Marketing Team Proposal, November 2022 – January 2023 (Cycle 9)
Team: Marketing
Operations cycle: #9
Period: 1 November 2022 – 31 January 2023 (3-months)
Amount: 67,600 USDC
Destination: API3m.eth
address signers:
Tom
Marcus
[TBD]
2/3 Multisig
Outline
This proposal aims to address the criticisms of the previous marketing initiative, namely: overspend, slow turn around, lack of coordination, and low community engagement.
We will connect the teams who need content and the creators who can deliver; specifying a design language and system with which the teams are better able to communicate their needs, primarily in the medium of the deliverable; specifying brand attributes and how to best exemplify them in written and visual content.
We redefine the responsibilities of community manager, trying new engagement efforts in educational content creation, both written and podcast, aimed at the crypto enthusiast.
Why focus on branding now?
We are all part of this DAO because we see the benefits of decentralized command; moving the decisions out to the edge so that they can be made with the most accurate information and fastest reaction time.
From a design perspective, time spent coordinating content needs via meetings would be better spent composing in the medium of the deliverable to more accurately communicate expectations, with a final pass done by a designer or copywriter. Templates would enable this.
But, in order for a team of content creators to make cohesive contributions expressing a strategic message, they must share an understanding of the message and its purpose. Though we all individually know why we are passionate about API3, together we are missing a unified mission and brand purpose.
Current branding tools are limited to a design guide created by Entrecasa. While this asset is helpful for web designers, it does not contain anything on the personality or character of API3 necessary for a disparate group of content creators to cohesively portray the brand and create a connection with their audience.
A brand guide will lead mission-oriented content goals, and enhance the benefits of decentralized command. Strong brand identity communicates that the team behind the project is unified, organized, and professional, and builds confidence with users and enthusiasts.
Combining brand guidelines and templates will ensure that any content created by teams starts in the right direction, greatly reducing time required of full time designers, copywriters, and the marketing manager. Templates will assist teams in communicating their needs and expectations even when the assets requested require a designer or copywriter to do the majority of the work.
Additionally, with brand guidelines and templates as examples, API3 will be able to work more efficiently with contractors on any scale from web development teams down to contracted writers, and designers, so that what they deliver is what we expect without the need for extensive briefs.
The proposed assets also lay the foundation for the design system needed by the UX team and Entrecasa.
Implementing brand guidelines and introducing templates will:
- Empower teams and contractors to create brand consistent content on their own.
- Facilitate accurate expression of expectations for novel assets to the creatives in Marketing or to contractors, allowing for a flexibly sized team.
- Decrease the time Ecosystem, BD, and Marketing use to coordinate content.
- Decrease the total hours of the marketing team.
- Decrease the time it takes to create needed assets.
- Increase API3’s perceived professionalism
Scope
The Marketing Team functions as the communications branch of API3, creating value by delivering a brand-aligned message across media and channels.
Cycle 8 Deliverables
Completed
- Website and Medium hygiene and updates
- analytics for community and advertising.
Undelivered
- Showcase and partners pages for website
- Animated explainer videos
The organization of Cycle 9 addresses the above by starting with well-defined roles, responsibilities, documentation procedures, and KPIs for each team member enabling the DAO to assess our work as it’s in progress.
Our priorities this cycle are branding and education.
Cycle 9 outline:
Branding:
- Research
- Direction
- Guidance
Content creation:
- Copywriting
- Podcasts
- Graphics
- Inter-team support
- Templates
Publication:
- Medium
- Socials
- iTunes/Spotify
- Media Outreach
Deliverables Cycle 9:
- Target Audience Research
- 16 Personalities
- 12 Archetype affinities
- Brand style guide
- Words
- Visuals
- Templates for internal use
- Visual (Slide decks, announcements, etc)
- Written (PR, blogs, etc)
- Graphics
- Educational visual aids
- Icon library expansion
- Content
- API3 concepts intro blog series
- Podcast format of existing video media
- Announcement SOP
What is the process for the deliverables?
As brand designers looking to solidify an existing brand, it is our job to look at the possible sets of personas, limit them to the most synergistic to the project’s strategy, and ensure consensus within the team.
Branding
We will conduct a study to understand the distribution of 16 personality types and 12 archetpical affinities of the following groups :
- API3 DAO contributors
- Developers (as sourced from previous research email list)
- Affiliated project internal teams (Contacted through TG groups)
Understanding how these groups identify with the 12 archetypes and whether or not they want to affiliate with a brand that mirrors them or plays a supporting role will help us frame API3’s identity, while understanding the personality distribution within our audience will guide communications.
We will distill these down to compatible and synergistic brand characteristics, using those to build personas. When we have a viable selection, we will host a API3 DAO-wide meeting to present the options.
When a persona is agreed upon, it will begin on the final brand style and voice and tone guides.
Once finalized, these will live in the Brand folder on Google Drive.
Templates
Looking at the receipts of asset requests in the Marketing Monday account, as well as through new discussions with BD and Ecosystem, we will compose a prioritized list of needed templates.
Using the brand persona and voice and tone guide, we will create the visual and written templates.
As these are created, they will be uploaded to the Google Drive folder, and we will work directly with the teams for feedback and optimization.
Timeline
Preplanning
We have implemented Linear for our team to increase transparency and accountability, as well as facilitate inter-team cooperation. All of the job descriptions below are directly translatable into the Linear format, and anyone with the link to the board will be able to assess our progress throughout the cycle. Tom will schedule phases 1-5 in Linear, assigning team member responsibilities. Each team member will take those and create the issues that need to be accomplished to complete their deliverables.
Phase 1
Research is lead by Tom. Advised by iH5Qs (a consumer research agency), he develops the questionnaire for internal, business, and developer research groups.
Tom handles API3-internal sampling and messaging the email list for developer research respondents. Dave distributes to BD connections through TG.
Can and Tom meet with Ecosystem and BD to discuss templates.
Can wireframes templates and develops explainer graphics and icons while reading docs and blog articles.
Alongside this, Can and Marcus work on introductory level educational content. Tom and Can support other teams (writing/graphics). Marcus moderates community channels.
Tom edits Marcus’s content creation (detailed below), guiding style and setting up processes and expectations.
Tom manages social media (Twitter, LinkedIn); works with Marcus on Reddit.
Phase 2
Internal respondents to the questionnaire will likely be the first statistically relevant group.
Because we believe external projects will mirror our own team’s composition, from this data we can begin to build 16-personality/archetype-driven models of the API3 brand.
Can will begin ideation of visual expressions for templates guided by this new data.
Tom steps back oversight of Marcus’s content creation as track record is established.
Content creation, publication, social, and community efforts continue.
Phase 3
External data becomes statistically relevant.
Can and Tom focus on branding efforts, while Marcus pushes content creation with little oversight.
16-personality/archetype based branding, visual and written communication, modeling is complete.
We present these potential brand directions to the API3 DAO for discussion.
Content creation, publication, social, and community efforts continue.
Phase 4
Brand direction chosen by the DAO.
Can and Tom begin work on the final brand style guide (visual+written presentation) and templates.
Content creation, publication, social, and community efforts continue.
Phase 5
Brand style guide and templates are completed.
Can and Tom develop a workshop for DAO contributors on how to use these new assets.
Tom organizes workshop times with different teams.
Presentations are recorded, and saved to the Branding Drive Folder, where the guide and templates live.
Content creation, publication, social, and community efforts continue.
Team reviews efforts over Cycle 9 and plans for Cycle 10
Team Member Roles and KPIs
Tom
We expect Tom to spend 40 hr/wk on administration, branding and content.
Administration
PR/Announcements
Working with Heikki to develop a SOP for PR/Announcements so no steps are missed. For the purpose of this proposal, the general concept is as follows.
- Messaging
- Work with those developing the tech to understand:
- Target audience
- Selling points
- Content
- Layman’s blog post subjects (work with marcus)
- Number of posts per channel
- Goal of each post
- CTAs
- Work with those developing the tech to understand:
- Logistics
- Schedule responsibilities (when is who doing what)
- Channels of distribution: Twitter, Press, Blog, Reddit
- Assign writing responsibility to individuals
- Assign publishing responsibility to individuals
- Working with external PR
Leadership
- Interteam liaison
- Ensure support work is understood by team until there is a system in place for tracking direct communication of tasks between teams and content creators
- Create SOP for inte-rteam communication, tracking, and accountability.
- Obsolete this responsibility
- Prioritization
- Understand team tasks and responsibilities and how they fit into API3 big picture
- Adapt task list to changing needs of API3
- Organization:
- Linear
- Lead issue creation and attribution
- Check weekly with team on status of issues (todo, in progress, complete… etc)
- Write weekly WPRs for whole team
- Linear
Branding
Research
Questionnaire
- Break down 16 personalities test
- What questions define each digit of the acronym?
- Break down Archetypes test based on 16 personalities
- Look for crossovers
- Develop questions with guidance from iH5Qs.
- Work with Can to incorporate visual preferences
- Develop segmentation and tracking system for data collection
- Collect data
- Distribute internally
- Work with team leads to ensure high participation rates
- Distribute Externally
- Use mailing list from Ben and T to reach out to Devs
- Work with Dave to distribute over TG to business partners
- Distribute internally
Data analysis
- Understand the distribution of 16 personality types
- Breakdown by audience
- Read literature on top personalities
- Find commonalities if distributed
- Understand archetypal identity and affiliation preferences
- Breakdown by audience
- Desire to affiliate with brands
- Same as identity
- supporting role to identity
- Prioritize who we are talking to
- What is the primary, secondary, tertiary
- Personality type
- Archetype
- What are their commonalities and differences?
- Do archetypes match to personality types
- Can these be targeted depending on
- Channel
- Audience
- Can these be targeted depending on
- What is the primary, secondary, tertiary
Development
Persona
- Work with Can to translate data into a presentation of API3 that matches with how personality types want to be communicated with, while presenting as the archetype that they want to affiliate with.
Style Guide
- Lead the creation of the writing section
- Generally explain voice, tone, diction, etc. (could be developed into messaging and storytelling frameworks if enough time)
- Create examples of use within templates
- Lead style guide workshops
- Team members understand how guides influence their work
- Visual
- Ensure consistency with Can
Templates
- Lead meetings with teams on content needs
- Selection of visual/written templates
- Lead written template creation based off research
- Work with Can to develop guides for all template types
- Copywriting
- Editing
- Lead written template workshops
- Team members understand how to use templates to create brand-consistent content
Content
Podcast
- Research
- Expected growth rates
- Promotion strategies
- Guest appearances by API3 contributors on other podcasts
- Precedents
- Styles
- Niches
- Gaps
- Develop podcast style and schedule with Marcus
- Create timeline and benchmarks for overtaking YouTube plays used to assess pass/fail of effort at end of cycle
Copywriting
- Ad-hoc copy support for Ecosystem, BD, etc.
Publication:
- Socials
- Twitter shares and retweets
- Reddit - coordination with Marcus and others to assist in rising in rankings
- Medium
- Press
Can
We estimate Can will spend 32 hr/wk on branding and design work.
Branding
Research
- Identify personas and their goals
- By defining 3-5 personas we are able to point out the most common frustrations, motivations and goals.
- Understanding of the target group. (Demographics, psychographics, Challenges, preferred channels, preferred content types)
- Work with Tom to optimize: Brand Personality, Brand voice,
Style Guide
- Typography use cases
- Typeface use defined precisely, enabling a unified presentation on all platforms and across all campaigns.
- Color pallet Update
- A deeper but balanced color palette that facilitates better visualization, focus steering, optimal use of elements (an example, currently we use our secondary color as error coding, which gives a false association).
- Image style
- Define an image style to standardize image selection or direction in content creation for the api3 staff as well as for any marketing campaign.
- Iconography pallet/ growing library
- Proactively grow this library of icons used for advertising purposes or in context for the professional appearance, identifying holes in what’s available.
- Create a spreadsheet to track assets
- Create a request process for new icons.
- Clearly define the use of all of the above points; how they should be used individually and in conjunction with each other.
Templates
- Selection of templates to make covering
- Presentations
- Announcements
- Events
- Partnerships
- Guides
- Build in how-tos into templates(e.g. Links to icon library, visual explainers, etc)
- Basic design principles
Design
UX/UI
- Develop and optimize user flows
- Perform user tests to be certain about the hierarchy and usability. This will be conducted by 1v1s and survey like testing tools.
- Present the best way to lead certain personas through pages, e.g. in the fastest way possible or more detailed depending on page goals.
- Perform user tests to be certain about the hierarchy and usability. This will be conducted by 1v1s and survey like testing tools.
- Build userflow-optimized page structures in Figma
- Mid-fidelity wireframes will be the foundation to build out the webpage.
- Develop mobile-first pages with the atomic design principle
- Design Guide
- Maintain consistency across all products
- Define color, typography, spacing. (Digitally: Buttons, input & forms, Icons, errors prevention & status)
2D
- Creating graphics for digital publication
- for Ecosystem, Marketing, BD, etc
- Proactively look for visuals to make while reading through blogs and documentation.
- Digital collateral includes: Websites, Web banners, Social media assets, etc
- Creating graphics physical products
- Handling sourcing and production
- Physical collateral includes: Business cards, Brochures, Package design, Flyers, Stationary, Stickers, Promotional material, Environmental collateral
API3 general
- Expansion of the icon library
- Proactively
- Create a request and documentation process to ensure that specific icons are created and made available for re-use.
- Management of the library
- Logo Update
- Currently the logo is not scalable to smaller sizes. Remake in a way that it can be used for printed and digital media.
Marcus
We estimate Marcus will spend 25 hr/wk on community management, and audio logistics that will cover setting up optimization guides for YouTube contributors and the podcast backend. Marcus will receive API3 tokens in a pay-per-piece agreement for content creation detailed in the salary section below.
Community Management
Administrative
- Research, implement and maintain a contemporary presentation and organization of community channels like Discord.
- Provide channel descriptions
- Add new channels if necessary, and remove inactive ones
- Moderation
- Ensure that topics and discussions are assigned to the appropriate channels or categories
- Manage permissions for different API3 team members
- Share announcements
- Coordinate the release of updates across all official API3 channels
- Support Resource Management
- Create and manage resources that help to clarify questions and concerns by the community, such as the API3 FAQ and troubleshooting guides.
- Audit existing (remove outdated info)
- Update existing (new answers or information)
- Create a record of support inquiries and their solutions when needed to expand the support Q&A on the forum.
- Document questions, concerns, and technical issues haven’t been addressed yet to eventually add them to the docs
- Manage bots and webhooks
- Implement new or manage existing bots, i.e. to counter scams, track analytics data or improve responsiveness by moderators
- Provide analytics
- Create monthly community reports
- Deliver statistics regarding community growth and engagement of all official API3 channels
- Suggest changes for improving performance
Support and External Moderator Management
-
Engage on Reddit, Discord, Forum, Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube
-
Handle any incoming support tickets via email
-
Manage BUNCH
-
Outline how to address questions and concerns by the community, and how to detect and counter suspicious activities on Telegram and Discord
-
Provide assistance for the moderation team if they need input on how to handle a particular situation on our community channels
-
Hold monthly meetings with the moderation team to discuss incidents within the community and provide potential feedback
Content Creation
Content will be paid for on a piece-by-piece basis with the rates defined in detail in the salary section.
Audio Engineering
Create Podcasts
-
Create publication procedure
- Identify all free channels of publication (iTunes, Spotify, etc)
- Inventory branded assets needed for each channel
- Precedent research on crypto podcasts like Bankless and Empire
- Icon
- Banner
- Copy
- Precedent research on crypto podcasts like Bankless and Empire
- Work with Can and Tom to provide assets
-
Refreshing old content
-
Review API3 YouTube content
- Determine which videos can be converted into podcast episodes, and how they should be edited
- Assign videos to different categories based on their topics
- Decide which topics complement each other for potential podcast series or standalone episodes
- Consider which videos are not suited for podcasts, i.e. videos that require visual input such as coding workshops
- Download the videos from YouTube Studio and convert them into audio files
- Create a filing system for the audio files, attaching their content to the intents of the Summary and Storyboard Docs.
- Determine which videos can be converted into podcast episodes, and how they should be edited
-
Set up a summary and storyboard docs for a listing of podcast episodes
- Decide in which order the videos will be converted into podcast episodes by setting up a priority list of content deliverables
- Save links to episodes that have been edited
- Write summaries about edited podcasts, including lessons contained within
-
Editing
- Detect and filter out background noise and distractive sounds
- EQ properly for voice so speaker is clear and consistent across episode
- Ensure that the cadence of the speaker is confident and engaging
- Increase pause length in hasty sentences
- Remove stutters and repetitive patterns
- Ensure smooth transitions for sections that are cut out or pasted in from other parts of the timeline or other videos
-
Assess continuing efforts and creating new episodes after 5 edits from existing content.
- Average time spent on
- planning
- editing
- Quality increase?
- Listenership on track to outperform…
- Youtube
- Average views on EthCC series is 137/video
- 2k, 5k, are standout performers
- Youtube
- New episodes
- Precedents: Bankless, Empire… etc.
- What style do we see the show taking on?
- Assess time and equipment requirements
- Storyboarding
- intros/outros
- What’s consistent and what changes each episode?
- Precedents: Bankless, Empire… etc.
- Average time spent on
Audio Equipment Optimization
- Teach team members how to set up their existing audio equipment
- auxiliary or internal computer microphone to improve the quality of their recordings and streams
- Perform sound checks for team members recording community calls or other content
- Ensure consistency across low and high volumes.
Writing
Educational
- Blog series “Connecting the Dots”: an introduction to API3 for people with little to no technical background
- Clarifies different terminologies of the internet and the API3 ecosystem (APIs, Web3, dApps) in an easy language
- Explains the long-term vision of API3, and how it contributes to the development and benefit of Web3 (such as dApps) for private consumers and businesses
- Sets stage for understanding MEV
Encouraging contribution
- Create case studies highighting contributions by community members that were valuable both to the DAO and rewarded the contributor
- Conduct interviews with contributors of the API3 DAO to learn about their story how they discovered API3, why they got involved in the DAO and how they applied their meat space experience to Web3
German Translation
- Translate new technical updates by burak and major announcements that are shared through twitter
- Tweet the German translations from personal handle
- Translate existing API3 content if down time
- Submit translations to German publications
Expenses
Grants
Marcus: $2700 + pay-per-piece
Can: $4000
Tom: $5000
Pay-per-piece (PPP)
Payable in API3 token equivalent, and requested from the hot wallet. Estimating 2 writing and 3 audio pieces per month, not to exceed 4 writing and 4 audio pieces per month, or API3$1000 for writing and API3$500 for podcasts.
Writing
- technical articles and case studies: $0.2/word
- Ex. Case Study: DAO Tracker would cost API3$258.4
- Interviews edited into blog articles: $0.1/word
Podcasts
- Reworking YouTube: 7.5$ per published minute for the first 10 minutes, then 5$ per minute. (125$ for 20 minute episode)
- Turning the Web3 Shift to First Party Oracles into a podcast with a 12:51 runtime would cost $89
- Original content: 10$ per published minute for the first 10 minutes, then 7.50$ per minute. ($137.5 for a 15 minute episode).
Miscellaneous
| Purpose | Amount (USDC) |
|---|---|
| Content | API3 4500 |
| Public Relations | 21,000 |
| Advertising & Promotion | 5,000 |
| IT & Subscriptions | 2,000 |
| Transaction & Exchange Fees | 0 |
| Total | 32,500 |
- Content:
- PPP: API3 4,500 (Source: hot wallet)
- Public Relations: 21,000
- 7k estimated for each PR effort
- 2 PR parties used in past announcement
- 7k outstanding for OEV PR
- 1 announcement estimated this cycle
- Advertising & Promotion: 5,000
- Reserved for promoting questionnaire participation (if need be).
- IT & Subscriptions: 2,000
- IT and subscription services used primarily by the marketing team
- Transaction & Exchange Fees: 0
- 1.6688 ETH is in the wallet, which we will keep to cover costs.
Cycle 8 Carryover
The API3m.eth wallet currently has 145,602.82 USDC with outstanding payments for WorkDAO for Sep and Oct (21,000.00) leaving 124,602.82. We suggest keeping $67,600 and returning the remaining 57,002.82, while requesting API3 tokens from the hot wallet to fund this proposal.