Category Articles

Branding and the Open Source Marketplace

Sandro Groganz Leave a comment

I’m quite busy with transitioning from my life as a consultant to working for Magnolia. Hence, I was not yet able to let you know that opensource.com published yet another article from yours truly.

In the extremely overcrowded open source marketplace, marketing managers find it difficult to think of innovative ways to raise their brand’s visibility. With so many brands jostling for attention, the low signal-to-noise ratio might tempt marketers into adopting an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach, attempting every idea from the marketing playbook in the hope that one will stick. However, this would be a mistake: careful niche marketing offers greater opportunities for brand advancements and market share. Let’s see how.

Read more over at opensource.com: Branding and the Open Source Marketplace

My Article on opensource.com: Why Marketing Is For Geeks

Sandro Groganz Leave a comment

Red Hat’s opensource.com has published my article “Marketing open source is made for geeks”, which has a case study and some ideas for how you can take your open source product “across the chasm“. Every open source business ecosystem offers multiple revenue opportunities to exploit. However, to do this successfully, you must have a good understanding of business dynamics within the ecosystems. Armed with this knowledge, you can use open source marketing techniques to raise your credibility and generate sales for your product. Read more

Commercialization of PHP Software

Sandro Groganz Leave a comment

I’ve just published an article that explains how a PHP-based product can gain a good position in the market and be made appealing to customers by using marketing communication. The focus is on products licensed under an Open Source license. Yet, most of the recommendations also apply to proprietary offerings.

The article has initially been published in German by PHPmagazin. It has now been translated to English and is available on the Initmarketing website: Commercialization of PHP Software.

A Primer on Europe for US-Based Open Source Communities and Vendors

Sandro Groganz Leave a comment

wazi_logo1

Wazi just published an article I wrote, comparing Europe and the US, which hopefully allows Open Source vendors based in the US to better understand the European market.

The article is based on the research I did for the talk I presented at this year’s OSBC. The part I personally find most interesting is:

It’s worth noting here the German study revealed that saving on licensing costs is more important to those adopting open source software for the first time. The longer someone uses FOSS, the more important the freedom aspects become namely open standards, vendor independence, and the free and open source software philosophy. Hence, open source vendors need to approach potential customers in Europe differently depending on how open source savvy these potentials are.

That same study actually revealed a high level of satisfaction of users of Free and Open Source Software.

I’d like to thank the InitMarketing team for their valuable input while researching the topic and writing the article!

Now, enjoy reading my article over at Wazi: A Primer on Europe for US-Based Open Source Communities and Vendors