Team: Marketing
Cycle: 8
Period: August 1, 2022 - October 31, 2022
Amount Requested: 138,566.21 USDC
Destination: api3m.eth
In Cycle 7 we soft-launched production dAPIs on Polygon, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and RSK, and we introduced the new API3 Market. We sponsored EthCC and used it as an opportunity to promote dAPIs to early adopters. We helped promote ChainAPI’s launch. We saw AccuWeather launch an Airnode. We launched QRNG on 13 blockchains simultaneously which was promptly used in an NFT showcase project.
We did some reorganizing and hiring. We distinguished between community growth efforts and community moderation, setting up a lean community moderation group who will transition to the Operations team so that the Marketing team can focus on growth. We hired a communications lead, @T.W, who is already making an impact. We separated the non-English language teams from the core marketing team into their own proposals. We’re creating a new Ecosystem team that will focus on working closely with our blockchain/platform partners to ensure we provide top notch support and exposure in their developer communities.
Marketing team members continued posting weekly (ish) progress reports to share what we’ve done for the DAO.
Thanks to @Marcus for preparing the community reports for May and June. The July report is coming soon. Here are some high level membership numbers. See the reports for more detail.
April 30 | May 31 | June 30 | |
---|---|---|---|
Twitter Followers | 43,970 | 44,594 | |
Discord Members | 4,250 | 4,636 | 4,858 |
Reddit Members | 2,415 | 2,455 | 2,488 |
YouTube Subscribers | 1,630 | 1,650 | |
Forum Users | 422 | 432 |
Scope
In Cycle 8 our goals are to:
- Raise awareness of dAPIs as a new and improved kind of blockchain data feed
- Improve how API3, Airnode, and dAPIs are communicated
- Raise awareness of the API3 brand as a whole
- Support the Business Development and Ecosystem teams
- Make the API3.org website more clear and effective
- Animated API3 explainer videos
- Utilize web measurement/analytics tools more effectively
- Showcase use and adoption of API3 tech
Specific team deliverables are:
- Website
- Updates to remove outdated content, reflect where API3 is now, and improve how the project is presented
- Update the tech behind the API3.org website to enable safe, frequent changes
- New showcase projects page
- New partners page
- 2-3 animated explainer videos, currently intended to explain
- APIs and blockchain API connectivity problem
- dAPIs and API3 data feeds
- Service coverage and quantified security
- Monthly reports on web traffic, community activity, and API3 adoption
- Baseline for advertising efforts and subsequent improvement
- Opportunistic content that supports the API3 marketing strategy
- Regular hygiene marketing content
Budget
Amount (USDC) | |
---|---|
Grants | 68,025.00 |
Budgeted Expenses | 145,000.00 |
Previous Cycle | -74,458.79 |
Amount Requested | 138,566.21 |
Grants & Expenses
Monthly Grants
These are team members who work regularly (daily) on the marketing team and have specific responsibilities.
Member | Roles | Hours/Week | Monthly (USDC) |
---|---|---|---|
Ryan | Marketing Manager | 40+ | 4,375 |
Marcus | Analytics & Community | 40+ | 5,000 |
Çan | Design | 40+ | 5,000 |
Tom | Communications | 40+ | 5,000 |
Ry | Community Engagement | 15+ | 2,000 |
Rachel | Media & Design | 15+ | 1,300 |
Monthly Total | 22,675 | ||
Cycle Total | 68,025 |
Budgeted Expenses
These are non-grant expenses allocated for planned efforts or reserved in case they’re needed for unplanned efforts.
Purpose | Amount (USDC) |
---|---|
Content | 45,000 |
Events | 50,000 |
Public Relations | 18,000 |
Advertising & Promotion | 20,000 |
Community Tips | 8,000 |
IT & Subscriptions | 2,000 |
Transaction & Exchange Fees | 2,000 |
Total | 145,000 |
-
Content: 45,000
- Website migration to ReactJS & Strapi CMS: 5,000
- Website updates design & development: 15,000
- Animated explainer videos: 12,000
- Reserved for unplanned projects: 13,000
-
Events: 50,000
- Korean Blockchain Week: 10,000
- Reserved for unplanned events: 40,000
-
Public Relations: 18,000
- 6k/month estimated for media efforts
-
Advertising & Promotion: 20,000
- Budget for blockchain developer targeted advertising
-
Community Tips: 8,000
- Replenish the community tip wallet with API3 tokens
- Alternatively, tokens could come from the hot wallet to avoid spending USDC
-
IT & Subscriptions: 2,000
- IT and subscription services used primarily by the marketing team
-
Transaction & Exchange Fees: 2,000
- Fees incurred from Ethereum transactions and token exchanges
Note that 92,000 USDC are planned while 53,000 USDC (in italics) are reserved for unplanned efforts so that we have it available if needed. See here and here for more detail. Any unused amount will be carried over to the next cycle to reduce the amount requested.
Roles & Responsibilities
Ryan (@ryan) - Marketing Manager
Deliverables
- Accountable for overall marketing team performance
- Develop and execute marketing strategy
- Brand and content development and guidance
- Responsible for team composition
- Support marketing team members
- Marketing team administration and finance
- Marketing team reporting
Marcus (@Marcus) - Analytics & Community
Marcus’ objectives are
- Lead efforts to track and report marketing results with measurement and analytics tools
- Facilitate community engagement and growth through community contests and activities
Deliverables
- Analytics for website, forum, marketplace, community & social channels, adoption, etc…
- Report results and insights to the marketing team and DAO
- Collaborate with @dumbbtcjuice on community initiatives to increase community engagement
- Translate and publish API3 content in German
- Support the moderation team providing responsive, constructive moderation and support on API3 Discord and Telegram
Çan (@can) - Design
Çan’s objective is ensure the quality design and delivery of the API3 brand and experience so that it serves its purpose and consistently captures the attention of, appeals to, and sticks with API3’s target audiences.
Deliverables
- Communications are visually strong, appealing, and consistent including
- Website
- Medium
- Social Media
- Video
- Events
- Promotional Products
- Advertisements
- Target customer profiles are clearly identified and intentionally prioritized in communications
- Ensure a positive and effective web user experience
Tom (@T.W) - Communications
Tom’s objective is to ensure consistent, on-brand communications across all channels and content.
Deliverables
- Write official announcements, newsletters, web copy, etc…
- Write unofficial opinion and thought leadership content
- Support other team members’ written content
- Produce content in other forms as needed, e.g. video, art, etc…
- Ensure a positive and effective web user experience
Ry (@dumbbtcjuice) - Community Engagement
Ry’s objective is to engage the API3 community so that we maintain a positive, two-way connection with community members. A healthy community is an important part of a healthy DAO. Examples of activities include:
- Ensure API3 news is shared effectively with the community
- Listen to community members and ensure they are heard by teams
- Find ways to make being an API3 community member meaningful
- Collaborate with @Marcus on community contests, giveaways, etc…
Rachel (@Rachel) - Media & Design
Rachels primary objective is to create regular live media that serves the API3 marketing strategy, including:
- Community Calls (every 2 weeks or more, on average)
- Interviews
Secondarily, Rachel will assist @can with design activities.
Cycle 7 Financials
USDC Marketing Expenses 2022-05-01..2022-07-31, valued at period ends || May Jun Jul Total ============++================================================ Revenues || ------------++------------------------------------------------ API3 DAO || 208,471.81 0 0 208,471.81 Exchange || 0 1,975.40 0 1,975.40 ------------++------------------------------------------------ || 208,471.81 1,975.40 0 210,447.21 ============++================================================ Expenses || ------------++------------------------------------------------ Content || 9,398.73 10,415.00 3,309.54 23,123.27 Events || 0 9,506.87 55,170.86 64,677.73 Exchange || 2,000.00 2,000.00 0 4,000.00 Grants || 26,975.00 24,475.00 26,308.33 77,758.33 IT || 497.27 1,269.82 386.92 2,154.01 Operations || 2,500.00 3,000.00 0 5,500.00 PR || 22,000.00 20,850.00 6,500.00 49,350.00 Txn Fees || 4.84 0 0 4.84 ------------++------------------------------------------------ || 63,375.84 71,516.69 91,675.65 226,568.18 ============++================================================ Net: || 145,095.97 -69,541.29 -91,675.65 -16,120.97
USDC Wallet Balances 2022-04-30..2022-07-31, valued at period ends || 2022-04-30 2022-05-31 2022-06-30 2022-07-31 ===================++================================================ Assets || -------------------++------------------------------------------------ API3m || 74,148.78 221,852.28 173,212.24 106,140.22 Old Wallet || 873.43 873.43 873.43 873.43 Prepaid || 58,995.18 58,995.18 58,995.18 37,000.00 Security Deposits || 0 3,000.00 3,000.00 3,000.00 -------------------++------------------------------------------------ || 134,017.39 284,720.89 236,080.85 147,013.65 ===================++================================================ Liabilities || -------------------++------------------------------------------------ Credit Card || 2,564.20 510.29 1,847.98 106.43 Invoice || 0 7,150.00 20,265.00 3,925.00 Reimburse || 0 511.44 6,960.00 0 Unbilled || 0 0 0 27,650.00 -------------------++------------------------------------------------ || 2,564.20 8,171.73 29,072.98 31,681.43 ===================++================================================ Net: || 131,453.19 276,549.16 207,007.87 115,332.22
Administrative
Marketing Wallet
The destination for funds is api3m.eth, a 2/3 multisig wallet managed by Ryan Boder, Marcus Grabmuller, and Erich Dylus.
API3 Alliance Marketing Agreement Signatories
Ben Carvill and Marcus Grabmuller are designated as authorized signatories on behalf of the API3 Foundation for API3 Alliance Member Marketing Agreements until revoked by subsequent DAO Resolution, if and only if the API Provider meets the following conditions:
- The API Provider’s web API is in production or is expected to be within 6 months.
- The API Provider’s web API has a reasonable Web3 use case.
- The API Provider has an online brand/presence of reasonable quality.