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Watch · 7 min

How to market to developers without getting ignored

Harry Cooper · Developer marketing, daily.dev

TL;DR

Developers are the hardest audience in marketing: skeptical by default, allergic to fluff, and quick to spot a pitch. Harry Cooper explains how to earn their attention, lead with what your product does (not "why"), respect that they often know more than you, get them to a hello-world moment with zero friction, and show up where they're exploring instead of interrupting them. Developer marketing is a marathon: the goal is for a developer to trust your brand enough to choose you before they even have the problem you solve.

Key takeaways

  • Start with what your product does, not "why", let developers decide if the why is interesting.
  • Trust is everything and hard to earn; developers see through marketing fluff instantly.
  • Cut time-to-value: get them from ad click to a hello-world moment with zero friction.
  • The most expensive mistake is interrupting developers, show up in the right context instead.
  • A smaller, well-targeted campaign beats a bigger, generic, spray-and-pray one.
  • Don't over-index on attribution; developer journeys are non-linear and privacy-conscious.
  • AI erodes trust, authenticity matters more than ever. A positive developer brand beats any ad channel.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Developers are skeptical by default, allergic to marketing fluff, and often know more about the product space than the marketer. They approach ads with their guard up, so trust has to be earned by respecting them and speaking their language.

No. With developers you start with what the product does and then respect them enough to let them decide whether the "why" is interesting. Leading with "why" reads as a commercial pitch.

Trying to interrupt developers, and spending everywhere in a spray-and-pray approach. A smaller, well-targeted campaign on the right channels outperforms a bigger, generic one.

Treat it as a marathon and focus on the whole funnel and brand familiarity rather than only last-click conversions. Developer journeys are non-linear and privacy-conscious, so tracking should not be the be-all and end-all.
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