Rich Sharples' Blog » Marketing http://blog.softwhere.org Musings on the world of software from the sharp end of the long tail Sat, 27 Aug 2011 01:03:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Brand Tags http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/146 http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/146#comments Mon, 12 May 2008 20:44:06 +0000 sharps http://blog.softwhere.org/?p=146 Via Seth Godin – I had a quick play with brandtags.net – an interesting way for the masses to describe popular brands using tags. I’ve asked Noah to add Red Hat – because a) I wonder if we have any visibility outside the tech sector; and b) I’d like to know what people think Red Hat’s brand stands for.

Update :

You can see for yourself : http://www.brandtags.net/browse.php?id=195

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]]> http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/146/feed 2 Sowing Seeds http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/104 http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/104#comments Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:47:07 +0000 sharps http://blog.softwhere.org/?p=104 In my (albeit short) experience of building a business based on Open Source; I’ve realized that demand generation is much more consumer (or individual) oriented – hence traditional marketing is no longer sufficient.

An adoption-led market needs passionate consumers. Offering great products is a start; but investing in your community and building passion for your technology and brand is equally important.

The thing is – it takes time. The community you’re nurturing today are the buyers and technology decision makers you need in two to three years time. Adoption takes time but scales well; hard-selling is quick but hard to scale.

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]]> http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/104/feed 1 Gradual Engagement http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/78 http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/78#comments Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:34:26 +0000 sharps http://blog.softwhere.org/?p=78 This is article explains the shortcomings of the way web application providers typically engage potential customers – ie. the web form. I wonder how much time people spend filling in these dumb forms (never to return to the site) – what a waste – for all concerned. The article got me thinking about technology adoption in general and how you go from download / trial to monetization without scaring people away before they’ve had chance to form an opinion of your site / application / service. I like the term Gradual Engagement. But giving the process a name doesn’t make success any more likely. There’s a difficult balance between the successful diffusion of innovation and ‘capturing’ prospects. Still – I like the term – gradual engagement.

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]]> http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/78/feed 0 Head Fsck http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/68 http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/68#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:38:10 +0000 sharps http://blog.softwhere.org/?p=68 Via Seth Godin’s blog this morning. This video is a really clever ad. for London Transport – very effective. Oh, and it’s clean, safe for work / children and you do need the audio on.

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