Marketing discussions

Owned by Bill Branan
Jun 16, 2017
4 min read

Marketing discussions

10:30 - 11:00am Wednesday

11:00 - 11:30am Wednesday

We have a Marketing Working Group!

  • Karen Cariani, WGBH
  • Mike Friscia, Yale
  • Mark Bussey, DCE
  • Anders Conrad, Royal Library
  • Jonathan Markow, DuraSpace
  • Chris Awre, Hull
  • Richard Green, Hull
  • Linda Newman, Cincinnati

What do we we want & how do we achieve it?

Want: Name/brand recognition.  How to achieve? Presence (with people or materials) at targeted conferences. If we can't be there in person, what can we send via goodie bags? Getting the name brand recognition first, to facilitate targeted follow-up conversations.

Want: To legitimize project with senior stakeholders. How to achieve? have legitimate materials/branding/artifacts A brochure, a glossy. A marketing sheet. See what DuraSpace has developed; they have a full time marketing person. Tweets. Cards for table distribution with simple catchphrases. What website stuff, what metrics/analytics. Custom emails. 1-on-1 training and other ways of reaching out. Trainings and camps.

Want: To understand our market, and who the right recipients of a marketing effort will be. How to achieve? Gathering comprehensive groupings of stakeholders, other projects/activities that should be regular contacts (NDSA, APTrust, etc.)

Want: To be able to articulate the strength and stability of the community.  Great way to interest developers.

Past efforts

  • Hydra bookmark from Edinburgh OR, repurposed as a durable marketing item
  • Webinars, were very popular. Should we perhaps have one for managers? Not just what Hydra is, but how it has been applied.

Deeper discussion

  • Adopter vs. new partner definitions and engagement. What do we want to see as the #, balance, path from adopter to partner? What do each of these mean? Adopters who use bundles, adopters who develop/contribute Hydra code. Right now, adopters and developers are the same (no solution bundles yet). Should we consider collecting the iCLAs prior to partnership process? Known current adopters (nonpartners):
    • Irish National Library
    • UCSD
    • University of Oregon/Oregon State
    • (didn't catch all of these, please help finish this list)
  • IP issues
    • How to help potential partners navigate the legal issues they are likely to have to deal with when trying to get CLAs and partner documents signed. Often to get sent to a technology transfer office, and might run directly into conflict with the default to make money off of inventions. Connect our offices of counsel so that it's not a conversation from scratch each time, the counsel at X institution can be connected to the counsel at Y institution. NACUA as another possible connection point.
    • Trademarking hydra. There has been a conversation about this, hydra partnership is not a legal entity and can't hold a trademark. One of the institutions could accept and hold it in trust, but likely to need at least two institutions willing to accept this as a responsibility.
  • Developing tangible materials (brochures, etc.): does anyone have a marketing school/program or intern? Look for volunteers. Look for schools willing to contribute $. Mike F will reach out to the Yale school of business. Is someone willing to foot the bill, or should we all contribute to a central fund? More developer-oriented: technical profile. White papers are also good, they take time to do well (these are harder to do). Is there a link to the Hydra Way work? More personalized statements or case studies are valuable vs. long narratives: what problems Hydra solved for me. Don't have to be long case studies, more like why my institution adopted Hydra. Want screencasts available on the hydra project website – people are shy about this but they don't have to do scary, they don't have to be perfect.  Sometimes can gather these during meetings/conferences just by setting up a little area to record screencasts. Should we have a 'Powered by Hydra' logo that could go at the bottom of the page (like Powered by Blacklight)? Standard Hydra slides that could be used in any presentations we might be giving at conferences. 'Ask me about Hydra' buttons and stickers to wear at conferences.
    • Mike F (Yale) and Claire (Northwestern) will contact their business/marketing schools/programs and see if there are any ways to get some of the materials as a student project. Mike may be able to hire a student this semester who can be focused on this.
    • Once we have figured out how much producing these materials might cost, can we share that cost back to partners in some way? Is it worth the overhead of trying to do this? Can one institution just pick up the cost for the next round of materials?
  • How to identify and track the conferences? DuraSpace sets up a calendar of events/conferences on the web site, we can start with that. It's not publicly available but Jonathan will forward.

Action items

  • Once we come up with concrete ideas about webinars, Jonathan can talk to the webinar scheduling folks at DuraSpace.
  • Work on the glossies and other tangibles
  • Get a Twitter account (there is a hydraproject account but it's suspended) and agree on a hashtag for the project . Linda Newman will be on the social media working group.
  • Identify the list of conferences of interest/value. Jonathan will forward the DuraSpace calendar as a starting point.
  • Articulate adopter/partner goals in the strategic plan (not sure this is phrased correctly): what are these roles and what's the relative value of each? Karen?
  • Develop some guidance/help documents around how to deal with IP questions that come up when contributors want to get their institution to agree to allow them to contribute code. Declan will start this doc.
  • Resurrect the hydra trademarking conversation in steering. Chris Awre will circulate the information he has about the Madrid protocol.
  • Revisit the tone of the adopter/partner language on the Hydra web site
  • Get graphics (logo, poster graphix, etc.) readily available. Revitalize the 'Powered by Hydra' graphic. Mike can add this to the list of rebranding tasks he will be having a designer work on. (UVa uses already on Libra).
  • Partners who have already paid for stickers, tshirts, etc. will share what they have already spent on these materials.