[Foundation] Marketing Committee Mission

[bauer at michaelbauer.com]

Overview

The Marketing Committee of the Jabber Software Foundation is charged with 
developing a charter for approval by the Board of Directors for marketing 
Jabber.  This effort is intended to market Jabber as a whole and to 
support all ventures using Jabber, both commercial and open source.  
Marketing will include developing fundraising initiatives, so in some 
sense this is a Marketing and Sales committee and will be organized as 
follows.

Marketing

The marketing initiative will center on the Jabber Powered program.  Right 
now, this program is essentially a "support" program.  The use of the 
Jabber Powered mark is primarily intended to show general support for 
Jabber.  All that's required to use the mark is adhering to a set of Usage 
Guidelines for it.  There is no technical compliance necessary.  With the 
development of a technical compliance program (being spearheaded by Jer in 
the Compliance Committee), this program could be extended with something 
like a "Jabber Certified" mark.  The Marketing Committee has to determine 
if this makes sense and how to execute it.

Along with this formal program, there are many other initiatives the 
Marketing Committee can take.  Getting banner ads on Slashdot, developing 
co-marketing programs with other open source foundations, and establishing 
presence at conferences like the Open Source conference are some of the 
other initiatives we should consider pursuing.  We also need to supplement 
our on-line presence with more specific marketing collateral, such as 
listing non-IM uses of Jabber in particular.

Sales

The sales initiative will center on expanding the Jabber Sponsorship 
program.  We need to update our offering and start pursuing both corporate 
and individual sponsorships.  The primary revenue to the Jabber Software 
Foundation should come from this effort.  Other fundraising initiatives 
have also been raised, such as selling Jabber merchandise.  The Sales 
initiative of the Marketing Committee will consider all appropriate 
opportunities and make recommendations to the Board.
  


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Michael Bauer     bauer at michaelbauer.com       http://www.michaelbauer.com