Developer Relations Vs Developer Marketing

Michael Ludden @Michael_LuddenDirector of Product, IBM Watson Developer Labs & AR/VR Labs

Developer Relations vs. Developer Marketing

My Background

Developer Marketing Developer Relations

First, a few caveats...

• Real World vs. Ideal World

• Big company Problems vs. Startup Problems

• Semantics Matter

• I’m Opinionated, Your Mileage May Vary

What is Developer Marketing?

It’s Marketing. To Developers.

Developer Marketing is…• Demand Generation• Customer Lifecycle• Social Campaigns• Content Calendar• Email Campaigns• Brand Marketing• Digital Presence• Contests• Events• SEO• etc.

What is Developer Relations?

Developer Relations is…

A New Hybrid Role

(ThisisNOTaunicorn.Thisisasoftwareengineerwhoisalsogregariousandoutgoingandgreatatpublicspeakingwhilealsowritingflawlesssamplecodeandisactiveinonlinecommunitiesandhas

greatreponStackOverflow,Github,amongotherplaces.)

Developer Relations is…

Evangelism Advocacy

Developer Relations is…Evangelism

• Public Speaking• Social Media• Conferences• Office Hours• Blog Writing• Online Q&A• Hackathons• Demos• Code• Etc.

Advocacy

• Product Specific Feedback• Documentation Feedback• Feature Request Issues• Developer Quotes• Tooling Feedback• Market Research Roadmap

Advice• Web Feedback• User Feedback• Etc.

But Isn’t There Overlap?

Overlap

Overlapping Metrics

• Developer Satisfaction• Product Improvement• User Retention• Market Growth• Revenue• Adoption• Etc.

Overlapping Job Functions

• Online Community• Public Speaking• Outreach• Strategy• Content• Events• Etc.

Overlapping Org Structures

Overlapping Org Structures

Real World Ideal World

“DeveloperRelations”

Marketing

CMO

CEO

CTO

Marketing

CMO

CEO

CTO

DeveloperRelations

Note:BigCompanyProblemsdifferfromStartupProblems&TheImportanceofOrgStructureChanges

Key Takeaways• Naming Matters – So Let’s All Agree On These Definitions & “Baptize” Our Companies

With Then ;)• Job Role Specificity Matters (If You Want To Keep Your Job Anyways & Also For

Company Success)• Developer Relations Done Right Matters• Developer Relations Done Wrong Can Kill Developer Marketing Efforts• Great Developer Advocacy Is Invisible But Is Nonetheless Marketing (Developers Are

Humans, Too)• Collaboration Between Developer Marketing & Developer Relations Is Unavoidable (And

Can Be Mutually Beneficial)• Don’t Leave These Things Unsaid: Have These Uncomfortable Conversations To Get

Comfortable Results

Thank You!My sub-title is funny, clever or just insightful