought leadership, thought leadership, tech marketing, developer engagement, market research, product differentiation, developer discovery, community building, content marketing, software tools, startup strategy

    1 giờ 49 phút
  4. 31 THG 5

    #6 [Teardown] Polypane homepage

    I go over all core elements on Polypane's homepage reviewing copy, design, information flow and more. This was community-requested teardown. If you'd like your homepage/ads/content reviewed -> send it over. Links: Polypane homepage https://polypane.app/Dev tool landing page examples https://www.markepear.dev/examples/landing-pageJakub Czakon https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-czakon/ Takeaways DevTools should be clearly defined for users.Ambitious language may not add value to messaging.Visuals must effectively communicate product features.Headlines should be re-evaluated for clarity.User experience is crucial in product design.Community engagement can enhance product credibility.Features should be presented in an easily digestible format.Testimonials should connect to a broader community narrative.Product differentiation is key to standing out.A clear call to action can improve user engagement. Summary In this conversation, Jakub Czakon provides a detailed teardown of Polyplane, focusing on its use of DevTools, product clarity, user experience, and marketing strategies. He emphasizes the importance of clear communication of features, the need for effective visual design, and the value of community engagement and testimonials. Jakub also discusses the significance of product differentiation and offers recommendations for improving the overall presentation and user understanding of Polyplane. Chapters 00:00Introduction to Polyplane Teardown03:18Understanding DevTools and Its Importance06:12Evaluating Product Messaging and Clarity09:14Feature Presentation and User Engagement12:37Design and User Experience Considerations15:30Community and User Testimonials18:17Product Completeness and Feature Listing21:33Differentiation from Competitors24:31Final Thoughts and Recommendations Keywords Polyplane, DevTools, web development, user experience, product design, marketing strategy, responsive design, accessibility, features, testimonials

    32 phút
  5. 10 THG 5

    #4 [Interview] LinkedIn video ads for tech audiences with Itamar Ben Yair

    Itamar Ben Yair is a tech startup LinkedIn ads consultant specializing in TikTok UGC style video ads to the cold audience. He shares his insights on why they work so well, how to do them, how to measure the impact and much more. Links⁠ - Itamar Ben Yair https://www.linkedin.com/in/itamar-ben-yair-053271174/ - Jakub Czakon https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-czakon/ Takeaways - Bring B2C aesthetics to B2D. Get inspired by people who actually do good ads that drive entire B2C businesses rather than vanilla B2B ads. - In dev tools, you need more than 5 seconds to explain what the product does. Sometimes way more. TikTok-style video ads with actors catch attention and keep it for long enough so that you can explain what your tool does. - Startups should focus on cold audiences (prospecting). People who never heard of you. This is where the impact comes from not remarketing. - If you do something inherently exciting, with a free tier, a good in-feed YouTube ads tactic is to get the influencer to create a piece of content, and distribute that video through in-feed ads. - Instagram (Meta) ads can be a great way to reach engineers. You find your audience by qualification through a creative. For example start with a generic interest based audience, see who watches 75% of your video ads, find lookalikes to those and serve ads to them. But it only works if your audience on Meta is in 100s of thousands. - “Every ad should show the product” was a rule at Monday that Itamar has used throughout his career. Even if it is difficult, show the product, talk about the capabilities of the product. - Optimize ads based on in-platform signals (view % etc), sanity check with sales that leads coming in are good (pipeline). - Take big bets and see obvious results (or not). Small incremental improvements are hard to see. Don’t scale the budget by 10%, scale it 2x. Make it easy to see that you succeeded or failed. -Early stage you shouldn’t need any complicated models to see the impact. If you don’t see spikes it is not working Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Itamar Ben Yair03:08 The Importance of Creative Advertising in B2B06:24 Distinguishing Between Paid Search and Paid Social09:27 The Role of Influencer Marketing in DevTools12:28 Targeting Strategies for Engineers15:14 The Challenge of Reaching Senior Developers18:33 The Evolving Landscape of Advertising21:20 The Impact of Privacy Regulations on Advertising24:16 The Reality of Developer Engagement with Ads27:19 Creative Strategies for Effective Advertising30:09 The Future of Advertising in a Cookie-less World33:28 Conclusion and Key Takeaways56:58 The Creative Process Behind Ads01:03:31 Evaluating Ad Strategies for Startups01:10:15 Understanding Audience Engagement01:15:49 Campaign Structure and Measurement01:25:05 The Importance of Incrementality in Marketing Keywords B2B marketing, growth consultant, creative ads, influencer marketing, paid search, paid social, DevTools, audience targeting, ad measurement, marketing strategies

    1 giờ 43 phút
  6. 24 THG 4

    #3 [Teardown] Deepgram homepage

    I go over all core elements on Deepgram's homepage and playground and say what I like, what I don’t like, and what changes I’d test out. Spoiler alert: their site is awesome. Links: Deepgram homepage Dev tool landing page examples Takeaways Deepgram's homepage effectively communicates its product through layered visuals.Clear and concise copy is essential for user understanding.CTAs should prioritize developer engagement over buyer-centric approaches.The playground feature is a valuable tool for user interaction.Community engagement is crucial for building trust among developers.Enterprise sections should focus on trust and security features.Testimonials can enhance credibility and user confidence.Highlighting integrations with popular SDKs can attract more developers.A well-structured website can significantly improve user experience.Continuous testing and iteration are key to optimizing website performance.Deepgram Website Teardown: Insights and RecommendationsUnpacking Deepgram's Voice AI Marketing Strategy Summary In this conversation, Jakub Czakon provides a detailed teardown of Deepgram's website, focusing on its design, copy, and user experience. He highlights the effectiveness of the visual representation of the product, the clarity of the copy, and the importance of CTAs tailored for developers. Jakub emphasizes the need for community engagement and trust-building elements, especially for enterprise users. He concludes with overall impressions and actionable recommendations for improving the website. Chapters 00:00Teardown of Deepgram's Homepage03:38Analyzing Copy and CTAs06:31Exploring the Playground Feature09:21Community and Enterprise Focus12:31Final Recommendations and Overall Impressions Keywords Deepgram, website teardown, voice AI, developer marketing, API, user experience, community engagement, enterprise solutions, CTAs, product features

    20 phút
  7. 24 THG 4

    #2 [Solo] Attribution and incrementality in developer marketing

    My thoughts and frameworks for thinking about attribution, incrementality, decision making in the context of developer marketing, optimizing channels, and allocating resources to programs. Links: How to prove ROI of developer marketing? Developer marketing metrics and attribution (practitioners guide) Takeaways Attribution should always be connected to decision-making.Reporting is often a prelude to decision-making in attribution.Attribution can only be directional, not 100% accurate.Focus on optimizing activities within channels rather than exact attribution.Incrementality is about understanding the growth driven by activities.Self-reported attribution can provide valuable insights despite its flaws.Early-stage companies should prioritize clear impact from activities.Marketing mix modeling helps correlate impressions with outcomes.It's crucial to focus on fewer activities for greater impact.100% attribution can lead to risky marketing decisions. Summary In this conversation, Kuba discusses the complexities of attribution in marketing, emphasizing the importance of understanding its purpose and the distinction between attribution and incrementality. He argues that effective attribution should inform decision-making and drive meaningful business metrics rather than merely serve as a reporting tool. Kuba also explores various methods for attribution, including self-reported attribution and marketing mix modeling, advocating for a focus on directional insights that lead to incremental improvements in marketing efforts. Chapters 00:00Understanding Attribution in Marketing12:26The Importance of Directional Insights18:36Methods for Effective Attribution27:18Driving Incremental Improvements Keywords attribution, marketing, decision-making, incrementality, data analysis, ROI, marketing channels, self-reported attribution, marketing mix modeling, insights

    30 phút
  8. 24 THG 4

    #1 [Interview] Building developer communities of craft with Demetrios Brinkmann

    Demetrios Brinkmann created one of the biggest and most vibrant developer communities that I've seen, MLOps Community. He shares learnings on how he did that and what he'd do differently. Incredible resource for dev tool community managers and founders. Links Demetrios Brinkmann LinkedInMLOps Community Takeaways Get to know people: when people join just talk to them, get to know them, do a 15-minute chat to learn what they want to get from the community, what their expertise is, where they can chip in etc. Tag and introduce members: Figure out who knows about what and then @ tag them in the conversations to engage. On top of that intro/connect people who you think could benefit from connecting in DMs. Seeding conversations: ask people you spoke to, to ask questions in channels. Sharing good articles could help show the community is not dead but doesn’t really grow engagement. Don’t let questions get unanswered: ask people in DMs to answer, tag people etc. Or try and share resources you saw on the subject so as not to leave people hanging Share targeted resources: when you get to know members, either manually, or through surveys, share super targetted resources with them. Courses, blogs, podcasts, etc when you have things that are exactly what they want. Build community members up. You see a blog post from someone from community, share it in the slack yourself and start the discussion. Then you can invite them to meetups/conferences, talks, podcast. Whatever social capital you have to give. Gating community: making sure that folks who get into the community will add/get value from it. Discussions are shaped by the people who are in it so if you have vendors/beginners those are the conversations you’ll see. Seeding community: you can start by inviting selected people through LinkedIn/Twitter. I liked the outreach message: “Hey I’ve spent the last 40 days locked in my house [COVID], and wanted to do something productive with my life. And I started this community. If you want to join, let me know” Creating a podcast opens doors: high-influence people take calls with you when it is a podcast when they may not have talked to you otherwise Be-shameless channel: for some practitioners, it is one of the most valuable channels. It keeps people in the loop on what is happening in the space. And vendor articles or webinars are actually appreciated by some people as the vendors spend 24/7 working with practitioners in the space on their little piece. Plus if there is no be-shameless you will get spam in intro or general. Managing sponsors is tricky: at a certain scale, you want to get sponsors to be able to fund the infrastructure and people to keep it vibrant. But you don’t want to sell your soul to vendors and sell your members as leads to them. Community of craft vs small exclusive meetups: you need to live this, this is a huge effort, with content, engagement, etc. It may be smarter to build small exclusive and targeted in-person meetups. Quality over quantity. 20-30 people, not recorded, super focused conversations. And the CTA after that meetup is to join the community Slack. Chapters 00:00 Starting the MLOps Community08:51 Values and Culture in the Community15:25 Connecting People and Recognizing Their Work19:05 Maintaining Engagement and Quality Discussions27:40 Building the Community During COVID33:22 Commitment to the Community38:41 Strategies for connecting with new community members42:58 Onboarding new community members and gathering insights46:51 Understanding the different reasons people join the community57:26 The importance of engagement and feedback in community building01:03:51 Creating channels and fostering engagement in the community01:07:40 The Importance of Active Channels and Local Champions01:09:39 The Formation of Local Groups and Meetups01:12:00 Managing Vendors and Sponsors in Community Building01:16:51 The Power of Exclusive In-Person Events

    1 giờ 34 phút

Giới Thiệu

We go deep into developer marketing. Actionable insights that dev tool founders and marketers can use to grow today. Long interviews with top dev tool marketers, solo deep-dives, examples and teardowns. This will be fun.