1. Marketing Best Practices for
Partners
FABRICE HENRION

2. Marketing is different in the OpenERP world
You don't sell the same as proprietary ERP
integrators: you sell services, not code.
Blue ocean strategy: You cannot compete against a
proprietary ERP integrator by following his rules;
you will lose because he can invest more during pre-
sale (whether it is in sales or in development)
because his ROI on code is x times higher than yours.
To win, you have to play differently. It is not harder,
it is different.
Avoid the big mistake: Don't develop before selling.

3. 4 Rules
1. Content generates leads
2. Multi-channel communication
3. Communicate on achievement
4. Leverage the OpenERP brand

4. Rule #1: Content generates leads
4
Best partners websites have a lot of content:
OpenERP.com visitors: doc.openerp.com: 63k new visits/month
(21%), Forum: 57k new visits/month (20%)
Quality – Interesting Content:
Singer Use Case: (http://slidesha.re/mQQloW) – 500 views/months
Pragtech's OpenERP vs Openbravo:
Smile’s Whitepaper: 5 prospects phone
calls/day, 6 months after launch!

5. Rule #1: Content generates leads
5
Integrate our content automatically:
Customer feedback on Twitter: http://bit.ly/nd4st1
Integrate our planet in your website through RSS
Post content to your website:
Copy/paste our content
Publish all your documents
Convert visitors into leads:
Content must be public to attract visitors
1 page should do lead generation, all public pages must link to
that one
Lead generation:
Contact form to download content
Slideshare Pro accounts allows lead generation on content
http://paywithatweet.com

6. Rule #2: Multi-channel communication
6
Create accounts for your company on:
Facebook page (not group), Twitter, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Youtube
Connect all these accounts together using their plugins
When you post on twitter, it is posted on all others
Communicate your achievements on your blog
All your twitter messages should link to one of your blog posts
Your blog pages should contain banners to your leads acquisition
page in the side column
Example: 1 blog post/month and 2 twitter posts/day
brings you 2,400 visits/month (stat: openerp.com)

7. Rule #3: Communicate on achievements
7
Who are the most famous partners?
Those ones
How to be famous?
Publish all your developments on Launchpad
Register your LP branch on apps.openerp.com
Create a blog post for every new module
Set up automatic information diffusion: register
your branches on OpenERP Apps, register your
blog on OpenERP Planet (info in the partner portal)
Organize webinars to demonstrate your modules
Announce your achievements and diffuse using
www.massmediadistribution.com (180 EUR)

8. Rule #4: Benefit from the OpenERP brand
8
Use the OpenERP momentum and brand:
The OpenERP logo is famous. Put it on your business cards and
brochures.
Place the OpenERP logo on your homepage.
Don’t forget people get convinced on a product before buying
services: communicate mostly on the product, not on your services.
Write a meaningful partner description on openerp.com that has an
impact
“Since I am visible on the openerp.com website, I get 2 prospect
calls per day.” –MapControl, Cristhian Pires, CTO

9. Case Study: The eBay Connector
with Bista Solutions
Article on partner's blog (will be used to refer everything back
to the partner)
Article on OpenERP Planet, links to original article on partner's
blog (ask your account manager)
Article on OpenERP Blog, with link to partner's blog (ask your
account manager)
Video on youtube
Module available on launchpad and referenced on
apps.openerp.com
Search relevant forum threads about the topic to announce
your solution is available (don't forget to display a signature,
link to your article, and provide a clear way of contacting you)

10. Case Study: The eBay Connector
with Bista Solutions (cont’d)
MarketWire campaign to blast google news.
Webinars of a demo of the module, advertized on our
events page Get all the leads
Communication through your and our social channels:
twitter, facebook, linkedin
Talk with your Account Manager, he will help you
organize this because it is also in his/our interest.

11. It works!
Google "OpenERP eBay" First result
Google "open source ERP eBay" 3rd, 5th, 6th, 10th results
Google "ERP eBay" 3rd, 5th, 7th results !!

12. It works! (cont’d)
Top contributors are overwhelmed with demand.
On Apps: CamptoCamp: 133, vauxoo: 80, akretion: 76,
avanzosc: 74, zikzakmedia: 73, NaN-tic: 70, agileBG &
Domsense: 51, pexego: 44, Marco Dieckhoff: 40, Savoir-
Faire Linux: 27
Before even finishing all the action items mentioned
previously, Bista Solutions already had spontaneous
demand knocking on their door.

13. “Community Days” Tricks
During these Community Days, the topic was brought
spontaneously:
Savoir-Faire Linux tips:
Release modules open source
Specify your website in your launchpad name
Specify your website in your forum signature
Specify your website in your modules’ code
…and with only one static OpenERP page on their website
Vauxoo tips:
Automatic social messages on achievements. Eg: Tweet on every
branch revision of l10n-mx

14. Why releasing your modules to the public
Counter-intuitive at first, but more effective business-wise
because otherwise:
Nobody knows you have a great module.
You need an R&D budget superior to the rest of the world or
the community will do better.
Free feedbacks, free bug reports, free improvements – lowers
the costs, you can leverage it with your customers + sales
opportunity.
If you need us to upgrade, we are legally allowed to release it.
Your customers can do it independently from you: AGPL
prevents proprietary scheme.

15. Thank you