[OSGeo-Conf] Marketing Plan

[Paul Ramsey]

Ideas wanted.

I have begun thinking about how to market this event, to try and 
maximize attendance. My thoughts are predicated on a few general principles:

- The closer someone is physically, the more likely they are to come.
- The more interested in the topic, the more likely they are to come.

So, people nearby might have only a vague interest in the topic, but 
still come out of curiosity, but the farther away we go, the more 
specific interest an attendee will need.

--- NEARBY MAILING ---

I want to ensure that everyone remotely spatial in Victoria, Vancouver 
and Seattle and surrounds knows about the conference, hopefully by 
receiving a physical invitation.  The conference committee I hope will 
work closely to develop this list.

We are working on web-trolling to try and develop a geographically 
targeted list the hard way.

--- NORTH AMERICA MAILING ---

URISA sells a membership list, and we can get the whole thing for $600, 
or a few states for $75 each.

Geoworld and Geospatial Solutions both broker their subscription lists. 
I am checking out costs there.

--- OPEN SOURCE EMAIL ---

The traditional FOSS4G method is to hit the project mailing lists 
regularly. This is fine, and cheap too, but really hits only the 
cognoscenti -- "folks who are on the lists" is a small subset of "folks 
who use the software".

--- OPEN SOURCE WEB SITES ---

Turns out, some of our high profile sites generate lots of traffic, and 
from people who might use the software but not be on the lists -- a 
perfect target demographic. We *must* figure out a way to get banner 
placements on the high profile project sites.

--- BLOGS ---

Getting mentions on high profile blogs will be useful also. Having 
regular mentions in some of the osgeo member blogs, particularly around 
important events (call for papers, registration open, early bird over) 
could help keep up buzz.

--- COMMERCIAL WEB SITES ---

Directions Magazine generates lots of traffic, but they have a pretty 
price rate card. Perhaps they can be enticed into trading a banner slot 
or two for a free media sponsorship. Or perhaps not.