[Marketing] catching up with board objectives

Fri Mar 25 05:32:19 PDT 2016

Jody et al

Thanks for singling me out ;-)
Please take your time to read further. I have given it some time to assess
if I should involve myself.

I will gladly participate in the Marketing Committee and try to revive it.
There are practical things that need to be taken care of and I have some
time on my hands...
But I am dubious if the present organisation is able to appreciate the need
for true marketing (we tend to be our own worst enemy at times :-(.

So my ambition goes beyond ad hoc activities. We need some structural
apporach and plan.
Therefor I also intend to professionalise the Marketing-function at OSGeo,
as I strongly believe that this is key to future success (as long as we
intend to add value to our stakeholders and foundation remit). Succesful
communities tend to have a professional attititude and approach to
marketing. Marketing as a means to align products/services, stakeholders,
channels/reach, WIIFM/gain, promotion. Marketing directly overlaps our
strategy: what do we want to be for whom?

I hope that the committee-members will agree on and actively support the
above! (Can I get an Amen...?)

Back to the *here and now*. Looking at the - to me still broad -
communicationrelated objectives for 2016 (
https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_of_Directors#Strategic_Plan_2016), some
questions/comments/suggestions;
- I am to make an initial list of actions/tasks/to do's in the Wiiki
- MarkCom members/Jody please add
- MarkCom members sign on per item/activity as the person responsible
- MarkCom members involved will have a monthly meetup (preferably Skype or
other where we see faces)

Regarding the future, I acknowledge not everyone is versed in what
marketing (not just promotion) entails (vice versa; do not ask me too much
on how others develop software ;-)
- I am to make a format for a marketing plan (please mind, this is not only
addressing PR/Communications) and put it in the wiki
- the Board is invited to use the format for its future
strategy-making-process, as marketing is dependent on Board decisions
regarding direction of the foundation, resources/priorities,

Kind regards,

Marc Vloemans

Mobile +31(0)651 844262
LinkedIn: http://nl.linkedin.com/in/marcvloemans
Twitter: http://twitter.com/marcvloemans
http://www.slideshare.net/marcvloemans

2016-03-18 19:24 GMT+01:00 Basques, Bob (CI-StPaul) <
bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us>:

> Hmm,
>
> It seems like there is enough going on that some consideration should be
> applied to the idea of actually hiring some individual or Comp. to handle
> some of this.  I think the community is going to be hard pressed to retain
> a volunteer for this type of stuff over the long run.
>
> bobb
>
>
>
> On Mar 18, 2016, at 1:00 PM, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Taking a chance to round up outstanding activities from prior board
> meetings:
>
> * https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Face_to_Face_Meeting_2016
> * https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2016-3-10
> * https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2016-3-10
>
> Here is what I have found for the marketing committee (CCing Marc from
> discussion list in the hopes we can recruit him):
>
>    - Motion: Contact Marketing Committee with strategic plan of 2016 to
>    give new mandate to them for reviving marketing activities.
>    - MOT2: Approve 1000 USD as intreim budget for Marketing committee by
>    e-mail vote
>
> So far we are waiting on the strategic plan, best I can offer right now is:
>
> *
> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Face_to_Face_Meeting_2016#OSGeo_2016_Strategic_Plan
> :
> * https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_of_Directors#Strategic_Plan_2016
>
> The good news (for the marketing committee) is that most of these
> objectives are about communication - so we can help:
>
>    - S01: showcasing excellence in our communities
>
>    We have a lot of amazing work happening in OSGeo, and it is staggering
>    how much of it is not known. I for example had no idea a 400 person local
>    chapter event was held recently in Romania. By the same token some of the
>    triumphs taking place with GeoForAll or individual projects are not known.
>    - S02: proactively engage with external partners
>
>    We are starting to gather a network of friendly organizations, and
>    build up formal relationships (memorandums of understanding with OGC) or
>    closer (joint initiatives with ICA, or being a guest member of
>    LocationTech).
>
>    By the same token we have a lot of sponsors or participating
>    organizations (often donating in-kind work on our OSGeo projects). You can
>    see me making an effort to revamp our sponsor program. Next I hope to
>    update our support-providers page to highlight participating organizations.
>
>    We would like to seek out additional organizations to work with ...
>    how can we help OGC reach out? More direct on the open-source advocacy side
>    how can we tell the participation message again and again and again.
>
>
>    - S03: Fostering our mission, vision and goals
>
>    Check out the about page for revised mission, vision, goals
>    <http://www.osgeo.org/about>. This is a bit of a branding/product
>    exercise - but rather than focusing on what makes OSGeo special - how can
>    we promote goals.
>
>    - S04: Empowering our communities and extending our reach
>
>    I know the marketing committee has budget to help with event handouts.
>    In this case consider the marketing committee as the community being
>    empowered - is there anything we can do to assist? Do you want to put up a
>    short term contract to update website content? Do you need a graphics
>    designer (or one of those logo competitions to get a consistent set of
>    logos created for each committee).
>
>    TLDR: work with the volunteers that show up for the marketing
>    committee, and ask for help to make up the gap.
>
> I hope this will be a productive discussion, please resist the urge to
> include discuss at osgeo.org - use this (and every day) as an opportunity to
> recruit volunteers for the marketing committee.
> -
> Jody Garnett
> _______________________________________________
> Marketing mailing list
> Marketing at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing
>
>
>
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