Hi Mike It strikes me that the "personas" are the fundamental step. If you don't who you are targeting then all the other outreach techniques are directionless and, therefore, pretty much useless.
I've often read blogs and other articles describing people's attempts to convert users from proprietary products to FLOSS alternatives. That is always going to be an uphill struggle as you will probably need a "killer" feature or attribute to persuade people away from a tool they probably know very well. Startups on the other hand have no legacy baggage, they're usually populated by people open to new ideas and, crucially, money is generally in very short supply. This has got to be fertile ground not only for FLOSS applications like LO but also for free operating systems. The key has got to be making contact before the details of IT infrastructure have been decided. In the UK the data from the company registration agency (Companies House) is freely available, so it should be possible to identify new enterprises at a very early stage in their formation. Do you have a feel for whether there is a similar situation in the US and the rest of the EU? Regards Nige ________________________________ From: Mike Saunders <[email protected]> Sent: 26 November 2018 10:55 To: Marketing list Subject: [libreoffice-marketing] Content marketing workshop: notes and ideas Hello everyone, A couple of weeks ago I attended a great "content marketing" workshop in Munich. As one of the goals of TDF is to share and spread information, I'm pasting my notes here! There are various tips and ideas, and we can discuss how to implement them to promote LibreOffice and FOSS: OVERVIEW * Traditional marketing approach is: talk about how great a product is * Content marketing approach is different: create useful or entertaining articles, tutorials, infographics, videos, that ALSO raise awareness of a product (usually at the end) * Example: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makeup.com&data=02%7C01%7C%7C429dc69e708a405e4a6a08d6538dcc0a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636788265804062875&sdata=DAkPyErYiqZQ6uLBwp3%2FQIOryVBPTPuE3rnjjtvHY7k%3D&reserved=0 -- looks like a blog with beauty tips and trends, but leads people to buy products * Another classic example: "Will it Blend" videos -- people watch them NOT because they're interested in blenders, but because it's fun: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DlAl28d6tbko&data=02%7C01%7C%7C429dc69e708a405e4a6a08d6538dcc0a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636788265804062875&sdata=i4pfltbwxTwsShX8DYC9%2F65FtXfPfWXA%2BuvuuD66J8w%3D&reserved=0 -- but the videos go viral, good for brand awareness * Steps to take (1) entertain/inform/generate buzz, (2) raise awareness of product, (3) then sell the product AUDIENCE RESEARCH AND TARGETING * Create "personas" for typical users -- invent a couple of typical users of the product (age, gender, job, income, hopes, fears...) Give them names and use stock pictures to make them seem real! * Then think of how to reach these people -- what websites do they use? How do they get recommendations? What may put them off trying a new product? * Customer journey to buying/using a product: awareness, interest, consideration, purchase, loyalty * Each step requires different content (for instance, for "consideration", use reviews or customer testimonials) * Test new content ideas for 3 - 6 months. Think of holidays, and what people are doing at different times of the year. Build on "Today is the day of X"... VIDEOS * Use different videos for different audiences. Very short videos for Facebook and Twitter, longer for YouTube channel * So for LibreOffice "New Features" videos, consider breaking them up for social media * For Facebook, ALWAYS upload videos directly there -- don't just put YouTube links! Facebook wants more content for itself * Average video attention span on Facebook: 17 seconds * Some people watch videos with sound turned off (eg at work or on the train), so use subtitles appropriately * Consider audience: slower videos for older users (or children) * Consider devices: smart TVs, smartphones... WRITING * Humans generally lose attention with sentences longer than approx. 17 words * Words like "sale" seem overused, but they are still very effective and the brain perceives them as a picture * Text is important, but the web (especially social media) is moving towards text and pictures, then videos * Infographics are effective, but don't use too much text -- social media platforms recognise text-heavy images and don't promote them as much * Useful website: canva.com for creating viral images and infographics * Another website for checking (German) text quality: wortliga.de/textanalyse -- Mike Saunders, Marketing & PR The Document Foundation -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: [email protected] Problems? https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.libreoffice.org%2Fget-help%2Fmailing-lists%2Fhow-to-unsubscribe%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C429dc69e708a405e4a6a08d6538dcc0a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636788265804062875&sdata=RtgZDnUkyGJ7nnK8aBBfXV7wsgFGPxVuA3BtdgK9aUg%3D&reserved=0 Posting guidelines + more: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwiki.documentfoundation.org%2FNetiquette&data=02%7C01%7C%7C429dc69e708a405e4a6a08d6538dcc0a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636788265804062875&sdata=GxQCWxP6XtKYCGePoWzrkT6AJZN7F%2FB32DdYFtnn6d4%3D&reserved=0 List archive: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistarchives.libreoffice.org%2Fglobal%2Fmarketing%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C429dc69e708a405e4a6a08d6538dcc0a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636788265804062875&sdata=Z%2Fwypjsxs4Vakf8wkbxZxCC0hRfw%2FUI15vMOv5mOEbQ%3D&reserved=0 Privacy Policy: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.documentfoundation.org%2Fprivacy&data=02%7C01%7C%7C429dc69e708a405e4a6a08d6538dcc0a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636788265804062875&sdata=66cn92G21033eu9BstldzVSU6TP3wRgPu9QC%2Bow6%2FU8%3D&reserved=0 -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: [email protected] Problems? https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/marketing/ Privacy Policy: https://www.documentfoundation.org/privacy
