Every developer marketing team needs a leader with unique skills since developers are unlike any other audience you’ll experience in marketing. They need to understand their situation like you’ve been there yourself and help them understand the next best step to take.

Here is a list of developer marketer skills required:

Writing

This is by far the most important skill. Not just regular marketing copywriting though since you’re dealing with a technical audience. Developers appreciate efficiency and accuracy. Use fewer words if possible because they definitely don’t want to sift through marketing fluff to find an answer. Get straight to the point.

Coding

You’ll definitely need someone who has spent time programming. Not only does this make for more authentic interactions with developers, it also will fill out your content. Tutorials, for example, require someone to write code before they write about the code.

Data Analysis

Figure out what’s working. You’ll need access to every touchpoint in the developer journey in order to view everything holistically. That includes analytics for the marketing website, portal or docs, and any other property that’s important to developers. You’ll also want to pull out email logs, GitHub metrics, and maybe even downloads for every package manager. Some of these tools may be owned by other departments, but you’ll need access in marketing.

Speaking

A developer marketer who can speak in public will amplify their impact to the company and product. Whether it’s at physical events, webinars, or with makeshift groups of interested developers, you want a representative who is comfortable with a technical crowd. They’re personable, knowledgeable, and able to speak authentically about developer topics. Ideally they’re already an influencer in the space. If not, help them become one.

Teaching

Developer marketers should approach interactions like an educator. Educate and Inspire them so they are always looking forward to your next piece of content. Written content should help developers better understand a technical problem and help them to a solution.

Solving Problems

Before you can teach, you need to understand the objectives. What problems are developers trying to solve? You should be good at identifying, solving, and then sharing solutions. While you want your product (the solution) to be a star in your problem-solving adventures, it’s important to remember that it starts with the developer. What is their journey and how can you tap into it?

User Research

Listening to your audience will help you solve the right problems that attract attention. Knowing the developer point of view lets you find where it crosses over with your company’s opinions, which will allow you to tell the stories you need to grow your community. There are many ways to apply your team’s listening skills: in live interviews, by reading terse feedback comments, and even by analyzing traffic patterns.

Empathy

You need to put yourself in the developer’s shoes to understand their pain points. That’s why it’s best if you’ve been a developer in your previous life but it’s not a requirement.

Sources:

Developer Marketing Does Not Exist