[TYPO3-UG US] US Marketing Plan

[Gregory Remington]

Hello Michelle,

>>I've been thinking on similar lines however with a focus on various 
>>vertical markets. 
> 
> 
> It is my hope this will make up a large part of the
> new website. We need the site to be more solutions based as you see in
> other enterprise-level CMSes in the US market. 

A market specific evaluation of TYPO3 and its strengths for each market 
might be useful. Especially in the area of extensions. A set of 
extensions to match an appropriate vertical market and its needs should 
help us create marketable solutions. Researching the needs of a market 
and matching them to an appropriate extension set will take time.

We may want to also study TYPO3's popularity in Germany and Europe. I'd 
like to see the general list of vertical markets using TYPO3 and the 
percentage falling under the categories you mention.

> They already have a focus
> on general markets such as business, healthcare, government, education
> and nonprofit, but I'd like us to take this a step further and aim at
> specific industries such as media (newspapers, magazines), communities,
> real estate, retail, manufacturing, artists/photographers/designers,
> consultancies, financial institutions, libraries, museums, etc. 

Nice list. There are so many potential markets to cover that that 
resources and time needed to create a marketing presence in all these 
markets is overwhelming to say the least. Niche or vertical markets 
present a challenge in the sense that you have to be somewhat familiar 
with that market.

> With over 1000 extensions available today, TYPO3 could easily be packaged
> into any one of these solutions and we need a section written to support
> that. 

We really need to distill the extension repository to separate the wheat 
from the chaff. There are some brilliant extensions there from an end 
users point of view however many need to be excluded from production 
use. The actually number of extensions that are useful in a commercial 
production environment needs to be assessed. A have a small list so far ;)

> I'd even like to see a demo site built for each of these industries with the
> extensions already installed and configured. ( wishful thinking... ;) )

That is what it will take. Mastering specific extensions to each market 
will eat up a lot of time in terms of research, development and 
presentation. After mastering TYPO3 extensions relating to particular 
markets there is also the task of sponsoring that extension's 
development if the project requires additional features.

> In the same vein, the website should list the benefits to Web
> consultancies, IT firms, design agencies and PR companies in
> establishing partnerships with TYPO3 consultants and developers. Some of
> these companies may not have even heard of TYPO3 or even a content
> management system so they will want to understand the economic benefit
> of using this system or partnering with a T3 consultancy. In my own
> experience, I have worked with design and PR agencies in NYC,
> California, etc that hadn't even heard of a CMS before and I sold them
> on the idea of TYPO3. These companies already have a strong client base
> so it's been a mutually beneficial relationship.

Agreed. In house IT departments are a pain to deal with on average I've 
heard. IT consultancies may be easier to work with and could offer the 
equivalent of an in house solution for smaller businesses.

> It's the IT
> department that researches CMSes and either implements it themselves, or
> hires an agency to do so. We need to market to both the IT department
> and the consultancy. ... we don't necessarily need to market to them because 
 > they would probably do that anyway and they are already finding
> the system via TYPO3.com/.org.

A “hybrid” approach may be needed here. We don't want to isolate the 
do-it-yourself professional/market in the event there may be a strategic 
alliance in there somewhere. Pairing consultancies and companies to 
independents/freelancers through  strategic alliances should push 
TYPO3's popularity.

> I'd be interested in the results. This sounds like a great resource and
> I hope we can enlist some of your subscribers to help build the portal.

Me too. I'm having to drop to part time at my full time job to get this 
done. This is becoming a very expensive hobby.  At the moment I can't 
even keep up with the forum posts , research and development. I don't 
even have time to take on paying clients. I'm going part time at my full 
time job soon to fix this.

> It's been very difficult to gauge how many people use TYPO3 in the US
> because it seems that only a small portion of the developers and users
> are actually active members of the community. With this in mind, I think
> we need to focus more on community relations and retention of members or
> we risk a high dropout rate.

We also have to take into account how many developers and users are 
“lurking”. You rarely see me involved in the TYPO3 community because I 
barely have enough time to keep up with new information and “apply” the 
knowledge.

> Would it be possible for you to send out an email to your subscriber
> base with a link to the survey when it becomes available?

Yes, once I master direct mail. I'm also hoping to raise sponsorship 
awareness for several key extensions as well. I'll begin work after I go 
part time in November.

A marketing strategy for extension sponsorship is needed too. My 
sponsorship efforts are focused on CHC Forum and CSS development atm.

Cheers,
Greg