If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
– (Act III, scene I).” ― William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
Working within different industries does have its perks of meeting new people, learning of new technologies and innovations, as well as growing and attempting to reach a different and specific audience in its own particular way.
Still, many look at developers as a different species than the rest, one that stands out and deserves a completely different use of language (and reasoning).
While developers are unique and their own approach is required, they are no different of marketers from account managers, academics from stay-at-home Moms, athletes from gamers, or…you get the drift.
Yes, developers are a different audience, but they are people nonetheless. Yes, they require their own approach, but this depends on what you’re marketing to them, where, and figuring out the how.
Devs are people too, which means that they use the same language as their colleagues, they watch movies on Netflix like the rest, they eat and drink throughout their day, they laugh when hearing a good joke, and they have their own pains they’re looking to alleviate…just like any other audience.
This of course means that when approaching developers, you need to position yourself correctly, define your approach, and reach them with the same language as you would others…but simply delivered in its way of covering how you’re alleviating their specific pain, and clarifying what is their end gain.
If this is done by code, so be it; but it is more likely they are looking to understand what you do and why it matters to them…in the simplest way as possible, and not having to jump through hoops or solve a difficult equation or figure out an easter egg.
Yes, the ideas above may be interesting as a gimmick or a way to grab attention, but when they’re visiting a website or watching a video, they’re still looking to understand WTF your startup actually does…as quickly and easily as possible.