Marketing for Developers

by Justin Jackson

"Programming is black and white. Marketing is a world of gray."

Quit looking for that magical growth unicorn. You don't need to win the startup lottery. You can earn a good income from building and launching your own products.

This book will teach you everything you need to get started:

1. How to build something people want
2. The Lean Marketing Stack
3. How to build momentum before you launch
4. A launch plan and checklist
5. How to get more leads after you launch

Using step-by-step instructions, you'll learn market research tactics that help surface solid product ideas. Armed with this research, you'll be able to create your product with confidence, knowing that you're meeting a legitimate need. No more guessing!

You'll also learn how to grow a launch list from the moment you start building your product. Don't worry about launching to crickets. This time you'll have people waiting to purchase your product on day one.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Technology, Programming

168 pages, ebook

Published October 15, 2015

About the author

Justin Jackson is a Canadian entrepreneur, author, podcaster, public speaker, and YouTuber. He advises software and SaaS companies on growth, marketing, JTBD, and product development.

Reviews

[Vadim Demedes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read quite a few books on marketing focused on startups and selling products in general. Almost all of them have the same flaw - they are too abstract. There are no specific directions or guidelines on how to achieve my goals. I've read them, but never opened them up again.

I saw "Marketing for Developers" on Product Hunt and I immediately downloaded a free sample and read it. After reading the sample, I decided to give this book a try and put a pre-order. When it launched, I read the whole book that same evening. What can I say - amazing! The book is not just a compilation of quotes and articles from all over the internet. It is a specific check list on how to market & launch your product. And more importantly, it is targeted at developers (which does not happen that often). It teaches you and tells you what to do at all stages: pre-launch, launch, post-launch. I loved every page of it and I recommend it to everyone out there!

I am sure, I will refer to this book many more times and I highly recommend it to all my friends.

[Christopher Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a bias toward action-ability, and this book is highly-actionable. I've suffered through mountains of vague startup/marketing books; this is NOT one of those.

The section on defining your target market ALONE will probably save more would-be founders from launching something nobody wants than the next 100 startup books combined.

[Grégoire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a (lucky) beta reader of this and I really enjoyed the content.
Very actionable as usual with Justin.

Highly recommended.

[Tony Cai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actionable and useful insights for developers / founders on starting out to build a product.

For me, the most useful insights were the details about how best to collect analytics and metrics off of your landing page, as well as nurturing your email list / leads!

[Sergey Evstifeev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good tips and actionable advice. I took one star off (otherwise would be 4 stars) for poor editing - in some cases the page layout was broken and in others there were grammar mistakes. Feels sloppy.

[Filipe Mendes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book for developers. Most of the tips are very simple but only when you learn about them.
The author also provides use cases and simple tutorials for useful tools that any developer interested in launching a product should know about.
I read this once but I am sure I will read at least twice more.

[Ricardo Gomes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing resource.
Justin knows his stuff and gives very actionable advice.
I recommend this to any developer (or maker of a digital product) that can't seem to figure out what the marketing "gurus" are talking about.

[Shen · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book I've bought with a dedicated podcast feed!

Justin released an episode per chapter as they were recorded!

[Corey Maass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Written clearly, with an emphasis on repeatable, actionable tips and guides. This might actually get me to do the work.

[Josh Doody · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great blueprint for finding an audience, determining how you can help them, developing a product to satisfy that need, then marketing and launching that product.

[Joshua Pitzalis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic.

Super actionable. Really clear.

Job well done.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have seen so many developers (including myself!) who have put in huge numbers of hours building a product only to launch with no sales.

Marketing for Developers should be required reading for any programmer wanting to start a paying side project, raise funding or even just to get more traction for their own personal work. It's incredibly grounded and practical advice on how to get noticed in the crowded marketplace of applications and services and generate real sales.

[Mark Horgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a developer who spends too little time on marketing I found the practical information in this book very useful. I keep referring back to it to make sure I'm on track for launch day.

[Сергей Герасименко · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just got this book, and just started to read, but I'm amazed! And I know how I will spend the next 12 hours

[Min Tran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical guide to launch your products, sans the bullshit!

[Andrei Baraian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good content, easy to read, got a few good tips from this book

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done. A necessary book for any developer who wants to work for themselves.