Re: Thoughts on marketing

>>/Or perhaps not...  Is it a fishing trip 
/>>that isn't worth the price of the bait?
>
>Certainly is worth the trouble.  What specifically do you have in mind?
>
>Personally I think the best marketing is always good documentation.  At 
>least at first.  Steering people toqards something that then isn't 
>documented usually fails.

  Documentation is a part of it...  and I certainly intend to help there.
There are a number of marketing concepts/rules-of-thumb and "painting
the steps" is one.  ie. highlighting what the "customer" wants to do so
it's easy for them, and also highlighting the steps involved for them to
do what YOU want...  Clear and simple beginner documentation is of course
important,and...(?)  Marketing a commercial product might involve
introducing extensions to the current product, and marketing related
products.  Skyrix would want to do this...  but for the OSS project?
Perhaps strategic invitations for help with packaging and docs?  Perhaps
pointers to commercial help?  What does OGo and its supporters need?  I
guess that's something ongoing that requires serious thought, and
developing a collective understanding of what is important to
individuals.

  There are other concepts...  I wish I payed more attention to the
family members I have who are involved in the marketing game.  It's
Christmas soon so I'll have an opportunity to talk about it.

  I remember another important concept.. that is - every person involved
should understand that they are part of the "public image", and it's
important that they understand that marketing is (and already has been!)
part of their role by default.  I guess this folds back to the
"collective understanding" thing.

  Hmmm...  I also remember something about demographically breaking
down your market so you can think about how to target subgroups.  I'm
sure most people have abilities the project could use...  even novice
users - eg. project advocacy.

  Anyway, I was only trying to stimulate discussion about what the
people making up the project want, and discussing if it's possible
and useful for "marketing" to be another tool in the bag.

-Mark
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