Technology

Plot twist: this is an ad campaign

Bullshit

Funko pops. Lego. Star wars. Marvel

Yeah pretty much, i mean you cant just assume because someone is a developer that they have a brain but this sums up my relationship with all the sales people ive met in my career

Me: Hey i need information about your product

Sales: Hey id love to swing by and show you our product line. How many can we put you foen for? Can we schedule a call?

Me: finds a different vendor

developers want to read documentation

they won't look at any white papers

?!?!?!?!!

Good marketing absolutely works on nerds. We will literally share cool ads (funny world best) with each other in the same way with memes, which is part of "viral marketing".

At the same time though, those lame ads using low-grade, overused memes (usually the comic ones) trying to be edgy pretty much make me want to pass on a product. Crappy AI-gen ads are even worse.

But next time I go to Japan, I absolutely still want to try a Sakaeru gummy because THAT marketing campaign was just brilliant and entertaining

( https://youtu.be/LQsMp4Oo6xM )

I've also seen a few cool tech things in ads that I've looked into. Generally nothing I'll grab right away but they often end up in a list of things that I potentially buy later when I've some free cash or the need. Aliexpress is pretty good with this as it tends to suggest neat tech things that are a cheap to add and fill that "free shipping" gap.

What DOESN'T work is cheap/lame broadside marketing with little to no product details. I don't want a video as an ad - especially not one from an influencer who has no clue but looks pretty - but I'm happy to look up an actual product demo that includes key features/points.

Honestly though, the best thing is if the product demonstratibly works. This is especially true for FOSS-based products that have stuff I can try for free at home (personal use) or ones where the main product is usable for limited seats etc and has a commercial/premium license with value-add like AD/SAML group integrations or SSO/MFA.

That said, any asshole who cold-calls me pretending an existing business relationship to setup a marketing meeting is going on "the list", and vendor "demos" that are just marketing slides aren't far off on that either

Marketing absolutely works on Nerds, what a ridiculous statement. Just because certain types marketing will push us away doesn't mean all marketing is pointless. Be honest, let me know what your product does, give me a proper datasheet and a price, and I'll explore it. Try to shove some hyperbolic BS down by throat while hiding the things I actually care about and I'll never buy from your company.

I'll just add that a white paper with technical information about how the product works is actually valuable. A white paper that reads like an ad in the form of an infographic is a waste of time.

The way I've always looked at it, a good product/service can typically stand on it's reputation. If a company needs to spend millions on advertising to move their stuff, they're probably not all that good or are overpriced. Someone is paying for all that advertising and it always ends up being the consumer.

Good insights, and not just software developers, really. We don’t like ads, sensationalism, or anything reeking of bullshit

Its a big list of major assumptions by someone who never bothered to verify if they're even true. He's mad he had to work with a heavily marketed product that his boss liked, and wrote this about it. Check out this quote from the article;

And the really fun part is that “astroturfing” a thread about your product on Hacker News or Reddit is just about impossible. If you go to the places where developers hang out and try to promote your product, you will be shot down faster than Mark Zuckerberg at a privacy conference.

Dude. Reddit is practically more bot than person at this point, and its impossible to know by how much, because of how good they are at fooling everyone. https://www.clrn.org/how-much-of-reddit-is-bots/

Some employers offer intellij ultimate subscriptions. It's even mandatory in some teams. The devs don't have to pay out of their own pocket. But I think many of them are hooked and will lobby to keep the subscription going.

The phenomenon of fanboyism in Tech disproves that, IMHO.