The financial crisis hit the U.S. more than Europe and the Euro is a strong currency. No wonder U.S.-based companies offering Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and services are increasingly thinking about entering the European market or extending their presence. These presentation slides shed a light on the general differences in marketing FOSS products and services in the USA compared to Europe. They discuss the most promising go-to-market strategies for Europe and whether to open subsidiaries and where. Recommendations are being be provided for marketing communications and PR as to how it can deal with the diverse European culture-specific communication styles and combine that with the lingua of a global FOSS community.

1. How U.S.-based FOSS Companies Effectively Market to Europeans Sandro Groganz Founder, Principal InitMarketing

2. Agenda

4. Firefox Market Share Data: OneStat.com

5. Sourceforge Users Credit: OSTG, Inc.

6. Open Source Adoption Credit: Forrester

7. EU vs. USA

8. GDP of EU and USA Data: International Monetary Fund Gross domestic product, current prices, U.S. Dollar, billions

9. Debian Users Credit: ohloh

10. Typo3 vs. Drupal Users Credit: ohloh

11. Primary Reason for Adoption Credit: Heise Assumption: Verdict: Assumption perhaps not true for EU Counter-example (Germany): Europe USA Avoid vendor lock-in. Cost.

12. Understanding the EU

13. GDP of European Countries Credit: Wikimedia

14. Open Source Adoption in EU

16. Knowledge of English in EU Credit: Wikimedia

17. Knowledge of German in EU Credit: Wikimedia

18. Knowledge of French in EU Credit: Wikimedia

19. ICT Output in EU per Languages

21. Executing Marketing and Communications in the EU

24. Target Audience Credit: Heise

25. Type of Engagements

27. Communications and Cultures Credit: J.N. Hughes-Wilson

32. Marketing Strategy for the EU

34. Marketing and Sales Tactics