Marketing

Overview

Teaching: 15 min
Exercises: 10 min

Questions

• How can I raise money for my project?

Objectives

• Explain how to communicate the value of research to stakeholders.

• It’s tempting to think of science as purely meritocratic
  • “If I do good science, it should speak for itself”
  • “Advertising is pretentious and self-serving”
• In reality, scientists are social creatures
  • We all have our own social networks of trust
  • Technology has helped with discoverability of new research
  • Still not as effective as getting airtime from a “high-profile” outlet
    • “Glamour” journal (Nature, Science, etc.)
    • Twitter account of a “big shot” in the field
• Don’t be afraid to market your project
  • If it really is good, you should tell people about it
• The concert merchandise model
  • Your grant proposals are your product
  • Your papers are your advertisements
• Consider the following:
  • What part does software play in your research?
  • Who procures funding for your research, and what are the expectations about software of those funding agencies?
  • Are you funded/employed primarily to produce software tools? Or to produce theories/models/results/methods?
• We should clarify what marketing means
  • It is not being pushy
  • It is not shameless self-promotion
  • “Marketing is the craft of seeing things from other people’s perspective, understanding their wants and needs, and finding ways to meet them.” –Marc Kuchner
  • It is connecting with others in a sincere way
  • It is ensuring our work is relevant to “important people” and their concerns
  • Here, “important people” mean people that are in a position to make decisions about funding, hiring, tenure, etc.
• Use social media and blogs
  • Papers must be objective, social media posts don’t
    • You can talk about what excites you about the research
    • You can be personal and set whatever tone you’d like
    • You can go out on a limb and make guesses, claims, and other statements that might not get past peer reviewers
      • The most important question isn’t necessarily whether you’re right, but whether you can engage your colleagues and get them thinking critically about your work.
  • Worst-case scenario: nobody will listen
  • Best-case: the right people will notice, remember, and maybe even advertise your work
• Make the main paper(s) you want people to cite obvious, in the documentation and in a CITATION file alongside the README
  • If there isn’t a paper yet, get agreement on what’s needed for a “code paper”
  • Journals like JOSS and JORS have clear guidelines and checklists
  • Keep planning for future papers and how people should be credited for their work so that the community remains engaged and committed
  • See this example of a discussion

Key Points

• Marketing is the craft of seeing the value of your research from someone else’s point of view.

• Your papers are your advertisements - your grant proposals are your product.

• Check your project’s social media profile regularly.