What Developers Really Think of Your Marketing (and What You Should Do About It)
What Developers Really Think About Tech Marketing
We analyzed 100+ real conversations from Reddit, Hacker News, and developer forums to uncover what actually resonates, and what sends them running.
As technology marketers, we spend a lot of time thinking about messaging, brand, campaign strategy, audiences, personas and countless other details of running our teams. We also invest countless hours building systems, workflows, and reporting structures to scale those efforts.
But in doing so, it's easy to lose sight of the human beings on the other end. The words we choose, the tone we take, and the assumptions we make have an outsized impact on how that work actually performs.
And too often, tech marketers aren't thinking enough about the one audience that increasingly makes or breaks adoption: the engineers, DevOps leads, and technical buyers evaluating your product in the real world.
That's not to say our business audience is not important. They are. But with technical products, we have to pay attention to the users as well. And sometimes, the business messaging can bleed over into technical messaging in a way that can instantly turn off these important influencers.
On GitHub, one developer put it this way: "If the homepage reads like it was written for a board meeting, I know this tool isn’t for me."
These type of reactions show how disconnected messaging can instantly kill interest and reinforce how critical it is to remember we’re still talking to humans, not pipelines.
So we wanted the hard truth.
What do engineers and tech workers really think about the marketing we serve up to them daily?
So, we decided to use our friend ChatGPT to analyze over 100 open forum conversations, across Reddit, Hacker News, developer Discords, GitHub issues, and beyond, plus data from Stack Overflow, GitHub Dev.to, and more.
The goal? Find out what developers actually say about vendor marketing when they’re speaking freely.
Here’s what we found.
Developers are frustrated. Not because they hate marketing. Because they hate bad marketing.
From this research, five clear frustrations stood out:
Buzzwords and jargon that say nothing.
"Every time I see 'enterprise-grade' I wonder if that means bloated, overpriced, and hard to use."
"'Synergy'? Just say integration and move on."
"Whenever I see 'digital transformation,' I stop reading."
Our take: This happens because many marketing teams are still writing to sound smart rather than be understood. They're optimizing for slide decks instead of clear product comprehension. Developers read with precision. If the language is vague, they tune out.
Homepages that don’t explain what the product actually does.
"I read three paragraphs and still don’t know what this thing is."
"Am I looking at a BI tool or a CMS? Couldn’t tell you."
"If I have to click four pages in to find out what it does, I won’t."
Our take: This is the result of messaging built for generalized personas or internal stakeholders. Most CMOs approve language that aims to sell the vision, but technical audiences need clarity. When a visitor can’t quickly understand the product, you lose their attention.
Overpromising features or results.
"If your tool promises to replace three entire departments, I’m already suspicious."
"Why does every product now ‘automate everything’? I want to know what it automates well."
"Saying it solves security, compliance, and observability all in one? Hard pass."
Our take: These messages usually come from an attempt to cast a wide net. The problem is that developers interpret sweeping claims as red flags. They want specifics, not slogans.
Lack of technical details or documentation.
"If there’s no GitHub link or documentation on the homepage, I assume it’s not real."
"No architecture diagram? No thanks."
"If your ‘docs’ are just a PDF from marketing, I’m out."
Our take: Marketers often gate useful product info behind sales conversations. But technical evaluators prefer to dig in themselves. When documentation and real implementation details are missing or shallow, credibility suffers.
Tone-deaf creative and campaigns.
"Stop trying to be clever. Just tell me what it does."
"I don’t need a lifestyle ad to pick a CI/CD pipeline."
"Who writes these intros? Feels like a Netflix trailer for an API."
Our take: This happens when creative teams apply brand-first storytelling to a product-first audience. Developers want usable content, not entertainment. When campaign tone misses the mark, it makes the product feel unserious.
These aren’t one-off comments. They’re consistent and echoed by engineers across platforms.
What’s driving these misfires? Many tech brands are still designing campaigns around executive-level buyers and procurement workflows. The people actually evaluating and implementing the product are treated like secondary voices.
But according to Stack Overflow, over 60% of developers say they influence buying decisions. Some even control budget.
When your marketing doesn’t connect with them, you lose influence before sales ever gets a chance.
What developers actually respond to
Our analysis and research from GitHub, Stack Overflow, and Reddit shows there are some ways to cut through to your most technical buyers and influences. Here's our top list of must-have's in marketing to engineers.
Clear, direct copy.
Skip the fluff and adjectives. State plainly what the product does.
“I shouldn’t need a translator to figure out what your product does.”
“Just give me the value prop in one sentence. Not a manifesto.”
This kind of feedback shows developers are parsing content quickly. If it’s vague or overly abstract, they disengage. Clarity builds confidence.
Documentation-first content.
Docs are the most relied-on resource in technical evaluation.
“I read the docs before I read the homepage.”
“If I can’t find examples, I assume it’s not ready for production.”
Developers prefer to self-educate. A detailed, well-structured doc site isn’t a support tool, it’s a sales tool. Prioritize it accordingly.
Transparency.
Say what the product does well. Be honest about its tradeoffs.
“It’s fine if a tool doesn’t do everything. Just tell me what it’s best at.”
“I trust a company more when they admit where the product doesn’t fit.”
Developers respond to candor. Overpromising kills trust, but calling out real use cases and known limitations builds it.
Product-led onboarding.
Let them use it. Don’t hide access or value behind a form.
“Why do I need a sales call to try an SDK?”
“I’ll never fill out a form to see if a product works for me.”
Developers want hands-on experience fast. They don’t want to be sold to. They want to test, validate, and decide.
Community validation.
Engineers trust their peers. GitHub, Reddit, and forums shape perception more than a polished deck ever will.
“If nobody’s talking about your product, it doesn’t exist.”
“I’d rather see a comment from a real user than a glowing case study.”
Social proof in dev circles isn’t about volume—it’s about relevance. If credible devs vouch for your product, it carries more weight than anything you write about yourself.
Based on everything we've seen, we’d prioritize in this order:
- Documentation,
- Product-led onboarding,
- Peer validation,
- Clarity of copy,
- Transparent messaging.
All five matter, but docs and hands-on experience are where attention turns into trial. And trial is what ultimately builds trust.
What the best developer-first brands do differently
There are a lot of good examples out there across many vertical categories. We found brands like Vercel, HashiCorp, and Postman win here because they’ve built a marketing motion that developers actually respect.
Vercel leads with product clarity. Its homepage tells you what it does, who it's for, and how to get started — instantly. Developers can deploy in seconds, browse open-source examples, and dig into deep, well-organized documentation.
Their integration with Git and developer-first workflows is obvious from the first click. Screenshots and UI walkthroughs are front and center — not buried behind sales forms.
HashiCorp markets like an engineer. Their messaging is crisp and rooted in function: infrastructure as code, secrets management, cloud automation. They highlight use cases and integrations with Terraform, Vault, and Consul directly on product pages, supported by detailed documentation and hands-on tutorials.
Even their community strategy — including user groups and contributor guides — is designed to make developers feel empowered.
Postman excels at turning product into playground. The API platform doesn’t just talk about what it does — it lets you use it immediately.
Their API Network lets devs explore live APIs from other companies, and their onboarding uses real-time demos and guided walkthroughs.
Every product feature is backed by clear documentation and community examples. Their tone is helpful, accessible, and rooted in developer utility.
All three run polished marketing effort tailored to a technical audience. But note that the product does most of the talking. That’s what earns trust.
How to Avoid the Trap: 5 Best Practices
Even great tech brands fall into the trap of treating marketing like a top-down broadcast, instead of a hands-on collaboration with their most important users. These five best practices are how the most trusted developer-first companies stay clear, credible, and conversion-ready with technical buyers:These practices aren’t silver bullets — but they are the building blocks of developer trust. And in tech marketing, trust converts.
- Treat documentation like a growth asset.
Documentation isn’t just a support channel. It’s one of your most valuable acquisition tools. Developers use docs to evaluate fitness, scan examples, and test setup. Invest in clear structure, versioned updates, real-world code, and smart searchability. Good docs are the entry point to adoption. - Lead with the product.
Developers want to try, not be told. Make it fast to sign up, open a repo, or access a sandbox. The best brands put the “try now” button right where devs are looking. If possible, the product should speak before the pitch. - Write with technical credibility.
Swap vague outcomes for precise inputs. Know your buyer’s stack. Show you understand the jobs they need to solve. Product terminology should mirror what developers say in forums and Slack threads, not what an exec thinks sounds impressive. - Let your users validate you.
If your GitHub issues are lively and your product is referenced on Reddit, you’re doing it right. Real-world community chatter builds trust faster than case studies. Invest in developer relations, maintain visibility in authentic dev circles, and amplify user content where possible. - Be upfront.
Every product has limits. Developers respect companies that admit what they do and what they don’t. Be specific about your use cases. Don’t oversell. The more transparent you are, the more developers feel they can trust what’s behind the brand.
CMOs: This Is About Trust, Not Just Tone
Marketing to developers isn’t a matter of voice. It’s a test of credibility.
These buyers are smart, skeptical, and overloaded. But when your brand earns their trust, they pay attention and tell others.
If engineers don’t understand or trust your message, your product won’t go far. If they do, you’ve built a sustainable path to adoption.
Want to build strategies that actually connect with one of your most important buyers? As a technology industry focused agency, that's all we do. Let’s talk.
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