Marketing

What Marketing Is(n’t)

• Marketing means making sure the people you could help know you exist.
• If you don’t do this, someone else will (usually incorrectly).
• Marketing is awareness: someone learns you exist.
• Sales is adoption: someone goes from interested to using it.
• Support is success: someone who uses it keeps being able to use it.

Writing a Pitch

• A pitch describes who has a problem, how they cope, and why you help.
• It is not a list of features.
• Test: can you explain the software in one sentence to someone outside your field?

Pitches for Different Audiences

• Different audiences need different descriptions.
  • A grad student wants to know it runs and has examples.
  • A senior researcher wants to know if it is maintained and citable.
  • A program officer wants to know about impact and sustainability.
• Things that cost almost nothing help the most.
  • Add a CITATION.cff file, one working example, and one real use case.
  • A working example converts curious visitors into users.

Where to Go and What to Count

• Preprint servers and software papers reach the right audience by default.
• Mailing lists and chat communities are less formal.
• The pitch form changes by channel.
• The signal that matters most is being mentioned or cited in papers.
  • Downloads and stars measure curiosity, not use.

What about AI?

• LLMs can convert dense documentation into readable READMEs and blog posts
• LLM-generated text often omits failure modes, limitations, and caveats
• LLM pitches sound generic and lose the specific voice that persuades

_three_pitches.qmd
_one_more_pitch.qmd
_objections.qmd