[TYPO3-UG US] US Marketing Plan

[Michelle Heizer]

Hi Greg,

> 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.

That's really exciting and I wish you much success! Two years ago, I
left my "full-time" life to pursue this "expensive hobby" as well and
have never looked back. Now if I could just squeeze a few more hours out
of my days... ;) 

> 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.

I think you are right about that. I hope the survey will help to bring
more people out and maybe we can find ways to help them. I could almost
envision us building a "who's who" directory of users so that we can
begin pairing people together and building the alliances you mention.

> 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.

That would be great. If you need any help with that, let me know. Also,
I think if we could post a link to the survey on your forum, it would be
a big help. I will be posting the results to the survey so it might be a
good resource for your research as well.

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

I really like the idea of pushing more sponsorship for extension
development. I think it could work parallel with the solutions section,
like you mention earlier, because we would be weeding down the extension
list and getting an idea of what needed to be done. Many, if not all,
extensions could benefit from further sponsorship and I know the
developers would certainly appreciate it. Not to mention, from a US
standpoint, some extensions might need modifications to make it more US
friendly for our market.

Regards,

Michelle