Traditional Marketing vs Developer Marketing
Most people are familiar with the term marketing, which is the process of exploring and reaching out to people interested in your company’s product. You can find different types of marketing, mostly based on the type of product and service offered by a company. Marketing has evolved a lot, and there has been quite an increase in its competition. Traditional marketing is usually called “old” or “common” marketing techniques.
Developer marketing differs from traditional marketing as it markets software resources and services. The company must target developers in this sector, unlike traditional marketing. There’s always a wide gap between traditional and developer marketing, with many differences. Here’s some information to help you understand their significant differences.
What is the difference between traditional marketing and developer marketing?
Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing is generally referred to as the use of common or old techniques for marketing. The actual definition of traditional marketing is that it is a type of promotion and advertisement that includes television, radio, newspaper, flyers, etc. It is also defined as a form of marketing that uses an offline medium to reach the audience. But such methods are declining, and most of these methods (mediums) must be more effective. It is mainly because of the increase in internet users and the rise in digital marketing.
But while considering SaaS business, traditional marketing methods are also defined as the standard or common marketing techniques companies use to approach ordinary customers. It refers to business strategies or techniques to sell physical products, like cars or refrigerators.
Developer marketing
Developer marketing is the strategies and tactics used to improve the awareness, advocacy, and adoption of software tools, services, and solutions. It is the marketing strategy used for products (software) that are not physically available, like in traditional marketing. As its name suggests, developer marketing is a marketing technique that deals with software developer audiences.
Developer marketing vs. traditional marketing
The audience or customers
The primary difference between developer and traditional marketing is their audience or customers. Traditional marketing generally targets all people (common people) through various marketing methods. Companies in this field do not have to worry about considering highly effective and unique strategies, as their promotions will easily reach their audience. The audience can be anyone – old individuals or potential customers. But on the other hand, developer marketing targets software developers, who are hard to approach. Traditional methods and tactics will not work while targeting the developer audience.
Developer marketing is much harder than traditional marketing – developers are a different audience.
As mentioned above, in developer marketing, companies must target software developers. Thus, it is harder than traditional marketing. Developers are quite a different audience, not common customers targeted by traditional marketing. Traditional or common marketing will only work when selling products to the developer. Developers are very analytical; they understand certain problems in detail to a level higher than marketers.
Experts have suggested that only some marketing strategies will work for developers. They only want to know how the features of your product will work for their needs. Like in traditional marketing, developers are interested in something other than hearing sales pitches for your product. Instead, they will be interested to know whether the product has the benefits it claims through experience.
All these show why developer marketing is more complex than traditional marketing. Hiring a developer marketing agency is the best way to develop new strategies to help your business reach the developer audience.
Strategies and marketing methods
A traditional marketer focuses on creating brand awareness through various promotional activities, like advertising and visual content. They may also work with other team members, such as graphic designers and local SEO specialists. The marketers monitor traffic to the website to determine when activation has occurred. But in developer marketing, activation only sometimes leads to business. Traditional marketing focuses on the activation of customers (stops after that), but developer marketing extends throughout the customer’s lifecycle.
SaaS marketing strategy (in developer marketing) can help create awareness, drive signups, and keep customers engaged with the product. Recurring business is a major factor in SaaS revenue generation; it’s one of the key reasons customers stick around.
Traditional marketing agency vs. developer marketing agency – requirements
Traditional marketing agencies work with tangible goods and services and only need a little knowledge about technology and data (like hosting or data analytics software). However, developer marketing agencies must deeply understand the technology and metrics associated with a software product. It would also include knowledge about cybersecurity, web hosting, etc.
A traditional product (traditional marketing) typically remains the same for an extended period before being updated or replaced. However, updates are regularly made in software products (developer marketing) to meet customer needs and expectations.
How is developer marketing different from traditional marketing?
Developer marketing involves SaaS products that are constantly evolving and changing. Updates in such products will change how they function, which can result in customer dissatisfaction or satisfaction. Often, customers need help to accept changes made to a SaaS product. Accordingly, the marketer must be prepared to provide clear evidence of product updates and how these additions seamlessly integrate with customer data systems.
Compared to traditional marketing for products like cars or refrigerators, customers often don’t know if they should buy a SaaS product. It is due to the need for more direct contact between the customer and the product (which is possible in traditional marketing). Software that requires monthly payments (often) has contracts wherein customers must complete payment before using the software. It can be alarming for some users who are still determining if they can use the software once they pay.
Conclusion
Conclusively, one of the challenges faced in developer marketing is that customers are more hesitant to purchase when it is difficult or impossible to see what they’re purchasing directly. In addition, this type of marketing can be challenging because proving the value of your product requires time and effort. Traditional marketing is fine as long as it involves targeting a common audience.
