[META] How to market Backdrop.

[sutibun]

Dunno if this is the best place to post this but here we go. In last week's meeting Jen asked for help with marketing saying,

... marketing type person involved. Someone who knew marketing to tell us what to do or tell other ppl in our community how to help. Figure out how to get good marketing in. If anyone know any of that... know anything about marketing and can help us with that side of things...

raises hand Ooh, the monkey can help there. The monkey is in the marketing field. It was like she was talking about me. Dunno if the monkey is the best but willing to help. The reason haven't been here is because been busy lately with marketing projects ^_^)v

Anyway, to get things rolling here are some initial thoughts:

• First, we need to figure out who we're going after specifically. Yes, nearly everyone with a website or a desire to build one is a possible candidate BUT at this stage the more probable audience to join Backdrop are those with Drupal sites already. (And even then, those with Drupal 7 and below) That doesn't mean we can't go after Drupalers AND non-Drupalers though. Just helps tighten our focus and efforts.
  • I take myself as a good example. I've been using Drupal for some time now but NEVER even heard one word about Backdrop until Lullabot blogged about it Since learning about this Drupal fork, I checked Bd out and I've been here since this Sept. (hey, that's like 3 months) If we want to go after people like me who are in the middle, we need to make "noise" and make sure Drupalers know there's a viable option besides Drupal 8.
• At the top of my head, here are some possible options: (well, actually been thinking about it for awhile now)
  1. We can use SEO to attract users who are actively looking for a CMS right now. People are constantly searching Google for what CMS is out there. If we can get Backdrop's website to show up in front of these searchers, we increase our exposure. You'll need to do the proper research to see what people are actively looking for specifically. This in turn will indicate how to structure the Bd site and help us decide what content we'll need to create. Lucky for you, the monkey can do this research.
  2. Not sure if the following is feasible ($) but gonna suggest it anyway. We can use paid advertising to immediately get attention. We can increase awareness and display our persuasive message to our target audience with little effort. Maybe even piggyback on all the attention Drupal 8 is getting. Or not. We can also simply direct Drupalers' attention to a post introducing and explaining why they need to consider Backdrop over Drupal 8. Picture yourself having the chance to stand in front of all and only Drupal 7 site builders (the best target) What would you say to get them interested in Bd? This is what paid advertising can do. Obviously, we'll need to make sure we're only targeting Drupalers to keep costs significantly down. (why it's important to know who exactly we're targeting). Doesn't need to cost an arm and a leg.
  3. We can also create a blog section on bdcms.org that at least summarizes the latest happenings in Bd. We need to make it easier for potential switchers to see Bd is up and running. No one outside is talking about Bd and if we ourselves are not talking about it, how will newcomers know what is happening in Bd world? Tech news reporters can't even keep tabs on us. They might not want to sign up for GitHub and elsewhere. They might however instead prefer to secretly follow behind the scenes via an RSS feed. Don't be surprised by the amount of lurkers. We need a central place curious onlookers and others can go to for the latest update. Here are some example blog posts for inspiration:
     • publish each YouTube meeting video with quick notes together, (that Google doc you refer to but monkey can't seem to find easily) Going to YouTube isn't a thing for some people and they might not have accounts to follow the channel over there.
     • photos from the latest conference you went to. Short videos would also help.
     • Interview posts highlighting contributing developers
     • tips, tricks, and short tutorials on smaller things that may not make it to the handbook
  4. We need to highlight the Youtube live meetings more on the official website. One of the reasons I joined Bd was because I saw there were real people behind it. The videos highlight the human element. People want to join and help the little guys. As is now, the site looks sterile like Drupal which doesn't help us. It's not inviting at all to newcomers or potential switchers. There's also no personality. Think we should be using the dragon more… it's already an attraction point.
  5. We can write guest posts on popular Drupal-related blogs to get the word out that Backdrop is an alternative to Drupal 8. Don't assume that all Drupalers are aware of Bd at this point. Until a few months ago, I didn't know Bd existed. (And I follow many RSS feeds and Twitter accounts) Worse still, I haven't heard anything about Bd since joining unless I actually went looking for it. If Lullabot had not blogged about Bd, the monkey wouldn't be here. So we need to appear on places that Drupalers tend to get their information.
  6. At the very least, we should install some type of website analytics package, like Google Analytics, to track where people coming from and where they're going. (Unless you're purposefully avoiding GA)
  7. Give each YouTube live meeting a unique title that is indicative of what is discussed. (Preferably a sexy title) You can always rename the hangouts after the recording. One, as a fan, I can't even go back to watch past videos because I don't know what each is about. I'll waste my time going through each one just to find that meeting I liked. (e.g. Meeting when Bd 1.0 or 1.2 launched) More importantly, YouTube is like the second largest search engine and you can be sure Drupalers are searching there. Imagine a Drupaler looking for a video on Views and magically stumbling upon a meeting called "Backdrop CMS: On integrating Drupal Views to core (4/22/13 developer meeting)" By having main topics of discussion reflected on the title, our meetings can appear to the right people. (Who else is searching for stuff like "Views", "content type", etc but one of our target audience?)

wipes forehead Ok... that'll do for starters.

[docwilmot]

Thanks for that, monkey, I like your ideas (particularly the sexy-video-titles suggestion) and I'd endorse you as the marketing person.

Please also note my suggestion to add Backdrop to automated installers which hasnt moved any further. I wrote to Mojo, who replied, and I believe I forwarded it to @quicksketch or @jenlampton and left it there.

[sutibun]

^_^)b though the monkey doesn't need to be the marketing person. Just trying to help.

Like the automated installer idea. Would help get the word out there too.

Just to clean things up, here are the ideas better organized minus the cruft.

STRATEGY A: Get the attention of current site builders using Drupal 7

TACTIC 1: How can we enhance what we're already doing?

Youtube videos

• [x] Provide more descriptive and compelling titles for the YouTube meetings so we show up on related YouTube videos. Here is my suggested formatting:
  • TITLE (Backdrop CMS meeting on MM/DD)
  • ex: On integrating Drupal Views to core (Backdrop CMS meeting on 4/22)
  • Why? The title is what will entice YouTubers to click and watch. At the moment, "Backdrop CMS" isn't compelling. We can, and probably should, follow this up by providing unique descriptive text under the video and add relevant tags too.

Current website

• [x] Better promote the YouTube meetings on the official website.
  • At first, probably highlighting the link to the Bd YouTube channel but eventually creating a new content type called "Meetings" with the embedded video (using Video Embed Field). This way, anytime we publish a new meeting, the latest post (well, really just the video) automatically appears on the homepage. Visitors can be up to date with the latest happenings in the Bd world.
• [x] Install some type of website analytics package, like Google Analytics, to track where visitors are coming and going. We need data to make informed decisions.
• [ ] Consider adding the dragon on the site to give the site more personality (Think Firefox logo)

Live events

• [ ] When you meet new people during Drupal-related conferences and such, encourage them to visit a specific customized page (e.g. bdcms.org/drupal) This page will not only introduce Bd but "pitch" them to try it out.
  • I'm thinking the page can have a video with text below making Bd's case. You won't always have time to talk up Bd in the offline world, so why not lead them to a place where it will. You can even create business cards or flyers with the URL there. You can also create a different page for non-Drupalers.

TACTIC 2: With a lil' more effort, what else can we do?

Changing the current site

• [ ] Optimize current website for traffic from Google, Yahoo, etc. (Unless someone else wants to and assuming you give the green light, the monkey can take charge of SEO)
• [x] Launch a blog section and provide an RSS feed. Possibly publish posts with
  • the weekly meeting videos & notes
  • photos/video footage from the latest conferences or other events.
  • Interview posts
  • tips, tricks, and short tutorials that may not make it to the handbook.
• [ ] Promote the mailing list on the site and keep in touch with subscribers regularly.

Outreach - Beyond Bdcms.org

• [ ] Publish guest posts on Drupal-related blogs, Drupal-related forums, and other websites that Drupalers tend to visit. This will help spread the word about Bd to Drupalers.
  • Bd volunteers can participate on Drupal-related forums and set their signature to promote Bd. It's a passive way... without being over the top. (Example signature: I forked Drupal and now have to live with the consequences)
• [ ] Launch an inexpensive paid advertising campaign and directly get Bd in front of Drupalers immediately.

STRATEGY B: Get the attention of Non-Drupalers

• [ ] Change the copy to be more down to earth
• [ ] Get Bd listed on hosting services
• [ ] Come up with a tagline

The monkey thinks we need to delay this strategy and shift focus on Strategy A because

• it is the low hanging fruit and
• we have a somewhat limited time before Drupal 7 site builders begin either switching to Drupal 8 or jumping onto another CMS altogether.

Going with the 80/20 rule, Strategy A has higher priority. Of course, that doesn't mean we don't do simple stuff to attract non-Drupalers... just that our main focus and efforts at the moment should be geared on targeting Drupalers. This will bide us time to refine Bd so when we're ready to go after non-Drupalers, the UX will be much better and hopefully we'll have more volunteers on our side. (read: Drupal traitors :p)

[klonos]

What the monkey says makes sense. :+1:

[sutibun]

^^)b

Depending on what you guys are interested in doing more, if any, the monkey can expand that section and fill in with more details. This is more of high level view.

Though if you ask me, what will have the biggest AND most immediate impact are

• guest posting on popular Drupal-related blogs (free)
• advertising to Drupalers ($)
• getting listed on hosting servers (free? Possibly immediate but have reservations)

But every little bit helps of course. It's not just one thing.

PS: Will add more ideas to the organized list as they come

[klonos]

Hey there my chromosomatically-compatible friend. I though I would mention https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues/issues/1386 in case you miss it. Market opportunity there if you ask me. Just keep an eye or two on that issue and see how our php7 support goes. Then you can reach out to D7-dont-want-to-upgrade-to-D8-but-still-need-to-go-php7-now people :wink:

[jenlampton]

Wow @sutibun your suggestions are spot-on! I think we should create an issue for each, so they don't get lost as a comment :) (I like to-do lists, can you tell?)

[klonos]

...this issue deserves to be a meta :wink:

[docwilmot]

A pause here. There are a bunch of things listed here, which will in all likelihood become abandoned since no one has the time to do all (see all other METAs). Furthermore we may end up doing the least effective. Can we choose one and aim to get it done by 1.3.0? Just one, with a person(s) assigned, and a list of tasks?

Also, great that we're marketing, yes, but we need make sure our product is acceptable to our market, not just advertising. If we advertise, and people come, we dont yet have good themes, and we don't have help pages. I think those two should be priority for 'marketing' as well, given limited resources.

[biolithic]

Yes, if I remember the weekly chat, the question was, "Backdrop may be more useful to marketing type people than earlier incarnations of Drupal (ease of use, etc). So, do we have any marketing type people interested in helping out in that area?"

So I don't think the initial call was, "How can Doc and Quicksketch market Backdrop?" Not that you can't, we just don't have enough time for that,I just think there was a question raised in the chat or some issue that some option open-source projects may have "developers" and then "the people that talk about what the developers do/what the product does for you".

On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 7:14 PM, docwilmot notifications@github.com wrote:

A pause here. There are a bunch of things listed here, which will in all likelihood become abandoned since no one has the time to do all (see all over METAs). Furthermore we may end up doing the least effective. Can we choose one and aim to get it done by 1.3.0? Just one, with a person(s) assigned, and a list of tasks?

Also, great that we're marketing, yes, but we need make sure our product is acceptable to our market, not just advertising. If we advertise, and people come, we dont yet have good themes, and we don't have help pages. I think those two should be priority for 'marketing' as well, given limited resources.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/backdrop-ops/backdropcms.org/issues/122#issuecomment-161843212 .

[sutibun]

@klonos Will keep an eye but ticket closed ^o^)

Waaaaaah, monkey so happy happy got mentioned in the meeting that have a big wide smile ^_____^

whispers bookmarking video...

Yes, if I remember the weekly chat, the question was, "Backdrop may be more useful to marketing type people than earlier incarnations of Drupal (ease of use, etc). So, do we have any marketing type people interested in helping out in that area?"

So I don't think the initial call was, "How can Doc and Quicksketch market Backdrop?"

Actually, the monkey was confused during that video segment. Wasn't sure if she meant what you said or marketing Bd. Was unclear but bit the bullet. Since she meant the other meaning, monkey wants everybody to delete this post and forget everything the monkey mentioned :p

I think we should create an issue for each, so they don't get lost as a comment :) (I like to-do lists, can you tell?)

@jenlampton ^_^)b

Crawl before you walk. Walk before you run

A pause here. There are a bunch of things listed here, which will in all likelihood become abandoned since no one has the time to do all

Agree. Monkey listed these as options to select from. Didn't think we'd go all in on all of them at once. Don't think that's a good idea, especially if we don't have the staff.

Knowing this, monkey divided tasks into "How can we enhance what we're already doing?" (read:tweaking our current actions) and "With a lil' more effort, what else can we do?" (read: add new and larger items to our todo pile)

Usually the monkey likes to start out by focusing on extracting the most juice out of stuff we're already doing because it's the easiest and requires not much extra work.

Once we have that down, we can move "up" to the next few items. We'll get to all the tasks but we'll do so little by little.

The power of single minded focus in your efforts

Which leads the monkey to the next point that want to emphasize: "Everything"*** we plan to do marketing-wise should revolve around the primary strategy which is to grab the attention of current Drupalers.** We can go after Wordpress or Joomla users but then we'd be vying away from the main strategy and diluting our efforts. We shouldn't do that as it's not our current focus. We'll get to them eventually... just not now.

Marketing flops because people try to get the attention of everybody at once. It's all about laser focus.

* Now this isn't exactly strict, of course. If a volunteer wants to hand out Bd flyers at a WP conference, for example, we're not going to stop them. Hope you understand what I mean. Just saying we need to concentrate our efforts. Here's a quick example to hopefully make the point better: Facebook started out by focusing on college students. Once it had acquired enough mass, it jumped out and reached out to everybody else.

Being understaffed might seem like a disadvantage but monkey doesn't think of it that way. It forces us to choose tasks that will bring more bang for the buck.

Marketing and the either or proposition

Also, great that we're marketing, yes, but we need make sure our product is acceptable to our market, not just advertising.

It's like the doc and the monkey think similarly. We just have to be careful not to overextend ourselves. It's why monkey has been suggesting improvements to Bd. Trying to better Bd is marketing. To monkey, design, product development and marketing are not different. People build walls to separate the fields but they're inherently tied together. If you break those fields down to its essence, it starts with the audience. (eh... can go into that rabbit hole but won't)

Not that you can't, we just don't have enough time for that [marketing]

There's a common belief many struggling businesses have and that is: if I focus on making my product the best it can be, people will naturally come. It happens. Can't say it doesn't but that's not the norm. You have to make an effort to get in front of people. You have to be the catalyst. Otherwise, your whole strategy is dependent on hope and faith: e.g. "I hope Digg/TV/Lullabot/tech influencer mentions us one day." "I hope my few customers spread the word about us and it catches on"

Another example. Think of GoDaddy. Do you think they got that big by not using an intentional marketing strategy? As much as people dislike their service, they're still bringing in new customers, enough to afford TV commercials.

You always hear stories of someone getting passed over by someone less qualified. Why is that? Because the other person marketed him/herself better.

Would you rather cross your fingers or try to make things fall your way?

It's not an issue of we EITHER focus on building out Bd OR we market Bd. That's limited... having to choose one over the other.

Why can't it be we do both: building out Bd AND marketing Bd? Is it that impossible to work on both of them? Totally unfeasible?

But more than that, if our marketing efforts is able to bring in new Drupal themers + developers to help out Bd development, would the marketing have been worth it?

wipes forehead Monkey always finds self writing lots when it comes to Bd.

Anyway, it's like said earlier, dunno if monkey the best when it comes to marketing but will give all to make Bd a success.

Eeek... ran out of time. Will address sub-issues later. lies on floor no poke please closes eyes

[klonos]

...reach out to (frustrated) Drupal users you say? ...https://www.drupal.org/node/887108#comment-10664082 :smiling_imp:

[sutibun]

Directly on "enemy" territory... that's one way to spread the word to Drupalers.

Monkey thought of adding that to the list but felt some might disapprove... but if volunteers wanna do it... who is the monkey to stop them.