Creative Funding

In times of the crisis, some people become really creative in funding their project or company. As an example, Miro, a free HD video player, started just recently with an initiative to let users adopt lines of their source code for a monthly payment. A great idea and also nicely setup in their Miro Adoption Center.

And of course, the right idea to let people spread the word about it.

The Pragmatic Marketer Volume 7 Issue 2

A new issue of the The Pragmatic Marketer digital magazine is available here.

It has some interesting articles and is worth a read. Here is the contents:

• End Boring Marketing Now
  Creating a World Wide Rave, in which other people help to tell your story, is a way to drive action. You can create the triggers that get millions of people to tell your stories and spread your ideas. But first, you’ve got to lose control.

  Some interesting quotes:

Creating a World Wide Rave, in which other people help to tell your story, is a way to drive action. One person sends it to another, then that person sends it to yet another, and on and on. Each link in the chain exposes your story to someone new, someone you never had to contact yourself! It’s like when you’re at a sporting event or concert in a large stadium and somebody starts “the wave.” Isn’t it amazing that just one person with an idea can convince a group of 50,000 people to join in? Well, you can start a similar wave of interest online, a World Wide Rave. You can create the triggers that get millions of people to tell your stories and spread your ideas.

…

For your ideas to spread and rise to the status of a World Wide Rave, you’ve got to give up control. Make your information on the Web totally free for people to access, with absolutely no virtual strings attached: no electronic gates, no registration requirements, and no email address verification necessary.

…

You need to think in terms of spreading ideas, not generating leads. A World Wide Rave gets the word out to thousands or even millions of potential customers. But only if you make your information easy to find and consume.

• Book Review: World Wide Rave by David Meerman Scott

• How to Turn Sales Engineers into Your Biggest Fans
  Here are some tips not only for a successful working relationship, but also the fundamental activities that will turn Sales Engineers into the Product Manager’s biggest fans.

• Goals, Readiness and Constraints: The Three Dimensions of Product Launch
  Many companies mistakenly believe their product will sell itself and overcome any adversity. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. A successful product launch requires skill, experience, market knowledge, and a process.

• I Know Nothing about Product Naming (but that Doesn’t Stop Me from Doing It!)
  As a marketer for a new product, naming is something you may have to do even though you know nothing about it. There isn’t a magic formula for creating a good product name, but a well-considered, rational process for picking the least awful name out of all of the possible awful names out there is better than anyone’s gut feel – and, frankly, the best you can do.