🍐 #36: Building a developer blog, showing "how it works", and a basic Reddit ad that crushed it

Hey,

So last week I sent you a newsletter with the wrong subject. Sincerely and utterly peardon 🍐.

This week on the agenda:

• Building a developer blog (with yours truly)

• Showing “how it works” as a timeline

• A “basic” Reddit ad that crushed it

• + a few bonus links at the end

Let’s go!

Developer marketing insights

1. Building a developer blog

Recently sat down with Jonathan from crowd.dev to talk about building developer blogs.

Shared some learnings around:

• reviewing and editing articles

• picking good topics

• and finding writers

+ a few other thoughts on marketing to devs.

I thought it was actually a pretty solid convo ;)

Listen to the episode on Spotify ->

2. “How it works” as a timeline from SST

I like this idea of showing how your dev tool works.

With developers, you almost have to explain how it works on your homepage.

Many products do some version of Step 1 -> Step 2 -> Step 3 -> Success.

I really like how SST approached it with a timeline.

I find it more engaging than those disconnected steps.

And when I follow this journey the final and logical step is to try it out. Get started.

See more dev tool landing page examples ->

3. “Basic” Reddit Ad from Kubero

How did this super basic ad get so much engagement on Reddit?

First of all, the value prop is succinct, to the point, and says what it is.

No "streamlining", "boosting", or "democratizing" is involved.
No clever tagline or pains, benefits, or values just says what it is.

But it said what it is: a "free and open-source" which is what many devs, especially on Reddit want to hear.

And Heroku is a known brand so if you know what Heroku does, you know what Kubero does.

I liked that they linked out to the GitHub project too.

Not 100% sure if that would perform better than a landing page or home. But I see how it feels more in sync with the channel you are running your ads on.

The screenshot? I don't like it but perhaps it doesn't matter as much here?

What do you think?

Oh, and if you read the comments, you'll see that people actually talked about the project, said that they liked the ad etc.

Good stuff.

See more dev tool ads examples ->

How can I make this better?

I hope you learned something new. Did you, though?

What would you like to read more about?
Reply to this and let me know.

Talk to you next week,
Pears!

Need more developer marketing insights?

1. Work with me

• I have a few slots every week for 60-min strategy sessions and longer-term advising. We can talk strategy, tactics, brainstorming, whatever you need right now. See how it works -> 

• You can also promote your product/service/job in this newsletter. But I want to 100% make sure this will add value for the readers so… Let’s talk first ->

2. Join our Slack community

900+ dev tool CMOs, heads of growth, product marketers, and other practitioners talking about things like this:

Check out marketingto.dev ->

3. Bonus links to check out

• Ask HN: What are some educational resources for more senior engineers? (Hacker News thread)

• Achieving Low-Cost Growth For Your SaaS Business: Sustainable Strategies from HyperGrowth Partners (Youtube video)

• Marketing to Developers, Learning in Public, and Communities as Marketplaces with Patrick Woods on the Developer Love Podcast (Podcast)