Presentation about WordPress market in Finland. Presentation held at WordPress Cafe in Helsinki.

1. About WordPress in Finland
(… and why WordPress Company Catalog has been created)
Perttu Tolvanen, Vierityspalkki.fi / North Patrol
Presentation given at WordPress
Cafe in Helsinki, hosted by
Exove.
13.1.2015 Helsinki

2. Three (3) stages of a market development
(if everything goes smoothly)
Level 1: The fog
Level 2: The marketplace
Level 3: The amusement park
Some open source CMSs have reached this level, e.g.
WordPress and Drupal in many countries. Also e.g.
notably Typo3 in Germany.
Usually open source CMSs have a lot of trouble reaching
this due to lack of centralized support organisation.
Many established commercial vendors are excellent in
creating ”a feeling of a vibrant marketplace” for
customers.
Highest level of market development. Means reaching a
stage where customers actually enjoy the process of
evaluating partners and consuming additional offering
(e.g. conferences, training possibilities and other
available activies/material).
Classic example is probably the market of ad agencies
where choosing an ad agency is often considered a ’fun
process’. In IT world SharePoint and Microsoft have
reached a very similar stage in many countries.

3. Risks in market development of (any) CMS
(and why CMSs never get destroyed, but instead they are destroyed within)
Bad
reputation of
the CMS
within IT
departments Bad reputation
of the CMS
within
communication
/marketing
departments
Smaller
agencies
start looking
for other
alternatives
Technically-
focused
agencies
dominate
Creative
agencies dislike
the CMS and
encourage
customers to
change
Development
practises
become
diverse
Different
agencies use
different
plugins to do
similar things
Agencies start
bad-mouthing
each other
Agencies
sell the
system
differently
for clients
2-3 big players
become
dominant and
suffocate the
market

4. Possibilities in market development of (any) CMS
(and what agencies need to do to keep their CMS as a popular tool)
Keeping a
reputation of
good usability
(among content
producers)
Big players should
not try to win all
the projects,
especially smaller
ones or special
cases
Keeping a
reputation of
cost-
effectiveness
Having a somekind
of certification
system that helps
customers to
”measure”
partners
”Open source” your
knowledge of
possibilities, don’t
compete with
know-how of
plugins/services
• Give training, offer tips,
educate your current clients
• Especially reach your end-
users!
• Share tips and examples
• Be open about pricing and
final prices that came true
• Many customers expect you to do
this in some way! It can be activity in
community, achievements with
plugins, etc. -> Make it measurable!
• Specialize, and recommend
other agencies to customers
• Educate creative agencies and
customers about possibilities, and
instead compete with experience,
process and attitude
Have a
common set of
reference
cases that
validate the
platform
• And share them with other
agencies – and make them
Scandinavian!

5. Bonus tip #2: If you
want to win bigger
projects, learn to sell
your process (not
just ”we are agile”)
and software
development
methods
• Most customers buy projects (=outsource)
because they don’t want to do it themselves
– make it easy for them – don’t make them
manage you!
• Most customers also buy projects because
they are busy people – they probably don’t
have the resources to lead your team as a
product owner.
Bonus tip #1: If you
compete against
other CMSs,
remember to show
”how it is done in
WordPress” – don’t
just say can it be
done….

6. Current status
• 8 agencies
• 2 agencies waiting for approval
• Showing the revenue number and
percentage of overall revenue have
gotten good feedback from
users/customers
Future plans
• Possibility to tell the price range of
reference projects
• Possibility to tell about plugin
achievements or other major
contributions
• Special badges
WordPress Company Catalog (at Vierityspalkki.fi)
(current status and future plans)
Comments received also to
include open sections about
rewards, design, hosting and
support. Also testimonials could
be added to reference cases.

7. Coming: Special badges
(examples!)
1. Active conference/cafe host
2. Active WordPress blogger
3. Active WordPress community member
4. Shipping specialist!
• Criteria: minimum of three (3) published reference cases in last 6 months
5. Skilled plugin developer
• Criteria: minimum of two published plugins that have a minimum of x downloads
6. eCommerce specialist
• Criteria: minimum of five (5) reference cases of eCommerce (in 2 years)
7. Integrations specialist
• Criteria: minimum of five (5) reference cases that include demanding
integrations (in 2 years)
8. Multilanguage specialist
• Criteria: minimum of five (5) reference cases that includes usage of
multilanguage plugins (in 2 years)
9. Media company specialist
• Criteria: minimum of five (5) reference cases that are media websites (in 2 years)
10. Specialist in projects below
10 000 euros
• Criteria: minimum of five (5) reference cases (in 2 years,
in the specific price category)
11. Specialist in projects
between 10 000 and 30 000
euros
• Criteria: minimum of five (5) reference cases (in 2 years, in the specific price
category)
12. Specialist in projects above
30 000 euros
• Criteria: minimum of five (5) reference cases (in 2 years,
in the specific price category)
Comments received to add a badge for ”Praised by customers”.

8. Thank You!
Other take aways from the
discussion with the audience:
- Possible fast track to newcomer
companies (if proven capability
with reference cases)
- Pricing info could be only a
background information that
were to be used as a category
information (small, medium,
large).