Marketing in a World of Smoke and Mirrors

This post is a transcript of a talk I gave at the World Crypto Economic Forum (WCEF.co) in San Francisco, on January 15th, 2018.

The speed and growth of blockchain as an industry is insane. The markets will definitely see some corrections, but in the end they won’t matter. It’s a world-shifting, game-changing technology, and people know it. No one is using it to buy their groceries yet, but they will be soon.

Hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into an idea creates explosive growth. A lot of companies. How do you make an actually great idea shine in that gigantic of a shitstorm?

Step 1: Be real, prove it. Do this primarily with content, communication, and code. Don’t go too heavy on marketing jargon. Before you worry about colorful presentations, fancy graphics on your website, throwing parties, or anything involving Lamborghinis:

Make sure you have a couple of clear, simple materials that show who you are, what you are doing, and why you are doing it. In this world it’s often a more technical whitepaper and a more PR/marketing focused one pager.

Communicate Clearly — Manage your channels. Channel management is key. Figure out which channels are important and focus on those, telegram, twitter, github, email, your website, whatever is the most important for your audience.

Don’t send out fluff, send out clear, succinct updates, and be honest about what’s going on. If you don’t know, don’t make that shit up, it might be something your product needs. Collect feedback, put it into a manageable structure, and utilize it to improve.

Be open source. Even if you keep some of your code private, share everything you can. Show the actual work you are doing, let people see it. I’m playing with the idea of making my companies do open-source marketing. That means sharing internal branding documents, marketing plans, channel strategies, you name it. Why not? If you are doing real work, with a quality team and a quality approach, there is no reason not to share it. Maybe don’t put up those pictures from the Christmas party.

Step 2: Be honest. When we started Dispatch labs our website said we were going to end world hunger. Are we going to do that? I hope so, we had a tactical discussion about it and some cool ideas that might work. Are we going to end world hunger in the next year? Not bloody likely.

You aren’t going to kill Bitcoin, replace the US dollar, fix healthcare this year, or cause Chtulu to rise. Not right away. So focus on what you are going to do. If you are in the blockchain space, you are probably involved with developing, marketing, and launching a blockchain, sidechain, or dapp. Focus on that. Have a clear road map with actual details, explain what you are going to use your money for, without sharing every detail. Build out some clear real-world use cases.

If you can’t explain how your product is going to benefit a specific party, be that a business or an end-user, you haven’t done your messaging right.

Step 3: Don’t be afraid to be traditional. Don’t be afraid to be untraditional.

There are a lot of valuable lessons from traditional business. There are also a lot of problems with the old models. Don’t refuse to engage in something because it’s a part of the old world. Being old doesn’t make it bad. Creative Briefs are a great way to ensure you don’t waste money getting good creative. A simple, solid marketing plan is key to keeping a team aligned. That being said, inundating people with documents and meetings doesn’t help anyone. Figure out which pieces work and keep them. Ditch the rest.

By the same token, don’t be afraid to embrace the new, but also don’t adopt it just because it is new. You do not need salesforce, Microsoft dynamics, chime, asana, JIRA, smartsheets, emarsys, hipchat, zoom, whatever, just because they are there. Figure out what works and use that. Don’t waste money on systems and strategies that aren’t right for your business just because they are shiny and new. The right selection of tools and software can be effective for getting work done and being productive. Find them and use them, and check back to make sure they are being used. Skip the rest.

You care about things! That’s good. Even if I am not doing it today, I would love to end world hunger, lower the wealth gap, improve healthcare and the lives of veterans, put an end to violence, hatred and war. What you care about is up to you, but I recommend you incorporate the following:

Build a company that you would want to work for. Support fairness, equal opportunity and gender rights. Deny extremism of any kind. Do not be afraid to have principles, and do not give up on them for success.

Shortly after I joined Dispatch, I learned that we had turned down a blank check. We looked into where it came from and didn’t like what we saw. Nothing could have guaranteed that I pour my heart and soul into a project more than that.

Be pragmatic, but do not be afraid to draw a line. Success and morals are not mutually exclusive.

If you work on good projects with good values, you will find good investors and good people. Surround yourself with good people and you will succeed, and sleep soundly.

Blockchain is changing the world. We know that, the whole world might not know it yet, but they will damn soon. We have a unique opportunity to shepherd its development. To build something that we are proud of.

Work with me to dispel the smoke. To raise the standard of transparency.

The more we market honestly and thoughtfully, the better our ability to support and invest in the right tech, and to build a better future.