Marketing Team/Marketing Philosophy
Let's come up with a marketing philosophy, a kind of rationale of why and how we market Sugar Labs.
They ask, you answer
A book by Marcus Sheridan called "They ask, you answer" was recommended to me by someone who does marketing for a living. The basic gist of the book is that you answer people's questions in a public way. It adds value for the public, builds trust, saves time (because you are chasing fewer false leads), etc. The technical term for this is "inbound marketing".
We should identify questions that are being asked often, and answer them in a public way. Some questions will be basic, like, "What is Sugar Labs?" or "How do I get in touch?" or "How do I get started?" Other questions will be more exploratory, such as "How can parents engage in their kids' education at home?" or "What's AI's role in education?" Some can be more reflective, such as "What are Sugar Labs contributors from 2010 doing today?"
Let's identify, and quickly remedy:
- Any barriers to finding us (e.g. broken links; outdated information)
- Information on what our official channels are (i.e. social media, etc.)
- Information on how to reach us
- Information on how to participate as a contributor
- Information on how to donate
- Information on how to partner with us
- Outdated information about our status (e.g. what we're up to)
- Where to find information about our yearly finances (e.g. 990s and annual reports)
- Where to find information about our governance
- Information on where we're going
- (Feel free to add more here)
Create published work that adds value
Here are some marketing maneuvers that align with our mission while adding value for our community:
- Answering people's questions publicly (described above)
- Exploring topics, and documenting and publishing such exploration for the common good
- Listening to the community and responding to their questions
- Cultivating a safe, inclusive community
- (Feel free to add here)
Marketing vs. advertising
Marketing is *not* advertising. Advertising is a tool, one of many, for marketing, but they're not synonymous. Marketing, in simple terms, can be thought of as "bringing what you do to market."