BrandingWire: Design of Open Source Marketing

Is open source marketing possible?

Back in June I unveiled the launch of a new initiative by a diverse group of branding experts with varied backgrounds -- business proprietors as well as people with time on the client side. We called it BrandingWire. The initiative was spearheaded by Steve Woodruff and embraced by an impressive group of professionals. I still believe that the foundation is there to take the concept to the next level.

Everyone I talk to about this initiative wants to learn more because the idea of taking a brand to the next level within this model has a lot of appeal to it. Well, today would have marked the posting of a new branding challenge and recommendations from the team. Except for something happened between design and execution. I would love to enroll your help in discussing what and finding a way to make this work. Since this month was my turn to solicit a branding challenge, I choose to reach out to you, my business community of readers, for help in finding a good execution for BrandingWire.

First a word to our sponsor

There is none. Is that good, bad, indifferent? That's why I dubbed it "open source" it comes from a peer to peer model where the audience is also part of the conversation. In fact, the key aspect of the challenge is -- obviously enough -- the challenge, and that is your brand.

We've had two real cases to date:

• The town of Estes Park, CO
• A small Canadian IT services company

And several fictitious cases:

• A small coffee company in mid America
• The US Auto Dealership model
• A small marketing consulting firm

If any of the topics or companies hit close to home, you might check those out. The posts linked here include track backs or links back to the rest of the team. It's not every day that you get such in depth marketing advice from a senior group.

Now a word about intent

Clearly, we do this because we also get something out of it. I cannot speak for Patrick, or Kevin, also on the client side like me, but I'd like to think that the challenge itself makes participation worthwhile. Working inside an organization means that we sharpen our tools on the things that organization needs and wants specifically -- they are our client. It's nice to look at other types of branding issues and stretch outside our day to day.

The rest of the team comprises business proprietors who already enjoy a wider branding scene and I'm sure join in with an eye to possible client work as a result of their efforts -- I know I would in their place. After all, this is a step up just reading someone's blog, you get to also see the thinking on challenges that might be quite similar to yours. There is already a lot of value in that and I believe in hiring talent and paying for value.

Where to go from here?

I say less talk and more doing. The right execution is to ideas like oxygen is to breathing -- they need to go hand in hand if something is to happen. We've had some discussion among the group and I think that for this project to be successful it needs to (thanks, Steve Woodruff):

• meet real-world needs
• create engagement with a growing number of contributors/audiences
• be low-maintenance
• be simple for readers

The submission may take place at the BrandingWire blog. We could invite other marketing experts as guest contributors. Execution could be in the comments section and then the best plan suggestions are published with credit and fleshed out by the team.

Is open source marketing possible? How would you go about it?

Comments

[huperniketes]

Why would open-source marketing be considered differently from word-of-mouth? While open-source advocates claim there are millions of eyeballs to check their products, in reality there are millions of mouths feeding off them instead. And promoting them. And, like word-of-mouth, the (slightly) more fanatical are the most consistent and effective in its promotion.

If Madison Avenue hadn't been so fixated on broadcasting, there might have been a David Ogilvy of word-of-mouth marketing instead of broadcast advertising who would have developed the models and techniques being discovered in the Internet age for companies to converse with their customers instead of just broadcasting at them. Then broadcast media could've been used the way it's more effective.

[Valeria Maltoni]

This is the month of great writers in the comments. Welcome to the conversation, Alfonso. The moniker is confusing, that's valuable feedback -- too charged with set connotations in people's minds. As you suggest, the two ideas are:

- steering and
- pro-bono steering

And there is an additional layer on top of it, which is collaboration among professionals otherwise engaged in different companies.

Perhaps the other confusing part of this project for people to grasp is that we're both promoting the effort to
actually steer the word-of-mouth, or conversational marketing *and* its activity.

[NW Guy]

It appears that the first two requiements -

# meet real-world needs
# create engagement with a growing number of contributors/audiences

are inter-related. If you obtain more real-world scenarios versus case studies you may get additional people wanting to display their capabilities.

The crux is that the contributors are typically out scouring for these same scenarios in order to generate leads for their own livelihood.

Is there a monthly host for the activity? If so; they could focus on a specific city and try to find a prospect. This could be from contacting the local paper/business columnist; checking Craigslist/Monster for Marketing positions (or posting to Craigslist?); or just casual observation.

This approach would start to plant seeds beyond the blog-oriented world - in the paper; Craigslist devotees; the business (and their suppliers/customers). You may even be able to coordinate an article about each project; or the business could display a small poster about the different scenarios. This may lead to additional cases or business for the contributors.

To generate real word of mouth the audience has to go beyond the blogosphere.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Bruce:

Thank you so much for putting such thought into your advice. Yes, we realize that to generate word of mouth, we need to leap off the 'sphere and make some businesses look good among their peers.

We do have a monthly host, you're talking (in a manner of writing -- coining new expressions) to the one for November. I am a subscriber of the Business Journal, although they often feature success stories, I bet I can find a company... wait a moment, I just got an idea. I help a lot of early stage companies connect with resources locally. Why didn't I think of that before?

Ok, I realize I've been talking to myself here, with your help, of course ;-)