Developers hate ads. Build ones they will actually click.
Engineers skip marketing speak and trust docs, code, and peers. Tofu Ads Agent builds stack- and role-specific technical audiences, writes plain, concrete creative that leads with what the tool does, and wires campaigns across LinkedIn and Google that support bottom-up adoption and the move to team and enterprise plans.
Tofu Ads Agent builds and launches complete paid campaigns for developer tools companies across LinkedIn and Google Search. It builds audiences of software engineers, DevOps and platform engineers, and engineering leaders segmented by skills and company size, writes direct, technical creative that leads with concrete capabilities instead of hype, and wires the full campaign structure (ad sets, budgets, bids, keywords, and negatives) to drive signups among individual developers and expansion into teams.
Why Developer Tools advertising is different
Developer tools are adopted bottom-up by skeptical, technical users long before a budget holder gets involved:
- Developers are allergic to marketing. Buzzwords and vague claims get scrolled past. Ads that show what the tool does, how fast it is to try, and how it fits the stack earn the click.
- Adoption starts with one engineer. Most devtools spread through free tiers, open source, and trials. The first conversion is a signup or a docs visit, not a sales call.
- Expansion needs a different message. Engineering managers, platform leads, and security teams care about governance, cost, SSO, and reliability when usage grows into a paid team or enterprise plan.
- Search is extremely specific. Developers search for exact problems, error types, languages, frameworks, and comparisons, so broad category terms waste budget.
What Tofu Ads Agent builds for Developer Tools
Technical audiences
Software, DevOps, platform, data, and security engineers by skills and job function, plus engineering managers and CTOs for expansion campaigns, segmented by company size.
No-fluff creative
Plain, specific ad variations that lead with capabilities, integrations, and how to get started, with separate angles for hands-on engineers and engineering leaders.
PLG-aligned campaign structure
Signup and docs-driven campaigns for individual developers, plus retargeting of active users and their companies toward team and enterprise plans.
Keywords & negatives
Language, framework, and problem-specific keywords with competitor and open-source alternative terms, and negatives that filter out tutorials, students, and job searches.
Example keywords it builds
[category] for [language/framework]
open source [category] alternative
[competitor] vs [competitor2]
self-hosted [category]
[category] for kubernetes
[category] API for developers
Example audiences & targeting
Frequently asked questions
Do paid ads work for developers at all?
They can, when the creative is concrete and respectful of a technical audience. The agent writes plain, specific ads that lead with what the tool does and how to try it, rather than hype, and pairs them with high-intent search.
How does it support product-led growth?
Campaigns can optimize toward signups, docs visits, or trial starts for individual developers, while separate campaigns retarget companies with active users toward team and enterprise plans.
Can it reach engineering leaders for enterprise deals?
Yes. Separate ad sets target engineering managers, platform leads, and CTOs with messaging about security, governance, reliability, and cost, the concerns that come up when usage spreads.
How do you keep search spend from going to tutorials and students?
The agent adds negatives for tutorials, courses, interview prep, jobs, and other learning-oriented queries, and focuses keywords on specific problems, comparisons, and integration terms.
Reach developers without the marketing speak.
Point it at your product and target accounts, and Tofu Ads Agent builds the audiences, creative, and campaigns across LinkedIn and Google. Early access is rolling out now.
Get started