9.20.2005

Bottom Up Marketing:Using Conversational Marketing toSpeak to Developers

Stephen O’GradySenior Analyst

RedMonk

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Questions We Ask

Who got Linux to where it is today?Who got Steve Ballmer so excited that he needed surgery on his vocal cords?Who made PHP so popular that it runs on a third of the world's domains?Who made Firefox so popular that it's been downloaded 100M times?Who makes open source the most disruptive trend in software today?Who made Eclipse the de facto Java IDE within the enterprise?

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Answers We Hear

AnalystsWeren't these the same guys that predicted that NT would wipe out Linux?

CIOsSure, CIOs love free and unsupported software

PressAre they driving agendas or following them?

VendorsWhich came first – Linux and PHP, or IBM?

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The Right Answer

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It's Not Just Us

“Apple is kicking our behind once again. How will Microsoft respond?

Steve Ballmer already gave our vision: developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers...”

Source: Robert Scoble, Microsoft

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Still Not Convinced?

Then explain the success of these two projects

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The Next Question We Ask

If we can all agree that: Developers are critically importantDevelopers will play a major if not determining role in the success or failure of your productsDevelopers, like any audience, will have things to say about your products

Then why are you not engaging with them?

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The Answers We Hear

Shouldn't we be selling to the CIO? I thought developers didn't buy thingsWe are engaging with them; we advertise in magazines, on the web, and so onDevelopers will flame me Slashdot style if I try and engage with themWe trust the media to get our messages to the development communityI'd like to, but I'm not sure where to start

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The Reality

Developers have become nearly immune to traditional marketingDevelopers spend far more time online than they do with print publicationsDevelopers would rather talk with someone than be talked at by somethingDevelopers are starting their own mini communities via blogsDevelopers don't just code at the officeDevelopers are not content to sit back and wait for updates or news; they can make their own

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What To Do? Conversational Marketing

1. Markets are conversations.

2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.

3. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

4. Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.

5. People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice...

www.cluetrain.com

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Stalking The Wily Developer, Pt 1: Scout

First, know where the conversations are happening:

BlogsWikisForumsListservsIRCdel.icio.usFlickrWikipediaSourceforgeFreshmeat

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Blogs – Centers for Conversation

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Wikis – Collaborative Authoring

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del.icio.us – Social Bookmarking & Link Blogging

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Flickr – Social/Group Photo Sharing

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Stalking The Wily Developer, Pt 2: Learn

Once you know where the conversation is occurring, find out what's being saidUse the tools and services below to track what's being said outside of your scope

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Example: What's Being Said About Eclipse?

“The Java IDE--there's really only one, Eclipse--is a 105MB zip file. You know how I installed it? Unzipped it. How do I run it? Click on Eclipse.exe.

You know how I install Studio? Pay $2500 for top version (not out yet btw but will be about that amount or more); Insert DVD; answer inane questions; walk away for 2 hours; return with at least 1.5_G_B less diskspace and a doubled registry size.”

Source: Michael Stuart , former Microsoft employeehttp://minimsft.blogspot.com/2005/09/three-quick-things-jobs-dynamics.html#c112698172605533703

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Stalking The Wily Developer, Pt 3: Participate

After getting a feel for the various communities, try participating:

DO'sAccept that the conversation is two waySpeak in a regular, human voiceBe respectful, candid and honestHave a thick skinGive back to the community(ies)

DO NOT'sAttempt to market or sell in community channelsDo not attempt to change opinionsDo not delete or remove posts or contentDo not talk down to your audience

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Forget ROI, What Are the Benefits?

You may find yourself with new, unpaid evangelistsYou may find yourself with a wealth of new documentationYou may find yourself with detailed and comprehensive feedback (MySQL)You may greatly improve your search presence and ranking (BLOG)You may find yourself with an improved productYou may find yourself being introduced to new partners or customers

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Everyone's a Marketer

“I was about to protest, "Dammit Jim, I'm a programmer, not a marketer!"

But that would be a lie. In this new open-source/cluetrain world, I am a marketer. And so are you. If you're interested in creating passionate users, or keeping your job, or breathing life into a startup, or getting others to contribute to your open source project, or getting your significant other to agree to the vacation you want to go on... congratulations. You're in marketing.”

Source: Kathy Sierra , Creating Passionate Usershttp://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/08/you_are_a_marke.html

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Who's Doing Marketing to Developers Now?

1.Adam Bosworth - http://www.adambosworth.net/2.Alex Bosworth -

http://www.sourcelabs.com/blogs/ajb/3.Miguel de Icaza - http://tirania.org/blog/index.html4.Nat Friedman - http://nat.org/5.Matt Raible - http://raibledesigns.com/page/rd6.David Heinemeier Hansson -

http://www.loudthinking.com/7.Joel Spolsky - http://www.joelonsoftware.com/8.Sam Ruby - http://www.intertwingly.net/blog/9.Joyce Park (aka Troutgirl) -

http://troutgirl.com/blog/10.Tim Bray - http://www.tbray.org/ongoing

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License:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/

2.5/

Contact:Stephen O’Grady

sogrady@redmonk.com866.733.6665

www.redmonk.com

Thank You