We at AirGradient market both, a commercial (closed-source) air quality monitor as well as a commercial open software / open hardware one (monetized through selling kits [1]).<p>Unlike the article might indirectly imply, I see little difference in the key characteristics that determine effective marketing.<p>Both product types need a clear and consistent messaging, both need to build an audience, both need to bring value to the customer, both need to be transparent about the pricing, both need to be clear how they handle data, both need to provide great support etc.<p>Where I see a potential difference is in the customer type. Some of our customers prefer the open source version because it easy to make changes on the hardware as well as the software. However this also often means a little bit more work to get it up and running. Whereas other customers actually prefer the closed source product as it is bascially plug and play.<p>What I personally do like with having both products and dealing with both types of customers, is that it gives the chance to "market" the open source version to customers that often have not considered this route in the past but actually provides them with the better fit and better value.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.airgradient.com/open-airgradient/kits/" rel="nofollow">https://www.airgradient.com/open-airgradient/kits/</a>
The guide talks a lot about "be clear with your monetization strategy", which is great, because it is important not to bait & switch people, as well as to be clear to the Freetards exactly how much of a free lunch they can expect.<p>However, IMHO of equal - if not <i>GREATER</i> - importance and entirely missed from the blog post is "be clear about what you are doing with people's data".<p>You might well have just written the next unicorn dog's bollocks of software, but I (and I suspect many others) couldn't give a rats arse about your "journey" or any other marketing fluff if the practical reality is that you are secretly collecting telemetry all over the place, storing my data to train your AI algorithms and generally engaging in all sorts of other privacy infringing practices.
Is there ever a point where we can just accept the reality that "open source marketing" is really kind of an oxymoron?<p>If you want to give your work away for whatever reason, I salute you.<p>I know it's hard to believe but trying to monetize what is available for free just doesn't meet with a whole lot of success in most cases. And it is really misleading to keep suggesting otherwise.