Content should be created for a specific audience, and not every group has the same characteristics. What’s it like for developers? Developers are a unique group, driven by a hunger for knowledge and a passion for problem-solving. Understanding their distinct preferences and needs is crucial for crafting content that resonates with them.
Effective Developer-Focused Content
Some content marketing strategies are similar for developers and other groups, but it’s essential to recognize that developers constitute a specific demographic. Content should be straightforward and focus on highlighting key points. They prefer organization and minimal use of adjectives.
Businesses increasingly view their technical teams as key in making business decisions when assessing tool purchases. So consider whether your marketing strategy aligns with this approach and whether your potential target audience includes developers.
Sharing code and few screenshots
Code is what really stands out in developer-focused marketing because it’s super practical and to the point. When you share code, you’re giving developers a hands-on way to see if your solution fits their needs.
But just tossing in code isn’t enough. You’ve got to give some background on what the code does and why it’s important. And when you share code, make sure it’s easy to read by keeping it in plain text with line numbers.
Your code has to actually work. Keep it simple, so there’s no confusion, and explain exactly how it helps your audience.
It’s also crucial to show what the end result looks like. This way, developers can see if your solution matches what they’re looking for. And most importantly, keep your code clean and easy to replicate. If developers can’t easily try out your product, they won’t trust that it’ll work for them.
As for screenshots, they can be super helpful too, especially for explaining complex stuff quickly. A good screenshot can show developers exactly what they’ll be making and give them the info they need in a snap.
Get to the “Ah–hah” moment quickly
Make it easy for developers to access your solution without hurdles like gated content or credit card sign-ups. Focus on delivering clear, concise content that addresses their needs upfront. Keep it brief and avoid unnecessary details or making them scroll endlessly.
Here are additional strategies for optimizing developer-focused content:
- Highlight prerequisites at the beginning.
- Include dates on articles for clarity.
- Start with essential details (who, what, where, when, why) before delving deeper.
- Arrange information in order of importance to the reader.
- Guide the reader to their next steps seamlessly.
Enhance Documentation
Consider making your detailed how-to guides available to more people to achieve two goals at once.
Improving thorough responses to common sales questions and solving support ticket problems can greatly improve your bottom-of-funnel content, which helps sales.
When customers are on the brink of a decision but require reassurance, what questions do they usually ask? How can you convincingly showcase your technical proficiency?
Answer these queries directly through carefully crafted tutorials, presented visually or in writing. Authoritative guides authored by experts and rooted in your existing documentation are invaluable assets.
| Advantages of leveraging your documentation as a source of content ideas | Disadvatanges of leveraging your documentation as a source of content ideas |
| By directly impacting sales through augmented guides and tutorials, your content marketing efforts become more measurable in terms of ROI, making it easier to justify your strategy to higher management. | Certain content pieces may be so tailored to your product that they risk alienating a segment of your prospective audience. Such content is unlikely to attract visitors who are unfamiliar with your product, limiting its efficacy in building brand awareness. |
Community Research
When you’re running a project, sometimes you’re so involved that you miss issues your customers might face until they tell you. Instead of waiting for problems to arise, you can ask your users or similar people what they think, so you can solve problems before they become big. This is called community research.
One way to do this is by looking at discussions about your tool or similar ones on places like Stack Overflow. Even if your tool isn’t discussed, you can find helpful comments and questions. This helps you come up with content ideas and see what your competitors are doing. You might learn a lot from talking to people who are like your customers.
Benefits of asking the community for ideas:
- You can find out what problems your future customers might have and create useful stuff like articles and guides to help them.
Challenges:
- Sometimes, forums can get too detailed, and you might get off track. Try to stay focused on one topic and don’t feel like you have to solve every problem you see with a big piece of content.
- There might already be lots of good guides or blog posts about what you want to write about. You’ll need to decide if it’s worth making something similar or if you can offer a new perspective.
More educational content
Developers are special target audience because they’re always looking to learn and enhance their skills. Education is a big part of their job. Good developer marketing embraces this by focusing on education.
The more you portray your company as a group of specialists who know what they’re doing, the more trust you’ll gain. That’s why having content written by experts is crucial. Technical content must be genuine to be valuable.
Perhaps you could consider having a specialized technical blog exclusively for developers. Visa provides an excellent example of a company that maintains a regular blog for general audiences alongside a second blog specifically dedicated to developers.
Content for Developers – Summary
Developers are unique target audience. Recognizing their distinct needs and preferences is crucial. If you’re seeking assistance in crafting a developer marketing strategy, reach out to us for expert guidance.
