[Typo3-marketing] Another marketing paper

[Michelle Heizer]

Hi Georg,

Thank you for your suggestions.

> I'd like to suggest:
> 
> DO:
> ===============
> - Create and take constantly care of a local/nationwide network of and for
> OpenSource- / Webdevelopement- / TYPO3-"affin"-persons / -organizations
> - Programmers, Web-Developers, SysOps, eBusiness- / Online-Managers,
> Marketing-Persons, OpenSource "affin" clientele (which-ever those are in
> your market
> [seems SME's])
> AND
> - organize meetings, events, and PR around it,
> AND
> - DO co-operate between agencies, rather than kicking each other's butt,
> AND
> - DO focus on professionals, rather than amateurs
> [ a Boing 747 is neighter flown nor landed by amateurs ]

I agree with this. I am pretty active on different lists -- open source,
cms, higher ed, etc. My biggest problem with the network idea is finding
professional agencies (as opposed to what you call "amateurs") in the US to
embrace T3. 

For most professional consultancies, TYPO3 would be a gamble for them add to
their list of services, when they can use established commercial systems
instead and probably make more money. In the US, people think of open source
as "free" and don't want to pay too much for implementation.

> - Team-Up with, or establish a DECENT Hosting-Service (with Help-Desk),
> offering the ASP-quality and cost-effiiency required by your clientele, AND
> make sure they "support" TYPO3 in professional manner.
> [ in AT, we feature qualified (following certain standards) TYPO3-Hosters
> in a special way on the TUGA-site ]

Hosting is a tricky thing. You have to be clear on *why* you are offering
hosting and *what* you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to appeal to
individuals, small businesses, or enterprises?

Let's examine. Who signs up for hosting? Someone that doesn't know anything
about TYPO3 and wants to try it out without worrying about installation.
Someone that is in an agency that wants to use T3 for a project and thinks
they will be able to master it in short amount of time. Those people tend to
quit in a few weeks.

Does a small business sign up for TYPO3 hosting? Not usually. They aren't
going to sign up and create a T3 site for themselves. Are enterprises going
to sign up? Probably not and if they do, they won't last long. From my
experience, they will sign up for a year, more or less, but eventually, they
will want to host their site in-house. Why? Because it makes their IT dept.
look bad if they are not hosting their own website.

This is why I mentioned targeting SMBs and hosting their T3 websites as part
of a whole package. We need to guide customers to T3. T3 is too difficult
for someone in an SMB to learn. That is what consultancies are for.
 
> - Group up with OpenSource-, Linux-, PHP- ... minded people.
> [ translates into "business by likeminded spirit" ]
> 
> - Offer white-papers for and hold speeches at ALL web-related conferences /
> fairs / gatherings, attended by local IT- & management-staff.
> [ and push OpenSource and TYPO3 there ].

Maybe not all at first, but we will definitely start working on the top
ones.
 
> - Do active PR (viral AND classical).
> [ it's not THAT expensive, you might be surprised ]

I don't mind paying for T3 marketing. I love helping out the group and in
turn, it helps out all of our businesses. That's the beauty of working
together. In the past, I've paid for distributing the T3 press releases on
the newswire and I've received an increased interest and communication from
people because of it.

This leads to another question, which I think only Daniel can answer. How
much should a typehead market TYPO3? I've been a little wary of advertising
T3 too much because there isn't really any guidelines for using the name.
For example, I've been very careful to separate marketing TYPO3 as a
typehead and marketing TYPO3 as a business. The typeheads are in a unique
position because they are also in consultancies. When I market TYPO3 as a
typehead, I don't want people that hear me speak at conferences, or read my
press releases to think the T3 community is in any way endorsing my company.
That's just not professional.

> - Write articles and offer them to local & national it- and
> business-magazines on ALL web-realted subjects you're expert in and TYPO3
> and its possibilities especially:
> [ that is "opensource" your know-how ]

I've done a little of that, but I could do so much more. I love to write so
that's not a problem. I just haven't found that perfect US T3 project to
write about. A "big" company name is a plus, but people want substance. They
don't care about the quantity of projects someone has done, but the quality
of the projects. Most web development consultancies in the US make claims
that they have worked with big companies, so people aren't necessarily
impressed by that. Instead, they want to see a project that actually
"solves" a bunch of problems. They want to know what TYPO3 will do for them.

> - Talk to major advertising agencies, offering the perfect
> no-strings-attached CMS, called (you guessed it);
> [ I dislike this approach, but I do know it works ]
> 
> - Talk to major IT-companies
> [ offers quite a lot of fun, experience and even more good contacts &
> sometimes deals ]
> 
> - GO for larger / wellknown clients, nationwide-brands, organizations,
> rather than the S(M)B, who's requirements might be covered by something
> like Frontp*** or Contrib*** ....
> [ or start with a subsidiary of such larger clients ]

I still think that's too hard of a sell right now. Problems would be: (some
I've already mentioned)

1. Lack of US support. With only two small consultancies listed in T3.com,
enterprises would not want to go with a project where they didn't feel that
they would get the support they needed.
2. Most are already locked into contracts with US based CMS vendors.
3. T3 is missing key features: LPE and workflow. These are almost always
contract killers.
4. Open source is not looked upon favorably. Mention PHP/MySQL to
enterprises and most don't even want to consider it. That's why I'm working
to integrate T3 with other open source solutions.
5. Commercial CMSes have brought down their prices -- some slashing them in
half which is making them more attractive.

For example, Zope has had 2 or 3 large clients in the past, but they haven't
had any real large ones since. Why? In my opinion, the implementation costs
for these projects were more than if they had purchased a commercial system
and they pretty much had to build in all the features they needed from the
ground up. 

There is nothing worse than "pushing" a system to a market before it is
ready to be pushed. That is why I recommended small businesses, colleges and
universities, non-profits, and government agencies, where workflow and lack
of other features won't be a problem. If you are looking for large names,
there are plenty of smaller companies that fit the bill.
 
> - ACT professional in all aspects of your TYPO3-related business and PR;
> [ clear to many, ignored by even more ]

Well, I hope I do that. I try to answer all the emails from people
interested in the software (and there are many!). Daniel -- any word on a
separate typehead mailbox??

> CAUTION:  ;-)
> ===============
> Following the above steps, you might be faced with a vibrant
> TYPO3-enthusiatic market withing 12 month - no guarantees, though ;-)

Well, I'm hopeful! That's my goal!
 
> THINK:  [ a courageous outlook ]
> ===============
> - A major nation-wide copmpany would launch a press-release about a recent
> project done with TYPO3 ( where the TYPO3 part was yours );
> - A major IT-company (Redhat, IBM, .... ), would bundle (or recommend)
> TYPO3 with their product.
> 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the reading;
> 
> 
> regards Georg, ( again, heavily tempted to move his place of residence back
> to the US; unfortune the current "nations spirit" does not match mine )

Or mine either, unfortunately... :(


So my next steps: 

1. Research conferences and trade shows. Make list available to US
consultancies. (It will be in .ics format)
2. Start building a network of US based consultancies. I'd like to start a
US TUG based on the work of the TUGA. I think they've done a great job with
their group and I want to start the tug right. I think I'll begin with one
TUG but have the consultancies in other areas branch it out into subgroups
to cover the US. Are there any guidelines for tugs that I should know about?
3. Complete my non-profit project in the next 2 months. Begin writing case
studies and papers geared to different markets and groups. Present at
conferences. I'll also offer up my materials to others that are willing to
present at conferences as well.
4. Research other venues for advertising (sponsorships, ads - both print and
banner, etc.)
5. Get even more involved in lists and orgs that pertain to open source and
CMSes
6. Funnel all information back to the marketing group, ie Sabina and Daniel.

Anything I'm missing, besides time for sleep?

With all this in mind, I need the help of any consultancies on this list
that are based in the US. So please get in touch with me if you want to
help. ;)


Michelle