Developer Marketing Protips

I’ve been in Developer Marketing since 2005, so I have some thoughts (shared via tweets):

Developer Marketing How-To:
Step 1) Build something developers really want
Step 2) Make it easy to learn & use
That’s it. And if the adoption is not what you hoped for, spend more time on step 1.

— James Ward (@_JamesWard) July 10, 2020

Most annoying thing when trying a cloud service:

— James Ward (@_JamesWard) October 14, 2020

Here is the secret to great developer marketing... Build stuff that developers really want.

— James Ward (@_JamesWard) July 12, 2019

If a new product isn't gaining significant market share, either:
a) its value is lower than the cost of adoption
b) its value is not being expressed correctly

— James Ward (@_JamesWard) March 4, 2020

Dev Marketing Pro Tip #327
Almost no one wants to switch app hosting infra, programming language, database, CI system, application architecture, CSS library version, app framework, DNS provider, cloud, build tool, shell, editor, or their own teeth. (Unless teeth are falling out)

— James Ward (@_JamesWard) February 10, 2021

Developer Marketing Protip: Developer conference keynotes should convey vision & passion while being authentic. For a perfect example see @gwenshap's Kafka Summit Keynote: https://t.co/13maYAJykr

— James Ward (@_JamesWard) August 27, 2020

Dear Developer Marketing, The kinds of developers you most want to reach, do not fill out your surveys.

— James Ward (@_JamesWard) July 8, 2020

DevMarketing Pro Tip: The technology has to work. The solution has to matter.

— James Ward (@_JamesWard) April 1, 2021

Developer Marketing Protip: Don’t use stock photos.

— James Ward (@_JamesWard) April 20, 2020