What is Open Source Marketing?

It begins with The Sigh.

The Sigh is that point that every marketer reaches at some point where they wish other marketers would just say what they wanted to say without making their audience jump through hoops to get at it. It’s a result of call-to-action burnout:

“2010 Web Trend Benchmark Report – Sign Up to Download.”
“Register for our webinar, ’10 Things you Must Know About SEM’”
“The Social Media Expo Extravaganza! Buy your tickets now!”

Sigh. You see these kinds of things every day. Sure, some of this content has value; everyone loves a good benchmark report, after all. But at some point you just get sick of filling out forms and logging into webinars, even if they offer something of tremendous value.

There has never been a good answer to The Sigh. It’s always been one of those things that you grit your teeth and get over. But you shouldn’t have to. These kinds of things should be freely available to everyone.

That’s why I started this blog. First and foremost, I can’t believe we have trusted for so long the survey data collected by companies who have a vested interest in seeing a particular set of results. “Buy Forrester’s Video Benchmark Report, sponsored by Video Company X!” That’s not market research. That’s just marketing.

More inherently trustworthy are the observations of everyday marketers like you and me. Sure, we have our opinions as to what might be the right or wrong way to do something, but more often than not we are willing to talk about our experiences in an open and honest way, and to help others achieve some modicum of success on our backs.

Secondly, because this blog was created without agenda, I will never require anything of you to access the information it generates. The conclusions that we reach here — yes, I said “we” — will be reached through honest and open debate. I will not fabricate them and hide them behind registration forms, nor will I allude to “research” that is not universally and freely accessible.

This blog is not sponsored by anyone. It does not run ads. It does not generate revenue for me or any company with which I am or might in the future be associated. I am not beholden to anyone, am not driving a business venture, and at this point I have no interest in securing either speaking gigs or book deals. I’m just a fan of marketing — a second-generation marketer, in fact — and I believe that this is the right thing to do.

What I’m trying to say is that Open Source Marketing is all marketing that is freely available from a trustworthy source. In this case, that source is you. I just aggregate it and spur a conversation.

Do you have what it takes to be an open source marketer?

Sure you do. All it takes is a little bit of honesty. Separate yourself from your brand for a minute, and join in the conversation. What do you think it means to be an open source marketer?