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What is 'not really good'? We had spectacular ROI on adwords ads. BUT, and the article mentions this somewhat, not for tech/freemium saas products. Developers a

What is 'not really good'? We had spectacular ROI on adwords ads. BUT, and the article mentions this somewhat, not for tech/freemium saas products. Developers avoid ads like the plague. For consumer stuff that are just immediately paid (there is no free; you pay or you leave the landing page) it works incredibly well in our experience.

k__ 3y ago
"Developers avoid ads like the plague." If they can. They can't avoid them on Instagram or Tiktok.
- anonzzzies 3y ago
  No, I guess that's where my age or echo chamber shines through; I don't know any developers using those platforms. My colleagues don't; most are > 40, but the 20somethings we work with also don't. That's just my experience, so it says very little. Like I say somewhere else, I'm curious what the conversion for tech products on those forced ad platforms is. Actual numbers.
  - k__ 3y ago
    I don't use them for dev stuff either. But I was surprised when I syndicated my content there, that so many devs where engaging there.
- intrasight 3y ago
  Why do you think that?
- tomjen3 3y ago
  I would assume most devs are smart enough to stay away from those places.
benjaminwootton 3y ago
This is the one situation where it does work better. Many years ago I was interested in affiliate marketing, where there was a relatively immediate purchase. The aim then was to optimise spend and conversion rate and a profit could be eeked out. When there is a slower sales cycle and a more complex or less transactional purchase then it all becomes much more vague and significantly harder to find ROI in my experience. The ad-click is likely to be one of a hundred factors compared to transactionally selling a widget.
morning-coffee 3y ago
> Developers avoid ads like the plague. Yep. As a developer, running a pihole, I don't see any ads and I wouldn't click even if I did. I thought the tl;dr; of the article was going to be along the lines of "if you're selling a "developer tool", don't bother buying ads because "developers" (i.e. your customers) are likely going to lengths to not see these ads in the first place.

k__ 3y ago

"Developers avoid ads like the plague." If they can. They can't avoid them on Instagram or Tiktok.

anonzzzies 3y ago
No, I guess that's where my age or echo chamber shines through; I don't know any developers using those platforms. My colleagues don't; most are > 40, but the 20somethings we work with also don't. That's just my experience, so it says very little. Like I say somewhere else, I'm curious what the conversion for tech products on those forced ad platforms is. Actual numbers.
- k__ 3y ago
  I don't use them for dev stuff either. But I was surprised when I syndicated my content there, that so many devs where engaging there.
intrasight 3y ago
Why do you think that?
tomjen3 3y ago
I would assume most devs are smart enough to stay away from those places.

benjaminwootton 3y ago

This is the one situation where it does work better. Many years ago I was interested in affiliate marketing, where there was a relatively immediate purchase. The aim then was to optimise spend and conversion rate and a profit could be eeked out. When there is a slower sales cycle and a more complex or less transactional purchase then it all becomes much more vague and significantly harder to find ROI in my experience. The ad-click is likely to be one of a hundred factors compared to transactionally selling a widget.

morning-coffee 3y ago

> Developers avoid ads like the plague. Yep. As a developer, running a pihole, I don't see any ads and I wouldn't click even if I did. I thought the tl;dr; of the article was going to be along the lines of "if you're selling a "developer tool", don't bother buying ads because "developers" (i.e. your customers) are likely going to lengths to not see these ads in the first place.