This is going to be a long post, so hang on...
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Quote:
kenmcd wrote:
Herko, Mithrandir,
I am up for the lead job, with some concerns.
I went back and really read the entire thread.
It appears you are talking about more than just a PR plan.
More like a complete marketing plan.
Done right, this is a big job, and an ongoing job.
It will definitely require a team of people.
The scope of what we can reasonably achieve will be constrained by the manpower available.
Obviously the same as on the programming side.
Thanks (again) for taking up this challenge, even with your concerns. I think you're right in saying that what we're asking is more then just a PR plan. Since the XOOPS project (and the Foundation) is currently does not have any structural coordination of any communications and marketing (public relations) activity, that is one of the first things we need to address. And if we're going to do this now, I think we should do it right from the start. It will be an ongiong job indeed, but by planning ahead (using a communications roadmap), this will be easier. And yes, it will definately require a team of people. But that's what this is all about: how to work together to promote XOOPS
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The is no XOOPS Foundation staff, everyone puts in their own free time. That makes it more difficult to manage, but all the more important to plan ahead.
Quote:
kenmcd wrote:
Marketing and Communications team.
The good news, some of the people already posting appear to have some marketing experience:
Mamba - talking goals, audiences, etc.
wtravel - basically talking about SWOT analysis
JasonMR - collateral materials and tactics
Will need more people.
Add Luciano and skara then, they both contacted me about joining this team.
Quote:
kenmc wrote:
Identify Strategic Goals
Herko, Mithrandir, other members of the Foundation board? You know who should have input.
This is where the goals will have to come from initially, and then be refined and massaged by a marketing person.
Me and members of the team.
I agree there. If you can put some questions to the Board, we will discuss it asap.
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kenmc wrote:
Competitive Analysis
Any marketing related project starts with a competitive analysis.
- Where am I?
- Where are the competitors?
- Where do I want to be?
This requires gathering and summarizing info about XOOPS and competitors. Team members can help with this.
Messaging
What is the message (or messages) you want to communicate?
From the competitive analysis we analyze the competitors messages, determine where we want to position XOOPS in relation to those competitors, and then create the XOOPS messaging strategy.
This includes descriptions of various lengths, tagline, elevator speech, etc.
- tagline (on the logo now)
- descriptions (one line, 25 words, one paragraph, three paragraphs, one page, brochure, etc.)
- elevator speech (you're in an elevator, someone says "What's XOOPS?", you have x seconds)
You want them all consistent, same messaging.
These are the questions I refer to. I'll discuss these with the Board and get back to you on this assap.
Marketing CommunicationsThis is an all encompassing term which includes PR, collateral materials, branding, etc.
Channels.
PR I discussed above.
Collateral materials include brochures, white papers, promotional materials, etc.
These are done after the messaging is clearly defined.
They are the physical communication and reinforcement of the messages.
Branding is a more esoteric process which includes messaging, repetition, and style guides.
Branding is a long-term process to imprint a message.
Q. What is the first thing you think of when I say Volvo?
A. Safety.
That's branding.
Muddled messaging, lack of cohesive strategy, inconsistent styles - all hurt branding.
Q. What is the first thing people think of when I say XOOPS?
A. ??
If nothing comes to mind for someone, they have not been branded for XOOPS.
What is the answer you want?
Style guides - can you recognize all XOOPS materials as XOOPS instantly?
Upside down on a desk, web site, coffee mug?
Search Google for "styleguide.pdf" - lots of corporate style guides.
All of the channels communicating the same messages is very powerful.[/quote]
Great
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the answers to these questions make up the roadmap.
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kenmc wrote:
Where to Now?
There is more . . . but perhaps I am getting ahead of myself.
- What have you (the leaders) been thinking about this marketing thing the last few months?
- What is the motivation to do something now?
Not much. I have created a new version of the logo (will post that here soon), have been thinking long and hard about a corprate theme for xoops.org, and have been discussing a mascot with the artist (a friend of Hervet's -very good!). I have a lot of ideas about this, but don't have the time or the expertise to make them real.
Why Now? because this issue has been raised from the community, because the competition is getting ahead, and because we're starting with the new organisation and new version development. all these form a focal point to now is the time to move.
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kenmc wrote:
- What are the goals now? Short-term, long-term.
- How do you see this project progressing?
- How will it be supported? Board or foundation involvement?
- Day-to-day mechanics?
These need to be discussed. I see this as a xoops.org project, thus with some Foundation Board involvement, at the very least at the strategic level. The day-to-day mechanics are being decided on at the moment, but it'll be an open and transparant process, probably based on the Apache Software Foundation's processes.
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kenmc wrote:
After those questions . . .
My first concern would be staffing.
Lots to do if we undertake this entire project.
Creating the media list alone could be a week of time.
Definitely have to scale based on available help.
Agreed. If we can make a plan we can assign tasks topeople to make it managable for the team. Start by making the strategy, then implement in small steps.
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kenmc wrote:
I am going to be very blunt here - my apologies up front.
I am not saying this is you - could be the board, team members, etc.
Second concern is dealing with technical people who think they know everything about marketing and PR and make everything a battle.
Too many very smart technical people don't know what they don't know. This got very, very old.
I only did 5 years in high-tech PR. My former partner did 20 years in PR, mostly high-tech. She wants nothing to do with it now. Burned out from the aggravation. The aggravation is just not worth it - especially working for free.
Agreed. The whole decision making process should be geared towards giving the experts the final say, but everyone can contribute and submit ideas and proposals.
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kenmc wrote:
I think it is interesting that someone brought up the Mambo PR successes. I have been watching both Mambo and XOOPS for a while and been intrigued by how much more visible Mambo is while being basically a much smaller and newer project. Marketing and PR work.
I agree, and I also have an explanation. XOOPS was built by coders, not by designers. Mambo was built by designers, not by coders. That's why XOOPS looks better on the inside, and Mambo looks better on the outside. It also shows the focus: Mambo has an outward focus (it's system users), XOOPS an inward focus (it's community). I think this explains a lot, and also gives some direction on where we want to go. Keep what we have, and build on top of it.
What we have is huge and powerful. Do not underestimate that. The community is friendly, lively and big (especially compared to Mambo's community, XOOPS' is much more accessible and helpful). The system is flexible, stable, secure and most importantly, extensible. Mambo is to some extent (I built and manage a couple of mambo sites), but not as flexible and extensible as XOOPS is. Mambo is more usable, more standards compliant, but less easy to implement.
I think we can define our goals when we realise what we have got. Michael (studioC) has shown time and time again that the only real limitation on professional XOOPS sites is your own imagination. Others like Draven have shown this too. Lets make that better known, and inspire people to use XOOPS to the max, instead of thinking of ways to make the system better. Other people deal with that
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Herko