On 10-08-08 09:50 PM, Martin Owens wrote: > I don't think it's just that we haven't volunteers, I think that' the > wrong way to look at the problem. We do actually have lots of people > doing lots of different things. > I agree. We appear to have (tens of) thousands of disjointed "micro marketing" efforts dispersed around the globe. No central voice. No common messaging. No specific goal(s) other than the nebulous one to "spread Ubuntu".
How fast? Where? Who's first? Which market segments? At what cost? > The key is that they're rarely talking to each other about what their > doing. > > The other people, people in LoCo groups and other communities. They > don't have a way to express what they need out of marketing either. > Aside from contacting Canonical directly and asking for resources, this is true. > Who knew there was a facebook group? Well I could have guessed there > was, but did I know it was being run by someone enthusiastic who was > even on this list? > > Fact is that a global strategy would need an authority like Canonical > that we just don't have. I'm concerned Canonical don't want to do > marketing, not even social media. If they did they'd have a little more > structure and a lot less vague sentiment. > My opinion is that Canonical is focused on marketing the Canonical brand, which is likely the focus they need to have. Having said that, there ought to be at least a "skeleton" Canonical community marketing outreach team that partners with the thousands of people listed above. > I know Mark talks about word of mouth and such, but it's concerning that > what those mouths are mainly wording are inaccuracies and undefinable > characteristics about software which is made in ways most of the brains > attached those mouths don't really understand. > Bingo! Ask 10 people in your community "What is Ubuntu?". Compare notes. Answers are all over the place. (I keep hearing all kinds of interesting interpretations of it. My answer is likely viewed in the same light.) Here are some real answers from our community: * It's pure magic * A space bunny * Ubuntu is one kind of Linux distribution, mainly based on Debian GNU/Linux. * An alternative to Microsoft * operating system * An OS? * A type of African black magic * Ubuntu is a free software system based on the linux system. * An operating system * Open source ..S.O. > If we want a solid marketing push, it's going to need to be the > community which does it and it's probably going to need us agreeing on a > set of sentiments. We might not be able to get everything branded the > same or worded exactly, but we shouldn't be still discussing the wording > of "Free and Open Source" and the misuse of the "Linux" brand to > describe an operating system. > This represents a good step. Start with themes and strive for consistency. Ensure that the community set aligns closely with what is said at http://ubuntu.com and a couple links/levels below that. > These are solved marketing problems. And yet, so many people aren't > listening to Randall Ross and myself about the importance of coherence > and not letting our own baggage clutter up our external communications > to the wider public. > "If a tree falls in the forest does anybody hear?" I'm feeling like a tree sometimes too :) Folks, Mark (yes, *the* Mark) has been saying for months (or longer) that we need Ubuntu to "cross the chasm". Coherence and clarity will help get the message to those who aren't Innovators or Early Adopters (i.e. to people who aren't exactly like the people reading this list.) Mark and his team remain focused on making Ubuntu great. We should help make Ubuntu marketing just as great while that happens. > Perhaps we should have a "Marketing Pledge" and some sort of location > where we can discuss non-solved communication problems and list the ones > that are already very solved. It would basically fall down to each > person to abide by and structure their communication in the ways > documented then get each loco leader on board and work our way out of > the hole from there. Just throwing that out there, I've put no extra > thought into it other than that. > Good pitch and let's take this up a notch. To do that, I propose we (marketing) start using the best tool we have: Launchpad, so we can couple all this marketing data with the development of Ubuntu itself. We already have Bugs, Translations, Answers, Blueprints, etc etc. hosted there. Makes sense to keep all this together, visible, accessible, in front of the core contributors and leadership, traceable, and searchable. Cheers, Randall Ubuntu Vancouver LoCo > > -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
