How APIs Work — Without the Tech Jargon
How to even start
Back when I was one of the managers at QR TIGER — where inbound, SEO, and content were king — our most valuable resource was our writers. Fresh from university, equipped with the smarts and an affinity for written words, they were great at defining problems, introducing use cases, and thinking of ways our product could fit into any industry or persona they were writing for.
But when it came to APIs, it was almost always a hit or miss.
What does it mean when you, as a startup, offer APIs as a product?
What are APIs, even?
As our CEO defined it, APIs are the brain of your software.
So… does that mean APIs can think?
Remember how a SaaS typically has a backend and frontend?
The frontend is what you see.
The backend powers the frontend.
In some apps, the backend and frontend are just one app.
I must be losing you at this point.
But nowadays, they’re often separated for many reasons — scalability (or the ability to scale) being one of the main ones.
Having a public API — public literally meaning open to all — means that anyone can potentially build their own frontend/UI and simply use your software’s backend. They’re able to do this by having their frontend interact with your public API. This can save a ton of development time, especially if your service is already stable.
There are a lot of popular APIs nowadays, including:
Stripe
Weather APIs (because would you really build your own weather-monitoring infrastructure?)
In our case, it was a QR code generator API. With all its intricacies, it was essentially plug-and-play: you could build a feature requiring QR code generation in days, instead of the typical 2–6 months of development. Most public APIs also come with excellent documentation, which makes adoption faster.
So how would you, as a marketer, market this product?
Some sample slogans I’m thinking:
Looking to save time developing X?
Create your own X.
This time, the messaging is tailored more toward technical stakeholders like CTOs or lead engineers — because these are the lives you’re making easier.
That’s just an overview.
I’ll dive into a more in-depth understanding of APIs in a separate post.
Subscribe so that when that post comes out, you’ll be notified. Maybe by then you’ll have better ideas for copy to help drive more signups. Or, if you’re ever tasked with writing public documentation or crafting a LinkedIn blast, it might help. And if you’re in customer support — here’s to understanding your tickets better.