Framework vs CMS, Tattoo vs MODx : lets revive this and clarify !

3) CTOs, CIOs and Techology and Information Systems decision makers who are going to be the driving force behind a transformation of MODx from being a early adopters secret weapon to the top 3 spot that is in the vision documents.

But yes, Ryan, I think that we can work on this. I’d like to hear from mrscommunication and other team members as well.

Quote from: rthrash at Feb 21, 2008, 09:07 AM

David asked a question and I answered, but I don’t think that serves any particular user base or marketing effort particularly well.

Ouch I’ll just then

Anyway, I agree with most of what Jay is (brilliantly) saying actually.
I thought (after talking with Debbie) that it was something worth clarifying but maybe it was not. Sorry for the distraction !

I don’t want anyone to because the question spawned what I feel is an immensely productive thread. It has cleared some misunderstandings as well as shed light on a direction for us Marketers.

This will go to the heart of framing the words on the new site and bring focus to all the marketing. Once we can describe MODx to anyone who asks and they immediately understand--we have succeeded.

@David, quit with the compliments. My head will not fit in my hat soon.

Good point Jay. There’s the constant debate depending on who you’re talking to and all levels are equally important. My personal experience has been that key infrastructure decisions like MODx cross lots of departmental boundaries... from PR/Marketing to hardcore IT. The features checklist is every bit as critical as the Jobsian soundbite. I’ve always had more luck if I can distill all the techies stuff down internally where I can get it then further simplify it so the PR-intern can get it too.

Admittedly, 097 is such a conceptual infrastructure leap with lots of technical terms attached that it can be intimidating. If we can translate that as you suggested above into "10000 songs in your pocket", while still keeping the full checklist and tech specs in focus for the stakeholders that need that as well, then we’ll have accomplished a lot!

Quote from: rthrash at Feb 21, 2008, 09:50 AM

...If we can translate that as you suggested above into "10000 songs in your pocket", while still keeping the full checklist and tech specs in focus for the stakeholders that need that as well, then we’ll have accomplished a lot!

There’s our chief Marketing Task then. Take our three groups and build an initial answer for each and lead them to the supporting information that suits their viewpoint.

Thanks for all the input everyone!

I asked David to clarify Tattoo, cause I saw mentions on threads that made me think that MODx would one day be taking on the name Tattoo. After reading Ryan’s response, I assume that this is not the case and that Tattoo is actually a different product. Lots of info here to chew on.

Yes I did clarify that it would be two different product, but the whole point of this thread was also to update the information dating back to mid 2006. When you asked the question it made me realize we had not updated the status of Tattoo for a while

While I am here, about communicating toward the 3 different groups, those guys make a pretty decent job doing that.

I even like their sense of humour, example on the feature page :

umbraco is feature loaded, but not feature bloated. Instead of a ridiculously long list, we’ve tried to gather the most important ones for editors, designers and developers.

Actually, as someone suggested on the what did you use before MODx ? thread, there are some similarities with our positionning.

Just thought I’d mention it (but of course it doesn’t mean I think we should do the exact same thing, just that looking at how others do it can span ideas and it seems like this one is worth looking at).

David,

You are correct. There will be group overlap and it may end up that there is one or two or five statements that could be used to describe MODx and be more valid than three.

I was actually making notes last night and thinking that we would need to review that thread again while developing our positioning statements. One thing that came up in my thoughts is a lot of things that MODx doesn’ t do ( not shortcomings but things that other sytstems fail at that it doesn’t) The biggest thing for me is that it doesn’t make the simple difficult.

I am going to work out a number of these ideas with a review of several forum threads and look at some issues on other CMS and business forums to see if I can get some ideas about what people are saying about CMSs from all angles. It won’t be a short task but it will expand beyond many of the converted to help us better express MODx.

Jay

Hmmm... an anti-marketing page ...

Things at which MODx Really Sucks

[*] Making the simple complex.
[*] Template systems that require an entire book to understand.
[*] Forcing you to do things one way.
[*] Making changing how it works result in killing any semblance of straightforward future upgrades.
[*] ...

This was my challenge yesterday, to frame it in positive statements marketing based around "not" statements is difficult unless you do it with humour. The key points you have are concise clear statements though. Great thoughts.