The Developer Program Framework

Tom Williams

Head of Consulting

A developer program encompasses the entirety of your developer offering, ranging from the tools themselves and core documentation, through to hackathons, paid media, and developer evangelism. These components work in harmony to provide developers with the necessary resources for evaluating your offering and bringing innovative solutions to life using your cutting-edge technology.

The ability to quantify a developer program's maturity, and to benchmark it against competitors, is an invaluable instrument for identifying areas of improvement and prioritizing developer program enhancements. This is precisely where the Developer Program Framework comes in - providing an objective method for evaluating the maturity of a developer marketing program and quantifying the overall quality of the developer offering.

Understanding the Developer Marketing Landscape

In today's technology economy, recognizing the pivotal role of developers in shaping tech stack purchasing decisions is essential. According to the 2023 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 66% of developers wield influence over buying decisions in their organization, meaning developer marketing is now a potent avenue for revenue generation. For many businesses, this developer-centric approach to customer acquisition marks a transformative shift - a new business model necessitating new positioning and go-to-market (GTM) strategies. In many cases, a developer program is an entirely new line of business, requiring adequate funding to ensure effective engagement with this influential new audience.

Developer marketing, however, stands apart from the conventions of "traditional" marketing. Developers harbor a natural skepticism toward sales-driven hyperbole and marketing hype. They are driven by a quest for solutions and efficiency, often constrained by time. Typically, they are willing to self-educate to understand new tools and products so long as the right resources are available (and discoverable) in the appropriate contexts. It's important to note that as they evaluate your tools, they simultaneously assess those offered by your primary competitors.

Effective developer programs are underpinned by cohesive strategies that foster developer awareness, drive adoption, and offer comprehensive support across the channels most frequented by your target audience. Keep in mind that you have just one opportunity to make a compelling first impression. Thus, if your documentation, portal, or support options fall short of excellence, developers are unlikely to linger for long.

The Anatomy of the Developer Program Framework

A developer program combines strategies from marketing, product development, technology, and developer relations with a clear objective: boosting developer awareness, encouraging usage, and sparking advocacy. Our developer program framework is a visual blueprint for these initiatives, illustrating how these diverse elements seamlessly blend to create a unified developer offering and experience.

Think of a developer program as consisting of six core categories: technical content, developer portal, marketing content, performance media, developer events, and developer community. Taken together, these six categories form the bedrock of any robust developer program.

It's vital to recognize that not all segments within the developer program are equal, and some are dependent upon others. For example, diving into performance media campaigns should only come after your documentation excels, your value proposition is crystal clear, and your portal delivers an exceptional developer experience, complete with intuitive paths for builders. We often advise our clients to "get their house in order before they throw a party." In essence, we prioritize strengthening the foundational elements of documentation and portal to support the developer's journey. It's only when this core developer offering is robust that we recommend delving into marketing campaigns and awareness strategies, ensuring both effectiveness and longevity.

Scoring Developer Programs - How It Works

The developer program framework offers a clear methodology for scrutinizing the various components of your developer marketing program and subjecting them to standardized criteria. This empowers you to make direct comparisons with other developer programs.

To score a specific category, we take it a step further, breaking down each category into three segments. For instance, Technical Content encompasses three segments: Tools, Libraries, and SDKs; API Reference; and Documentation.

Scoring framework for developer programs

The entire developer program, in turn, comprises 18 distinct segments, with three assigned to each of the six activity categories. Our scoring system ranges from one to 10, and we evaluate each segment using tailored qualitative measures designed to assess that area’s quality and maturity.

Your audit report provides comprehensive scores for your developer marketing program, unearths any existing gaps, compares your performance with key competitors, and supplies strategic recommendations for improvement. In all cases, 10/10 represents best-in-class for that particular area.

Summary of developer program framework scoring criteria

While it's not an exact science, our consistent methodology consistently offers precise insights into the relative quality and maturity of different facets of developer programs. Multiple experts within Catchy contribute to scoring each segment, ensuring objectivity and impartiality.

Aggregating Scores and Visualizing Success

Having scored the constituent segments of a developer program, we create unique data visualizations to represent that program at a specific point in time. These visuals are indispensable in demonstrating the effectiveness of our framework. We leverage segment wheel charts to expose a program's strengths and weaknesses, highlighting areas that need improvement, and rendering complex concepts more accessible. These visual representations illuminate instances where companies might, for example, emphasize marketing activities prematurely, neglecting the fundamental groundwork of solid documentation.

Combining scores from the 18 segments delivers a comprehensive evaluation of the developer program's performance. The real-world implications of high or low scores inform strategic decisions and foster program enhancements, providing a unified measure of the program's overall health.

Benchmarking Against Competitors

The importance of benchmarking your developer program against competitors cannot be overstated. It's a strategic imperative in a technology landscape where the battle for developer attention and loyalty is fierce.

Here's why it's crucial:

First, it offers you a clear view of your competitive landscape. By applying our framework to assess the developer programs of key competitors with similar products and value propositions, we help you understand where you stand in comparison. This insight is invaluable for identifying areas where you excel and those where you lag behind.

Moreover, it assists you in securing internal buy-in and budget for your program. When you can demonstrate that your competitors have a more compelling developer offering, you provide the evidence needed to convince decision-makers that investing in your developer program is not just worthwhile but necessary for staying competitive.

Additionally, benchmarking reveals gaps and opportunities to distinguish yourself in the market. By comparing your program with competitors, you can pinpoint areas where your competition falls short or overlooks the specific needs of developers. Armed with this knowledge, you can tailor your developer program to stand out, addressing unmet developer needs and setting new standards for excellence in your industry.

In the end, benchmarking against competitors isn't just about measuring your performance; it's about gaining a deeper understanding of your unique position in the market, securing the resources you need to thrive, and identifying innovative ways to lead the competition.

Benchmarking developer programs with competitors

Achieving Developer Program Excellence

The Developer Program Framework isn't just a tool; it's a compass guiding you toward developer program excellence. It empowers organizations to assess, enhance, and evolve their developer marketing strategies, underscoring our leadership in the field.

Whether you're just embarking on your developer program adventure or seeking to refine an existing strategy, our Developer Program Framework is your trusted companion.

Get in touch to see how your developer program stacks up.