Marketing
Open Source Software
Be open and successful

Presented by
Sandro Groganz
Independent consultant:
Open Source Marketing
Founder:
InitMarketing e.K.
Bio:
VP Marketing, Mindquarry
VP Communication, eZ Systems

Leading world-wide provider of
Open Source marketing services
Strategy, planning, implementation
www.initmarketing.com
7 marketing experts: USA, Germany,
Switzerland, India, Italy, UK
Some of our customers:

This talk might be
of help to everyone who wants to
make money
with products
being or based on
Open Source software

What you will learn
• How to communicate effectively to your audience
• How to market your products and services
• How to successfully execute your marketing efforts

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What is
Open Source marketing?

Marketing
Open Source products
the Open Source way

The dark side
of marketing

“By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or
marketing...kill yourself...you're the ruiner of all
things good...you are Satan's spawn, filling the
world with bile and garbage...kill yourself.”
(Bill Hicks)

The bright side
of marketing

“Markets are conversations.”
(The Cluetrain Manifesto)

Any side
of marketing

World-wide word-of-mouth marketing
People regard peers
as the purest form of
accurate information

Marketing to social networks

Stakeholders
Individuals Organizations Communities
Developers Companies OSS projects
Designers Partners Scientists
Bloggers Not-for-profits ...
Newbies GOs
Journalists Media Corps
... ...

Open Source marketing is about
peer-to-peer, horizontal communication
among multiple persons and groups
with various roles

The big picture
and small details

1. Marketing Strategy

It’s not about the logo
It’s about the
compass that
guides you
Strategies can change
You want to
track implications
of what changed

The 4 C’s
1. Corporation
2. Customer
3. Competitors
4. Community

Business Models
1. Optimization (e.g. Linux)
2. Dual Lizense (e.g. MySQL)
3. Consulting (e.g. system integrators)
4. Subscription (e.g. Red Hat)
5. Patronage (e.g. Eclipse)
6. Hosted, on demand, SaaS (e.g. SugarCRM)
7. Embedded (e.g. TIVO)

Positioning

Vendor-driven ecosystem

Community-driven ecosystem

Product Licensing

Strategy Elements
Market trends | Competitive analysis | Window
of opportunity | Benefits of Open Source |
Product portfolio | Product features | Support
and services |
Sales | Pricing | Conversion rates | Marketing |
Partner program | Community building | Thought
leadership | Corporate culture

2. Marketing Plan

Product
Pricing
Promotion
Place
People
Process
Physical evidence
Personalization
Participation
Peer-to-peer

Plan Elements
Tasks | Milestones | Budget | Team |
Benchmarks

Pieces of Wisdom

Be BOLD

Talk about what you do
Have an opinion, share expertise
Don’t please everyone

$ave money

Flee advertisements
Keep printed brochures simple
Avoid multilingual corporate Web site

Do it!

Do it and adjust as you go
Ask others for advice
Keep it simple, stupid

Be o p e n

Share all product-relevant information
Do favors to people
Join peer groups

Questions
?

Thank you!
www.initmarketing.com

Credits
• Chess board: http://flickr.com/photos/waponigirl/
162798520/