Category: webinars

Developer ecosystems, the networks of developers and resources around a product, are a key factor for business growth in an increasingly technical world. But what exactly does a healthy ecosystem look like, and how can businesses build one? 

In this blog post, I’ll recap our recent webinar where we explored these questions with experts Gary Gonzalez, Managing Partner at Catchy and Ryan Paul Gibson, Founder of Content Lift. 

We’ll dive into the benefits of developer ecosystems, the types of content that resonate with technical audiences, and strategies for driving engagement and measuring ROI. Whether you’re working on implementing a developer ecosystem in your organization or looking to optimize an existing program, this recap will give you some insight on key areas to focus on.

What Are Developer Ecosystems and Why Do They Matter?

Gary kicked off the webinar by explaining why these ecosystems have become essential in the tech world. It all started, he noted, with the “cloud wars” of the mid-2000s, where major players like AWS, Azure, and Google recognized the power of a developer-first approach. These companies opened up their technology ecosystems, allowing developers to work with their platforms directly.

This approach was then refined by startups in the 2010s, like Twilio and Stripe, who built their entire business models around developer-centric, open ecosystems. These companies made it easy for technologists to build with their services and products, resulting in rapid growth and market dominance.

As Gary pointed out, building a strong developer ecosystem is now almost a necessity. It’s about acknowledging that technology is no longer just a product; it’s an experience, and developers need to be empowered within that experience.

Open developer ecosystems are a necessity for any organization that wants to engage technical services and build technical products. –Gary Gonzalez, Managing Partner at Catchy

Ryan highlighted the business value of these ecosystems. He emphasized that a strong developer ecosystem provides a competitive advantage, making products “stickier” and more integral to the workflows of technical users. When you give technical buyers more control and more access, they take ownership of your product and rely on it more heavily, embedding it into their critical business flows.

What Content Do Developer Ecosystems Need?

Having established the importance of developer ecosystems, let’s consider the content that actually fuels them. What kind of information are developers looking for?

Both Ryan and Gary emphasized that technical audiences have different needs and expectations than other types of buyers. They’re not looking for marketing fluff; they’re looking for practical, actionable information that helps them solve specific technical problems.

Ryan noted that developers want to know how they can use your product to achieve their desired outcomes. They need clear, concise instructions, code examples, and comprehensive documentation that allows them to get hands-on quickly. He stressed that marketers often miss the mark by not understanding how technical buyers process information and build credibility. 

You have to give them (developers) all the tools they need to make things easy and simple to do, otherwise they’re gonna spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. That’s a wasted time. –Ryan Paul Gibson, Founder of Content Lift

Gary agreed, highlighting the importance of mapping content to the developer journey. He explained that while developer marketing focuses on awareness and consideration, technical content is vital for the “learn, build, and scale” phases. Technical content is not just about documentation, he explained. It is about giving developers the resources they need to get into the ecosystem and get things done. It’s about providing a frictionless entry into using your products and services. This approach can ultimately lead to creating happy, life-long customers.

How Do Developers Make Build vs. Buy Decisions?

The “build vs. buy” question is a common one for technical professionals. They are constantly evaluating whether they can execute a project internally, using their own time and resources, or if they need to bring in an external solution. This is why, as Gary and Ryan discussed, it’s important to be upfront about what your product does and, equally importantly, what it doesn’t do.

Gary stressed the importance of enabling developers to quickly evaluate your product, build proofs of concept, and get hands-on experience. He mentioned the importance of a “speed to hello world” approach. Developers need to quickly understand if they can build a solution themselves, or if they should buy an existing one, and be able to make that decision quickly.

How quickly can I evaluate if I can build this? Or should I buy it? –Gary Gonzalez, Managing Partner at Catchy

Beyond the technical evaluation, Gary also highlighted the need for content that speaks to all stakeholders involved in the decision-making process, from the developers themselves to technical decision-makers and non-technical business leaders. This includes use cases, success stories, and other content that demonstrates the value proposition of your product at different levels.

Ryan added that transparency is key. He emphasized that companies should be upfront about their products’ capabilities, and what they do not have. He advised against making overblown claims, as developers will often find out the truth, and share their opinions with others online.

You want to be really transparent about what your product does and what it cannot do… because people will find it out, and they will share that online. –Ryan Paul Gibson, Founder of Content Lift

How Do You Drive Engagement in Developer Ecosystems?

Once a developer ecosystem has been built you also need to drive engagement and keep your community active. Ryan and Gary discussed several strategies:

Leverage Multiple Channels

Ryan emphasized the need to go beyond your website and instead, use various channels to reach your audience. These include:

• Social media platforms can be valuable for engaging with developers and sharing content.
• Use community platforms like Stack Overflow and other relevant forums for engaging in discussions. 
• Events (both in-person and virtual) provide opportunities for interaction.

He also noted the importance of joining existing community conversations. Instead of just pushing content, engage with conversations, and find out how people are using your tool or what are their current challenges.

Focus on the Six Pillars of a Developer Program

Gary pointed out that developer programs should be built around six pillars, including the technical content and resources, as well as a media mix to get this content to your users. These pillars include:

• Developer Portal: A central hub for all things related to your developer ecosystem.
• Marketing Content: Content focused on building awareness and driving consideration.
• Technical Content: Educational resources and documentation to help developers learn and build.
• Media Mix: Utilizing various channels to distribute your content and reach your target audience.
• Community: Creating a space for developers to connect, collaborate, and share their experiences.
• Events: Hosting or participating in both online and in-person events to foster engagement.

Empower Your Power Users

One of the often-missed opportunity is empowering power users. These developers can serve as “free” advocates for your product, contributing to content creation, product growth, and community engagement. They are valuable because they speak with an authentic voice, building trust and credibility within the community.

Prioritize Your Resources

Ryan added the importance of being realistic about resourcing, noting that starting a community or utilizing specific channels takes time and effort. He advised prioritizing channels that are most likely to resonate with your target audience, rather than trying to do everything at once.

Maintain Momentum

Gary stressed the idea of developer marketing as a practice. He explained that the tech world is always changing, with products, use cases, and technologies. This means that content, documentation, and tools require constant upkeep. He noted that, once you create a piece of content, you’re not “done”. It’s a living and breathing thing. 

Ryan agreed, explaining the importance of continually understanding how things are shifting in the markets. He suggested looking outside your organization to identify new trends, problems, and use cases for your product. He also noted that it’s important to listen to your user base and reshare new ideas and content that resonates with them.

How Do You Measure Developer Ecosystem ROI?

Proving the return on investment (ROI) for developer-focused initiatives can be challenging, as the impact isn’t always immediate or easily quantifiable. 

Ryan noted that in B2B marketing, it could take years for a free user to become a paying customer. He suggested focusing on whether you have influenced more people than in previous years. Some of the key metrics to show this are:

• Organic site traffic: Measure how many people are visiting your site and engaging with your content.
• Share of voice: Determine how many people in your market know about your product.
• Conversion rates: Analyze the success of your content in moving people through the sales funnel.

He also noted that your goal should be to create the conditions for a sale to happen, and not just focusing on closing deals immediately.

Gary added that while there are many touchpoints to track in the developer journey, it’s important to focus on the core metrics. He recommended that enterprise companies focus on how they are:

• Driving more revenue: Tying developer initiatives to product acquisition and sales growth.
• Building longer-lasting customer relationships: Measuring customer satisfaction and retention.
• Supporting product growth and innovation: Tracking product usage metrics like daily active users and monthly active users.

He also recommended using a developer marketing flywheel as a way to see the entire developer marketing process and the key metrics to analyze for each area.

How Do You Build Your First Developer Program?

The webinar ended with Gary and Ryan offering some advice to those companies that are just starting to take their first steps of implementing a developer program.

Gary emphasized the importance of long-term planning and consistency. He noted that building a developer program is a long-term play, and that you should make a plan and stick to it. Focus on building strong foundational blocks sequentially, have a 2-3 year plan, and stick to it while also being open to adjustments as needed.

Ryan stressed the importance of understanding your target audience. He explained that you should conduct thorough research to understand your customers, what they need, and how you can build trust and credibility with them. 

Both speakers advised against being reactionary, or trying to do everything at once. They explained that it’s very easy to get distracted by what your competitors are doing, or what you are hearing in the market.

Conclusion

My takeaway from this discussion is that building a strong developer ecosystem is a necessity for both startups and established enterprises dealing with technical products. A thriving developer ecosystem around your product can help technical buyers embed it into their critical business flows, eventually resulting in increased business growth.

At Draft.dev, we see this firsthand, working with many enterprise companies that are investing heavily in technical content to help their developer ecosystems flourish, which shows that nourishing and maintaining your developer ecosystem and audience is key to driving both product adoption and long-term business success.

Draft.dev’s monthly webinars are a great way to learn more about similar DevRel and technical marketing topics. You can sign up for our next session with live Q&A here.

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Optimizing your developer content is a powerful way to drive organic traffic and generate leads for your product. If you’re creating content to serve specific keywords, organic search can become a fantastic distribution channel for growth marketing. But you’ll want to take steps to optimize your content for its best chances of ranking. 

In this blog post, I’ll recap our recent webinar, “Optimizing Developer Content for Success,” where product marketing expert Ashley McClelland and Draft.dev CEO Karl Hughes shared their insights on how to optimize developer content creation efforts, and how to effectively distribute and promote that content to reach a wider audience.

Understanding the Developer Audience Mindset

Developers aren’t typical consumers. They’re highly technical, solution-oriented, and often averse to traditional marketing tactics. They use ad blockers, are tech-savvy, and can spot marketing ploys a mile away. So, it’s not surprising that content aimed at developers needs to be different. It must focus on providing practical solutions to their problems rather than simply promoting a product. Ashley explained this well:

I try to think of developers as very solution-focused. They’re problem solvers. They’re looking for solutions. –Ashley McClelland, Partner at ércule

Karl agreed, adding that developers frequently use search engines to find answers to their coding questions:

As a software developer, my day-to-day involved constantly using Google to find solutions. Whether it was a high-level question or a complex, long-tail query, it was always about solving the problem in front of me. –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

This solution-focused mindset has significant implications for your content strategy. Instead of pushing product features, your content should address the specific challenges developers face and demonstrate how your product can help them overcome those challenges.

Common Challenges in Developer Content Optimization

When you begin optimizing your developer content, you’ll likely encounter some specific challenges. Knowing these in advance will help you overcome them.

Product Differentiation

One common hurdle is differentiating your product from the competition. As Karl pointed out, developers already have solutions to their problems, even if they are outdated or less efficient. Your content needs to clearly demonstrate why your product is the better choice.

You’re almost always in today’s environment of development marketing…trying to offset an existing solution. –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Keyword Research

Another challenge can be keyword research. Traditional keyword tools often fall short when it comes to emerging technologies. Ashley highlighted this difficulty:

Keyword research for emerging technologies, especially in the developer, DevOps, and AI spaces, often lags behind and isn’t well-represented in standard keyword tools. –Ashley McClelland, Partner at ércule

This makes it essential to supplement keyword research with direct communication with your target audience. Engage with developers in relevant communities and forums to understand their language and the specific terms they use when searching for solutions.

Stakeholder Buy-in

Lastly, getting buy-in from technical stakeholders like CTOs is another potential obstacle. Technical stakeholders may not fully understand marketing strategies, leading to disagreements about content direction. Karl emphasized the importance of involving technical stakeholders early in the planning and strategy process to avoid conflicts later on.

Effective Strategies for Optimizing Existing Content

If you already have a body of developer content, optimizing it can yield significant returns. Here are some key areas to focus on:

Unique and Compelling Metadata

Ensure that every page has unique and descriptive title tags and meta descriptions. These are important for attracting clicks in search results. Think of them as your content’s headline and subheading in search engine results pages (SERPs). Ashley emphasized this often-overlooked aspect of optimization:

Remind yourself that when you search you get a list of articles, and it does matter what those things are titled in terms of how compelling it is to actually click through. –Ashley McClelland, Partner at ércule

Content Freshness and Relevance

Regularly review and update your existing content. Outdated information can damage your credibility and negatively impact your search rankings. Prioritize updating content that covers rapidly changing technologies or content that was once high-performing but has seen a decline in traffic.

Do you have pages that haven’t been updated since 2021? And, do you have content that used to get a lot of clicks and impressions, and now it’s slowly declining? –Ashley McClelland, Partner at ércule

Another smart strategy for content refreshes is to look at your older competitors. Find their blog posts that are outdated but cover topics relevant to your audience. These older articles may have attracted significant search traffic in the past. By creating a fresh, updated version of that content, you can capitalize on existing search demand and potentially outrank your competitors. As Karl suggested:

Look at your competitors, who have been around for 10 years or more, and see their list of articles that are 5 years old and figure out if there is a way you could do a better or more up to date version. –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Appropriate CTAs

Aligning your CTAs with the reader’s stage in the buyer’s journey is another great way of optimizing your blog content. A top-of-funnel blog post explaining a basic concept shouldn’t have the same CTA as a bottom-of-funnel case study. Karl recommended offering valuable resources, such as downloadable assets or webinars, rather than simply pushing product trials:

A better CTA would be having some kind of asset that either is a downloadable–a webinar, a newsletter–that actually tells people how to get better. There’s a million things you could do there that are better than just ‘try our product.’ –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Ashley added that CTAs should guide the reader to the next logical step in their learning process:

The blog post CTA, as you’re done finishing that piece of content, should be the next most logical step. –Ashley McClelland, Partner at ércule

Sales Enablement

Lastly, don’t overlook the power of sales enablement content. Sometimes companies forget that  marketing isn’t just about TOFU. Creating bottom-funnel content that directly supports your sales team is often times the easiest win. Address common sales objections, provide in-depth product information, and showcase specific use cases. This type of content can be invaluable for closing deals.

What content would help your sales team actually close deals in the next 3 months? –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Content Promotion and Distribution Strategies

Once you’ve put in all the effort to create valuable content, you also need to actively promote and distribute it to reach and grow your target audience. And this ties back to getting to know your target audience. 

Targeted Distribution

Identify the online communities and platforms where your target developers hang out. This might include specialized forums, subreddits, Slack channels, or social media groups. Don’t just drop links but engage authentically in these communities and share your content when it’s relevant to the conversation.

You want to kind of merge your distribution strategy with your engagement strategy. You’re not just dropping links in communities but authentically engaging in those spaces. – Ashley McClelland, Partner at ércule

Leverage Existing Platforms

Promote your content through various channels, including:

• Newsletters: Share your latest articles in your own newsletter and consider sponsoring relevant industry newsletters.
• Social Media: Promote your content on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and relevant developer communities.
• Content Syndication: Republish your content on platforms like Dev.to, Medium, and Hacker News to reach a wider audience. 
• Guest Posting: Contribute high-quality articles to other relevant blogs and publications.

Karl suggested a hybrid approach for newsletters:

Sponsor a newsletter every 6 months, and then send them just organic content every month or two, and see if they accept and push it out for free for you. –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Re-promotion

Don’t just promote your content once and forget about it. Evergreen content can and should be re-promoted regularly. Share it on different platforms, update the messaging, and find new angles to keep the conversation going. Both speakers stressed the value of re-promotion and getting your word out there.

Measuring and Auditing Content Performance

To optimize your content effectively, you need to understand what’s working and what’s not. That means, regularly measuring and auditing your content performance to identify areas for improvement.

Key Metrics

Start by focusing on organic search data: clicks, impressions, and engagement (time on page, bounce rate). These metrics provide insights into how your content is performing in search and how users are interacting with it.

Replicating Success

Secondly, identify your top-performing content and analyze what makes it successful. Are there common themes, formats, or topics? Can you replicate those elements in other pieces of content? Karl suggested looking for these patterns:

When we’re coming into a new relationship with a client we look for articles that have either spiked or are still the top 5% and think how we can replicate what those articles do well. –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Organic Search Data

Thirdly, use organic search data to inform your content strategy. Analyze the keywords that are driving traffic to your site and identify opportunities to create new content around those topics. For example, long-tail keywords and specific questions that users are searching for are a great source for that. 

How you can unravel some of those really long tail keywords and things that people are searching for, that are bringing them to your content. –Ashley McClelland, Partner at ércule

Karl added that you should also consider what content did well on a specific platform and use that for a whole series of similar topics, assuming it’s the audience type you want to attract.

Did certain article or type of article do well on the Reddit? Why not do a whole series like that? –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Technical Performance and Site Optimization Best Practices

Although technical performance of a blog is becoming less of an issue with modern CMSs catchnig up to the latest requirements and best practices, it’s still an important aspect of your website that can significantly impact both user experience and search engine rankings. Here are some best practices to keep in mind for technical optimization:

• Site Speed: Developers are particularly sensitive to slow loading times, so ptimize your site for speed. An interesting point Ashley McClelland brought up regarding site speed was the impact of video embeds. She suggested using a placeholder or thumbnail image that loads first instead of the full YouTube player, which can significantly slow down page load times.

We often tell people to load a facade instead of loading the YouTube videos just straight out when you load a page. –Ashley McClelland, Partner at ércule

• Site Navigation: Ensure your site is easy to navigate. Developers should be able to quickly find the information they need, including guides, docs, and quick start guides. A well-organized site structure and clear navigation menu are essential.
• Formatting and Readability: Make sure your content is well-formatted and easy to read. Use clear headings, subheadings, bullet points, and code snippets to break up large blocks of text. 

Ultimately, prioritize user experience. Optimize for humans, and you’ll naturally optimize for search engines. As Karl put it: 

Make your site fast. Make it easy to read. If it’s readable and navigable for humans, then likely Google knows how to crawl it. –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Content Strategy for New Organizations

If you’re just starting out with developer content, prioritize the essentials.

• Step 1: Begin with documentation and easy-to-follow quick-start guides. Developers need to quickly understand how to use your product or integrate it into their workflows.
• Step 2: Focus on clear product marketing. Explain what your product does, who it’s for, and why it’s valuable. 
• Step 3: Once your documentation and product marketing are in place, you can start creating and scaling technical content that addresses specific developer needs and challenges. 

Another important consideration that many companies struggle with is figuring out you target audience and product-market fit before scaling your content efforts.

Defining and figuring out who your target market is and how to reach them is a big problem. Make sure you feel pretty confident about the direction you’re facing before you go spend $100,000 on marketing hires and content. – Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Adapting to Evolving Developer Content Landscape

While the core principles of creating high-quality, relevant content remain constant, the methods developers use to discover and consume that content are in constant flux. The rise of AI-generated content and search tools like PerplexityAI is transforming the research landscape, creating an interesting challenge: how to distinguish high-quality content from the flood of low-quality, AI-generated material. As Karl Hughes pointed out:

We’re in this really interesting point in time where search engines are gonna have to figure out how to index the best quality content. And at the end of the day, the super low quality, high volume content, is just going to get devalued. –Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev

Both speakers agreed on the growing popularity of video content, particularly among younger developers. Similarly, incorporating visual elements like diagrams, screenshots, and interactive components can significantly enhance the learning experience.

Ultimately, regardless of platform, format, or medium, successful developer content boils down to helping developers solve their problems. Focus on optimizing your web and content with that in mind, and you’ll build trust and establish a strong foundation for your developer audience.

Video is no longer a “nice-to-have” in developer marketing. In fact, 62% of developers prefer long-form video as their primary learning method, surpassing blogs, documentation, and even short-form videos.

So, how do you create video content that resonates with your technical audience?

In our recent webinar, we spoke with Jake Ward, Co-founder of Data Protocol, and Kevin Blanco, Senior DevRel Advocate at Appsmith, to explore the unique challenges and best practices of creating developer-focused videos.

From audience insights to production tips and distribution strategies, this post will cover the main insights from the webinar to help you or your DevRel teams create video content that drives results, from increased engagement to higher conversion rates.

What Makes Developer Video Content Unique?

Both Kevin and Jake emphasized that developers are a unique audience, and similarly to written content, video content needs to be tailored to their specific needs and preferences.

More specifically, they’re smart, skeptical, and have very little patience for marketing fluff. They’re not going to be impressed by flashy visuals or empty phrases.

So, what does resonate with developers?

• Accuracy and Technical Depth: Developers want to learn from experts who know their stuff. They’re looking for videos that provide accurate information and dig into technical details.
• Practicality: Don’t just tell developers about a concept—show them how to apply it. Provide practical examples, code snippets, and clear explanations that they can use in their own work.
• Problem-Solving, Not Product Promotion: Developers are looking for solutions to their problems, not sales pitches. Focus on educating them and helping them overcome challenges, not pushing your product.
• Concise Delivery: Developers have a short attention span. Keep your videos concise, and get to the point quickly.

The bottom line is that your video content needs to provide real value, or they’ll quickly move on.

Categorizing Developer Audiences for Targeted Videos

Creating effective video content starts with understanding your audience. Developers have different needs, interests, and levels of experience.

Use The Developer Journey as a Guide

One way to categorize your target audience is by using the developer journey, i.e the stage your audience is currently at.

The most important thing is to tailor your videos to the developer journey. For me, the developer journey is like my Bible, and it’s always the reference when I have to do a video. – Kevin Blanco, Senior DevRel Advocate at Appsmith

To use the developer journey, consider where your target audience falls within their journey with your product or technology:

• Discovery: Are they just becoming aware of your product and need a high-level overview?
• Evaluation: Are they actively comparing your product to competitors and need detailed feature comparisons or demos?
• Learning: Are they ready to start using your product and need tutorials and how-to guides?
• Building: Are they actively building applications with your product and need advanced guides and advice?
• Scaling: Are they using your product in production and need help with scaling, optimization, or enterprise-level features?

Experience Level

Beyond the developer journey, consider your audience’s experience level. Beginners will appreciate clear explanations and foundational concepts, while seasoned experts will be more engaged by advanced topics and complex use cases.

Technical Focus

It’s also essential to consider your audience’s technical focus. Are they primarily frontend or backend developers? Do they specialize in DevOps, data science, or a specific programming language? Tailoring your content to their area of expertise will make it more relevant and engaging.

Consumption Style

Understanding how developers engage with your community and consume content can also inform your video strategy. For example, Kevin mentioned that some developers are continuous learners who prefer content broken down into multiple parts, while others are more task-oriented and want quick, straightforward solutions.

How to Identify the Right Topics?

Once you’ve decided to invest in video content for developers, how do you choose the right topics and formats to ensure the videos resonate with your audience?

While Data Protocol’s approach is driven by the specific needs of their clients who refer developers to their platform, Appsmith and other developer-focused companies can benefit from a data-driven approach, relying on a combination of analytics, community feedback, and business goals to guide their video content strategy.

• Analyze User Behavior and Engagement: Track key metrics like video views, watch time, and completion rates to understand what types of content are performing well. Use this data to inform future video topics and formats.
• Listen to Your Community: Engage with developers on forums, social media, and at events to understand their challenges and what content they’re craving.
• Align with Business Goals: Ensure your video content supports your overall business objectives, whether it’s increasing product adoption, driving leads, or building brand awareness.

What Types of Developer-Focused Videos Are There?

Jake outlined three main categories of developer-focused videos: product, skill-based, and engagement. Each category can target different stages of the marketing funnel, helping you reach developers at every step of their journey.

• Product Videos: Primarily marketing-focused, designed to showcase your product’s features, benefits, and use cases. Think product demos, feature explainers, and customer testimonials.
• Skill-Based Videos: Focused on education and empowerment, helping developers learn new skills or improve existing ones. Tutorials, code walkthroughs, and best practice guides fall into this category.
• Engagement Videos: Aim to build community and foster relationships with developers. Live streams, community spotlights, and event recaps are all great examples.

Video Production Process: From Pre-Production to Editing

Once your research and planning phase is done, it’s time for production. Both Jake and Kevin shared their approaches to video production, highlighting the strategies that have led to their success.

Jake shared how Data Protocol has achieved an impressive 78% completion rate on their enterprise videos, significantly higher than the industry average of 6%. He attributes this success to their distinct approach, which prioritizes engagement:

• Concise, Graphic-Heavy Videos: They keep their videos short and to the point, relying heavily on visuals to convey information and maintain viewer interest.
• Interactive Elements: They incorporate interactive elements like knowledge checks, fly-ins, and notes to keep viewers actively involved and prevent passive viewing.
• Instructional Design Principles: Their Head of Content is an instructional designer, ensuring that scripts are carefully crafted to facilitate learning and comprehension.
• A User-Friendly Platform: Their platform itself is designed to enhance engagement, providing prompts, cues, and a clear structure to guide viewers through the content.

Kevin is a firm believer in strong pre-production planning. He emphasized that the more time and effort you invest upfront, the smoother and more efficient your production process will be.

His typical production process involves:

• Meticulous Pre-Production: This includes defining goals, identifying the target audience, crafting a compelling narrative, and creating a detailed shot list. This pre-production work informs every subsequent step of the process.
• Scripting: Kevin uses the script to determine the types of shots he needs, the steps to demonstrate, and the overall flow of the video.
• Filming: He sets up his lighting, equipment, and different camera angles based on his script and shot list, then records all the necessary footage.
• Editing: Kevin edits his videos himself, but he acknowledges that others might have a dedicated editor on their team. He emphasizes that the pre-production work is crucial for the editor to understand the intended message, tone, target audience, and appropriate pacing for the video.

Balancing Entertainment and Education in Developer Videos

Entertainment can be one of the most powerful ways of reaching new audiences or increasing engagement. 

Kevin acknowledged the need to use entertainment for awareness purposes. He shared how Appsmith uses entertainment elements to attract new users who might have negative preconceptions about low-code platforms. By incorporating humor and relatable scenarios into their videos, they aim to break down those barriers and spark curiosity about Appsmith’s capabilities.

However, both Kevin and Jake emphasized that entertainment should never come at the expense of educational value. Entertainment should never feel distracting but engaging.

You need to NOT make it distracting, and you’re good to go. – Jake Ward, Co-founder of Data Protocol

Distribution and Repurposing Strategies for Maximum Impact

Distribution and promotion can make a huge difference in the success of your videos, and it all comes back to understanding your audience and knowing where they spend their time.

While distribution channels are less relevant for Data Protocol, as they primarily work with clients who refer developers to their platform, Kevin emphasized the importance of a multi-channel approach for developer-focused companies. He suggested considering distribution during the planning phase, and exploring options beyond just YouTube.Think social media platforms, online communities, and even physical events. 

It might be the best case scenario to showcase a specific portion of a video or a demo at a physical event…Not everything is just YouTube. – Kevin Blanco, Senior DevRel Advocate at Appsmith

Kevin also recommended repurposing video content to maximize engagement and drive views. 

For example:

• Create shorter, vertical videos for social media: These are more likely to grab attention in a fast-scrolling feed and can be used to drive traffic to your longer-form content.
• Add subtitles to all videos: Given that 80% of videos are watched on mute, subtitles are important for accessibility and engagement.
• Use eye-catching visuals and fast transitions: Incorporate B-roll footage, animations, and other visual elements to keep viewers engaged.

The most important factor when deciding on your distribution channels is knowing where your audience spends their time.

If your user persona is a CTO, I don’t think it’s gonna be on TikTok. It’s probably going to be more on LinkedIn, looking for use cases that reduce costs or align with their goals. – Kevin Blanco, Senior DevRel Advocate at Appsmith

Final Thoughts

As someone who works with developer-focused companies every day, I’m constantly reminded of the differences between creating content for technical and non-technical audiences. The only way to achieve success with video and other content types is to make it useful, educational, and help developers solve real-world problems.

One thing to keep in mind about video content is that it’s more challenging to refresh in the future. That’s why I wholeheartedly agree with the speakers’ emphasis on investing ample time in the pre-production phase, conducting thorough research, and deeply understanding your audience and their needs.

Another interesting piece of advice from our speakers was to give your video audience a sneak peek or a “tease” of what they’ll get right at the beginning of the video, especially for long-form content. This can significantly increase the likelihood that viewers will stick around for the entire tutorial.

Finally, in a world where advanced video editing has become more and more accessible to users, it’s important not to forget that the most successful developer videos are those that provide genuine value.

Nobody’s watching our videos for entertainment value. They’re trying to get the information they need. – Jake Ward, Co-founder of Data Protocol

I hope this blog post has given you some insights into creating effective video content for technical audiences. If you want to learn more about DevRel and Developer Marketing with Draft.dev, join our upcoming live webinars with Q&A sessions, where we explore similar topics and feature insights from industry leaders.

The world of SEO is a complex beast, with Google reportedly making thousands of changes to its search algorithm each year. For those catering to technical audiences – developers, engineers, the coding wizards – the landscape gets even trickier. Draft.dev’s recent webinar, featuring SEO experts Meg Scarborough (CEO of Megawatt) and Nate Matherson (Co-founder of Positional), tackled these exact challenges.

In this Draft.dev blog post, I’ll recap the key takeaways from the webinar and explore some ways how you can enhance your growth marketing strategy for technical audiences. Whether you’re a DevRel, developer marketer or anyone involved in marketing technical products, this discussion will provide you some insights and strategies to help maximize your SEO efforts. 

Unique SEO Considerations for Devtools

SEO for devtool companies requires time and a tailored approach. Just as there’s no one-size-fits-all devtool, there’s no single SEO playbook that guarantees success. As Meg put it, “There’s a learning curve in any industry.”

Unlike broader consumer markets, technical audiences demand a higher level of precision and expertise in communication. The slightest hint of inauthenticity can erode trust and credibility.

Meg emphasized that precision of language really matters and that understanding how your audience talks about their work is especially important when it comes to choosing the right keywords and optimizing your site.

Nate agreed, highlighting the challenges he faced when transitioning from consumer finance to the technical Kubernetes space. He emphasized the need for in-depth content like coding samples and tutorials to effectively engage technical audiences. Nate also mentioned that creating content that targets a technical SEO keyword is a lot pricier. 

I also found that creating content for a more technical audience was a lot more expensive. Three to four times as expensive as what it might be for creating a piece of content to serve what is like a non-technical consumer keyword. – Nate Matherson, Co-founder & CEO, Positional

Tailoring Keyword Research for Technical Products

Understanding your audience is the first step but diving deeper into keyword research and topic clusters is where things can get tricky. So what are some guidelines to follow?

Use Customer Questions as Baseline

KW research for technical products is all about uncovering the specific terms and phrases your developer audience is using to find solutions to their problems. 

Before you ever use a keyword research tool…just listen to the questions you just keep getting. – Nate Matherson, Co-founder & CEO, Positional

These recurring questions often reveal what challenges your audience faces and the solutions they seek. By addressing these questions in your content, you can attract organic traffic and establish yourself as a trusted resource. Forums and pages like GitHub and StackOverflow are valid alternatives if communication with your audience directly isn’t an option. 

Nate further suggested supplementing this approach with competitor research and identifying keywords that your competitors are ranking for, even if they aren’t direct competitors. This can help you uncover additional relevant keywords and expand your content strategy.

Balance Tools With Insights

While keyword research tools are valuable, they shouldn’t be the sole source of information. Nate highlighted the limitations of these tools, particularly when it comes to technical audiences. He pointed out that developers are often underrepresented in the sample populations used by keyword research tools, leading to inaccurate search volume predictions.

However, this also presents an opportunity to capture valuable long-tail keywords that might not be captured by traditional tools by actively listening to your customers and engaging with developer communities. 

Developers are often the smallest sample population in these tools. So a lot of the times, the keyword tool, I don’t even care if it says zero traffic. I’m like, I know for a fact this gets searched a bunch. – Nate Matherson, Co-founder & CEO, Positional

Meg agreed, emphasizing that keyword research should be driven by audience needs rather than relying solely on tools.

Clients ask us all the time, ‘Do you start with the keywords? Or do you start with the audience’s needs?’ You always start with what the audience wants, what the audience needs. – Meg Scarborough, CEO & Founder, Megawatt

Prioritize the Right Keywords

Once you’ve identified your target keywords, it’s important to prioritize them strategically. Nate recommended dedicating a portion of your resources (around 25%) to “keywords that are kind of an unknown.” These are keywords that might not have high search volumes initially but have the potential to become more popular in the future.

Make Sure Your Content Is Useful

The bottom line is, you have to make sure the content you’re creating is helpful and informative for the target user, not just stuffed with keywords. 

Nate stressed how important it is to cut out cookie-cutter content that has the right keywords in it. Increasingly, Google is asking us to do something unique and provide genuine value to our readers.

Optimizing Your Web Presence

While high-quality content is the foundation of SEO, optimizing your entire website is equally important. This involves various elements beyond blog posts, such as documentation, quick start guides, landing pages, and even product pages.

Technical Documentation and Quick Start Guides

Meg emphasized the importance of incorporating SEO into technical documentation and quick-start guides. These resources are often the first point of contact for developers and engineers, so ensuring they are well-structured, easy to navigate, and optimized for relevant keywords is important.

You need to think about SEO when you are producing your technical documentation, your quick start guides, all those sorts of things…making sure they’re really well structured, they’re easy to navigate, they’re catering to the needs of your developers. – Meg Scarborough, CEO & Founder, Megawatt

Strong internal linking within these resources is also essential. It not only helps users find related information but also signals to search engines the relationships between different pages, potentially improving your overall search rankings.

Landing Pages and Product Pages

Nate highlighted the importance of aligning the type of page with the target keyword. For instance, if the top search results for a particular keyword are blog posts, then creating a blog post is the logical choice. However, if the top results are product pages, then optimizing your product page for that keyword would be more effective.

The biggest mistake that I see companies make is they build the wrong type of page for the keyword that they’re targeting…Go to Google and search for that keyword. And if you see that the top 6 search results are blog posts, you know you should create a blog post. – Nate Matherson, Co-founder & CEO, Positional

Balancing SEO Strategies: Where to start?

From link building to user intention, technical SEO to content optimization, SEO goals can seem overwhelming. So, how do you determine the best path forward, especially with limited resources?

Meg recommended starting by understanding the buyer’s journey. Are they problem-aware, solution-aware, or ready to buy? This understanding will significantly influence your priorities.

You need to understand the basic kind of concepts of is somebody problem aware? Are they solution aware? Are they ready to buy? And they’re comparing things? And you need to make sure that you have a good mix of content across all of those kind of aspects of the buyer journey. – Meg Scarborough, CEO & Founder, Megawatt

But apart from understanding the buyer intention, your priorities really should depend on whether you’re just launching your blog or if your company blog post already comes up on Google’s first page results. Let’s look at those stages a bit more:

New Brands: Build a Strong Foundation

For those just starting their SEO journey, Nate suggested focusing on the fundamentals: keyword research and content creation. Building a solid foundation of high-quality, technically proficient content that directly addresses your audience’s needs and questions is essential. Once this foundation is established, you can then venture into more sophisticated tactics like link building and technical SEO optimizations.

Established Brands: Maximize Impact

For brands with an established online presence, the focus shifts towards maximizing impact. This often involves doubling down on conversion rate optimization (CRO) and tapping into long-tail traffic opportunities. This means refining existing content to better align with user intent, optimizing CTAs for higher engagement, and identifying niche keywords that attract highly targeted traffic. 

If I’m a newer brand, I’m super focused on keyword research and then content that I can quickly turn around…But if I’m an established brand, I’m starting to think about, okay, I need to up my conversion rate on this piece of content…How can we capture that long-tail traffic opportunity? – Meg Scarborough, CEO & Founder, Megawatt

Beyond the stage of your brand, other factors can influence your SEO priorities. For instance, the type of product you’re selling and the length of your sales cycle can dictate whether you should focus more on top-of-funnel content for awareness or bottom-of-funnel content for conversions. 

The bottom line is, your SEO priorities should align with your business goals, product type, sales cycle, and available resources.

SEO for Open Source vs. Enterprise

Once you’ve determined your overall SEO priorities, it’s time to refine your strategy further by considering your specific business model. In the developer tools space, two common models stand out: open source and enterprise. Each has its’ own SEO nuances, so let’s explore how to adapt your strategy based on whether you’re an open-source or enterprise company.

Open Source: Building Community and Awareness

Open-source companies often prioritize community building and education. Meg suggested focusing on creating high-quality educational content that helps users understand and implement your tools. This could include:

• Tutorials and How-to Guides: Step-by-step instructions on how to use your tools effectively.
• Documentation: Comprehensive and well-structured documentation that is easy to navigate and understand.
• Community Forums and Support: Active engagement with your community through forums, Q&A sessions, and other channels.

Enterprise: Targeting High-Value Keywords and Decision-Makers

Enterprise solutions often cater to a smaller, more specific audience. Nate recommended prioritizing high-value keywords that resonate with decision-makers and highlighting the ROI and business benefits of your products.

Your content should speak directly to the needs and concerns of decision-makers, such as:

• Case Studies: Showcase how your product has helped other companies achieve their goals.
• White Papers: Provide in-depth analysis and insights on industry trends and challenges.
• Thought Leadership Content: Share your expertise and perspectives on relevant topics to establish your company as a thought leader in the space.

Additionally, consider investing in account-based marketing (ABM) strategies to target specific high-value accounts.

However, many companies don’t fit neatly into either category. You might offer both open-source and enterprise versions of your product or cater to a mixed audience. 

In such cases, it’s important to balance your SEO strategy by creating a mix of content that appeals to both individual developers and decision-makers, using a combination of educational and business-focused keywords, and tailoring your messaging to different stages of the buyer’s journey.

Embracing SEO Changes

The SEO landscape is rapidly shifting towards human-optimized content, leaving behind the days of keyword stuffing, and the future holds both challenges and opportunities for those targeting technical audiences. As AI-powered search features like Google’s SGE (Search Generative Experience) become more prevalent, content creators must adapt their strategies to remain visible and relevant.

To do that, Meg and Nate both stressed the importance of creating differentiated, in-depth content that goes beyond simple questions and answers. With AI capable of providing quick answers to basic queries, the value of human expertise and unique insights becomes more and more critical.

In addition to SGE, other technologies like voice search are also shaping the future of SEO. Optimizing your content for voice search requires shifting your focus to conversational language and long-tail keywords that align with how people speak.

Therefore, the need for high-quality, technically accurate, and genuinely helpful content with unique and personal experiences will remain the foundation of technical content. 

I hope this blog post has provided you with some new insights for optimizing your SEO strategy. If you want to dive deeper into the world of DevRel and Developer Marketing, join our upcoming live webinars with Q&A sessions where we cover similar topics with insights from industry leaders.

Influencer marketing has certainly made its mark in the consumer space, but it is no different in business-to-business landscape. In fact, 75% of B2B buyers rely on social media to inform their purchasing decisions.

While developer marketing has its unique differences compared to traditional marketing, we can definitely see a similar trend in the dev tools space, especially in developer relations, where the number of social followers you have can even be a deciding factor in landing a job.

Also, the rise of developer influencers, often called developer evangelists, such as Jono Bacon with his 7.94K YouTube subscribers, Tiff in Tech boasting a massive 367K subscriber base, Jakob Wolitzki engaging 80.4K followers on Instagram, and Cassidy Williams with 183.2K followers on Twitter, signals a shift in how tech companies connect with their target audience. These aren’t just individuals with massive followings; they are respected experts, thought leaders, developer advocates and community builders who wield significant influence over developers’ opinions and decisions. They’re the go-to source for developers seeking to learn new skills and make informed decisions about the tools and technologies they use.

To shed light on the increasing power of developer influencer marketing, Draft.dev recently hosted a webinar on how influencer marketing works for technical audiences, featuring Cole Stark (CMO at Pieces) and Karl McCarthy (Founder of Yard).

In this post, I want to summarize the key takeaways from the webinar, providing you with insights for leveraging developer influencers to reach, engage, and convert your target audience.

What’s the Difference Between Influencers and Developer Evangelists?

Before you start working on any developer influencer marketing initiative, it’s important to understand how traditional influencers differ from developer evangelists.

Karl highlighted the distinct contrast in focus. While traditional influencers prioritize reach and broad appeal, often in a B2C context, developer evangelists are all about depth of knowledge and authority within their niche, typically in a B2B or B2D (business-to-developer) setting. They’ve earned the trust of their audience through expertise and experience, making their recommendations far more impactful than a generic endorsement. This is because developer evangelists genuinely believe in the products they promote, often having personally experienced the problems these products solve. 

They (developer evangelists) just can’t fake it. – Karl McCarthy, Founder of Yard

However, sometimes B2C marketing tactics can also work in developer marketing. For example, Cole drew a parallel between the unboxing phenomenon in traditional influencer marketing and the world of developer tools. He shared how Pieces invites users to “unbox” their software, observing their first impressions and onboarding experiences. This provides valuable feedback for engineering teams and generates authentic content showcasing the product’s value.

Both speakers emphasized that developer evangelists are not just influencers; they are developers first and foremost. They are experts in their field, capable of creating in-depth guides and content that resonates with their audience.

What Does a Developer Evangelist Do?

Now that you understand the unique value proposition of developer evangelists, let’s explore how these tech-savvy advocates integrate into an organization’s day-to-day operations.

Cole outlined the three Cs that define the day-to-day role of a developer evangelist:

1. Coding: Developer evangelists often contribute to codebases, open source projects, or create technical demos.
2. Content: They are skilled content creators, producing blog posts, tutorials, videos, and other materials that educate and engage their audience.
3. Community: Building and nurturing a thriving community is a core responsibility, whether it’s through forums, social media, or events.

At Pieces, for example, developer advocates help solve user questions in Discord channels, document bugs, and manage open source repositories. They also play an important role in gathering feedback from the community and relaying it to the engineering team.

The specific emphasis on each “C” can vary depending on the organization’s goals. Some developer evangelists might focus on creating educational content to increase brand awareness, while others might prioritize community engagement to foster a loyal user base.

Karl emphasized the importance of the feedback loop that developer evangelists provide. By interacting directly with users, they gather valuable insights and feedback that can improve product development and marketing strategies. He also highlighted the importance of identifying and nurturing the 2-5% of the community who are “super fans” – those who are most passionate and vocal about the product.

How to Find and Nurture Developer Influencers

Finding the perfect developer evangelist for your company can be as simple as tapping into your existing “super fan” community, or as complex as combing through countless YouTube channels and online forums.

Karl suggested that companies new to influencer marketing start by looking within their own networks.

If that doesn’t yield results, he recommended a more “agricultural” approach, involving manual research on platforms like YouTube. He emphasized the importance of crafting thoughtful outreach messages that stand out from the generic requests influencers often receive.

Cole added that the process often happens in stages, as the company and its product evolve. He noted that inbound interest from developers tends to be low in the early days, necessitating outbound efforts. He likened this process to sales, requiring persistence and a willingness to experiment.

The panelists agreed that the most effective way to identify potential influencers is to look for those who are already actively engaged with the product or community. These “hand-raisers” are often the most passionate and knowledgeable advocates, and nurturing their enthusiasm can lead to valuable partnerships.

Balancing Inbound and Outbound Influencer Outreach

Influencer outreach can be extremely time-consuming, so, logically, you may prefer opting for those influencers who’ve shown interest in your product. And while inbound interest is ideal, it’s often not realistic, especially for smaller companies or those with newer products.

You probably get lower profile influence with some content creators reaching out to you. – Karl McCarthy, Founder of Yard

He suggested that these creators might offer high-quality content but lack the distribution or audience size that established influencers have.

Cole agreed, emphasizing that a combined approach is often the most effective. While inbound interest is valuable for its authenticity, outbound efforts are necessary to expand reach and tap into specific niches or geographic markets. 

I think it’s both (inbound vs outbound). You really have to be a good salesman in some aspects. – Cole Stark, CMO at Pieces

Both panelists stressed the importance of research and personalization when reaching out to influencers. Generic, mass emails are unlikely to yield positive results. Instead, you should focus on building genuine relationships with influencers who align with your brand and values.

Best Platforms for Finding Developer Evangelists

Once you’ve decided to start your outbound outreach, there are some platforms that hold more value than others. The speakers emphasized that the best platforms for finding developer influencers vary depending on your specific goals and target audience. However, they highlighted several key channels to consider:

YouTube: The “800-pound gorilla” for discovering developer influencers.

I think YouTube is head and shoulders above everything else because you can see what people are reviewing…you can see what their style is like…and you can get a really good idea of, like, if this person is any good or not. – Karl McCarthy, Founder of Yard 

Additionally, YouTube allows you to gauge a potential influencer’s audience engagement by observing comments and likes.

LinkedIn: While users tend to be more passive, LinkedIn is beneficial for discovering influencers within specific companies or industries by searching relevant groups and discussions.

Twitter: A valuable platform for engaging with developer influencers by following relevant hashtags, participating in conversations, and identifying developers already discussing your product or similar tools.

Reddit: A goldmine for insights into developer discussions and challenges, and a good place to find early adopters of new technologies and tools. Explore subreddits related to your technology or industry.

Twitch: A niche platform for reaching developers who enjoy live streaming. Watch streams of developers coding or discussing tools to get a sense of their expertise and personality.

Mistakes to Avoid in Developer Influencer Marketing

Having identified your ideal developer influencers and the platforms they frequent, it’s time to avoid some common pitfalls that can derail your campaign. Let’s take a look:

Unrealistic Expectations and Timelines

Karl pointed out the importance of understanding that many developer influencers have full-time jobs and other commitments. Therefore, setting realistic expectations and timelines for collaborations is crucial. He cautioned against partnering with influencers who seem overwhelmed or are taking on too many projects simultaneously, and instead, recommended aligning expectations with the reality of influencer schedules and availability.

Lack of Clear Contracts and Agreements

Clear contracts and agreements are essential for any influencer marketing campaign. Karl recommended including performance-based clauses to ensure that both parties are incentivized to deliver high-quality results. He emphasized the importance of defining deliverables, timelines, and compensation in writing to avoid misunderstandings or disputes later on.

Poor Communication and Project Management

Karl pointed out that regular check-ins and open communication channels are essential to keep projects on track and address any issues that may arise. He mentioned that tools like Slack can be helpful for facilitating communication and collaboration.

Neglecting Authenticity and Trust

Cole stressed the importance of allowing influencers to genuinely connect with the product and share their honest opinions instead of forcing them to promote features or aspects they don’t find valuable. 

Challenges of Measuring Developer Influencer Impact

While planning and executing developer influencer campaigns can be exciting and creative, you’ll inevitably face challenges when it’s time to assess their impact and present the results.

Karl acknowledged the difficulty of attribution in this space, stating, ”I always always think it’s funny when you ask a marketer about attribution, and everyone just hides.”

He explained that while UTMs and other tracking methods exist, developers often don’t use them, preferring to discover products organically. He suggested that one way to gauge the impact of influencer marketing is to simply ask customers how they found out about the product.

Cole pointed out that word-of-mouth marketing is often the most effective channel in the developer space, even if it’s difficult to measure. He suggested using UTMs where possible, but also acknowledged that some campaigns, like product launches, involve multiple channels and are inherently difficult to attribute.

He recommended a quarter-over-quarter approach to measurement, identifying which channels are working and doubling down on them, while pulling back on those that aren’t performing. He also highlighted the importance of understanding the diminishing returns of certain influencers over time.

Future Trends of Developer Influencer Marketing

As the webinar drew to a close, the conversation turned towards the future of developer influencer marketing. Karl predicted the rise of user-generated content (UGC) in the B2B space.

I feel like user-generated content is coming for our world. – Karl Mc Carthy, Founder of Yard

He envisioned a future where companies empower their communities to create short-form videos, potentially amplified by paid advertising, with the most successful content rising to the top.

Cole explored the evolving landscape of platforms and formats. He noted the emergence of new channels like daily.dev, which provide opportunities for developers to share their knowledge and expertise. He also observed a shift back towards long-form content, as developers often seek in-depth tutorials and explanations.

Both panelists agreed that AI will play an increasingly important role in developer influencer marketing. Cole highlighted how AI tools can streamline content creation, from generating transcripts to automating video editing. 

Regardless of how content formats evolve, AI evolves, or platforms shift, the core principles of developer influencer marketing will remain the same: authenticity, trust, and genuine relationship-building. These foundations will continue to be the essential layer behind successful influencer marketing campaigns.

Want to dive deeper into the world of DevRel and Developer Marketing? Join our upcoming live webinars with Q&A sessions where the Draft.dev team and special guests will be discussing similar topics with insights from industry leaders.

Early-stage startups often face the challenge of aligning their brand identity with their growth marketing strategy. For example, a company might position itself as an innovative, cutting-edge solution while its content focuses on basic tutorials and introductory topics. This misalignment can make it harder for people to understand and use your product. That’s why a cohesive brand message is essential for attracting and retaining users, while inconsistent messaging can lead to confusion and disinterest.

To help early-stage startups navigate the complexities of brand and content alignment, we at Draft.dev recently hosted a webinar titled “Brand & Content Alignment for Early-Stage Startups” featuring Rebecca Mosner, Managing Partner at Maximize, and Brian Doll, Co-founder of Reify.

In this post, I’ll recap some key points and summarize their solutions to common brand and content alignment challenges. I’ll also dive into some approaches to understanding your audience, creating an authentic brand identity, and ensuring your content remains a valuable resource throughout your startup’s growth journey.

Why Brand Identity Must Come Before Content Strategy

It all starts with your brand identity, especially in the early stages of your startup. As Rebecca emphasized, 

Identity has to come first before everything else.

But what exactly does building a brand identity mean? It begins with getting your co-founders and the internal stakeholders together to align on the company’s core values, mission, target audience, and unique value propositions. This ensures everyone is on the same page and working towards a unified vision.

Brian added that it’s important to recognize the role founders play in this process. Their experiences and motivations for starting the company provide valuable context and insights that shape the brand’s narrative – more on that later. 

Common Brand Identity Pitfalls for Early-Stage Startups

When you think you’ve got your brand identity figured out, take a moment to consider these common pitfalls that our speakers highlighted. 

Idealized Vision of Your Brand

It’s easy to fall into the trap of having an “idealized vision of what your brand is or what your messaging should be,” as Brian pointed out. However, it’s important to ground your brand identity in reality, ensuring that your product, service, and overall experience align with your messaging. Authenticity is key, and your brand should reflect the genuine value you bring to the market.

The “If You Build It, They Will Come” Mentality

Another common mistake is assuming that simply creating a great product is enough to attract customers. Rebecca emphasized the importance of understanding your target audience and engaging with them through conversations and feedback. This will help you refine your brand messaging and ensure it resonates with the people you’re trying to reach.

Internal Brand Identity Misalignment

Lastly, internal misalignment can also pose a challenge. Often team members have vastly different ideas about what their brand represents. To help overcome this, Rebecca shared an exercise where she asks team members to describe the company in one sentence, and you’d be surprised how many different answers she gets! 

Once everyone internally agrees on how the brand should be perceived, it becomes much easier to convey that message consistently through your content.

Understanding and Connecting With Your Target Audience

The next step before actually launching your content strategy is to truly understand your audience. Rebecca suggested starting with your already existing user base, as they offer invaluable insights into what works and what doesn’t. Engaging in conversations with these users helps you uncover their pain points, preferences, and how they perceive your product.

Brian added another layer to audience understanding by asking, “Who is your current client base and who do you wish it was?” In other words, take a good look at who’s already using your product or service, and then envision your dream customer. Who are they? What are their needs and challenges? Understanding this gap helps you tailor your messaging to attract the right kind of customers and ensure your brand resonates with those who can truly benefit from what you offer. And don’t forget to pinpoint the key decision-maker in your target companies – the person who can advocate for your product and drive adoption within their organization. As Brian mentioned,

Ultimately, the goal is to create a brand and messaging that feel pretty easy and kind of obvious to your audience.

When your messaging resonates authentically, it should feel natural and familiar to the communities you’re trying to reach. 

Creating Your Initial Content Strategy and Onboarding Flow

When it comes to creating your initial content, Brian suggested a practical approach:

• Work backward from the onboarding flow of a product or journey: Identify the critical steps users take when adopting your product and create content that directly addresses their needs at each stage.
• Create a durable, permanent URL for every piece of information: This ensures users can easily access the resources they need, whether through emails, documentation, or other channels.

Rebecca agreed, highlighting the importance of understanding the customer journey and how users ultimately adopt your product. This is especially true for creating documentation and onboarding materials that guide users through each step of the process, which should be as clear and simple as possible. As Rebecca pointed out, many developers are time-constrained, so make sure your onboarding materials are easy to follow and understand.

💡Developer Content Strategies That Work (and Scale)

Strategic Competitive Analysis Without Losing Innovation

After you’ve mapped out your initial content strategy and gained a deep understanding of your audience, it’s equally important to strike the right balance when it comes to competitive analysis. Rebecca advised that this analysis should be a significant part of your initial brand and positioning strategy. It helps you understand where you fit within the existing market landscape and how you can differentiate yourself from competitors.

However, she also cautioned against becoming overly fixated on competitors:

You shouldn’t be spending too much time focusing on…what is this competitor doing? What is competitor Y doing? What is competitor Z doing? Because…if you’re following like…monkey see monkey do, you’ll never innovate fast enough.

Brian agreed, emphasizing that while it’s important to be aware of your competitors and understand what sets you apart, obsessing over them can stifle your own creativity and innovation.

Leveraging Your Startup Story for Authentic Connection

“People buy people, not products.” This common marketing phrase perfectly encapsulates the power of your startup story. It’s a reminder that behind every product is a team of passionate individuals driven by a unique vision. Sharing your startup story authentically can humanize your brand, create trust, and a deeper connection with your audience. Founders should be actively involved in sharing their thought leadership, including their motivations for starting the company, their vision for the industry, and their unique perspectives.

Rebecca highlighted the importance of authenticity in storytelling. She encouraged founders to leverage their own experiences and the challenges they faced that led them to create their product. This personal touch can resonate deeply with your audience, creating a sense of trust and credibility.

One good example of this is Incident, a company that helps engineering teams ship reliable software. The founders of Incident openly share their personal experiences and challenges. This transparency helps them connect with their audience on a more personal level and establish their credibility in the industry.

Brian added that good storytelling can demonstrate a deep understanding and empathy for your audience’s perspective. By acknowledging their pain points and demonstrating how your product addresses their needs, you can create a compelling narrative that attracts and retains users.

Expanding Content Strategy with Consistent Effort

The next natural step in your content strategy is to expand and diversify your efforts. Experimenting with various formats, blog posts, videos, podcasts, social media posts, and webinars is a great wat, as Rebecca emphasized, to cater to different learning styles and preferences within your audience.

But it’s not just about creating a wide range of content; it’s also about consistency. Brian likened effective content marketing to compound interest: 

Good marketing really benefits from compound interest.

Just as small, regular investments can grow exponentially over time, so too can consistent content creation. Each blog post, video, or social media update contributes to your brand’s overall presence and authority. Over time, this consistent effort builds momentum, leading to increased brand recognition, trust, and ultimately, customer loyalty.

Measure Success and Adapt Your Strategy

After investing time and effort into your content strategy, you might be wondering if you are doing it right and how you can improve. That’s where measuring its success and adapting your approach becomes a priority. Rebecca emphasized the importance of data-backed decisions and recommended conducting regular audits to assess what’s working and what’s not. This involves tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and analyzing how your content is performing in terms of engagement, reach, and conversions.

However, measuring the success of content marketing, especially for early-stage startups, isn’t always straightforward. Rebecca pointed out that many startups struggle with marketing attribution, making it difficult to track the impact of specific content pieces on user acquisition and conversion.

To address this challenge, she stressed the importance of implementing proper marketing attribution from the start. This involves tracking user interactions with your content and understanding how they contribute to the overall customer journey. By analyzing this data, you can identify which content pieces are most effective in driving desired outcomes and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Brian added that it’s important to strike a balance between reacting to data and staying true to your brand’s core message. While data can provide valuable insights, it’s essential to avoid making impulsive decisions based on short-term fluctuations. Instead, focus on long-term trends and align your content strategy with your overall brand goals.

The Role of AI in Content Creation

The rise of AI in content creation has sparked discussions about its role in brand and content strategies. Both Rebecca and Brian acknowledged the potential of AI tools to streamline content creation processes, particularly in generating initial drafts or outlines. However, they emphasized the importance of human refinement to ensure the content’s quality, accuracy, and authenticity.

Rebecca suggested that AI can be a helpful tool for building out things like your skeleton draft, especially for teams with limited resources. Brian agreed, adding that AI can be useful for tasks like compressing data or summarizing information.

The consensus was that AI can be a valuable tool in content creation, but it should not replace human writers entirely. By using AI strategically and combining it with human expertise, startups can create high-quality content that is both efficient and effective.

Embrace Product Pivots

Product pivots are often necessary for survival and growth. Rebecca acknowledged that pivots can be scary, but they are also a natural part of the entrepreneurial journey. She also emphasized the importance of being open to change and willing to adapt your brand and content strategy as your product evolves.

Brian added that pivots can present an opportunity to re-engage your audience and showcase your brand’s adaptability. By openly communicating the reasons behind the pivot and demonstrating how it benefits your users, you can turn a potential setback into a positive brand story.

Pivots also provide a chance to re-evaluate your messaging and ensure it aligns with your new product direction. Rebecca suggested revisiting your brand’s core values and mission statement to ensure they still resonate with your evolving target audience.

Ultimately, embracing product pivots is about staying agile and responsive to market feedback. it’s an opportunity to learn, adapt, and ultimately create a product that better serves your customers.

Clear and effective product documentation is critical for developers to understand and use software effectively. Without proper guidance, even the most innovative products can struggle to gain traction. Strong documentation is not only essential for product usage but also for user adoption. Broken links, outdated information, and a lack of clarity can leave a potential user frustrated and lost within seconds.

To shed light on how to make sure your product documentation is up to par, we at Draft.dev recently hosted a webinar titled “Mastering the Art of Product Documentation & Education” featuring Garrett Frohman, Founder of Mendable, and Randall Degges, Head of Developer Relations & Community at Snyk.

In this post, I will recap some key points and summarize their solutions to common product documentation challenges. I’ll also dive into practical approaches for addressing varying levels of expertise and ensuring your documentation remains a valuable resource throughout the developer journey.

The Key Ingredients of Effective Product Docs

Let’s face it, wading through walls of technical jargon and convoluted instructions is enough to send even the most patient developer running for the hills. To avoid this, it’s necessary to focus on the key ingredients for creating effective product documentation:

User-Centric Design and Communication

Your product’s website should be the first impression, and it needs to be clear and concise. Avoid technical jargon and marketing fluff. As Randall mentioned, 

If you’re a developer… you have to be able to understand it, and all the enterprise buzz words… are just a distraction.

A good example of this is AssemblyAI‘s homepage – it immediately tells users what the product does in plain English. This simplicity helps developers understand the core value proposition without getting bogged down in details.

Aligned User Expectations & Intuitive Product Design

Your product should be intuitive and align with how developers already think about similar solutions. Heroku excels in this area. Their documentation assumes a basic understanding of web app deployment and fills in the knowledge gaps specific to their platform. 

By aligning with existing mental models, you reduce the learning curve for users, allowing them to quickly grasp the core functionality and get started with your product.

💡Explore more examples of outstanding product documentation.

Clear Organization and Navigation

Even with clear design and aligned user expectations, product docs won’t be successful if they’re not easy to navigate. Therefore, it’s essential to present information in a way that is simple, usable, and easily searchable.

Randall emphasized that the goal should be to provide the simplest possible explanation for users. Skip the fluff and get straight to the point. Simple documentation is easier to maintain, easier for users to understand, and makes it more searchable for AI language models like ChatGPT. 

Garrett added that it’s easy to get carried away when launching a new feature and you want to document everything in excruciating detail. However, people don’t understand your product like you do, which is why it’s so important to keep it digestible and user-friendly.

To improve the searchability of your product documentation, semantic search can be a valuable tool for large and complex documentation sites. This helps users find the information they need even if they don’t use the exact keywords.

Tailoring Your Documentation for Diverse Audiences

Another important aspect of product documentation is to make it understandable for all audiences, be it different technical levels, industries, or cultures. This means embracing strategies that prioritize clarity, inclusivity, and adaptability, ensuring your documentation speaks a language everyone can understand. To illustrate this point, Randall Degges shared that:

People can always self-select into things. But at the end of the day, a topic is going to be interesting to people of all different levels of experience if you present it in the right way.

Here are some key strategies to ensure your product documentation is generally clear and understandable to everyone:

• Assume no prior knowledge. As Randall emphasized from his experience, it’s always best to start with the basics and build your content progressively. Don’t assume your audience has any existing knowledge about the topic.
• Break down complexity. Even for advanced subjects, explain concepts in a clear and understandable way. Imagine you’re teaching someone completely new to the field.
• Balance education with entertainment. Effective documentation should be both informative and engaging. People are more likely to retain information presented in a way that’s interesting and easy to follow.

Additionally, consider these advanced strategies to fine-tune your product documentation for specific audience segments:

• Identify your user personas to represent the different types of users who will be referencing your documentation. This helps you understand their needs, experience level, and preferred learning styles.
• Offer multiple content formats to cater to different learning preferences. This could include written tutorials, video demonstrations, or interactive code samples.
• Use techniques like progressive disclosure to reveal more complex information only when users demonstrate a need for it. This can be achieved through collapsable sections, advanced topics placed later in the documentation, or links to deeper dives on specific subjects.

From a cultural perspective, Randall emphasized the significance of building a company culture that values diversity and inclusion, extending this ethos to the creation of documentation:

• Unify your company narrative and vision. For instance, Snyk’s vision of “helping fix security problems for developers” guides their documentation style and content, maintaining a unified voice despite being produced by various contributors and thus, resonates with users across diverse backgrounds.
• Embrace diverse voices and perspectives. Incorporating a wide range of voices and perspectives within the documentation team allows you to create documentation that connects with a broader audience.

How to Tackle Customer Feedback?

Randall offered valuable insight into the contrasting approaches for handling customer feedback in both small startups and larger enterprises. 

In a startup environment, developers often wear multiple hats, including building the product, writing documentation, and providing user support. This creates a close connection between developers and users, allowing for a highly responsive approach to feedback.

However, as a company scales, maintaining this one-on-one approach becomes impractical and unfeasible. Consequently, implementing a more strategic and data-driven approach becomes essential.

Garrett discussed how his team utilizes AI-powered search to analyze user queries within their documentation. By identifying frequently asked questions that lack corresponding documentation, they can prioritize content creation and ensure their documentation addresses user pain points.

How to Measure the Success of Your Product Docs?

Creating quality product documentation is an ongoing process, so you may be wondering what are the metrics to rely on when you continue building your docs. 

While page views offer some insight, they don’t tell the whole story. As Randall pointed out, high view counts might indicate user frustration rather than success. So let’s  explore more insightful metrics to evaluate your documentation’s impact:

• Support Ticket Reduction: A decrease in support tickets related to topics covered in your documentation indicates users are finding the information they need independently.
• Time to Value/Time to Success: How quickly are users able to achieve their desired outcomes after referencing your documentation? This can be measured through surveys or user testing. For example, Snyk prioritizes “time to fix” as a key metric. Their documentation is designed to expedite the process of users identifying and resolving security vulnerabilities within their code.
• Engagement Metrics: Tools like analytics software can track user behavior within your documentation, revealing areas of confusion or frequent reference.

Navigating the Documentation Lifecycle

Maintaining and updating your product documentation throughout the product’s lifecycle is essential and one of the biggest challenges our speakers mentioned is the tendency to deprioritize documentation updates until problems arise. 

Smaller teams often face resource constraints that make dedicated documentation maintenance difficult. So, how can we navigate these challenges and ensure our documentation remains a valuable resource?

Build a Strong Foundation

• Start drafting documentation well in advance of a new feature launch. This allows time for internal review, feedback from beta testers, and revisions based on real-world usage.
• Facilitate close collaboration between product engineers and the documentation team. Ideally, engineers should be involved in the writing process to ensure technical accuracy and clarity. As Randall emphasized, “isolating the documentation team from product development leads to problematic situations like launching features without documentation or with unclear, technically inaccurate explanations”.

Use Feedback for Continous Improvement

• Once your product has launched, customer feedback becomes one of the key areas to monitor. Implement systems for gathering user feedback on documentation. This could include simple “thumbs up/down” ratings, dedicated feedback forms, or even monitoring relevant channels like Stack Overflow or community forums.
• Explore AI-powered tools that can assist with documentation tasks. This might involve automatic generation of documentation from code changes, or intelligent assistants that provide context-aware guidance to developers within their IDEs.

Finding the Right Tools

While the ideal toolkit for product documentation will vary depending on your specific needs and context, our speakers highlighted a few key tools and considerations:

• Markdown Editors: Garrett shared that a good markdown editor is essential for efficient creation and editing of documentation content. Its simplicity and ease of use make it a popular choice for many teams.
• Version Control and Collaboration Tools: Tools like the Github editor facilitate version control and collaboration, ensuring that documentation remains consistent and up-to-date.
• Content Management Systems (CMS): For projects requiring more complex content management, consider exploring options like headless CMS platforms, which offer flexibility and customization.

Beyond specific tools, both speakers emphasized the importance of establishing clear guidelines and expectations around content maintenance. This includes determining the expected lifespan of different types of content (e.g., videos, blog posts) and establishing procedures for updating or archiving outdated materials.

A Glimpse Into the Future of Product Documentation

Integrating artificial intelligence into product documentation is a major turning point. It will change how users find, understand, and use technical information. 

One of the biggest impacts of AI is currently seen in search. Traditional keyword searches often fail to understand what users really want. AI-powered search engines, on the other hand, can analyze natural language and deliver relevant results, even if users don’t know the exact terms. As Garrett explained:

More companies are using AI search tools within their documentation. This helps users find what they need faster. Imagine saying, ‘I want to do X, can you help me do that so I can achieve Y?’ and the AI points you to the right information.

Looking ahead, AI has the potential to power intelligent assistants and guides within documentation. These AI companions could provide context-specific help, instantly answer user questions, and even suggest relevant information based on user behavior and past interactions. 

Secondly, AI has the potential to assist with the creation and maintenance of documentation, automating tasks such as generating routine content, updating documentation based on code changes, and ensuring consistency across different versions. As Garrett mentioned:

AI might even eliminate the need for us to write or update documentation manually. Imagine it detecting code changes and automatically generating or updating documentation.

In conclusion, the future of product documentation is deeply connected to the progress we’re seeing in AI. While we already benefit from AI-powered tools like intelligent search, this is just the tip of the iceberg. As AI technology continues to develop, we can expect a significant shift in how we create, manage, and interact with documentation, leading to experiences that are more dynamic, personalized, and user-focused. 

Want to dive deeper into the world of DevRel and Developer Marketing? Join our upcoming live webinars with Q&A sessions where we’ll be discussing similar topics with insights from industry leaders.

Developers are the lifeblood of any software company, and building strong relationships with them is key to success. That’s where a well-crafted Developer Relations (DevRel) team comes in. However, building a high-performing DevRel team requires a strategic approach and recruiting the right individuals with the skills and passion to foster a thriving developer ecosystem.

Last month, we explored these key concepts in our webinar, “Building a DevRel Dream Team.” Led by industry experts Tessa Kriesel (DevRel Leader & Coach), Dan Moore (Head of Developer Relations at FusionAuth), and Owen Parker (Founder & Director at DevRel Talent), we dived into the strategies and best practices for building a DevRel team that drives results.

In this post, I want to dig deeper into their thought-provoking conversation and explore some of the essential building blocks for a dream DevRel team.

Whether you’re a founder of a startup thinking of hiring your first DevRel, or perhaps you’re the only DevRel in your company being tasked with scaling your team, this discussion offers valuable perspectives on building a high-performing unit that cultivates strong developer relationships.

Laying a Solid Foundation for a DevRel Team

When it comes to building a DevRel team, one of the biggest mistakes companies make is trying to hire fast to get quick results. But simply hiring a Developer Advocate won’t guarantee results if there are no clear goals. That’s why the primary focus should be establishing a solid foundation before hiring. This ensures that the team aligns with the company’s goals and objectives, and can deliver the anticipated results.

In our webinar, Tessa Kriesel emphasized the importance of understanding what the company aims to achieve:

Is the objective to drive sales, foster a community, or perhaps something else?

Once these goals are understood, they’ll guide the creation and operation of the DevRel team.

The speakers also highlighted the necessity of company buy-in for the DevRel team to be effective. DevRel should not be an afterthought or something put on the back burner, but rather an integral part of the company’s operations. 

Owen Parker added that the team will have a significant influence over certain areas of the company, and for it to be beneficial, there needs to be an executive buy-in and understanding of what DevRel can contribute.

Lastly, Dan Moore discussed that while results are essential, they should not dictate the team’s direction right from the beginning. The first focus should be on defining the strategy and playbook for the DevRel team. Once there is a clear direction, the team will be more capable of delivering meaningful results aligned with the company’s objectives.

This foundation – understanding the company’s goals, ensuring company buy-in, and defining a clear strategy – is where the building process for your DevRel team should begin.

Strategic Approach to Hiring Your First DevRel

After laying a solid foundation for your DevRel team, the next step is hiring your first DevRel and structuring your team. This can be daunting, especially for startups. Companies often crave quick results, so there’s a temptation to seek a “do-it-all” DevRel superstar. However, it’s crucial to consider your needs. To ensure you make informed decisions, here are four actionable steps to guide you through the process.

Pinpoint Your Product Stage

The stage of your product development will directly impact your DevRel needs. Are you in the early stages of building awareness, or are you fostering a thriving community around a more mature product? For example, in an early-stage startup, your first DevRel hire might need to wear many hats – developer advocacy, community management, and content creation. They’ll be laying the groundwork for future growth.

Leader or Hands-on DevRel?

Do you need a strategic leader who can drive the vision, build the team, and achieve company objectives?  Alternatively, would you benefit from a combination of a hands-on DevRel alongside a consultant to help establish the strategy and playbook?

Explore Team Roles

Initially, your DevRel team may include roles like Developer Advocates and Community Leaders. Developer Advocates champion developer needs, promote your products within the developer community and provide feedback to product teams. Community Leaders, on the other hand, focus on overall community strategy, manage day-to-day operations, and cultivate a welcoming developer environment. Exploring the nuances of different DevRel roles can help you define what your company needs. 

Define Your Team Structure

At the end, the specific structure of your DevRel team depends on your company’s needs and goals. For instance, targeting a new developer market might require multiple developer advocates and a dedicated community operations leader, as Tessa Kriesel’s experience suggests.

The Unique Challenge of DevRel Recruitment

DevRel recruitment stands out from other tech roles. It requires a unique blend of technical credibility, strong communication skills, and a passion for engaging with developer communities. Many companies struggle to find candidates who possess this specific combination of skills. As Owen Parker highlighted:

We did research for a client in San Francisco where we found 100,000 software engineers, but only 500 people in DevRel. So the talent pools are really small compared to a lot of bigger industries.

So, how do you recruit for such a unique role? Here are some tips and strategies from our speakers:

• Don’t limit yourself to experienced DevRel professionals. Consider software engineers with the necessary skills and a desire to transition into a DevRel role. You can ask candidates to showcase their community engagement or samples of their work to assess their suitability.
• Move beyond social media buzz. Popularity on platforms like X isn’t the sole indicator of a candidate’s skills or fit for the role.
• Verify the candidate’s reputation. A good reputation can be a positive sign, but it’s crucial to ensure the candidate can effectively perform the specific DevRel tasks required by your company and that they align with your company culture.
• Take a proactive approach to recruitment, almost like a marketing campaign, actively targeting potential hires instead of just waiting for applicants. Leverage your existing network within the DevRel community, as Tessa Kriesel suggests.
• Leverage your network connections within the DevRel community to reach potential candidates and look for talent among those who are already actively advocating for your product.

Another way to streamline the recruiting process is by leveraging targeted platforms and communities dedicated to DevRel professionals. Whether you’re an employer hoping to connect with potential candidates or a DevRel professional seeking fresh opportunities, platforms like DevRel Careers come in handy. This tailored job board caters specifically to the developer relations community, serving as an effective bridge between employers and candidates.

Finally, A strong DevRel team isn’t just about technical experience. As Tessa Kriesel shared:

When seeking out talent, it’s essential not only to consider an individual’s skills and experience but also their different life views and backgrounds.

This way, not only do you create a team that is representative of the community it serves, but you also build a culture of inclusion and mutual respect.

DevRel Compensation: Why Competitive Salaries Matter

According to the 2023 Developer Relations compensation & culture report, the median gross total compensation for DevRel professionals globally sits at $175,000 USD equivalent, pre-tax, so when it comes to hiring a DevRel, be ready to invest high. Why? Because if you trim down the salaries to marketing levels, you’re more likely to attract a marketing professional, not a DevRel expert. But let’s dive deeper into why it is important to offer competitive compensation in the DevRel sector.

DevRel professionals aren’t just marketers. They are technical experts who often possess a deep understanding of software engineering. They’re skilled in bridging the gap between your product and the developer communities, ensuring your offerings are refined, understood, and well-received. More than that, they’re adept at nurturing relationships that lead to a strong community around your product.

Additionally, when transitioning from software engineering to DevRel roles, professionals often expect salary increases reflective of their growing responsibilities and the value they offer.

In the end, the compensation you offer your DevRel team should reflect both the technical and interpersonal expertise they bring to the table. 

Scaling Your DevRel Team

Now that we’ve discussed laying a good foundation and hiring for your first DevRel, the next crucial step is scaling your team strategically. This isn’t about impulsive decisions but about a well-defined plan built on the foundation of your team’s success. 

Effective DevRel team scaling isn’t just about adding headcount. Similarly to hiring your first DevRel, scaling is about determining your organization’s broader needs and how your DevRel team can adapt to meet them. Therefore, consider both internal operational scaling (supporting your team’s efficiency) and external community scaling (expanding your reach within the developer community).

Also, as your DevRel team grows, specialization becomes more important. Identify your most successful DevRel areas, whether it’s technical writing, community development, or developer advocacy. Use this knowledge to guide how you scale your team.

Scaling may also require planning for resources. This might involve tools, additional personnel, agencies, or contractors. These resources help decongest operations, freeing up your team to focus on core functions.

Finally, the key to effective scaling lies in a deep understanding of your company. This includes its products, strategic goals, and customer base. By aligning your DevRel team’s growth with these factors, you ensure it continues to be a valuable asset to your company’s success.

Enhancing Your Own Skills In DevRel

Building and scaling your DevRel team is a significant accomplishment. But as you navigate this exciting chapter, you might be wondering: how do I ensure my own skills keep pace?

Here are some practical strategies from our speakers to refine your DevRel skillset:

Develop A Continuous Learning Habit

Dedicate a specific amount of time to ongoing learning, and explore online resources and books on Developer Relations. 

Create A Well-Rounded Skillset

While technical knowledge is a foundation, DevRel success requires more. If you are someone with a strong technical background, focus on improving these areas:

• Effective communication: Learn how to present complex information clearly and concisely, both verbally and in writing.
• Relationship building: Foster strong connections with developers, industry influencers, and colleagues.
• Stakeholder management: Effectively communicate DevRel value and progress to internal stakeholders.

Continuously Self-Assess & Make A Skill Gap Analysis

Regularly evaluate your strengths and weaknesses across different areas of your DevRel strategy such as program management, leadership, and personal development.

Maintain Your Technical Proficiency

Set aside dedicated time to stay connected to the technical aspects of your role:

• Work on sample applications: Develop example apps or quick starts that showcase your company’s products or APIs.
• Participate in code reviews: Engage in code reviews to stay up-to-date on coding practices and best practices.
• Contribute bug fixes: If possible, contribute bug fixes to your company’s product to maintain a hands-on technical connection.

Building DevRel Teams That Drive Business Results

Building a strong DevRel team is a strategic endeavor that requires careful planning, effective hiring, and constant nurturing. As the developer relations field evolves, so does the approach to hiring in this sector. An emerging trend highlighted by Owen Parker is that Venture Capitalist (VC) firms are now looking into having their own DevRel strategies, indicating a broadening appreciation of the role that DevRel plays. As VCs create portfolios of startups, having a DevRel strategy can help these companies gain traction among developers.

Remember, your DevRel team is not just about technical expertise or marketing strategies, but about fostering connections, continually learning, and adapting to the needs of your company. Ultimately, successful future DevRel hiring will depend on recognizing these aspects and the value that a well-rounded DevRel team brings to the table.

Keen on exploring more topics on DevRel and Developer Marketing? Join our upcoming webinars featuring insights from industry leaders.

Developers are notoriously allergic to traditional growth marketing tactics. Their trust lies in genuine value, not flashy campaigns. One powerful way to provide that value is by building a community around your tool or field of expertise. But building an engaged community is hard – it’s a long-term effort demanding significant commitment and a well-defined strategy.

Last month, we tackled this challenge in our webinar, “Cultivating a Thriving Developer Community.” Joined by community champions like Rebecca Marshburn (Head of Community at Common Room), Ron Northcutt (Head of Developer Relations at Appsmith), and Tessa Kriesel (DevRel Leader & Coach), we explored the main ingredients for fostering a developer community that drives business success.

This blog post distills the webinar’s key insights and strategies for starting, building, and measuring your developer community’s success. 

What Is A Developer Community?

At its core, a developer community is a group of developers who share a common interest. This interest could be a specific programming language, a particular technology stack, or even just a general passion for software development. Engaged developers who find value in the community are more likely to become paying users of your product.

Ron Northcutt offered a broader perspective on developer communities. With a background in open-source, he sees a developer community as encompassing a wide range of audiences, including those who have simply heard about the product, those who use it occasionally, and those who are deeply engaged members. External channels like Reddit can be valuable tools for attracting developers to a more focused community platform.

Types Of Developer Communities

Now that we understand the core concept, let’s explore the various forms developer communities can take:

Internal Developer Communities

These communities exist within a single company and cater to two distinct audiences:

1. Internal Developers: These are the developers who build and maintain the company’s own products. A strong internal developer community, as Rebecca mentioned, is necessary for improving communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing within your organization.
2. Customers: These are the developers who use your product. An internal developer community can be a valuable space not only to share best practices, and troubleshoot issues, but also to get product feedback.

External Developer Communities

External developer communities are open to everyone and can be centered around a specific product, technology, or simply a shared interest in software development. It’s important to distinguish these communities from audiences on platforms like Reddit. As Tessa Kriesel pointed out, these platforms are more like channels for information sharing and discussion, not true communities that foster a sense of belonging and deeper connections.

Community of Practice vs. Community of Product

While the above categories provide a foundational understanding, developer communities can also be classified based on their focus:

• Community of Practice: These communities center around a shared field or practice (e.g., data management, mobile development). Members exchange best practices, troubleshoot challenges, and learn from each other’s experiences.
• Community of Product: These communities revolve around a specific product or tool. Users gather to learn its functionalities, share success stories, and get support from the product team or fellow users.

Many communities blend these approaches. This allows them to attract developers interested in the broader practice while also catering to those who use their specific product, which can be particularly beneficial as members can learn about the field and discover a valuable tool to enhance their work.

The Developer Journey & How They Reach Your Community

Imagine a developer on a quest to find the perfect tool for their project. Their journey likely starts with a broad search, then narrows down as they explore options and deepen their understanding. Your developer community can be a powerful destination on this journey, offering valuable resources, support, and connections.

But how do developers actually find their way to your community? To understand this, let’s explore the concept of community growth types and how they align with the developer journey.

First, we can think of two growth options: organic and intentional. 

1. Organic Community Growth: Imagine a developer stumbles upon your product on Reddit during their initial discovery phase. This exposure, while valuable, might not necessarily translate into them joining your dedicated community platform.
2. Cultivated Community Growth: By understanding the developer journey and the different stages (discovery, evaluation, learning, adopting), you can strategically guide developers toward your community. This cultivated approach can involve creating valuable content, engaging on relevant platforms like Reddit, and providing clear pathways for developers to find your community.

Then, we can map our growth method together with the developer or community stages, guiding developers through a series of steps within your community and offering targeted resources and experiences based on their current stage and needs.

Tessa Kriesel emphasized that during the discovery phase, external communities like Reddit might be a good fit. As developers progress through the stages, they can be nurtured towards your more focused community platform.

💡Read the book How to Build and Grow a Successful Developer Program to learn more about the developer journey map. 

Rebecca Marshburn offered a model with three community stages:

• Tertiary Community: This is the broadest stage, encompassing anyone who has heard about your product or could potentially benefit from it.
• Secondary Community: This stage includes developers who are interested in your content or resources, such as following you on social media or checking out your GitHub repository.
• Primary Community: This is your core community, where developers are actively engaged with your product and participate in discussions and collaborations.

Both perspectives emphasize the importance of understanding the stages developers go through and strategically guiding them toward your community at the most relevant points. Understanding the developer journey and strategically guiding them through the different stages can help you build a thriving community that benefits both developers and your business.

First Steps of Building a Community

Before you start considering building a developer community, there are two important foundation steps to consider:

1. Know Your People

As Rebecca emphasized, the cornerstone of any successful community is a deep understanding of your target audience. Regardless of the size of your initial community, take the time to truly understand their needs, motivations, and pain points.

Some of the key questions to consider are:

• What are their challenges? Identify the problems your developers face and how your product or service can help them overcome those obstacles.
• What kind of content do they value? Understanding their preferred learning styles and content formats will guide your content creation strategy.
• What makes them feel valued and appreciated? Recognize and acknowledge their contributions to foster a sense of belonging and encourage participation.

These evaluative questions will help you to:

• Develop targeted content and resources that address their specific needs and interests.
• Craft a welcoming and inclusive community experience that resonates with your target audience.
• Empower your developers to co-create valuable content through collaborations and knowledge sharing.

2. Align With Your Business Goals

Before embarking on community building, it’s essential to align with your internal stakeholders, as Tessa mentioned. Take a step back and consider the bigger picture: what are the overall business goals for your developer community?

• Get to know your stakeholders: Familiarize yourself with the needs and priorities of different departments, such as sales, marketing, customer success, and recruiting.
• Align with business objectives: Understand how your community can contribute to achieving broader company goals.
• Identify success metrics: Collaborate with your stakeholders to define measurable metrics for tracking the success of your developer community.

How To Measure Success?

Measuring the success of a developer community is probably the hardest aspect of any developer relations department. As Ron Northcutt highlighted, it’s challenging because DevRel efforts serve various stages of the developer lifecycle. You might create a blog post that a developer uses to solve a problem for free, or you might nurture a student who becomes a brand advocate years later. Both interactions contribute to the community’s value, but tracking their impact on the business can be difficult.

Here are some key tactics that can help you start measuring success:

Define Short-term and Long-term Goals

Rebecca offered a helpful framework for navigating this challenge by considering both short-term and long-term goals.

• Short-Term Goals: Focus on aligning with stakeholder needs.  Identify your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and develop strategies to attract them to your community. Metrics like community growth and engagement among relevant developer personas can indicate short-term success.
• Long-Term Goals:  Look beyond immediate conversions. Building a thriving community fosters brand loyalty and creates a pool of potential customers who are already familiar with your product’s value. Tracking how your community attracts industry influencers or future decision-makers demonstrates the long-term impact.

Find the Right Data & Tools

Imagine being a chef who can’t taste their own food. That’s what it can be like without data in DevRel. Tessa Kriesel highlighted the importance of data in gauging the effectiveness of your DevRel programs, but she also acknowledged the challenges of accessing the right data or using tools that collect and analyze relevant metrics effectively. 

The key metrics in building and growing a developer community that you should track are:

• Activity Tracking: Look for solutions that track user activity within your community platform. This data can reveal how developers are engaging with your content and resources, providing valuable insights into their interests and needs.
• User Journey Tracking: Understanding the complete user journey, from initial touchpoints to conversions, can help you attribute the impact of your community efforts. Tools that connect community activity with sales pipelines can demonstrate the value DevRel brings to the broader business.

Conclusion

Building a successful developer community hinges on three key pillars: a deep understanding of your audience, tailoring your approach to the developer journey stages, and continuously measuring impact.

As Ron Northcutt pointed out, the tech sales landscape has shifted. Contrary to the past decades, prospects now often conduct extensive research before even reaching out to ask a question. This means that capturing data during the early research phase is crucial for understanding what resonates with developers and identifying areas where your community content or resources might be lacking.

Prioritizing genuine value over marketing tactics remains the key takeaway in community building as well as developer marketing in general. This translates into more than just brand loyalty and fosters a powerful ecosystem that generates valuable leads for your business.

Ready to dive into more DevRel and Developer Marketing insights? Join our upcoming webinars for expert insights and live sessions packed with knowledge from industry leaders.

When someone mentions “hackathons”, images of caffeine-fueled developers in hoodies evoking the next big tech innovation might come to mind. But in reality, hackathons can be powerful tools for businesses in today’s developer-driven world. They bring together talented minds to collaborate, experiment, and create something awesome (not just in the Silicon Valley show sense!), often using your very own tools.

So, should your company host a hackathon? And if so, how do you make it a success?

Recently, we kicked off our new monthly webinar series at Draft.dev with a focus on hackathons. 

Our CEO, Karl Hughes, and Brandon Kessler, CEO of Devpost, dived deep into what makes hackathons tick, their benefits, and key strategies for organizing one. This blog post takes you through the essential questions you might have, like what hackathons are good for, how to plan them right, and more.

What Makes Hackathons Valuable for Developer Marketing

For developer marketing professionals with no technical background, organizing a hackathon might sound like a confusing, expensive event that feels more like a game than a serious business strategy. But the benefits go far beyond that surface.

For Participants

• Creative Fuel: Hackathons spark inspiration with new challenges and unexpected collaborations. It’s not just about coding; it’s about brainstorming and finding innovative solutions.
• Learning Opportunity: Devtools evolve quickly, and developers are lifelong learners. Hackathons provide a dedicated space to explore new technologies and upskill in a collaborative environment. This isn’t just for junior devs – seasoned professionals benefit too!
• Excitement Breeds Great Ideas: While blogs and technical content are valuable, hackathons offer a fun and engaging way to learn. Deadlines, prizes, collaboration, and networking add an exciting twist, motivating participants to build something truly incredible.

For Organizers

• Community Building: You tap into a pool of developers eager to build with your product. Brandon Kessler mentioned that they have seen a 5-35% conversion rate from registration to submission, showing a very strong ROI in terms of engaged user acquisition.
• Talent Magnet: Attract both college students seeking early career opportunities and experienced professionals looking to learn something new.

When Hackathons Don’t Make Sense for Your Company

Regardless of the multiple benefits and reasons why both participants, as well as organizers, can benefit from hackathons, there are situations where organizing them might just not be right for your company. 

1. Cheap Procurement Disguised as Innovation:

If your sole goal is acquiring a finished product on the cheap, don’t frame it as a hackathon. Brandon Kessler aptly calls it “cheap procurement,” undermining the collaborative spirit and devaluing participants’ contributions.

2. Early-Stage Start-Ups with High Expectations:

Can early-stage start-ups host hackathons? Sure! But it’s important to manage expectations because you might not attract big companies to partner up with, or established developers just yet. Instead, focus on building community and engagement instead of immediate product solutions.

3. One-Shot Marketing Tactic:

Think beyond a single event and don’t view hackathons as a standalone marketing campaign. Integrate them into your ongoing developer outreach strategy. Use them to complement technical content, inspire your community, and foster long-term connections.

4. Hackathons as the Only Marketing Strategy:

Hackathons are powerful, but they’re not your entire developer marketing strategy. Think of them as an umbrella providing shade alongside other channels like tutorials, forums, and community events. Use them to drive engagement and support broader initiatives.

In essence, hackathons are catalysts for innovation, community building, and learning. By acknowledging their limitations and integrating them strategically, you can create win-win situations for both you and your developer community.

Four Elements of Successful Hackathons

So, hackathons seem like a promising addition to your developer marketing strategy. Now, how do you build a truly successful one? Here are the four fundamental pillars Brandon pointed out:

1. Marketing & Promotion

This might seem obvious, but if developers don’t know about your event, it’s doomed to be a ghost town. While we’ll dig deeper into specific tactics in the below “Promoting Your Hackathon” section, promotion is a must-have ingredient for an impactful hackathon.

2. A Valuable Product

The competition itself is the heart of the hackathon, so make sure it has the “wow” factor.

Choose a challenge that leverages your product’s strengths and offers genuine value to participants. Consider real-world problems or opportunities to innovate with your tools.

3. Existing Tech Support

Imagine developers hitting a technical problem – frustration rising, motivation dwindling. To prevent this, ensure readily available, knowledgeable tech support. This could be internal developers, volunteers, or partners familiar with your tools.

4. Fair Prizes

Cash prizes are considered the standard, but it’s also a good idea to explore creative additions to cash prices which we’ll go more into detail in the “Incentives for Developers” section. 

How to Design Compelling Hackathon Challenges

While your product might seem like a “one-trick pony” at first glance, remember that creativity knows no bounds. Brandon mentioned the success they had with one of their clients Okta which can serve as an example:

Example – Authentication

• Build the most secure and user-friendly authentication experience for a specific user group (gamers, healthcare professionals, etc.).
• Integrate AI to personalize authentication based on user behavior or risk factors.

Check out Okta’s past hackathons and their case study on DevPost for inspiration. See how they broadened their authentication-focused challenges to encourage creative solutions.

Engaging Customers with Private Hackathons

Private hackathons with key accounts can also be a powerful tool for fostering engagement and showcasing your product’s potential. Your customers might have questions about your product’s suitability for specific scenarios. A hackathon allows them to experiment and discover new possibilities firsthand.

Also, consider real-time collaboration: Imagine showcasing how your database tool works for e-commerce through a live hackathon demonstration. This interactive experience can be far more impactful than traditional presentations.

Effective Hackathon Promotion Strategies

One of the easiest ways to promote your hackathon is to work with a company like Devpost to take the burden as they already have an existing community of developers which makes it easier to attract developers with matching skills to attend your hackathon. But if you have been assigned to promote your webinar on your own, here are some main tips for achieving success with your hackathon promotional plan. In short, Brandon recommends doing “Everything!” when it comes to the promotion.

• Tap into your community: Encourage developers to spread the word, participate, and mentor/judge.
• Partner strategically: Join forces with complementary products, universities, or developer organizations.
• Create a dedicated landing page with clear details and easy access.
• Spread the word online: Share engaging content on social media and consider targeted ads/press outreach.
• Engage and support participants: Keep them informed, foster a community, and offer technical assistance.

Beyond Cash Prizes: What Really Motivates Developers

While cash is a traditional prize, developers may find it more attractive if you can offer something they may usually not have access to. Here are some additional incentives you could consider:

Experiences & Access:

• Meeting inspiring figures: Arrange meetings with industry leaders or experts they admire.
• Opportunities for networking: Facilitate connections with peers or potential employers.
• Unique experiences: Offer tickets to tech conferences, events, or workshops.

Professional Development:

• Product credits: Provide access to your product or tools to enhance their skills.
• Personal branding support: Offer resources or workshops to amplify their online presence.
• Tools and subscriptions: Equip them with valuable tools to accelerate their work.

Tailoring prizes to your audience can also be a good idea. For example, consider the type of developers you’re trying to attract and their motivations. While junior developers might appreciate career development incentives, senior developers may find recognition and their personal brand awareness more important. 

Also, transparency is key, so communicate prize details and eligibility criteria clearly, and don’t forget to research local regulations for any specific prize restrictions or guidelines in the country of your organized hackathon.

Measuring Your Hackathon’s Impact

Attendance figures offer an overview of participation, but to understand your hackathon’s success you have to dig deeper. Success can also mean many things, so make sure you define what are your goals for the event. Is it amplifying brand awareness, gathering feedback, inspiring innovation, or perhaps even attracting talent?

Let’s take a look at some key metrics:

Engagement

• Project Submissions: Did participants actively participate by creating projects?
• Community Interaction: Did they engage in online forums, discussions, or social media groups?
• Technical Activity: Was there active development and code completion throughout the event?

Product Impact

• Direct Feedback: Did participants provide valuable feedback on your product or tools?
• Feature Adoption: Did any submitted projects showcase innovative uses of your product?
• Brand Awareness: Did the hackathon increase brand awareness and interest among developers?

Talent Acquisition

• Leads Generated: Did you connect with potential hires through the event?
• Applications Received: Did the hackathon attract qualified candidates for open positions?
• Hiring Success: Did you successfully hire talented developers through the hackathon?

Building Long-Term Value Through Hackathons

So, are hackathons right for your company? While they offer exciting possibilities for innovation, community building, and learning, it’s crucial to approach them strategically and acknowledge their limitations. Hackathons are not about acquiring cheap solutions or short-term marketing gains but instead, a chance to build genuine value for participants.

Remember, successful hackathons go beyond caffeine-fueled coding sprints, building a vibrant community, and fostering genuine connections with developers. When planning a hackathon, it might be worth seeking help from platforms like Devpost which offer various packages to help you organize one. These packages can include essential features like project management, an online platform, and even marketing and promotion assistance.

Looking towards the future, advancements in AI are poised to streamline the entire experience, from logistics and team formation to project management and innovation cycles. As Brandon Kessler mentioned, “Every dev tool has now AI implemented, and AI is also helping to save much time, improving team building and project management side.” This means smoother operations, better collaboration, and ultimately, faster innovation.

Ready to dive into more DevRel and Developer Marketing insights? Join our upcoming webinars for expert insights and live sessions packed with knowledge from industry leaders.

Draft.dev Fireside webinars:

• Creating Developer Content That Spreads Organically
• Designing an Optimized Developer Journey
• Interactive Content Strategies: Engaging Developers Through Action
• How to Market to Diverse Technical Audiences Effectively
• How DevRel, Marketing, and Sales Work Together
• Balancing Open Source and Product Advocacy
• Designing an Optimized Developer Journey

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• How to Orchestrate Technical Content That Drives Revenue
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