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  • 🍐 #14: "Book a demo" flow, writing content for devs, and dev-focused GTM playbook

🍐 #14: "Book a demo" flow, writing content for devs, and dev-focused GTM playbook

April 08, 2023

Hey,

It's your favorite dev marketing pear-son🍐again.

This week I:

  • rolled back to the old newsletter format -> seems like you actually really like it

  • decided to make it weekly -> 3 insights weekly >>> 10 insights monthly

  • moved it to beehiiv

Here are my insights this week.

Developer marketing insights

1. Viral post on how to write content for devs

TLDR is this:

Don't make it too accessible not to lose your ideal dev reader.

If you write so that everyone understands, you signal to more advanced readers that "this article is not for you".

Compare these two:

"Python is a popular programming language created by Guido von Rossum in the 80s"

"Your favorite language where static typing was added yesterday and where 80% of unit tests are checking if your code would even compile. That one".

Which one will not scare a senior Python dev away?

So while you may lose 90% of "potential" readers, the 10% you care about keeps reading and trusts you a bit more.

2. Posthog "book a demo" flow

Devs have a love/hate relationship with the "Book a demo" call to action.

Mostly hate though.

Especially if what they want is:

  • know what they will be paying for your tool

  • just see how this thing works

But there are moments in the buyer journey when devs do want to have that live session:

  • they tried it, went through the golden path, and have deeper questions

  • they know they have specific needs and are unsure/couldn't find it in your docs/website.

  • they want to customize the pricing plan to their needs.

Then, having a live session/demo is the fastest way to move forward.

Posthog handles this very nicely.

They start with the (anti) CTA.

So they basically:

  • say "don't talk to us"

  • give you transparent pricing on the website

  • give you a recorded demo on the website

  • let you try the product for free without talking to them

  • But if you want to talk to sales/support you can reach out

They continue telling the same story on the book a demo page:

They give devs:

  • recorded, ungated product demo -> if you want a generic demo just watch it

  • free plan and transparent pricing -> just get started (don't sit through the demo to ask for price)

  • if you want a custom demo or just talk to a human -> just schedule a call

Great developer experience.

3. Developer-focused go-to-market playbook

I came across one of the best resources on dev-tool product-led growth GTM motions.

Sam Crowell Richard and Sanjiv Kalevar from OpenView spell it out in "The developer-focused go-to-market playbook".

You get:

  • Dev-focused industry benchmarks across the Start -> Activate -> Convert -> Scale journey

  • Examples from companies like Snyk, MongoDB, Elastic, Twilio, Postman, and others.

  • All of that packaged in a 70-page slide deck

If there is a must-read on the subject it is probably this one.

Something about pears 🍐

The African pear is a dark purple/almost black fruit found mainly in Nigeria.

Apparently, it has a buttery taste and a gazillion health benefits.

Looks awesome, that's for sure.

I hope you learned something new.

If you did:

  • Pass this newsletter on to 1 friend who does dev tool marketing.

  • Reply to this email. Questions, comments, feedback. I answer every email.

Talk to you next week, Pears!

PS. Need more developer marketing insights?

1. Book 1:1 session with me

I have a few slots every week for 60-min coaching sessions.

We can talk strategy, tactics, ideas, whatever you need right now.

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500+ dev tool CMOs, heads of growth, product marketers, and other developer marketing practitioners are there. We miss you!

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