Build it where they are: Marketing inside the developer workflow

Marketing to developers often fails for one simple reason: it’s built around interruption instead of integration.

Popups? Ignored.
Email sequences? Unsubscribed.
Landing pages? Maybe scanned—if they’re linked from a GitHub repo.

Developers don’t respond to traditional marketing tactics because those tactics pull them away from where they work. If your growth motion depends on dragging them out of their IDE, CI/CD pipeline, or command line, you're already creating friction.

But when you build your marketing into the developer’s workflow, you’re not selling—you’re supporting. You’re showing up where trust is earned: inside the stack, in the flow, and at the exact moment your product solves a problem.

In this post, we’ll unpack how forward-thinking developer-first companies are embedding themselves in the workflow—from the terminal to the docs—and turning utility into organic adoption.

🧠 Why traditional funnels don’t work on developers

Developers aren’t just tech-savvy, they're deeply independent evaluators. They don’t want to be "qualified" by an SDR or dropped into a drip campaign. They want to test, break, fork, and debug on their own terms.

And most importantly:
They don’t discover tools through ads.
They discover them through:

• Stack Overflow answers

• GitHub repos and integrations

• Dev.to blog posts

• Docs and READMEs from other tools

• Live demos in their CLI or IDE

• Slack or Discord recommendations

The takeaway?
You don’t pull developers into your funnel. You build your product and content where they already are.

🛠️ What "in-workflow marketing" actually looks like

Let’s walk through real examples of companies embedding themselves directly into developer workflows, and growing because of it.

1. CLI and API-first experiences

🔧 If your product can be used in a terminal, it should market itself in a terminal.

Tools like Vercel, Railway, and Turso win dev mindshare by making their CLI the first experience not the website.

Why it works:

• It’s immediate

• It’s dev-native

• It shortens time-to-value to minutes or less

Example CLI flow (from Railway):

bash

CopyEdit

npx railway init

railway run

After that? The user is already building. The marketing is baked into the product experience.

2. GitHub integrations and starter templates

🧱 Your GitHub presence is more than a repo. It’s a distribution channel.

Products like Supabase, PostHog, and Clerk use GitHub starter templates and quickstart repos as lightweight onboarding tools.

These aren’t just dev-friendly—they are the content. The README is the landing page.

Tactics to steal:

• Provide 1-click deploys from GitHub templates

• Keep READMEs updated with clear install/test flows

• Surface use-case-specific templates (e.g., “Next.js + Supabase Auth”)

3. IDE extensions and tooling integrations

💡 Where devs code is where they evaluate.

If your tool supports local dev workflows, consider how it fits into the IDE. For example:

• Linting tools surface insights in VS Code

• Deployment tools add commands to context menus

• AI coding assistants integrate directly into the editor

Examples:

• GitHub Copilot appears while you code

• Liveblocks integrates with Figma for real-time collab prototypes

• LaunchDarkly supports VS Code extensions for local flag management

These aren’t just “features” they’re growth levers, inside the workflow.

4. Docs-embedded product marketing

📘 Developers don’t want your pitch deck. They want a copy-paste command that works.

Modern dev tool marketing starts with documentation and not as an afterthought.

Your docs should:

• Include runnable examples

• Show integrations in-context

• Cross-link to starter kits

• Embed signup nudges inside code examples (e.g., “Run this using your API key → Get one here”)

Tools that do this well:

• Stripe: Tabbed language examples, sandbox keys, and live response previews

• Planetscale: Integrated deploy buttons and guides written like tutorials, not docs

• Clerk: Clear visual flows from “create user” to “get user token,” with real output

5. Workflow-centric content marketing

📄 Skip “Top 5 Dev Trends.” Show them how to build something useful.

The best dev content:

• Shows how to solve a problem

• Uses your tool as part of the solution

• Maps to real tech stacks (e.g., “Using X in a Next.js app with Supabase”)

Examples:

• “How we deployed 5 microservices in 2 minutes with Railway”

• “Using Clerk for passwordless auth in your Vite app”

• “Stream video to the edge using LiveKit and Cloudflare Workers”

This content isn’t about brand awareness, it's about developer enablement. And it converts because it teaches.

📈 Metrics that matter in workflow-based marketing

Want to know if this strategy’s working? Don’t look at bounce rate track:

• Time to First Successful API Call

• Docs-to-Signup Conversion Rate

• GitHub Stars → Starter Template Forks → Signups

• CLI Usage → Retention

• % of new users entering via integrations or starter kits

This tells you who’s engaging with your product in context—not just who clicked an ad.

Final thought: Developers don’t want a funnel. They Want Flow.

You can’t out-market friction. If your developer experience is slow, your copy won’t save you. But if you show up inside the tools, docs, and environments they already use—and make their job easier, you don’t need a hard sell.

Build where they are.
Respect their workflow.
Let the product market itself in motion