Hello all!
I have seen the need for advertising the brand and I know you have too. The "grass roots", "word of mouth" efforts have proven to be lacking in effect. Even though for the past year a usable sellable product was missing, the interest in Bitshares pales in comparison with the likes of other projects which will remain nameless.
With that said, I have decided I will put the delegate shares to work on helping bring more people to BitsharesX.
I don't plan on web advertising or attempting some impact through somekind of social media. I believe there are already people in charge of that.
My first target area is Silicon Valley and the surrounding Bay Area.
I have contacted Titan 360 in regards to pricing poster advertisements on B.A.R.T (Bay Area Rapid Transit).
I have contacted Lamar Advertising, BlueLine Media and CBSOutdoor about pricing billboards in the South Bay Area.
I have also reached out to RTUI for receipt advertising in the Bay Area. (Not sure if this would be a go. Haven't heard back on price and isn't the most effective way to advertise, but I'm looking for these type of alternatives).
All that said, these things cost money and the delegate role isn't even paying for the server I am currently running in order to be up 100% of the time. Also, my main advertising point would have to be the exchange and bitUSD. Both not operating on a GUI friendly level as of yet.
So at the current rate it may be a month or two before I bank enough shares and price increases to begin operating. Could be longer. I will be completely honest in that I do not want to put my own capital into this as I have already invested in the system through buying shares. If I sell my shares, I reap no reward for my efforts because my delegate pay will be going to ad costs. My effort and time will be my personal contribution to such project.
In the meantime VOTE/APPROVE skyscraperfarms.
I am a quite reliable delegate. I have a 98%+ reliability with near 400 blocks produced!
Thanks! Feedback allowed. Like it or hate, let me know.
This is the first post that has inspired me to want to become a delegate. I think I could do a lot for marketing if the money were available and I also think it's these sorts guerilla marketing campaigns which are better off decentralized.
But you highlight a concern which is in order to be a delegate it actually costs money at this time. I believe it costs somewhere between $5-10 a month? It's within range but it's still a loss and the share prices are actually going down which doesn't inspire confidence.
You have a good business model and I will keep watching and learning about what the best role of a delegate should be.
In other words, marketing at any scale outside of the arms of social media and forum posting is just not feasible. If price went up 1000% it would take almost a year to have the bank roll to subsidize the smallest campaign. At current prices, all 101 delegates would need to pool all their fees for an six weeks just to get started.
With that said, there should be no realistic expectation of a delegates to perform marketing duties.Invictus/Bitshhares/ DacsUnlimited need to be marketing since they have the bank roll already to do so. I am surprised this hasn't happened already, but that is for another thread. The only thing delegates can do at this point is the "word of mouth" campaign we all do already(with less than adequate results). And unfortunately there is no way to quantify those efforts.
What are the expectations of a delegate then? I mean that is the problem. It's not exactly clear what makes a great delegate. A good delegate is of course a delegate meets all the technical and uptime requirements, is trusted by the community.
A great delegate has a measurable beneficial impact on the community. Marketing is actually a great way to contribute to the community and it's measurable.
Sadly, when price does increase, there will be less delegates willing to spend earnings on marketing for two reasons. 1. Greed. 2. Perception marketing will not be needed at the point when BTSX is flourishing and at all time highs.
Bitcoin still needs marketing. I don't think we'll run out of a need for marketing. I also don't see why a greedy delegate would have an advantage with voters.