Why Bitcoin needs a marketing department
This is an opinion editor of Maxx Mannheimer, a former sales account manager with a background in training and industrial organizational psychology.
These days, it seems like every absurd blockchain project has a group of founders who funnel huge amounts of money (or awarded tokens) to social media marketing. They pay teenage influencers to show their scripts to millions of followers in hopes of pumping market value into vaporware projects that will never get out of the alpha stage. In the best cases, their intentions are good and the execution is poor, but in many cases, their intention is poor and the execution is flawless. The history of cryptocurrency rug pull operations speaks for itself.
Of course, not everyone who is new to digital assets will see this coming and may not even understand what happened even after their portfolio goes below sea level. As a result, a majority of the new participants in the room are overwhelmed, confused or outright deceived when they use exchanges that promote obvious fraud. Some might say that this is a natural progression for new cryptocurrency users who have to learn on their own: “Just like we had to! Do your own research (DYOR) !!! “This is exactly the kind of mentality that is going to slow down adoption and cause more pain than necessary for newcomers.
This article is an extension of the same metaphor that I suggested in my first article, “The Bitcoin Customer Service Department.” Bitcoin exists as a completely new, decentralized organization. Society simply acts on incentives contained in the protocol. There is no CEO or board that prioritizes the participants’ activities.
The mises-esque ethos of Bitcoin will indicate that the toughness of the technology and the incentives are all that is required for the success of the Bitcoin network. In a long enough time frame, I completely agree with that feeling, but given what is at stake, I feel disappointed with our progress. While I have seen valiant attempts, I have been overwhelmed by society’s ability to counteract the negative and misleading narrative that is spit out from many of the media. At the time of writing, it seems to me that these attempts are circulating in the Bitcoin bubble of blog posts and podcasts.
Let us imagine that Bitcoin has a marketing department, or in a way that is more akin to the decentralized nature of the network, many marketing departments. What can these marketing departments focus on? In my opinion, it would be wise to reach as broad a base of investors as possible. The reasons for this are twofold: Adoption has a strong networking effect and widespread adoption increases the political defense of Bitcoin. Many of the messages about Bitcoin have been in a libertarian or technically knowledgeable sphere. This is perfectly understandable, but how does everyone else get interested? Realistically, there are many who are afraid of technology and many who do not agree with libertarian ideas. Bitcoiners often write off these people or count them as a lost cause. I’m not that quick to give up individual adaptability and intelligence.
At the risk of sounding grandiose, for this illustration, I envision myself being the vice president of marketing for Bitcoin. If I heard one of my managers say that we should ignore 50-70% of our addressable market because they could not understand the product concept, I would be inclined to fire that person on the spot. It is a losing attitude and at the core of any value-driven marketing effort is the intention to educate the market about the product and what it is good for. Depreciating potential customers for ideological reasons or for emotional reasons would be an unmistakable defeatist approach.
If a teacher fails half of his students, it may indicate very complex subject matter or an ineffective teacher. Of course we know that Bitcoin is a complex subject, but does it take all the responsibility from the teachers? Does it give us the confidence to throw up our hands and blame the media for misleading people? Many do not give up this effort. They work to support the understanding of Bitcoin with metaphors, comparisons, allegories and hard data. I wholeheartedly applaud that effort.
What I do not see, however, is a well-thought-out marketing boost into the public sphere outside the Bitcoin filter bubble. There must be dozens of other niche societies that overlap with interests related to Bitcoin. Examples could be in the energy sector, libertarian publications, organic farming, hunting magazines, video game reviews, or any entity working to reduce the size of the government or the scale of military activity. It is low-hanging fruit in my opinion. There are also more challenging paths that exist outside the typical Bitcoin wheelhouse of freedom-loving, sovereignty-seeking technology enthusiasts.
How can Bitcoin be of interest to political progressives, environmentalists or activists? Is there a way to reach these communities without alienating them? I see that Alex Gladstein is making a bold effort, but I also know many Bitcoiners who do not want to offer an olive branch. That reluctance can only be rooted in a lack of humility or in fear that the network will be controlled by a centralized force. Is that reluctance a rational behavior or is it simply short-term? Most Bitcoiners know that when a person buys bitcoin, the learning process accelerates significantly. Having skin in the game changes individual incentives in a way that benefits the network and humanity.
Imagine a billboard in downtown Seattle that says “Defund The Military Industrial Complex” or “The End of Bank Bailouts,” complete with a QR code that directs the viewer to educational material. It’s the kind of marketing that makes people stop and think. In cases where the target audience is probably impulsive towards bitcoin, you may also want to refer people to a website that shows data and facts about the problems with fiat before the solution is revealed.
Imagine going to the JM Bullion website and seeing a banner ad with a picture of gold bars on the left and a pile of scrap metal on the right. Above the left panel is “Bitcoin” in Helvetica or Times New Roman, and to the right is “Crypto” in Comic Sans. This is a simple visual representation to explain the point of view that Bitcoiners have over the market, and it communicates the reality of the situation quite effectively. Any publication that reaches gold bugs or precious metal investors will deal with it immediately. I have often found that talking gold bugs about Bitcoin consistently is a downhill effort.
Imagine driving down I-75 between Chattanooga, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia and seeing a large orange billboard saying, “Trust the Federal Reserve and Wall Street? Do you have a plan B? “Or” Inflation got you down? ”
This will reach a market that is totally unaddressed at the moment. It is a world of working class people in the countryside who have practical skills that have been continually abused by the prevailing monetary system. These people may not have social media, but they may have hundreds of acres of arable land and generations of agricultural knowledge. In my opinion, the true value of the Bitcoin network is based on what can be achieved with it. Having real value in bitcoin trading can be just as important as the hash rate. Rural Americans often understand hard money better than the armies of keyboard warriors on the Internet. How can we bridge that gap?
Using the US Postal Service website, I got a quick estimate of $ 40,000 for sending letters or $ 30,000 for postcards to 50,000 people. Marketing in this way with eye-catching material has the potential to reach an audience and an age group that is currently untouched. An orange envelope with the Bitcoin logo on the outside can be a nice touch. Now add “Inflation is theft.” It seems to me that the experiment may be worth a try.
One of the biggest advantages of the public blockchain is its constant availability for auditing. If a collective Bitcoin marketing fund was created, those who contribute could see their funds move. Images of the physical installments, click data and QR counts can be collected to assess the effectiveness of the marketing campaign in a report to investors. It may even be possible to enable contributors to have a say in the marketing approach, but let’s be very careful about posting scary material and embarrassing ourselves.
There are sharp minds all over the world who work around the clock to sell absolute junk products to the general public. They have lots of market data and experience with advertising campaigns. Let’s not overlook the talent found in the market. Some Bitcoiners claim that the marketing industry is part of the fiat mess, but the chess pieces stand as they stand. Let’s find a way to explain Bitcoin in terms that different populations can agree on and use the tools at our disposal.
Civil rights: “Bitcoin does not know the color of your skin.” Autonomy: “I do not need to ask a customer service representative or anyone else for permission to move my bitcoin.” Environment: “Bitcoin replaces outdated systems that motivate over the production of products that are built to fail.” Steal my ad ideas if you like them. I’ll have more.
We sit still on what is the best product ever made.
Many of us know this on our own because as soon as we understood it, we bought as much bitcoin as we could afford. Some of us bought more than that. The grassroots cascade of Bitcoin understanding is inevitable, and it seems to be accelerating as more content is created, but that does not mean we can not help it with some strategic spending. As a decentralized resource, these ads do not need to direct potential users to a particular website or exchange, and it does not matter who has the ads set up. They simply show Bitcoin knowledge in the crowd, and we all have an advantage.
How can we bring this digital movement further into the physical world? Doesn’t the incentive structure that lies in keeping bitcoin motivate this marketing behavior from big owners? Why don’t groups of Bitcoiners band together to hire marketing companies to educate the masses? What prevents us from creating a single fund to allocate capital to an experienced marketing team?
The answer, of course, is nothing. There is nothing stopping us from doing this.
This is a guest post by Maxx Mannheimer. Expressed opinions are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
