Developers are a notoriously hard audience to crack when it comes to marketing.
And rightly so. Developers are natural skeptics, and they don't like loud, intrusive ads following them around on the internet. Which is why reaching developers through marketing requires unique approaches and contextual ad targeting.
One of the best ways brands can build up trust with developers is through sponsored content. Sponsored content can help a brand to talk to developers using their language and create a connection with them. And, sponsored content gets rid of the “fluff” of mainstream advertisement; developers only want to read content that actually gives them actionable value, which is where quality content comes into play.
Ready to crack that developer's code?
Sponsored content is where a company pays to place a piece of content on the site of a trusted publisher.
It looks and feels like other content on the site. The only difference is that a brand has paid for it to be placed there. Like this:
Unlike other forms of advertising, sponsored content acts as a chameleon. Apart from being tagged as "sponsored", it fits in seamlessly to the rest of a website. Becoming part of a website's woodwork allows the reader to consume content without feeling like they're being advertised to. In fact, research shows that 25 per cent more consumers look at sponsored articles over display ads. On top of that, contextual ad targeting like sponsored content also produces an 18 per cent lift in purchase intent among readers.
The New York Times, who runs its own sponsored content section on their site, agrees.
An example of Airbnb sponsored content on The New York Times. Image Source
“For some publishers unsettled by a fast-changing online advertising business, sponsored content has provided much-needed relief,” John Herrman wrote in a column for the site.
“In recent years, publications large and small have invested in teams to make sponsored content — written stories, videos or podcasts that look and feel like journalistic content — hoping to make up for declines in conventional advertising.
“To varying degrees, they have succeeded.”
Okay, so it’s clear sponsored content works. But, does it work for brands who want to target developers?
When it comes to targeting developers with sponsored content, the greatest benefit is cutting down on the negative perception of your brand.
Developers don't like advertisements that follow them around, play loud audio, or have a political or economic bias. On the contrary, they like reading factual pieces that pique their interest. But they'll always want to draw their own conclusions about whether the product is useful.
That's why you mustn't label developers as naysayers when you're targeting them. They may be honed skeptics, but winning their trust isn't impossible. It's why they'll always trust word-of-mouth opinions from other developers and trusted websites over the most expensive banner and retargeting campaigns.
Hover used this tactic when they targeted developers with sponsored content on trusted site, SpeckyBoy.
The site offers up insightful tutorials, time-saving techniques, and resources to developers all around the world. And with 1m+ page views a month, it’s the perfect place to generate some word-of-mouth buzz for products targeting developers. Hover sponsored a piece of content on the site that targeted developers looking for a domain name service with a difference.
The post was shared with hundreds of thousands of SpeckyBoy's engaged audience through their 72k Twitter and 54k Facebook fanbase. But beyond the numbers, Hover was able to reach an engaged, targeted audience through SpeckyBoy, which they trust to give them the best advice.
And that is where sponsored content shines.
Unlike most web surfers, developers have the technical knowledge to block out any advertising they don't want to see using ad blockers.
According to The State of Developer Engagement 2018 study of more than 100,000 developers worldwide, more than 72% of developers use an ad blocker.
This isn't good news if you're targeting developers using advertising that can be intercepted by an ad blocker. The study found DevOps Specialists and System Administrators are the developers most likely to use an ad blocker because of security and privacy concerns. It also found most developers block ads because they can sometimes be unsafe. And some block them because they don't like being tracked and retargeted with ads.
On the plus side, developers don’t mind advertising as long as it’s unintrusive. If you’re able to serve an advertisement up to a developer that gives them value and is trustworthy, they’ll be intrigued. Which is why using sponsored content in your marketing campaigns isn’t just a “nice to have” addition—it’s a must.
Sponsored content normally sits at the top of the funnel, but it’s diverse enough to help out in the middle and the bottom as well.
With the right content, it can be used to drive awareness at the top of your funnel. Let's say that you're marketing a platform that helps developers with API integrations. While you could focus on backend developers who are skilled in app development, you can also use content to drive awareness to front-end developers who might still be interested in the product. While front-end programmers aren't your target user with the post, you can still position the content in a way that drives awareness of how you could help them in the future.
Moving further down your funnel, you can use sponsored content to target developers with more specific problems. Once you know what developers you want to target, and what programming languages they use, you can use your knowledge to create specific, actionable content that speaks to them.
What challenge is a specific developer who uses Python, for example, facing that your product can fix?
By targeting specific languages, you can build trust and awareness of your product in niche sectors of the developer world. When a developer needs your platform or product, your goal is that they'll know about it. Or at the very least, someone in their programming circle will be aware of it already.
Here’s the hard part: creating sponsored content that actually speaks to developers.
In our opinion, there are three core ways you can get your product noticed by developers:
Let’s dissect each of those separately.
By now you've probably picked up on a theme: developers don't like fluffy, 'feel-good' advertising
That type of advertising just doesn't appeal to them. Rather than building attention-grabbing ads, you need to demonstrate how your product or service will solve a need that they have without any BS. And this means being very careful about any claims you make about your product and its technical abilities.
Because if there’s one target audience who is going to research, test and dissect a claim about a product—it’s developers. And they’ll share their findings with their online communities and forums as well. If you’ve tried to BS the developing community, they’ll find out about it.
On the flip side, you can use the developer’s community vibe to your advantage. If they like your product and they’ve found it useful, they’ll also tell their colleagues. The rule here is that whenever you make a claim to the developer community, make sure your product can back it up.
Keep this in mind when you're using contextual ad targeting like sponsored content. The first mistake many marketers make is by creating listicle after listicle of a product's features. Don't do that—save all that stuff for your own website. Instead, serve the developer up some actionable advice on how your product can make their lives easier. This means offering up more than free trials in your ads. A study 7500 Bugherd customers found a lot of things pique the interest in developers to try a product
The study also highlights a response of what developers expected when they arrived at your product website: “A clean, no BS, straight-to-the-point website explaining everything in deeper pages but light enough on the appearance.”
The message is simple: when it comes to developers, no BS.
A lot of content that’s published on blogs is “skyscraper” content; written to drive traffic.
Ryan Robinson describes skyscraper content as a way to target audiences by researching popular trends. Robinson says you then take those trends and look for new and unique ways to create content that communicates a similar message, with a twist.
“This might mean that you leverage a new, more engaging medium, update the statistics, or employ a better design,” he says.
This technique works well for a lot of industries. But when it comes to targeting developers with an article like "How Javascript transform the developer industry in the next decade", well, it doesn't work as well. They're less likely to bite into thought-provoking content; they prefer something they'll be able to use in their day-to-day job as a developer.
In an article for Marketing Land, Josh Aberant wrote that in his job as a marketer, he had found certain types of content works especially well for developers. He says certain content resonates with developers because they first and foremost help them do a better job, grow their skills and move ahead in their career path.
Some of Aberant’s suggestions for creating quality content include:
Sentry took this approach when it sponsored content on developer hangout, SitePoint. Instead of talking about their product, they wrote a comprehensive guide that talked developers through how to debug Python errors
Because of SitePoint’s readership, the post had the chance to be read by one of the 10m visitors it gets every month.
Quality content will always engage developers and bring in more leads over content that’s just talking about how great your product is. Make sure you remember that when you’re building your sponsored content marketing plan.
Reaching developers on sites they already trust is one of the best ways to make the most out of sponsored content. By sponsoring content on sites developers already trust, you can essentially borrow their engaged audience to showcase your product and expertise.
Let’s look at just how much fuel a trusted publisher can add to your marketing fire. PHP Classes is one of the oldest and largest PHP community sites on the web, and they place sponsored content on their site.
PHP Classes has 1.3 million registered users, and the site is visited by roughly 700,000 developers every single month. So when HelloSign wanted to drive interest amongst the developer community with their API integration, they joined forces with PHP Classes.
The piece of sponsored content acted as a middle funnel piece which positioned HelloSign as a way to integrate eSigned contracts into a workflow.
The sponsorship also included a plug on the PHP podcast, and the posts are tagged with a rel=nofollow to avoid Google penalties. The result? HelloSign paid $1,000 for a post that reached an engaged target audience by renting space on one of the most trusted sites for developers on the web.
When it comes to advertising, developers are difficult to crack.
They're skeptical and inquisitive, and you need to win their trust before they even think about trying out your product. But the great thing about developers is, they care a lot more about the quality of a piece of content rather than if it was paid for or not.
Which is why sponsored content is a unique channel you can use to crack the developers code. By placing high-quality, actionable content on sites they’re already visiting to get tips and advice, you’ll get a headstart on winning their trust
Don't BS them, and make sure you can back up all of your product claims. If your content is worthy enough—developers will create the buzz about your product for you in their own communities.