[Typo3-marketing] Another marketing paper

[Michelle Heizer]

> All agreed. It is also quite natural that in comparatively "developed"
> markets local branches become integrated and demand autonomy. This is at
> first a good thing, if a common denominator can be found. That is again not
> naturally the case, but subject to much communication and coordination.

I'm glad you mentioned this. I guess from the US perspective, since we
clearly aren't "developed" yet, I get nervous at the thought of breaking
away into a separate group.

On the plus side, I think we can learn a lot from the groups in Europe --
what works and what doesn't. That way the marketing in the US can be
structured correctly from the beginning.
 
> 
> To tell you the truth, I think Open Source Marketing is in the introduction
> phase almost exlusively viral marketing. Your plan could support such
> activities and provide some sort of home base for sparking messages in
> certain communities and to monitor the resonance.

Well, we need to look at our strengths and our weaknesses. Open Source has a
big weakness -- lack of money. We can't buy our advertising like Microsoft
and other large companies so we need to sell ourselves in ways. A large open
source community really follows the viral marketing strategy -- for better
or worse. I'm just wondering how we can embrace it and use it to our
advantage. :) 

> Regarding trade fairs, I can only report that the approach a bunch of
> consultancies in Germany took, to represent themselves and TYPO3 as a
> network has been rather successful. It helps to share cost, cover a large
> area with your services and most of all rises visibility.

That's a really good plan! In one of my "past lives", I worked as a trade
show specialist -- even designed some booths. I've been thinking of
purchasing and designing a TYPO3 display booth. I could even offer it to
others to take with them to trade shows. I could leave some space so that a
consultancy could add their company's name. Is this of any interest?

> In respect to what you have stated about the brand, there are a lot
> arguments to be made about this, many of them can't be discussed here.
> The point about looking at this field of action and the methods associated
> with it now, is that it is _the_ prerequisite for further market
> penetration, because it will align the communication as well as the product
> development.
> 
> In practice serves as an umbrella and a yardstick which helps to unify and
> integrate all of our currently highly redundant and partly inconsistent
> activities. As the Association is bundling and controlling these, it seeks
> to consolidate form the ground up, starting with defining the common ground.
> 
> I hope this helps to understand the reason for looking at something
> seemingly metaphysical, like the brand first.


No, actually, I didn't mean to sound that the brand was not important. Far
from it! Not having a brand is like a business without a business plan. It
can work for awhile, but eventually, it will be a total mess. Yes, let's
definitely work  on that first.


Well, since the US has been mentioned a lot lately and I'm trying to be a
good typehead, does anyone have suggestions on what I could do to further
push the TYPO3 marketing efforts in the US?

I know people have wanted a forum/newsgroup on US-related TYPO3 development
and marketing issues, references (thanks to Daniel, this has been added on
t3.com) and more trade show exposure. What else am I missing? Also, what
would be the best way for me to start building up a US network of people to
promote TYPO3? Or to provide the resources people have asked for? Yes, I
need the help of the more established groups out there. ;) Above all, I
don't want to do anything that "disconnects" the US from the rest of the
group (distance already does a good job of that!), instead, I'd like to see
us plugged in a little more.

Michelle