Your product serves a larger ecosystem of people, tools and businesses.

This is why developer tools startups invest in content marketing: it’s a way to build developer knowledge so that they can be more effective at applying what you’ve built.

Kathy Sierra calls this “the larger context” of your product, and offers the example of cameras and photography. Mastering the menus of a digital camera doesn’t create photographers. So the savvy, upstart camera vendor wants to improve how customers understand concepts like lighting and composition.

Content marketing in the abstract can be a challenge, but remember: you’re also going to talk to your users and measure what they’re doing in your product.

Armed with interviews and measurement, you’ll have a much clearer picture on what kinds of learning will both support developer career journeys and help move the needle for your product.

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Planning your content

You made the startup that sells your product. You are in the 99th percentile of expertise on this stuff.

What you think is obvious, boring or basic might be transformative to the developers you’re serving. Get comfortable starting from zero, get comfortable repeating yourself.

Think about what knowledge got your career path to the point where you could help deliver developer tools.

Next, think about the numbers you’re trying to move in your product. Are people getting started? Are they sticking around? What could you teach to affect these numbers?

Most of all, tie this stuff back to what people want from their careers. It’s not enough to document how, you’re also going to have to document why: what kinds of leverage does expert use of your tools create? How will growing in this context serve their own journey?

Make more expert users. You will increase the size of your market, and thus the ranks of people who will pound the table demanding your tool.

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Learn from examples

There are loads of ways to do this, but here are a few examples to inspire you.

  • Convoy gets back to basics on webhooks. Anyone who reads this has a clearer picture on why they should use the product.
  • Depot does a deep dive on the history of tar files. Knowing the past gives readers insight on the future, plus context about the present.
  • Oso provides a deep crash course on authentication. Auth is a critical part of every application, and the more sophisticated you are about its larger context, the easier it is to appreciate Oso’s offering.
  • Mintlify offers an entire guide to technical writing. A team will surely use their documentation product more if they’re confident about technical writing overall.

A note on hiring to solve this problem

Learning content is a lot of work and if you are very early, you might want to put it off or immediately outsource it. Don’t. It’s critical for founding teams to find their voice on this stuff. A clear point of view will help you stand out in the crowd, and the more practiced you are at representing both your tools and their context, the better you’ll be at hiring help to carry that burden.

Book an intro call

One of the hardest things about being an expert is all the context you take for granted. We can plan a one-day intensive that includes unpacking your knowledge, creating the bones of a content strategy that moves the needle.