Over the last few weeks, we have started to build on the foundations laid by our DNA to articulate our thesis and audacious goals for the ecosystem, along with the metrics that we need to work towards to achieve these goals, including our plans to generate net protocol revenue, as well as some initial high-impact keystone projects that PNF is stewarding.
However, the connective layer that will translate the success of these efforts to a broader audience is outstanding marketing, which is why we have prioritised the importance of developing Pocket into the most trusted and loved infrastructure brand in crypto.
Brands are consensus systems through which reputation and narratives emerge from users sharing their impressions… In this sense, brands are the cumulative reputation of a platform’s interactions with its stakeholders and broader community. Consequently, trusted brands are earned over time, not bought off the shelf… Social network effects… can be very powerful. At the same time, there is a time component to a trusted brand. Staying “on brand” comes from consistency over time… Social network effects are like “sand”: “In small quantities, sand dissipates in a breeze. But if you layer enough sand down on top of itself, it becomes hard as stone.” Dermot O’Riordan, “Defensibility in the time of DeFi”, 2020
For Pocket to win, it won’t just be about the FuNdAmEnTaLs. Everyone will need to know why they should care about Pocket, how Pocket can help their startup or community with their infrastructure needs, and what they need to do to fulfil their interests and needs. And these messages and stories must keep repeating themselves and build upon one another to become as hard as a stone.
While we can continue to grow Pocket’s narrative and reputation bottom-up via our community, a coherent strategy and additional support from the internal team at PNF and expert third parties will maximise the success of our collective efforts. Said another way, marketing is synergistic with all of our community efforts, and done right, it will create a positive flywheel effect for our community by extending our reach.
This post will outline the key initiatives we are undertaking to establish Pocket Network as crypto’s most trusted and loved infrastructure brand.
Our marketing goals and initiatives
Put simply, we want developers, users, and the broader crypto community to recognise Pocket Network as the go-to choice for reliable, high-performance, and cost-effective RPC infrastructure. Connected to this goal is generating more awareness about Pocket’s mission and vision and all the great things this community accomplishes via the DAO. Achieving this goal will help us grow our user base and our strong and loyal community of builders, node runners, DAO voters, token holders and advocates. As outlined in the Q1 transparency report earlier this week, we have allocated $300k of PNF’s budget for 2023 towards the following initiatives:
Hiring a tier 1 PR firm
A robust and thoughtful public relations strategy is essential for building brand awareness and trust. By partnering with a Tier 1 PR firm, we will leverage their expertise and network to generate high-quality media coverage and thought leadership content. This will help position Pocket Network as an industry leader and establish credibility with the crypto ecosystem’s developers, users, and other stakeholders.
After interviewing three different Tier 1 PR firms, we plan to start work with our preferred choice in the coming weeks. Our first port of call with this initiative is to rebuild Pocket’s brand from the ground up with key technical influencers in the space by getting on the most interesting and developer-focused crypto podcasts, speaking at the most relevant events, and crafting thought leadership posts in tier 1 crypto media publications.
Hiring a new Head of Marketing for the ecosystem
An experienced marketing leader is crucial for driving our marketing strategy forward. We are in the process of hiring a new Head of Marketing who will be responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive marketing strategy that aligns with our goals and vision. This will include content marketing involving the community, social media, activation campaigns, and events designed to create awareness, engage our target audience, and grow our community.
Investing in new marketing opportunities
To further advance our marketing goals, we have allocated up to $100k of PNF’s marketing budget towards exploring and investing in new marketing opportunities. This budget will enable us to tap into innovative marketing channels and tactics, such as partnerships, community activations around v1, wPOKT and new exchange listings, targeted ad campaigns, and strategic sponsorships, to reach and engage our target audience more effectively.
We plan to liaise with the community on these initiatives as much as possible.
Additional marketing initiatives
All of the above is in addition to some of the work that is already done or underway across the ecosystem, such as:
- The website’s snazzy - and low-cost - redesign, shout out to Degen Design (@Ethen and Ritesh) and Jinx!
- The in-progress design and UX updates to both discord and discourse
- POKT News bringing their energy to the main Poktnetwork Twitter account
- The upcoming quarterly research reports from Messari, with the first one due in July
- The current conversations with Encode around sponsoring their quarterly developer bootcamps
- The various new marketing initiatives to be led by PNI, as discussed by Daniel on the most recent community call around building an app-developer community around their gateway
A developer relations role involving the DAO is another initiative we are excited about kickstarting too.
Implementation plan
Success metrics
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North Star: Customer NPS
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Positive media impressions
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Qualitative trust survey
Stakeholders, roles and responsibilities
| Stakeholder | Roles & Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| PNF | Set a high-level priority for the Pocket community, and steward the community’s collective efforts towards the goal of Pocket becoming crypto’s most trusted and loved infrastructure brand |
| PR firm | Leverage their expertise and network to help Pocket generate high-quality media coverage and thought leadership content. |
| PNF Head of Marketing | Develop and execute a comprehensive marketing plan that aligns with PNF’s marketing goals and the community’s broader mission and vision |
| Community members | Engage with PNF and the broader community to generate exciting content, as well as to maximise the success of all relevant campaigns and events, and lead on new initiatives wherever possible |
| DAO voters | Evaluate and approve/reject any additional proposals arising from this marketing plan |
Deliverables, stakeholders, timeline
| Deliverable | Stakeholders | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Align on our DNA | DAO, PNF | Done |
| Share ecosystem thesis, priorities, and metrics | DAO, PNF | Done |
| Update website and transfer ownership to PNF | PNF, PNI | Done |
| Transfer ownership of Twitter to PNF and grant access to POKT News | PNF, PNI, POKT News | Done |
| Update discord | PNF | Done |
| Update discourse | PNF | In-progress |
| Establish a new Community Hubs program | PNF | Done |
| Establish new Ambassadors program | PNF | Done |
| Update budget projections to account for new marketing spending | DAO, PNF | Done |
| Onboard new PR Firm | PNF | May |
| Raise profiles of the protocol team and generate more awareness about key ecosystem initiatives, including protocol revenue | DAO, PNF, PR firm, Protocol team | June onwards |
| Invest in new marketing opportunities, including v1 testnet and mainnet campaigns | DAO, PNF, Protocol team | June onwards |
| Onboard a new Head of Marketing | PNF | By end of June |
| Support community to lead on various marketing initiatives, including content creation | DAO, PNF | By end of July |
| First Messari quarterly research report | DAO, Messari, PNF | By end of July |
| Onboard with Encode | DAO, Encode, PNF | TBC |
| Kickstart DAO-led DevRel function | DAO, DevRel talent, PNF | By end of Q3 |
Conclusion and next steps
Building crypto’s most trusted and loved infrastructure brand is essential to fulfilling our mission and achieving our vision. By focusing on these initiatives, we are confident that we can build a strong brand that resonates with our target audience and drives long-term success for the Pocket ecosystem.
We are excited to share this roadmap with the community. We welcome your feedback and support as we work together to make Pocket Network the go-to choice for developers and users needing reliable, performant, and cost-effective RPC infrastructure.