Hard and big! (1 Viewer)

[Anonymous]

It is a hard but also a big job to grow a community (the title made you think of someting else? ) but together we can make it a much smaller job. I know I have posted things on this topic before but it is necesary to bring this to the surface once in a while. Since there has been several productive members joining since the last time we did a push to get members to join I would like to believe that we contribute by doing things like this.

Ok, anyone have any ideas on how to get people here? One thing is to mention Media Portal whenever you get the chance (forums, tv-shows, over lunch, in the church etc)... If you have any ideas on how to bring focus (in a good way mind you, hijacking a plane and tell people you will release it when a version supporting dvb-t is released of MP would qualify as a bad idea... really bad). Well, if you have done anyting to drive traffic and grow the community let us know.

You can also post if you are planning to do something to create attention for mp (streaking with an MP tattoo, build a hot air balloon with an mp logo on and go around the world in it while you are singing/rapping Ice Ice baby, or simply that you spend one minute linking MP from your site). In any way let us know and inspire other ppl to do the same.

I for one will take up on me to within 3 months release a new skin that might create some attention (don't ask, you will know when it is ready).

I will intensify my postings in other htpc forums.

And I will try to get the rest of you going

 

[Anonymous]

www.spreadmediaportal.com domain is free :twisted:

Yep, let's start beating the drums again. Why not email the IT magazines in your country asking for a review of "this great new open-source software you just heard of". Managed to get a couple of reviews in Germany and Australia so far. Imagine the publicity if you got it listed in a big american or UK based magazine.

 

[Anonymous]

How about we create a marketing campaign? Firefox and OpenOffice have been pretty successful at this. As a matter of fact, Firefox's looks almost too successful.

http://news.com.com/Firefoxs+Times+ad+late+as+10+million+downloads+near/2100-1032_3-5481998.html

After being an engineer for a couple of years at a global IT company (spent too much time on planes to Europe) I crossed over to the dark side and became a marketing manager. I'd be willing to see if I can put together a campaign. Things that jump out in my mind are:

• 1. White papers on capabiliites and future
  2. Comparison with MCE2005 and maybe some other products (maybe even other open source products like Myth and Freevo.)
  3. Consistent messaging
  4. Media kit
  5. Maybe even a cool slogan... "I want my MP!"

Just a thought... I'll crawl back under my rock now.

 

[Anonymous]

How about we create a marketing campaign? Firefox and OpenOffice have been pretty successful at this. As a matter of fact, Firefox's looks almost too successful.

http://news.com.com/Firefoxs+Times+ad+late+as+10+million+downloads+near/2100-1032_3-5481998.html

After being an engineer for a couple of years at a global IT company (spent too much time on planes to Europe) I crossed over to the dark side and became a marketing manager. I'd be willing to see if I can put together a campaign. Things that jump out in my mind are:

• 1. White papers on capabiliites and future
  2. Comparison with MCE2005 and maybe some other products (maybe even other open source products like Myth and Freevo.)
  3. Consistent messaging
  4. Media kit
  5. Maybe even a cool slogan... "I want my MP!"

Just a thought... I'll crawl back under my rock now.

Hmm, a nice and selling brouchure might not be that bad. I think that it could incorporate some feature comparisons etc. Also, it would be great to start to build a press list with email where we can send press releases. We have several things that could qualify to trigger that:

1. New releases (not the weekly builds but major ones)
2. Big new features (support for dvb-t/s/c)
3. Samsonite makes a new skin... ok maybe not
4. If we have any hardware manufacturers that include/bundle MP we could announce that

Well this is from the top of my mind.

I could take up on me to create a MP brochure. Also, maybe we could have a reward: Most valuble member. The award would go to the person that has helped creating the most attention to MP and would be given away on a quarterly basis?!

 

[Anonymous]

Another thing that would be great in order to drive existing members to the forum and be more active (that is also important) would be to have a mailinglist for the forum members that announce new releases. When things like that are sent out many people that just check in on a very irregular basis might become more active and thus ending up helping us to carry the word of MP.

 

[tomtom21000]

First action could be to fill the magazine review page on the home page.
There have 7-8 news articles from australien, german and french magazines or online reviews been reported.
I´d be a good start to collect permissions for these. allone someone has to take the task (as allways in thes cases: not me of course . Sorry really can´t do it at the moment)

tomtom21000

 

[Anonymous]

Hmm, a nice and selling brouchure might not be that bad. I think that it could incorporate some feature comparisons etc. Also, it would be great to start to build a press list with email where we can send press releases. We have several things that could qualify to trigger that:

1. New releases (not the weekly builds but major ones)
2. Big new features (support for dvb-t/s/c)
3. Samsonite makes a new skin... ok maybe not
4. If we have any hardware manufacturers that include/bundle MP we could announce that

Well this is from the top of my mind.

I could take up on me to create a MP brochure. Also, maybe we could have a reward: Most valuble member. The award would go to the person that has helped creating the most attention to MP and would be given away on a quarterly basis?!

I actually did a little research last night. In my humble opinion, we would be best served to create a strategic marketing strategy and then get volunteers to execute that strategy. It looks like some open source projects have taken the "free for all" approach and not really gotten anywhere. However, those projects that have a small committee guiding a strategy and have massive amounts of volunteers executing that strategy have done pretty well. Perfect examples would be Firefox and OOo. Read about OOo's strategy here.

My suggestion is as follows...

1) For the meantime, we continue as we have been.
2) At the same time we start developing a marketing strategy that is hopefully tied to the development roadmap.
3) Once we finish that stratgey (and it may take months) we get MP users to execute it.

The strategy could be simple like make a PR domain called www.getmediaportal.com. The domain could be filled with all kinds of marketing materials. We could create traffic to that domain through press releases, user evangelism, banner exchanges, etc.

I'm not suggesting this for someone else to do. I am willing to take a role in this. As I was thinking about it last night I had a lot of ideas. I'll start jotting down ideas and try to make it coherent for a review of fellow MP users.

Thoughts?

 

[Anonymous]

I think a nice glossy pr webpage (domain optional but good idea) sounds great. The material available definitely did not sell me on mediaportal. The fact that I'm a sucker for things that look unfinished and haphazard did

I nicely implemented website detailing current features, intended expansion/developments, and maybe even a mission statement. Did I say that? Anyhow, Domains and hosting are uber cheap these days, I pay 10euros a year for each of my domains, and $12usd for 50mb storage 3GB traffic. A pr website would need bunk for storage (if all documents are maintained in html / jpg/png you could keep the whole site under 10MB easily), although a good campaign could easily drive traffic past 3GB/month.

 

[CoolHammer]

Strategy ... definetely a good idea.
Marketing web site hmmm ... not necesarily. MP site is looking good and all we need to do is add that starter kit thing.
- What MP is
- Soma flashy material etc ...

CoolHammer

 

[shilbert]

A couple of my things. I have been a big user of DotNetNuke www.dotnetnuke.com for about a year now.

The things that drew me in to DNN were several. One, lots of information about the product. Lots of screen shots and examples. In fact I went with MythTV because of the screen shots and what it showed.

The screen shots get me started. The progressive development keeps me here.

DotNetNuke has done a great job of getting out the word on how to make modules and enhancements. Media Portal would do well to develop a standardized method for doing the same.

With standardizations come the need to have a RoadMap. I am in agreement that a "steering committee" should be formed that will plan, prioritize and implement new releases.

These plans should be made public and easily accessible so that the members of the communities can give input on the next step. Once people start having a say and feeling like they really matter, than the community will start growing. Buy In.

Stuart