Thoughts on Ethereum Marketing: “Solve a huge, sexy problem in a way most people don’t need to understand”

Mike Elias

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Jan 4 · 3 min read

I’m not a marketer by trade, though I haven’t heard this approach expressed elsewhere. Hope it’s useful.

Solve a huge, sexy problem

A huge problem doesn’t seem to be enough. The problem must also be “sexy.”

SEXY:

1. Easy money (Coinbase during the bull run)
2. Status (Twitter)
3. Everyday usefulness (Trello)

NOT SEXY:

1. Privacy
2. Data ownership
3. Decentralization
4. Censorship resistance

(If any of these were sexy, Facebook would be dead already.)

…in a way most people don’t need to understand

Avoid upgrades

If a project requires users to upgrade their tech, worldview, know-how, or values before seeing benefits, it’s not a good candidate for mass appeal.

Many of these “upgrades” are important — but all of them are incompatible with onboarding the masses:

Tech upgrades

• Metamask—Nobody outside of crypto has it or knows how to use it.
• Private keys in general—Nobody knows what private keys are or how they work.

Worldview upgrades

• “The Fed is bad” — Nobody knows or cares what the Federal Reserve is or does. It’s a boring, complex-sounding issue (desperately in need of a good meme).
• “What is money, really”—Nobody knows or cares what hard money is, or any of that. 30% of Americans still believe the dollar is backed by gold.

Know-how upgrades

• How to leverage trade (nobody knows how to use Bitmex)
• What are options, collateralized debt positions, limit orders, etc. (nobody knows these things)

Values upgrades

• “Decentralization”—Nobody knows what this means or why it’s game-changing.
• Self-custody”—Nobody wants to buy a hardware wallet for $80

Potential Examples

1. Outlet.finance

Big, sexy problem: EASY MONEY. Outlet offers up to 100x the interest of a typical savings account. (They don’t pay me or anything—this is just an obvious win.)

Avoid upgrades: Yes. Users make USD deposits and withdrawals just like any other bank. Funds are insured by NexusMutual, overcoming the #1 objection of newcomers.

2. Argent

Big, sexy problem: EASY MONEY + EVERYDAY USEFULNESS. Invest in crypto and get instant collateralized loans.

Avoid upgrades: Mostly. Still need to buy crypto elsewhere and transfer it, but after that, Argent makes DeFi simple.

If I had to onboard 100 million users in 6 months, how would I do it?

1. Centralize the front end of DeFi

Paypal allows you to send money to anyone with an email account, even if they don’t have Paypal. Instead, they send you an email with a link to “Sign up and claim your money.”

Linkdrop.io is two inches from becoming the onboarding layer of the entire DeFi industry using a similar approach.

Dapp developers could use Linkdrop to enable credit card payments, with token purchases sent in a follow-up email. (Ideamarket will be among the first to implement this.)

By centralizing the front end of DeFi, mainstream users can get its benefits without requiring the upgrades.

2. Influencer marketing with top celebrities

People don’t trust crypto, they think it’s not a thing anymore, etc. Hearing from people you recognize, who shape culture on a regular basis, lowers the barrier to trust. Here’s Snoop Dogg doing shout-outs for $750: https://www.cameo.com/snoopdogg

3. Simplest winners + biggest exposure.

To me, this means Outlet.Finance + Superbowl Ad + Viral Loops.

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I’m working on Global Liquidity and Ideamarkets—our aim is to do to corporate media what bitcoin does to banks.

If you liked this article, donate $1 to our Gitcoin grant! https://gitcoin.co/grants/175/idea-markets

$1 = $67 thanks to quadratic funding