On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 9:58 PM, Kadal Amutham <vka...@gmail.com> wrote: > When I was reading this mail, I was in my cousin brother's place, and he > was using windows. He was looking for an anti-virus software to protect his > desktop. Then I told him to go for Ubuntu which free OS, with free open > office. I also offered to have a look into the system since I was carrying > Ubuntu in a flash drive. I also told him that no change will be done to > your machine. But he was so scared to consider / listen to my advice. > > So the fear of unknown may be the major issue to market a new product / > service. >
This is certainly true, especially for the person at the "product-aware" stage. They know about OpenOffice. They know it is free. They know something about its features. But they have a list of hesitations, and before they will download and install these concerns need to be addressed. Concerns might be: 1) Is this a virus, will it take over my machine? 2) Will it harm my documents? 3) I can't use open source since my documents are private. (I've actually seen this confusion that a user thought that the openness of open source meant his documents were also open for anyone to read) 4) Am I picking the right application? I read good things and bad things about OpenOffice. Maybe I should continue researching so I make sure I make the best choice? 5) Will the quality be good enough? They say OpenOffice is written by volunteers. How can that be good? And similar. Until we address these concerns, some users will hesitate. Not all users, of course. There is something like a tech adoption/diffusion model at play here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusions_of_innovations The innovators/early adopters are willing to take greater risk and will be earlier to adopt. But to get to mainstream adoption we need to address the concerns of those more cautious users. If this was a commercial product we would have various ways of helping persuade the product-aware user to buy. We could increase the urgency by making a special pricing discounts, offering free add-on's and other "limited time" offers. But with a product that is already free we have fewer tools available to us. So we need to be more methodical, anticipate the user's questions and satisfy their concerns. Endorsements, testimonials and other forms of "social proof" could also help. Successful "reference deployments" are also key. Regards, -Rob > With Warm Regards > > V.Kadal Amutham > 919444360480 > > > > On 4 December 2012 20:36, Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote: > >> On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 2:59 AM, Graham Lauder <g.a.lau...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> > On Monday 03 Dec 2012 10:25:22 Rob Weir wrote: >> >> I saw a question on this list a week or so ago, along the lines of >> >> "Why does a good, free product need to marketed?". This is a good >> >> question. I hope I have a good answer. >> >> >> >> I'd start by invoking the "awareness ladder". Some of you are >> >> probably familiar with it. You look at your prospective "customers" >> >> and put them in one of the following buckets: >> > >> > Marketing an Open Source product is always about "Brand Awareness", >> certainly >> > it is true for OOo. Our goal is always about Brand awareness, that's >> why I >> > was so pissed about losing the name. It may have been seemingly clumsy >> > although the new one is arguably clumsier, but it was ours, it was >> unique and >> > it was recognisable in it's most visible form: Text >> > >> >> The present and future are slightly different now. Or even more than >> slightly. When there was only one significant brand in this space, >> OpenOffice.org, the choice for users was easy. It was OpenOffice or >> nothing. Now there is more than one choice in this area. This will >> tend to leave solution-aware and product-aware users in a state where >> they want to be persuaded to use one product or a other. Even with a >> free product there is an angst to pick the "right one". So they'll be >> looking at reviews, comparisons, articles, etc. In addition to the >> kinds of things we did before we need to now account for this >> >> >> >> >> 1) Unaware -- does not know about your product or even the problem it >> solves >> > >> > Brand awareness solves the former, the latter is education >> > >> >> So the example here would be a Microsoft Office user. The use Office >> at work. They occasionally want to work on documents at home. So >> they naturally look for the best price they can get for Microsoft >> Office. Or they try to install their work copy but fail on >> "activation". They don't know there is such thing as an open source >> office suite. They don't know there is an alternative to Microsoft >> Office. >> >> So it is education, but it is a hard nut to crack, because they are >> not looking for us. They are looking for something else entirely. >> >> We might be able to get some traction by designing a custom "landing >> page" that appeals to their concerns and does the initial education. >> By designing the landing page with the right keywords in mind we would >> aim to get good placement for the kinds of search queries that this >> kind of user would be executing. Maybe several such pages, one for >> each segment, like home individual user, school user, enterprise/CIO, >> etc. >> >> If we had an advertising budget we would have other approaches >> available, but the landing page / SEO approach is a good free >> approach. >> >> >> >> >> 2) Problem aware -- knows about the problem, but not that there are >> >> solutions, or that your product is a solution >> > >> > This is a biggy, but is more at the advertising end than marketing: Our >> > opposition has managed to convince the customer that some big problems >> that >> > OOo solves are not really problems at all, just a cost of doing >> business. The >> > biggies are purchase cost, license management and upgrade cost. >> > >> >> I think we own advertising as well, though of course we have funding >> limitations. So advertising would need to focus on what we can do for >> free via social media campaigns and similar. So trying to reach the >> "friend of a friend" and pushing that out over time. >> >> >> >> >> 3) Solution aware -- knows that there are solutions, but does not know >> >> about your solution >> > >> > Brand awareness >> > >> >> Yes. >> >> >> >> >> 4) Product aware -- knows about your product >> > >> > Which is where need to get to and what our marketing focus should be on. >> > >> >> >> >> 5) Fully aware -- is using your product, recommending it to others, etc. >> > >> > Which is where we want to be, but getting from 4 to 5 is sales. We >> should >> > (and do) provide collateral for people at the sharp end to use. >> > >> >> Yes. The difference between 4 and 5 is 4 might be an iPad user and 5 >> is the person who sits outside the Apple Store at night waiting to be >> the first one to buy. We need to enable our fans to help promote >> OpenOffice. >> >> >> > [....] >> >> >> >> Note that the competitive "my product is better than your product" is >> >> mainly at levels 4 and 5. Until then you are not so much selling a >> >> product, but selling an idea, the idea that there is a problem that >> >> has solutions. >> >> >> >> So what does this mean for open source like Apache OpenOffice? What >> >> problem are we solving? I've sketched out some possibilities on the >> >> wiki here: >> >> >> >> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/Why+OpenOffice >> >> >> >> Most of them are variations on "I need an office suite for X but I >> >> don't want to pay for Microsoft Office". Some people know that have >> >> that problem and are looking for a solution. (They are "problem >> >> aware"). But others don't even know there is something like a free >> >> office suite. Others know there is a problem and that there are >> >> alternative solutions and want to know what the advantages of Apache >> >> OpenOffice are. >> >> >> >> So even with free, open source software, there is still need for >> >> marketing, especially with the earlier steps on the awareness ladder. >> >> >> >> We might think that OpenOffice is one of the most prominent open >> >> source brands around -- and indeed it is. But I recently commissioned >> >> a brand awareness survey of US internet users and only 24% of them had >> >> heard of the OpenOffice brand. >> > >> > You did? Cool. Actually that's quite a bit higher than I thought would >> have >> > been the case for a "US only" demographic which actually has a very low >> user >> > base in proportion to population, I'd call that a positive result >> > >> >> Yes. This was done via Google Consumer Surveys, a new service they >> started a month or so ago. The results are weighted to match a US >> demographic model. So they try to get the right distribution of ages, >> sex, region, urban/suburban and income to match the US national >> averages. Unlike surveys that we trigger from our home page, this one >> was not self-selected and biased toward existing users. It was more >> representative. >> >> > >> >> So beyond the relatively small circle >> >> of open source enthusiasts, we're still unknown. >> > >> > In Europe the numbers would be considerably higher. >> > >> >> Of course, this is a >> >> huge opportunity for growth. >> >> >> > >> > This is gold, are we able to access more info about the survey? >> > >> >> Here it is: >> >> What is your familiarity with the software application called "OpenOffice"? >> >> >> I have never heard of it >> 75.7% >> >> I am aware of it but have never used it >> 9.1% >> >> I use it only sometimes >> 6.1% >> >> I use it on a regular basis >> 4.7% >> >> I have tried it once >> 4.5% >> >> Where it gets interesting is when you transform this data into "pass >> through" rates, thinking of this as a funnel: awareness -> trying -> >> adopting >> >> So 24% have heard about OpenOffice. Of those who heard about it, 63% >> have tried it. Of those who tried it, 71% continued to use it >> (sometimes or on regular basis). >> >> So you can think of overall market share as a product of these three >> factors: Market Share = Awareness * TryRate * StickRate. >> >> IMHO this is quite good, especially in the high rate of those who >> continued use after trying it. That shows we have a good product. >> >> So to improve overall market share, we can increase any of those three >> factors. >> >> >> 1) Make more people aware of OpenOffice >> >> 2) Make more people try OpenOffice once they are aware of it >> >> 3) Make more people remain with OpenOffice after they have tried it >> >> Factor 3 is mainly a Dev task, I think. As the product improves that >> number will naturally increase. Our main task, as a marketing effort, >> is to increase the first two numbers. >> >> (Btw, I did a similar survey for LibreOffice as well. Their results >> were abysmal.) >> >> >> >> So yes, OpenOffice needs marketing, even though it is free. But the >> >> emphasis probably should focus on enlarging the universe of potential >> >> users who are aware of this product category and of that OpenOffice is >> >> the premier solution within that category. In a sense we're the >> >> ambassadors of open source to the wider consumer market, the first >> >> open source product that many users learn about. >> > >> > Firefox is of course the most commonly used user space OSS product but >> I'd be >> > interested to know what proportion of those users associate it with Open >> > Source, or even know what "Open Source" is. >> > >> > In the old "Must, Should, Could" knowledge divisors it's always been my >> > opinion that the fact that it is Open Source is in the "Should Know" >> category. >> > The question is around the marketing value of the term Open Source. >> Will the >> > Open Source message increase brand awareness? There is good argument to >> be >> > made that it is more likely that someone being aware of the term >> OpenSource >> > would be aware of OOo so therefore there is little need to push the Open >> > Source message. >> > >> > However, having said that, corporate clients specifically looking for >> Open >> > Source solutions to solve licensing problems could see that as an >> attractor, >> > especially under an Apache license. >> > >> > One group that we should be marketing to are the small to medium software >> > development and support businesses. "Build your own Office suite and >> package, >> > sell and support it!" One advantage of this group is there is likely a >> higher >> > awareness of the brand already and could also be a a source of dev >> > recruitment. Some proposals in this direction would be excellent. >> > >> >> So what would be the best way to reach them? Is there a particular >> magazine they tend to read? Maybe someplace where we can get an >> interview? >> >> -Rob >> >> > Thanks for this Rob, good stuff. >> > >> > Cheers >> > GL >> > >> > >> > >> >> >> >> Regards, >> >> >> >> -Rob >>
