Why Developer Marketing Fails: Build a B2D Strategy That Works

‍Marketing is often about shiny promises and slight exaggerations. But when you are marketing to developers, using these strategies is like eating a product you’re allergic to, painful.

‍Still, while everyone talks so much about the challenges of selling anything to devs, a developer isn’t some mythical creature.

‍They are just people who hate BS more than anyone. And unless you understand this, your developer marketing will never be successful.

‍So, when building your communication strategy, you need to have a clear picture of what they need. And just give it to them. It isn’t that hard to grasp their specific values and goals. But it might be confusing at first. That’s why we’ve created this guide.

‍Dev marketing is the process of marketing to software developers. Yes, it’s really that simple. So, what is this fuss all about, then?

‍This is a very good question.

‍Because no matter what you call it, it’s still marketing. You’ll still need to position your product, communicate your benefits, create content, distribute it, and do all the other typical processes.

‍The only real difference is your audience.

‍Sounds simple to those who never marketed to developers. And extremely complex to those who know that most of your usual tactics just don’t work for these people.

‍Source: Reddit

Developer-first vs. developer-plus marketing

‍You’ll often hear dev-first and dev-plus terms surfacing around. So, let’s see what they mean:

1. Developer-first marketing means that you market a product that’s created specifically for devs. Essentially, they will be your end users. An example of this is something like Postman.
2. Developer-plus marketing suggests that your end user is someone else, but developers still play some role in the decision-making process. So, here you have to target both business managers and devs (and potentially someone else as well). For example, Snowflake or Stripe.

‍Your communications strategies will differ depending on this. But reading this guide will be helpful regardless.

What is B2D?

‍B2D is Business-to-Developer, a business model that focuses on developers as its main target audience.

‍B2D is often part of B2B, but with an emphasis on devs as one of the decision makers. It includes both dev-first and dev-plus products. So, whether a business targets developers directly or devs just play a significant role in purchase decisions, it’s typically B2D.

‍Before we get into the exact strategies you could use, let’s address one of the most important questions: why don’t marketing and development often go well together?

Developers don’t like being “sold to”

‍Well, we wanted to say that devs “hate marketing,” but we thought it’d be too harsh. Plus, it’s not really true.

‍Source: Reddit

‍But we can tell you for sure that everyone hates the type of marketing that screams: “You can’t escape. I’ll chase you down and make you buy my product just so you can get rid of me.”

‍Jokes aside, what devs really need is the specs of your tool, not the walls of salesy copy telling how “award-winning” your solution is.

‍Source: Reddit

‍Is this marketing? Well, of course, communicating what your product does is a big part of marketing.

‍So, why would anyone hate such a reasonable approach? Exactly.

Overhyping and under-delivering

‍You can talk about your tool being “innovative” and “AI-powered” all you want. But if it doesn’t deliver, you’re doomed.

‍Devs are typically people who think logically due to the nature of their work. They aren’t really the type who buys emotionally (like anywhere in B2B).

‍So, the best thing you can do is build a good product and make it easy for your audience to try it. If it’s actually useful, you don’t even need to sell anything. They’ll find out how to buy it themselves (100%).

‍Source: Reddit

‍The only hype devs can buy into is when multiple peers say that something is truly legit.

‍Because by default, developers trust other developers much more than marketers or salespeople. And you can’t blame them for this.

‍That’s why if one day, you manage to turn word of mouth into one of your primary channels, you’ll see how effective it can really be.

Using buzzwords instead of getting to the point

‍This point is a logical addition to the previous one.

‍While many marketers are used to making their offers as shiny as possible, IT geeks are constantly creating their ratings of the most “cringe-worthy” marketing buzzwords.

‍Source: Spiceworks

‍So, if you’re working in B2D marketing, a good habit would be to hang around on some niche forums and see what trends are out there. Because using the words that annoy your target audience isn’t the most helpful thing.

Wrong first touch

‍First impressions matter in life and in marketing. We know that it feels great to have more data for analytics or get more contacts for our mailing lists. That’s understandable. But people don’t like to make much effort.

‍That’s why your first touch has to be as frictionless as possible. This means avoiding:

• Gated content.
• Long registration forms.
• Any unnecessary information.
• Tons of popups and random sales pitches.

‍Try to make your website very straightforward. There is no need for fancy animations or tons of copy that’s pure fluff. Keep it to the point.

‍You can even ask developers on your team to criticize your home and landing pages. That feedback is priceless.

‍Source: Reddit

‍And yes, unclear pricing is a huge factor that frustrates devs.

‍Source: Reddit

Poor developer experience

‍As you’re targeting devs, you have to keep in mind that their experience goes far beyond typical UI/UX. They need well-organized documentation for everything. And this should be the first step for any B2D business.

‍Many really like how Stripe approaches this, so you can take a look for some inspiration:

‍Source: Stripe

‍They even have sandboxes, which is literally +100 to dev karma:)

‍Source: Stripe

‍Now, it might seem like marketing to developers is nearly impossible. But it’s not quite like that.

‍Developers (like any expert audience, for that matter) simply want to have a clear understanding of the product and then decide whether they need it. And trying to add more fancy adjectives won’t really change their decision.

‍Marketing to software developers often starts with a mindset shift. If you have any B2B background, it’ll be easier for you to understand. These people simply want to find a working solution to their problem.

‍If you know that the product your market offers that solution, just explain that in simple words. Instead of being elaborate and looking for some exquisite metaphors.

‍And that’s the easy part (sort of).

‍You also have to understand one thing: many developers often face the same issue.

‍Management and marketing just come up with some ideas they think are “cool,” set unrealistic deadlines, and hand everything off to their devs. Then, it might turn out to be absolutely unnecessary for the end user.

‍But no one really asks the developers about what they think. So, there is a certain level of distrust towards marketers from a typical dev.

‍Source: Reddit

‍Your main goal is to make your product visible and clearly show what it does. All the rest doesn’t really matter.

‍Source: DEV

‍Let’s get practical. What can you do to make your dev marketing efforts finally work? We have a 5-element system for this.

Element 1: Product-first

‍If there is anything developers care about, it’s what your tool can do to simplify their workflow. So, what they really need is to try your product, not read tons of sales letters or landing pages.

‍That’s why make sure you:

• Allow quick access to your solution (free trial, freemium model, etc.)
• As much as you can, give demos, show the code, offer a sandbox, and anything you can think of to show your product in action.

‍If to test your offering, devs need to have a call with sales, fill in tons of personal info, and do three backflips, they won’t.

‍And of course, beyond anything, the tool you work on has to be really useful and high-quality. Otherwise, marketing to developers will make no sense. Remember what they hate most? Right, BS.

‍This comment pretty much sums it all up:

‍Source: Reddit

‍But there is another essential element that is connected to the whole product-first idea. What is it? Of course, documentation.

Element 2: Documentation

‍We can’t stress this enough. We’d give it the #1 spot, but without a good product and a product-first approach, nothing else matters. So, it’s our element #2.

‍Good documentation is an absolute must. You’ve probably heard that before. But why?

‍The reason is simple: devs already understand what type of tool you sell. They might not know all the features, but they get the fundamentals. And the only thing they truly need is easy-to-navigate, detailed documentation.

‍Source: Reddit

‍When it comes to B2D, you have to treat documentation as your most important marketing asset. The more extensive and easy to understand it is, the better.

‍Source: Twilio

‍When documenting your solution, stick to these simple rules:

• Keep your language easy and precise, and your paragraphs short.
• Give straightforward instructions and exact examples where you can copy-paste the code and test everything right away.
• Create a logical structure and clear hierarchy, making it easy to find everything.

‍In web developer marketing, documentation is both your onboarding and your sales funnel. That’s why if you are choosing priorities for your promotional strategies, this should be it.

‍Tip: Try to cover as many different cases as you can when offering solutions in your docs. Developers will appreciate it (guaranteed):

‍Source: Reddit

Element 3: Ecosystem

‍In developer marketing, no tool exists on its own. That’s logical, right? Developers think in stacks, and your product needs to fit into their world.

‍Because let’s be honest, no matter how good your solution is, no one will reassemble their entire flow just to use your tool.

‍So, show them exactly how your product integrates with the ecosystem they already use:

• If your audience codes in Python, give them Python examples.
• If they deploy through GitHub Actions, show a ready-to-use workflow file.

‍Every integration or plugin you add (if you pick them well) will help you take users from “don’t know what to do with this one” to “I know exactly where it fits”.

‍It’s even better when you contribute to open source (e.g., having a public GitHub repo). When you make an effort to create ready-to-use SDKs and code samples, the dev community will value that.

‍Source: GitHub

‍The main rule is simple: the easier it is to integrate, the faster developers will trust you and try what you offer.

Element 4: Community and credibility

‍Credibility and trust are crucial in any business. But when it comes to development marketing, you also have to do everything to build your online community.

‍Having a large community on Discord or Reddit is something you can actually flex about in the dev world.

‍Source: Expo

‍But what can you actually do to achieve that?

• Participate in niche forums like Stack Overflow, Reddit, Spiceworks, etc. FYI, participation doesn’t mean spamming with your links. It means being actually helpful.
• Contribute your tutorials on Digital Ocean.
• Create your GitHub repository (if you don’t have it already) and use GitHub discussions to talk with users.
• Start an ambassador program or launch a hackathon to strengthen connections with your people.

‍Source: DEV

‍And of course, to create a solid community, you need great content and understanding of the niche. Otherwise, your Reddit or Discord will never feel genuine, and your blog pieces will never end up on Hacker News.

‍If you can, try to work together with your in-house developers to approve content topics and get some actionable insights from them. It will help you appeal to the dev audience, as your message will come from an “insider”.

‍Yes, it’s hard to find time to do that. But it’s worth trying.

‍Source: HackerNews

‍Besides, your content can be a great way to show off your product and demonstrate how you can use it in real life.

‍Source: Reddit

Element 5: Measurement and feedback

‍Listen to your audience. It’s a golden rule of marketing for any niche. But with B2D, you want to go beyond an email form and a phone number (spoiler: devs won’t call you).

‍Instead, give your audience easy ways to:

• Report bugs and issues.
• Suggest new features.
• Talk to the community.
• You can use Discord, Slack, GitHub, and any other channel that makes sense.

‍Source: Supabase

‍Developer marketing is less about running ad campaigns and more about building a community. It’s less about fancy words and more about clear documentation.

‍Yes, devs can be a demanding audience. But once you understand what they need and deliver it, you’ll win them over, along with the whole community. Because peer-to-peer marketing is a real thing in B2D.

‍So, stay away from flashy promises, improve your product, and treat developers as your main partner, not as “a problematic client who never seems satisfied”.