What About the Developer?

Have you ever wondered about the developer experience of your advertising? If you are marketing to developers, you absolutely should. Our goal with our Meet the Developer series is to give you, the marketer, insight into individual developers. Meet the people behind the code and learn about how they experience the advertising and content you are throwing at them.

We caught up with William Springer, Ph.D.,  a software engineer who currently lives in Wisconsin. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and baking. He follows Scott Hanselman, and has been a guest on Scott Hanselman’s podcast, Hanselminutes. Here’s what Dr. Springer had to say about his experience with advertising targeting developers.

Meet Dr. Springer

Tell us about yourself — where are you located, what is your job/role, what is your area of expertise, what are your hobbies/interests? 

I was an air force brat; I grew up primarily in Colorado and Texas. After I finished the classwork for my PhD, I moved to Wisconsin for work, where I’m a software developer.

Why do you participate in your developer community?

I don’t know if I’d say I participate in a community, but I follow Scott [Hanselman] because he’s a nice guy and has interesting content.

What’s the newest tech you are using, learning, excited about, curious about?

[It’s] not actually new, but new to me — I’m about to finally get around to learning React.

Where do you go for information about developer tools?

That Conference, Twitter, and podcasts.

Do you click on the ad or search the product/advertiser you see in the ad on a separate browser instance?

I generally ignore ads. But if it catches my attention and looks interesting, I’ll click.

How do you feel when you visit content or another site you are interested in that was advertised to you, only to find that you have to give a phone number to get what was offered?

Avoid.

Same as above — except about your credit card info?

I hit the Back button. 

At what point do you navigate away when you visit content you want, but encounter a lot of requests for personal information? Email? Name? Phone number? Credit card? Other?

Depends on how much I want it. If I’m just curious, name and email may drive me away. If I’m not making a purchase, you don’t need my credit card. I don’t use phones.

Once this happens, how do you feel about that brand or product?

Annoyed.

That’s a Wrap

Like many other developers we’ve talked to, Dr. Springer ignores most ads. But while he’s spending time on the Hanselman blog or listening to Hanselminutes, he is willing to click on an ad if it’s interesting (like something related to React).

Don’t want to create negative sentiment about your brand? Then don’t add a paywall or ask for a phone number with your offer.

For more details on how to create successful advertising campaigns in D2D communities, check out our ebook, “D2D Marketing: An Advertising Guide.”