What developers hate about marketing (and how to fix it)

Marketing to developers isn’t just hard—it’s uniquely unforgiving.

They don’t want to “book a demo.” They don’t believe the hype. And they’re deeply allergic to fluff, friction, and fakery. Developers are builders, debuggers, and truth-seekers. When marketing treats them like leads instead of like users, they tune out—or worse, they tell their community.

If you’re marketing a dev tool, API, or infrastructure platform, ignoring the developer mindset is a fast way to waste budget and burn trust. But when done right, developer marketing becomes one of your strongest levers for product-led growth.

In this post, we’ll break down what developers hate about marketing—and how to fix it, with actionable tactics for content, positioning, and distribution.

1. ❌ Hype without substance

“The world’s most powerful, blazing-fast, next-gen developer platform”

Developers don’t want buzzwords. They want to know what your product does, how it works, and whether it solves their problem better than what they’re already using.

What they hate:

• Vague claims with no proof

• Marketing copy that says a lot, but communicates nothing

• Superlatives without benchmarks or demos

How to fix it:
✅ Lead with clarity, not cleverness.
✅ Show real benchmarks, examples, and outcomes.
✅ Let them skip the pitch and go straight to the docs or a live demo.

Instead of “blazing fast,” say:
“Process 10M events per second with <10ms latency across 3 regions—benchmark results here.”

2. ❌ Gated content and dead ends

“Get our whitepaper—just fill out this 9-field form”

Developers want access, not drip campaigns. Gating content behind forms or forcing sales conversations before value is delivered creates instant drop-off.

What they hate:

• Gated docs, SDKs, or quickstarts

• “Request access” instead of “Start now”

• PDFs as a content strategy

How to fix it:
✅ Make documentation, code samples, and product access public.
✅ Use CTAs that empower: “Run the demo,” “Fork the repo,” or “Try it in your terminal.”
✅ Provide value first. Let the product (or content) do the qualifying.

Developers are your most self-educating audience. Let them explore on their own terms—and they’ll come back when they’re ready to engage.

3. ❌ Overly polished, underly useful content

“Top 10 DevOps Trends for 2025” (that say nothing)

Developers don't want clickbait. They want technical content that solves a problem, unblocks their workflow, or expands their knowledge.

What they hate:

• SEO bait with no actionable value

• Thought leadership with no technical depth

• “How-to” articles that don’t actually show how

How to fix it:
✅ Publish deep dives, not fluff.
✅ Write guides that include real code, real integrations, and real trade-offs.
✅ Use tutorials, benchmarks, and teardown-style posts to show your product in context.

If your blog post isn’t helpful enough to bookmark, it’s probably not worth writing.

4. ❌ Lack of transparency

“Easy integration!” (until you realize it requires a week of custom YAML)

Devs respect honesty. If your product has limitations, tell them. If setup is non-trivial, say so. They’d rather hear the hard truth than hit a wall two hours in.

What they hate:

• Oversimplified promises

• Missing prerequisites or caveats in docs

• Surprises during implementation

How to fix it:
✅ Document real constraints, known issues, and complexity.
✅ Be upfront about dependencies and assumptions.
✅ Make it easy to ask questions (via Discord, GitHub, or forums).

Earn trust by showing your product as it really is—warts and all.

5. ❌ Treating developers like leads

“Hey, just checking in again!” (after they downloaded your API reference)

Developers don’t want to be sold to. Especially not by SDRs with no technical context.

What they hate:

• Cold outreach after a signup or doc visit

• Nurture campaigns with generic messaging

• Being asked to book calls before trying the product

How to fix it:
✅ Create product-qualified lead (PQL) workflows based on usage, not clicks.
✅ If outreach is needed, make it contextual and technical.
✅ Offer help, not a hard sell: “Saw you deployed via Docker—want tips on scaling in ECS?”

Support > Sales. Devs want help solving a problem—not a sales pitch.

6. ❌ Ignoring the ecosystem

“Why use our tool?” (ignoring the tools they’re already using)

Developers work in ecosystems. If your product doesn’t fit smoothly into their stack, they’ll move on.

What they hate:

• Tools that don’t integrate well

• “All-in-one” products that require rip-and-replace

• Marketing that ignores their current tooling

How to fix it:
✅ Position your product in context: “Works with Terraform,” “Wraps your existing logging,” “Extends your SSO provider.”
✅ Highlight integrations and real-world workflows in content.
✅ Show them how to adopt incrementally.

Developers don’t need a new platform—they need a better piece of the workflow.

How to win: build trust, deliver value, respect autonomy

If there’s one golden rule for developer marketing, it’s this:

👉 Treat developers like product users, not prospects.

That means:

• Give them value before asking for anything

• Meet them where they are (docs, GitHub, Discord—not email nurture flows)

• Let them opt in, contribute, and explore at their own pace

When marketing speaks their language—and respects their time—you won’t need to push for attention. You’ll earn it.

Final thoughts

Marketing to developers isn’t about flashy tactics. It’s about clarity, transparency, and usefulness.

Avoid the traps that devs hate: hype, gates, and misaligned CTAs. Instead, invest in great docs, helpful content, strong community channels, and product-led education.

Because when developers trust you, they don’t just try your tool—they adopt it, advocate for it, and build on it.