This is an informal post where I bring up how I think API3’s marketing should be done for the next cycle, ahead of any official proposal which would come towards the end of October
This post was inspired in part by the efforts made at downsizing the gross cycle budget for the DAO, which was aimed at reducing bloat to align with slightly delayed product timelinesAdd images
I see that the main value add that has come from marketing for the past several months has been
- reactively posting comms on social media/community channels
- sponsoring events when there’s a big push towards a new launch
- structuring outward facing content (e.g. the website)
An additional and rather important value addition (IMO - I’ve stated how I think our marketing should be primarily dev focused for a while now) can come from building up developer outreach, which the ecosystem team has taken upon itself and Ryan is also simultaneously pursuing
Based on this I’d like to see the marketing be structured into 3 proposals, with the order of flow of content going from ecosystem → a new content team → reactive marketing team
Ecosystem: creates material for and does developer outreach via talks on various platforms, directed at students, early stage developers, and generally developers across various ecosystems, such as Polygon - it has a well-defined structure in its current cycle imo
Content: creates briefs/copy for these events, and also pushing out non-technical content aimed at highlighting how API3 differentiates itself in the space/breaking down what the latest developments are
I’d recommend that @T.W lead this - his proposal can define what sort of KPIs he’d cater to, with the potential of being mainly paid on a contractor basis
If he seeks to go into branding with this proposal, I’d ask that he define exactly how much he’d ask of Entrecasa for this
Marketing: maintains community management reactively, including socials in tandem with an external comm mgmt team (BUNCH atm)
I would like to lead this as the ask is minimal - I’d mainly oversee how all these moving parts are being managed, while I can see someone along the lines of @Marcus taking up the day to day reactive messaging management, including engaging with BUNCH
This entity would serve as the successor to the current marketing team, and would ask for no more funding than the salaries of the 2 aforementioned roles, with the rollover from the previous cycle being sent over to a new multi-sig that is aimed at sponsoring major events for the next cycle based on the strategic direction we take (re: product launch)
The strategy can be decided over weekly marketing calls in a collaborative manner, while we have a lull for the coming cycle - before deciding how to proceed with the marketing team for the subsequent cycle, when we presumably will have to ramp things up in anticipation of product launches (this could include having someone else lead this reactive marketing + strategic direction proposal)
With the likelihood of there being soft launches prior to the next cycle, the marketing team can also make use of its rollover funds to cater to this when necessary, though I imagine the actual expenditure will be minimal
The ecosystem team can also drive some of the strategy relating to these soft launches, given that these will mainly be in the form of pieces of the final product that devs can test as they’re made available
I just thought I’d put these out there as this is what I and some others will be voting for, but I’m open to any suggestions in the comments below
I’m also aware that @Rico aims to pivot his LATAM team into taking over all the functions of the marketing team as it stands, so I’d invite him to reply in here with his thoughts, so that we can work out something that doesn’t necessarily have to be 2 competing proposals
I’d also like to add that Entrecasa/graphics could also still remain under the purview of the marketing team, but that can be left for debate