[TYPO3-UG US] US Marketing Plan

[Michelle Heizer]

Hi Jeff,

On Tue, 2005-10-11 at 08:44 -0500, Jeff Segars wrote:
> The other thing to note is that we're not in the business of making 
> TYPO3 sites (so we're not taking work from all the great TYPO3 
> freelancers and doing it for free :) ).  

I'm actually thinking of how we can promote this project. A big emphasis
of TYPO3's new "brand" is about sharing and I had put in the marketing
plan a section about "Community Volunteer Efforts". I thought if we
could have a place where developers and consultancies could donate some
of their work for free to nonprofit organizations, we could enforce the
T3 brand, showcase what T3 could do, help build a stronger alliance with
each other and, more importantly, bring T3 to organizations that
normally couldn't afford such an advanced website, but that could really
use it. I think your project should be showcased on the TYPO3.us site
(if you don't mind, that is :) ) 

> Our primary focus is extension 
> development, but we felt like a packaged install was important enough 
> for novice users trying to get off the ground that we invested our time 
> in that.  This package includes default content, extensions, templates, 
> and Typoscript configuration.

And I see this as a great tutorial on how to use TYPO3 for packaged
solutions and how successful it can be. I think a lot of us can learn
from that.

> Over time, I see churches starting with our system for their base 
> install and, much like in the larger TYPO3 community, relying on 
> freelancers for templates, configuration, and extensions specific to 
> their needs.

Agreed. Also, since many churches do not have people with the technical
skills to create a website, we could gain from learning what problems
editors have when using the system. Alternatively, we could gain from
getting some testimonials from editors where they found the system easy
to use and what they liked about it. Normally, we just hear that "TYPO3
is hard" from a developer, but we seem to be missing real testimonials
from the end users (content editors). Would you have access to something
like that?

Thanks for your help!

Michelle