This is one subject where I have volunteered a lot of my personal time in Pocket- Marketing & Narrative Building.
- Calling out poor or no marketing since AK’s (PNI’s ex CMO) time. Got pushbacks then from PNI leadership defending status quo, rest is history.
- Ideating and debating on TeleGram
- Sharing thoughts, emails & material with other community leaders such as @Jinx , @Ming (then PNI)
- Inserting pro narrative-building arguments religiously in various Forum posts while exchanging notes with community members, highlighting how Pocket lacks it and why the community should appreciate it’s importance.
- Planting the idea for the first time publicly that Marketing should be under PNF’s purview on the PNF’s Roles & Responsibilities thread.
- Cautioning when Daniel joined (that he is PNI & doesn’t represent all of Pocket) when people started celebrating as if the marketing hole in Pocket was about to get filled.
I hope it is clear now that it isn’t.
- Started a blog post series on Narrative Building , mentioning Pocket & giving a baseline. There will be more, and more Pocket.
- Recently sharing my thoughts directly with PNF on a call. This was my first slide-
- Initiating the current thread
I hope by now it should be somewhat clear that I have passion for this subject, maybe know a thing or two about this subject, may have some background in it, and have cared for Pocket to embrace narrative building (marketing) in spirit and in action, and benefit from it.
Btw $POKT’s price action (or no action) in this market since the momentum picked up a few months ago- “a lot” has to do with the dismal conditions and attitude towards marketing (narrative building) in Pocket.
PNF’s acceptance is step one and making marketing a priority starting Q2 is step two. This is progress and kudos for the quick change of heart!
I have some more advice for PNF-
Turn this greenfield into an opportunity. Do this right from the get go. Otherwise PNF/DAO has to keep bearing “cost of poor quality” and putting bandaid solutions in the future.
What does that mean?
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When I said PNF should take a leadership role, I meant PNF should play the role of “a sponsor and/or a board”.
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I didn’t mean that the current PNF team should “lead marketing”
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And that’s why I suggested a committee with members with marketing experience, including Daniel. I included him purely for the “proof of role/title” at PNI. Otherwise I have no visibility.
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Seems like Daniel is not an option anymore
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And you don’t want to create another governance layer; that’s fine!
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But don’t try to start disjointed initiatives by yourself.
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This is not a question on capabilities of the current PNF team members. I fiercely defended PNF members when it was needed. I hope that is remembered and appreciated.
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This is about the role I believe PNF should play when it comes to managing specialised functions, and marketing is one of them.
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Do what the boards do, or even CEOs do. They facilitate and recruit the right talent. They foster the right culture and environment.
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Pocket FIRST needs A) “COHESIVE” marketing strategy/plan & B) A marketing budget
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For A): recruit talent to build that strategy/plan for you. What does that mean? Could be hiring a marketing agency, could be hiring a marketing consultant, could be recruiting someone into PNF
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Centralise it in the beginning to decentralise it eventually. Don’t try decentralising this from day 0.
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Regarding B) Marketing Budget- This goes back to my appeal to having a DAO Budget, annual/period-bound. And marketing becomes one of the major line items on it.
DAO budgeting is a himalayan exercise in itself, may not be feasible this year.
So PNF/DAO has to pick a number for marketing in 2023. I can’t just come up with that number randomly without doing a market survey of several types of expenses. That’s a lot of work.
All I can suggest PNF/DAO is- keep it generous. Display the same passion as this community displays for Lean Pokt, Geo Mesh, PNI bonuses, etc. Pocket desperately needs high quality marketing, and we get what we pay for (generally).
FYI @msa6867
For transparency sake- this isn’t a personal pitch. I had made this clear during and after the call with PNF.
As usual, I am trying to help out as a volunteer.
Rest is upto PNF and the DAO.