Subject: Re: Marketing lojban

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 19:25:18 -0000

--- In lojban@y..., Invent Yourself <xod@s...> wrote:

> > >If its premature to issue press releases
> > >or otherwise try to spread the word,
> >
> > People are doing this.
> 
> I'd be interested to hear what ideas seidensticker has.

I agree with lojbab's comments that advertising (as in something you 
pay for) doesn't make sense. (Although the success Loglan had with 
its advertisement is an interesting data point to keep in mind for 
when money isn't as tight.) 

Instead, my thought was for guerilla marketing efforts -- basically 
zero-cost efforts that encourage the press (or other vehicles) to 
spread your message for you. For example, I recently came across a 
local newspaper article about a foreign language conference for high 
school kids and the most popular language was ... Esperanto. That 
was the main point of the article. The story of lojban or the 
history of artificial languages is fascinating and makes for 
interesting reading. 

I am no expert (or even a novice) in getting PR and so can't lead 
this charge. But at the appropriate time, I suggest thinking about 
press releases or story outlines sent to newspapers (y'know that 
center column on the Wall Street Journal's page 1?), newswires (AP, 
UPI, etc. cover more than just breaking news), or popular magazines 
(Omni, Wired, Discovery, Smithsonian, in-flight magazines?).

The other question that has been raised is: If LLG received 1000 
inquiries (say), would that be a good thing? As has been mentioned, 
this issue must be resolved first before starting any big attempt at 
spreading the word. Some naive thoughs about this:
* Simplify the web site so that a neophyte coming to lojban.org for 
the first time can immediately see (1) a very brief lojban summary to 
verify that yes, this is the right site and (2) a short list clearly 
and succinctly answering the question "This is great! Where do I go 
from here?" IMO, the home page text does a good job with (1) and a 
fair job of (2).
* If it's a pain to USmail anything but Cowan's book, perhaps 
everything else can be converted to: "Here's where to download it, 
here's how much we'd encourage you to pay, and here's where to send 
the check." This could simplify logistics.
* Can all other static (FAQ-like) responses be handled by the web 
site and dynamic responses handled by questions sent to 
[email-masked]? I don't clearly see the burden that 1000 
curious new people would impose.

Bob