<br>I am completely in favor of Professor Ari's ideas and opinions related to the fact that OSGeo should<font size="4"><b> focus <font size="2">more on</font> improving <font size="2">its</font> web presence</b></font>. Thank you professor for your detailed and excellent thoughts.<br>
<br>Not only it is the<b> best way to</b> <font size="4"><u><b>measure</b></u></font> efforts and investments in Marketing through User logs, it can also be more <font size="4">effective</font> than a number of offline efforts. <br>
<br>I liked the example of OpenGeo not only because it is a <b>beautiful website</b> but also because it is very <font size="4"><b>user-friendly</b></font>. I also agree that using a <font size="4">language that is focused</font> to specific groups and targets such as sponsors is an excellent way to transmit an understandable message that is <u>converted to more sponsors, contributors, etc</u>.<br>
<br>It is important nevertheless to be aware that not only these features are important for a significant online presence. If you have a look at Alexa.com and compare OSGeo and OpenGeo (as expected because OSGeo has a larger community) OSGeo outperforms in terms of User traffic. What I want to say here is that tools such as Alexa can be nice ways to measure our position in relation to our stakeholders in the websphere. <br>
<br>So I suggest that whoever is interested to<b> do comparisons</b> and <font size="4"><b>share them here in the lis</b>t</font>. It would be interesting to know who are the stakeholders according to the marketing committee.<br>
<br>Quite some time ago I had prepared a small presentation on a simple structure for improving online presence. I did not update it unfortunately but the ideas are still relevant i guess. <b><br><font size="4"><br>Have a look and ad your comments.</font></b><br>
<br>I created a <font size="4"><a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Marketing_Discussions#Online_Presence">link</a></font> to it on the wiki:<br><br><a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Marketing_Discussions#Online_Presence">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Marketing_Discussions#Online_Presence</a><br>
<br>Kind Regards, <br><br>Daniele.<br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 2:00 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:marketing-request@lists.osgeo.org">marketing-request@lists.osgeo.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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Today's Topics:<br>
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1. Re: [Board] Marketing Costs/Budget in 2009 (Ari Jolma)<br>
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Message: 1<br>
Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:38:12 +0200<br>
From: Ari Jolma <<a href="mailto:ari.jolma@tkk.fi">ari.jolma@tkk.fi</a>><br>
Subject: [Marketing] Re: [Board] Marketing Costs/Budget in 2009<br>
To: Christopher Schmidt <<a href="mailto:crschmidt@metacarta.com">crschmidt@metacarta.com</a>><br>
Cc: OSGeo Marketing <<a href="mailto:marketing@lists.osgeo.org">marketing@lists.osgeo.org</a>>, <a href="mailto:board@lists.osgeo.org">board@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>
Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:493BFBF4.5030106@tkk.fi">493BFBF4.5030106@tkk.fi</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed<br>
<br>
Chris,<br>
<br>
Very good observations. This should be brought to the attention of the<br>
marketing committee, from which we are eagerly waiting for a marketing<br>
plan with associated costs (i.e., how to spend the money we're expecting<br>
to have). (I just did that by cc'ing to the marketing list)<br>
<br>
Tyler wrote somewhere that some say "Your Open Source Compass" is lame.<br>
"We support the software that supports your geospatial operations"<br>
sounds very good although it's a bit long for the logo.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Ari<br>
<br>
Christopher Schmidt kirjoitti:<br>
> To Whom it May Concern,<br>
><br>
> Recently, I was reviewing the Board's budget discussions for the Budget<br>
> in 2009 in the mailing list archives, especially as they relate to<br>
> possible expenditures for Marketing in 2009.<br>
><br>
> I'll admit that I feel slightly confused as to what the goal of the<br>
> marketing budget is. From what I'm reading, there is an expectation that<br>
> marketing funding would be a significant portion of the spending from<br>
> the foundation as a whole, and I'd like to understand how that money is<br>
> or might be spent.<br>
><br>
> Currently, I see evidence that some significant portion of the marketing<br>
> budget in previous years was used for "Event support" -- buying booth<br>
> space, primarily, or other similar events. Although I see the<br>
> importance, in some cases, of attending events, I wonder if there might<br>
> not be a more efficient way of marketing OSGeo with funds that may or<br>
> may not be available. To me, it's not clear that event support really<br>
> has the highest return on investment for OSGeo, even within the<br>
> marketing world.<br>
><br>
> Specifically, I think that one of the areas that OSGeo is doing poorest<br>
> in marketing is in simply presenting a unified view targeted towards<br>
> potential sponsors. OSGeo -- as a community -- has grown organically in<br>
> a way that is both healthy and encouraging. However, OSGeo as a movement<br>
> towards a well-known name is not doing particularly well. The key<br>
> message/purpose of OSGeo -- "We support the software that supports your<br>
> geospatial operations" -- is one that we have not put nearly enought<br>
> effort into selling, in my opinion.<br>
><br>
> One example of an organization which has taken the lead -- especially<br>
> recently -- in rebranding itself, is the OpenGeo group (the Geospatial<br>
> division of the Open Planning Project). The web presence of OpenGeo --<br>
> <a href="http://opengeo.org/" target="_blank">http://opengeo.org/</a> -- is in a style that corporations feel immediatley<br>
> at home with, and has much more 'gut appeal' to the types of<br>
> organizations that OSGeo seems to be seeking as sponsors than the<br>
> current OSGeo website does.<br>
><br>
> This wasn't accomplished by creating a lot of booth materials --<br>
> OpenGeo's total booth materials cost for FOSS4G must have been very<br>
> minimal compared to even OSGeo's this year.<br>
><br>
> The current OSGeo website is not a completely inadequate community site.<br>
> It has some success in that regard. But OSGeo -- as an entity seeking<br>
> sponsorship -- can't only be about building the community. It really<br>
> needs to be seen as an organization which is supporting these Open<br>
> Source projects to be truly successful.<br>
><br>
> With that in mind, I would like to propose for your consideration the<br>
> following:<br>
><br>
> In order to accomplish its goals of supporting the Open Source<br>
> projects that make up OSGeo, OSGeo should take on the task of<br>
> improving their brand by creating a strong web presence targeted<br>
> towards potential sponsors. Specifically, this web presence should be<br>
> seeking to identify other organizations with similar potential<br>
> targets, and mimic the successes of those organizations in<br>
> presentation of materials.<br>
><br>
> The materials being presented should include:<br>
> * A high level overview of OSGeo and what it is<br>
> * A high level overview of the projects that are currently supported<br>
> by OSGeo, targeted towards executive -- rather than<br>
> developer-oriented -- summary<br>
> * A high level overview of how OSGeo achieves its goals in<br>
> supporting these projects<br>
> * How organizations can help support OSGeo in the above task.<br>
><br>
> This web presence should exist in *addition* to the resources which<br>
> are currently used by the community.<br>
><br>
> It's not clear to me if this effort should be pursued within the<br>
> existing marketing community in OSGeo, or pursued by some other group<br>
> already existing within OSGeo. It is clear to me that there has not been<br>
> a lot of thought put into the current website from the perspective of<br>
> someone with experience in marketing. This isn't a bad thing,<br>
> neccesarily, but I think in order for OSGeo to continue to grow, this is<br>
> going to become more and more of a problem.<br>
><br>
> Clearly, this is not the sole marketing task for OSGeo: materials to be<br>
> used at conferences should continue to be pursued. However, I think to<br>
> some extent, OSGeo needs to help projects which help themselves beyond a<br>
> certain point. OSgeo's job is to act as the starting point for people to<br>
> get *to* the information they need about a project -- not a place to<br>
> provide that information. Right now, probably due in part to the level<br>
> of participation by the projects themselves in the OSGeo community,<br>
> there is a blurry line here, and I think that's one of the things that<br>
> should be changed.<br>
><br>
> It's not entirely clear to me whether the OSGeo drupal website that<br>
> currently exists is important to the community. It's possible it is, and<br>
> that it could continue to exist in some form. However, I think that it<br>
> is not sufficient as an executive overview of what OSGeo is, what it<br>
> does, and what each of its proejcts does from the marketing perspective.<br>
> It is clear to me that some projects are better at internal marketing<br>
> that others -- OSGeo should take the first step for each of these<br>
> projects within its own realm, and encourage projects to do their own<br>
> work outside of that.<br>
><br>
> We've built a great community. The explosion of local chapters is<br>
> evidence of that. The desire to become an OSGeo project from projects<br>
> currently not in incubation is also evidence of that. In order to<br>
> continue to grow and succeed in supporting our projects, I think it's<br>
> really time to seriously look at how to market OSGeo as an organization<br>
> to executives with checkbooks, and I think an improved web presence is a<br>
> key part of that task.<br>
><br>
> Thank you for your consideration.<br>
><br>
> Best Regards,<br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Prof. Ari Jolma<br>
Environmental Management Information Technology<br>
Teknillinen Korkeakoulu / Helsinki University of Technology<br>
tel: +358 9 4511 address: POBox 5300, 02015 TKK, Finland<br>
Email: ari.jolma at <a href="http://tkk.fi" target="_blank">tkk.fi</a> URL: <a href="http://geoinformatics.tkk.fi" target="_blank">http://geoinformatics.tkk.fi</a><br>
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End of Marketing Digest, Vol 15, Issue 5<br>
****************************************<br>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Researcher @ Osaka City University<br>Graduate School for Creative Cities<br><a href="http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/gistrends">http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/gistrends</a><br>
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