Re: A cohesive sales message

Thank you for the brochure detail Peter. I rushed to my German-English
dictionary when I opened page one. And was through it before I found the
English version on page two! But it was good practice. I don't get enough
opportunity to practice my German.

And thank you everyone for your spirited discussion. It was an interesting
demonstration of how the PostgreSQL development community works. And
frankly, I found many of the directions that your conversation took
interesting, if somewhat time consuming to get through. But it soaked up a
few hours this week that could have been more usefully devoted to working on
the task that I had undertaken to do.

But here is the problem: I have a company to run and clients to support on
four continents, the next generation of our software to design, PostgreSQL,
Java and WebObjects to learn. And somewhere in the middle of all that, find
time for my wife, family, friends and the boat I am building. Let's leave
taking time out for sleeping, eating, et al.

In short, I am as busy as the rest of you.

I can't delegate the role that I have offered to perform for your community
because, frankly, I am the only one in my firm with the skills to help you.
So if I am to assist, it must be efficient or I have to withdraw my offer.

There is another equally important point to consider: I have long believed
that people who do their own marketing have a fool for an advertising agent.
There is a lot to be gained by having someone stand on the outside and to
look objectively at the product, the market, the message, etc. So
independence and remoteness from the daily cut and thrust of what you do is
actually to your advantage. The message will be more effective, more
creative and more powerful.

You are clearly very intelligent and capable people, yet you have devoted so
much time to debating various topics this week while there has been
virtually no response to my specific questions. Does this mean that no one
has the answers? I expected to be inundated with information and ideas.

I see no point in trying to second guess the target market, product profile,
features, advantages, benefits, etc. Sure, I can make reasonable calculated
guesses and get it pretty close. Then I could spend time writing marketing
material and submit it for consideration and receive hundreds of emails
(perhaps thousands if this last week is anything to go by) telling me where
I missed the mark.

That is not how things are done in marketing: The agency gets a brief. They
take that information and prepare the marketing plan, advertising material,
etc. That is what I am offering to do.

I have enough understanding now of how things are done. Now I need something
solid to move onto. Otherwise, we will still be talking about making a start
a year from now. That will do your community no good. If that is the case, I
may as well stop now.

Sorry about the length of this post but I wanted to be as complete in my
position as possible.

I await your advice.

Kind regards

Rob Napier