[Typo3-marketing] Another marketing paper

[Michelle Heizer]

Hi Daniel and Sander,

I really support this idea as well. I actually have the typo3.us domain
pointing to my server. A few months ago I was going to create a bit of a US
portal, but I wasn't sure what direction to take it in. I think it's
becoming much clearer now.

First, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this discussion so
far. It certainly has enlightened me quite a bit. :)

Second, I certainly don't want to appear negative about any aspect of TYPO3,
the marketing or the software. I just want to be brutally honest about the
perception of it in the US. We need to know where we are now so we can move
forward.

Ok, with that said....

I do think we need a US portal for TYPO3 because I see now that the
marketing here is much different than what the needs are in Europe. Sander
brings up about car manufacturers and that's a great point. It has taken 20
years for foreign cars to become more acceptable to buy in the US. I live in
the midwest which is the great hub of American car manufacturing and you
still don't find many foreign car dealers around here because there's still
not much of a demand. Even with Honda, people buy them because they
manufacture here in the US. They create cars that "look" like other American
cars. They market to the American culture. So if we learn anything from
this, the road will be a tough one for TYPO3, but it can be accomplished one
step at a time.

Right now, the TYPO3 sites "look" very European, in design and text.
Sometimes there is a mixture of languages and even the English language uses
the UK preferred spellings (ex. organisation --> organization). Sometimes
when you translate from German to English, the text doesn't flow as smoothly
because the literal translation doesn't "match" how things are said in
America. So I do think the portal idea would solve this problem.

I don't think we need to put American flags on the website -- let's leave it
politically neutral that way. Instead, let's make it "look" like it belongs
in the US and mention that this is the US site. If you check out the
competitors of Interwoven, Vignette, Documentum, etc., you will see a
definite "look" that screams, "This is corporate America". While it won't
appeal to other countries, it will appeal to the US.

Now as far as the software itself. I don't think there is that many
"technical" problems with it coming from Europe. I think it's more of the
"look and feel". The test site, references sites, extensions, etc. all seem
to "look" as though they come from other countries, which they do. At this
point, we can't really change that. For people in the US, they are used to
working with companies and products that are made here and translated in
other countries, not vice versa. We have a bit of a language barrier that
will need to be overcome. I know. It's pretty unfair that everyone is
expected to learn English while Americans aren't very fluent in other
languages. I think once we generate more interest in the US, it will trickle
down into the software. Soon we will have more extensions, manuals,
tutorials, etc. all in English. Not relying on the one, but the many.

With the TUG idea, I understand the concerns that it will be difficult to
get a group started, but I think I just need to start somewhere. Maybe I'll
only hold one or two face-to-face meetings a year in a large city. The rest
of the meetings could be online. It will grow on its own as long as I'm
consistent. I'm sure the Austria group took awhile to build. ;)

I think consistency is the key. As I said before, if you start something, be
prepared to finish it and keep doing it. Otherwise, Americans are going to
get pretty disenchanted right away.

With that said, I'd like to pursue the portal idea for the typo3.us site. I
think, for it to be done right, it may need to start out small and it would
need everything to be written and to have the "look and feel" that appeals
to the US market.

So, Daniel, my questions are:

1. Could you export the list of email addresses of the US based
consultancies? I'd like to get their input and help. I've had a few offers
already, but I need more.

2. Where should it be hosted? I don't mind hosting it, but you mentioned a
central location. Either is fine.

I think I can just use an email address off of the new site for typehead
related correspondence.

My goal this year is to build an infrastructure for the US marketing. Once
that is built, everything else will fall into place. I hope to have the help
of hundreds of people in the not so distant future.

Questions? Comments?

Michelle