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  • 🍐#15: "How it works" crossover, tech discovery loop, free plan presentation

🍐#15: "How it works" crossover, tech discovery loop, free plan presentation

April 15, 2023

Hey,

Ok, so it a-pears 🍐 that the weekly newsletter format is cool with you. Yass!

This week I:

  • got myself to actually test chatGPT. Outlining seems awesome. Repurposing and summarization not so much. I probably still suck at prompts though.

  • had surprisingly great Pinot Noir (and I am a Malbac guy) NZ Waipara West 2012 if anyone is into this kind of thing.

Here are my insights this week.

Developer marketing insights

1. "How it works" crossover from Mux

The problem with presenting API is that it is hidden. It gets the job done in the background.

So it is not "attractive" in the way some other dev tools can be.

But you can:

  • show the end result and how it gets the job done.

  • show how easy it is to use.

  • let people play with something interactive to make it real.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗠𝘂𝘅, 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗔𝗣𝗜, 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁.

Found this awesome crossover on their homepage.They give you:

  • devvy language that just says what it does without high-level fluff

  • code, input/outputs

  • end result of your API call, to make it real

  • demo to get the feel real-time

Love it.

2. Tech discovery loop

First of all, Adam Frankl knows what he's talking about, easily THE person to follow for dev marketing insights.

And this post was about something crucial.

Tech discovery loop.

Basically, devs have their way of being in the loop on new tech. They sort of have to.

It could be:

  • Looking at the "Top of the month" Reddit posts in the r/devops subreddit

  • Subscribing to a bunch of "content curation"-style dev newsletters

  • Following influencer devs on Twitter (and then just scrolling not clicking anything)

So you should know what those discovery loops are in your niche.

A simple way to discover it is to ask your target users:

"Where do you hang out online?".

Do that for a while and you'll start seeing patterns.

3. Start Free Pricing plan from CircleCi

Why not highlight your free plan?

Most companies highlight their middle paid plan saying it is "most popular".

First thing, yeah, sure it is your most popular plan.But more importantly, 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆.

So why not try and capture as many devs as possible on the free plan?

If they like your dev tool there are many things you can do to convert some of them to paid plans.

But if they leave that pricing page and go with some other free tool, you are not converting anyone.

CircleCI highlights free and they are in the mature, competitive market of CI CD tools.

Idk, it really does make a lot of sense to me.

If people need more advanced features they will choose higher plans anyway.

But if they want to get things started with the basic plans they will choose free or go elsewhere.

I'd rather have them choose free than none.What do you think?

Something about pears 🍐

There is just one city in the world called "Pear".

It is located in Serbia close to the Bosnian border. Not that far from Sarajevo.

(That unofficial "Pear" community in Raleigh County, West Virginia, doesn't count).

I hope you learned something new.

If you did:

  • Forward this newsletter 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!

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