Technology

Here's the thing... I want to be sold something. Not anything, but certain somethings. There was a brief time when Google AdSense was new that I was excited for the experience. (I now know how fucking stupid I was, but hey, I was young).

The idea that a new product aligned to my interests and designed with me in mind would be advertised to me instead of feminine hygiene products or mesothelioma lawsuit ads seemed awesome.

I do not want your bullshit hype machine alpha male inside club cool kid image peddled as the reason I should hand you my money. You've got the wrong guy. Tell me what it does with a side of what I can do with it. And the "what I can do with it" shouldn't be "get laid".

Spot on.

This... strikes me more as self-aggrandizing than informative.

Yes, many technical folks are put off by certain marketing tricks. Good marketers just use different techniques when targeting people in this market, when they bother to at all.

We're not immune to manipulation; and thinking that we are makes us more susceptible to it.

Bullshit

Funko pops. Lego. Star wars. Marvel

The phenomenon of fanboyism in Tech disproves that, IMHO.

Good marketing absolutely works on nerds. We will literally share cool ads (funny world best) with each other in the same way with memes, which is part of "viral marketing".

At the same time though, those lame ads using low-grade, overused memes (usually the comic ones) trying to be edgy pretty much make me want to pass on a product. Crappy AI-gen ads are even worse.

But next time I go to Japan, I absolutely still want to try a Sakaeru gummy because THAT marketing campaign was just brilliant and entertaining

( https://youtu.be/LQsMp4Oo6xM )

I've also seen a few cool tech things in ads that I've looked into. Generally nothing I'll grab right away but they often end up in a list of things that I potentially buy later when I've some free cash or the need. Aliexpress is pretty good with this as it tends to suggest neat tech things that are a cheap to add and fill that "free shipping" gap.

What DOESN'T work is cheap/lame broadside marketing with little to no product details. I don't want a video as an ad - especially not one from an influencer who has no clue but looks pretty - but I'm happy to look up an actual product demo that includes key features/points.

Honestly though, the best thing is if the product demonstratibly works. This is especially true for FOSS-based products that have stuff I can try for free at home (personal use) or ones where the main product is usable for limited seats etc and has a commercial/premium license with value-add like AD/SAML group integrations or SSO/MFA.

That said, any asshole who cold-calls me pretending an existing business relationship to setup a marketing meeting is going on "the list", and vendor "demos" that are just marketing slides aren't far off on that either

I am sympathetic to the frustration with and resistance to feeling marketed to, but this person just seems to lack self-awareness... And lack of awareness in general. Not a good look.

I won't assume he's representative of large swathes of developers 👀👀👀

Hey everybody, 'member "I just shipped my pants."

Nice try. This is just trying to get us to lower our guard and become complacent!

Yeah pretty much, i mean you cant just assume because someone is a developer that they have a brain but this sums up my relationship with all the sales people ive met in my career

Me: Hey i need information about your product

Sales: Hey id love to swing by and show you our product line. How many can we put you foen for? Can we schedule a call?

Me: finds a different vendor

I've had a theory for a while that most marketing is targeted at neurotypical people, and that it is therefore far less effective on some neurodivergent people. People love to act like neurodivergent people are immune to marketing and propaganda. Maybe the detail-oriented ness of someone with ASD does ruin a narrative, but I feel that it's mostly just that people and companies aren't used to targeting these demographics.

Has anyone been to any kind of convention for nerdy things. Nerds are so captured by the marketing and products being sold that they let it take over their personality and they can’t stop buying junk.

As someone who works in marketing. We are not ignorant to how people operate and how to get in front of them. Go to the sentence that "Management makes most of the decisions". We'll be aiming for the people who actually buy things. Unfortunately in B2B sales that is usually the CEO/CFO/VP who has very little time to read and learn and would rather someone call and explain everything to make a problem go away. Typically they are of an older generation and hate digital media and wouldn't be caught dead on Reddit.

That said, I always say honestly sells itself. Embellishing the truth or straight up lies will only get you so far and it's typically short term gains.

Agency's love scummy marketing tactics. This because it's good numbers to them and they could give a fuck what it does to the client. They just want them to see that the graph goes up sharply for the first month and than silently bleed them dry as it flattens out and they can push more tricks or services to make graph go up again.

Inhouse teams (like me) can't shit where they eat, so have a more genuine strategy for the long term. We are vested in the well-being of our company.

You are not immune to propaganda

Really? Then why is Apple so popular among a subset of developers?

Yeah, no prices. I move on. Same with job ads, no salary no application. If I get an intrusive ad, I'm not buying that product, I'll deliberately seek out another brand in fact.

Is that a weird attitude to have? I thought it just made sense. We shouldn't be rewarding this BS.