Thoughts on the value of marketing

Are you certain of this? It seems to me that the test net was the cause of the peak price. Indeed, it had been steadily rising for the last 6 weeks.

4 Likes

Storage coin hype due to Filecoin likely had some to do with it, too.

1 Like

I think the price impact of the testnet and listing aren’t MECE. However, the price of MAID reacted to the April 2 announcement of the P2PB2B listing.

I can understand why it doesn’t suit certain people here to believe that.

1 Like

I think we just have to be careful about causality. The test net nearly launched on Thursday 1st and could have any day in the run up to the 8th, based on forum comments from the team.

I’ve heard the argument about folks not wanting to sell cheaply, which presumably will happen no matter what exchanges we have. Arguably, what they are willing to sell will just be spread more thinly over more exchanges.

I can understand more popular exchanges make it easier for people to buy though. I’m just not convinced it is the sure thing for creating consistently higher demand (and therefore higher price). I’m not saying bigger/better exchanges won’t have a positive impact, in fact I’m sure they will, but at what cost and for how long?

Also, given MAID tends to do well when BTC is collapsing vs other coins, maybe the lack of liquidity can have a positive impact in dampening the swings? Given it is harder to buy into, maybe people are reluctant to sell off too.

The top 200 is littered with coins which are listed on top 5 exchanges, but have yet to make big moves or return to previous boom ATH. Clearly, there is more to it than just getting a token on a big exchange or 5. We think this technology may be the next big thing, but many would argue otherwise, siting long delays, lack of working network, etc, etc.

I think care needs to be taken not to evangelise the need for top exchanges too much. It feels like there is a split in the community and I can feel the tension in your posts and others’ posts (both for and against). Strong views are being held by both sides and I don’t feel it is just to antagonise the other.

9 Likes

Yes, and for me it seems that all the talk about the need for more listings is due to people being disappointed that the price didn’t rise more due to testnet + P2PB2B listing. I think that they should both be given a bit of time. The exchange is having problems with wallet and the testnet is the first iteration. Let’s see how the exchange does once it is functioning properly. Day one was very promising!

I think the appeal, value and price will come from more faster network and better UX. SNAPP or browser will do a lot.

7 Likes

I think fundamentally the view is the same on both sides, that we all see the coin as undervalued, but one side is pushing to do something about it while the other is apathetic. We need a marketing / recognition strategy that coincides with the projects roadmap and testnet iterations from here on out. Even if it’s just a loose outline and dynamic I think a rough plan would appease alot of people. Whether that includes a community funded exchange listing could be situational.

4 Likes

I wouldn’t say apathetic - apathy doesn’t cause such strong opposing views. It feels to me that some think it is a waste of resources, others think it can damage reputation, others think it will be ineffectual, etc. Doing ‘something’ often feels better, but doesn’t always improve the situation either.

Marketing seems to divide this community in general, but including exchange listings as marketing seems to get further resistance still.

I’ve enjoyed seeing more activity on social media, more synchronisation over updates and promotion of them. I’m hopeful that other media channels will start to take notice too. I like the idea of the press packs, taking time to get the message correct, etc. I think these areas would have majority support in the community too (although some will dismiss these too).

3 Likes

Don’t get me wrong I hate marketing as much as Bill Hicks, but this isn’t a fidget spinner so I am okay with it. I don’t think everyone on the nay side of the arguement is apathetic but as you’ve pointed out there’s some folk on here that seem vehemently against any form of promotion. That’s at least certainly how it comes off when people offer no alternative solutions or ideas, only criticism. This can be especially harsh for people who put time and effort into marketing as it undervalues them.

6 Likes

Marketing can be philosophical and is certainly in some areas a black art with morality removed.

Some will say every single thing you do is Marketing, every thought, every word you write, every conversation etc.

That is all BS.

So “getting the word out” is something, but “Getting the word out honestly” is another, i.e. do we want to sell tobacco to kids? with good enough marketing we can!

Then there is P.R. An arm of the philosophical art, another arm in the war of persuasion.

Then we have promotion, paid listings, paid ads and the like.

So if everything is marketing we cannot say we don’t do it, never mind need it :wink:

I feel where we are we can ponder and pontificate about all this for eternity.

My own feeling is that we do “spread the word” and we do it honestly!

I don’t think anyone disagrees with that, but there is a further question we need to address.

In a hostile and dishonest environment how can you remain morally true and let good people know about a solution you feel is in their interest without falling into sludge.

15 Likes

People will criticise anything, often vehemently, and not necessarily because they are right or have a sound basis or even thought about the issue first, especially online. I think it’s difficult to ascribe motives or reasons that aren’t explicitly stated so no point getting lost in that.

I think the best approach in any endeavour is to be upfront, listen to what comes back and ignore stuff that is not helpful, especially when it’s from people who don’t think first, don’t give sound reasons and especially if they aren’t being constructive.

Early in my career I overheard my boss on the phone say, “there are people who bring problems and people who bring solutions”.

This was a massive wake up call for me as I recognised I tended to take problems to him without first thinking about what I could do about them. I had been doing this because he was so good at solving stuff, a very bright guy, same age as me but co-founder of a software start-up that was growing rapidly. So I didn’t think I could do as well as he, but decided I should at least try before going to him for advice unless I really needed it. It’s amazing how that previous habit was restricting my growth, creativity and most of all self esteem and satisfaction, and of course it was what he wanted from me!

So I have advice for anyone, like that early me, who doesn’t think they can contribute because others are better, brighter, more experienced etc. Have a go first, see what you can do with a problem. I think one reason people criticise rather than contributing is this. It’s a way of hiding that sense that you can’t do it yourself and others are better, and instead we criticise them. In fact, they got there by trying, failing and learning, and ignoring ill founded criticism. :wink:

So always have a go, be upfront, listen to what comes back and ignore anything that’s not helpful!

13 Likes

We all want the same thing: a liquid market for efficient price discovery of the true value of Safe Network token (MaidSafeCoin in the intrim) which most of us agree is well north of here.

I would only add that risk plays a big part in this space. Not your keys, not your coin has come a long way since 2017, but it appears many have not got the memo or yet been burnt enough times to learn their lesson.

P2PB2B has so many red light warning signs even those willing to take high risks would be leery of leaning into it. There are a lot of examples such as this, but this one is lightly better documented and timestamped than most:

P2PB2B
Notorious for listing and delisting coins. Suddenly you are notified by an email that a coin you hold has or is going to be delisted, with little notice and no prior warning. You log into withdrawal, however there is an extremely high minimum required, followed by an outrageous withdrawal fee. So if, you don’t currently hold that minimum, then too bad, as they have already disabled trading and deposits, making it virtually ‘impossible’ to withdrawal and ultimately losing your entire balance.

Credible projects with merit do not, have not, payed for listings on shady exchanges.

The core problem as I outline in second part of post here is that the Omni protocol is greatly limiting the options for accessing liquidity and allowing true price discovery. It can be solved simply in a short time frame: Follow Algorand project playbook out of the Omni quagmire to ERC20. Note @JimCollinson: This is not the same as Wrapped Omni-Maid which is more complicated with more moving parts, requires trust in a third party, and carries much higher risk for everyone.

With a Maid-ERC20 holders of even a small amount can earn fees by providing liquidity on $50 billion monster DEX exchanges like Uniswap and earn a return while holding their Maid - waiting for the Safe Network to come into its own and build trust over time that it can secure value (A process that took years for some projects!).

@BambooGarden obviously moves and knows the Ethereum space well and could perhaps provide a more credible opinion to MaidSafe on the benefits of 1 to 1 Omni Maid to ERC20 swaps done by MaidSafe, not some complicated third party wrapping hack work around. This might be the single most helpful short term project for the Bamboo Fund: help connect this project with the wider community of decentralised network participants and the liquidity required for true price discovery.

5 Likes

This is total BS and you have no idea what the cases where. Maidsafe has a contract stating the the rules for delisting. If they delist us, it’s because we didn’t meet these criteria.

These criteria aren’t unreasonable either, they mainly involve things as volume, spread and legal issues. If you get delisted, you got yourself / poor communication to blame.

Additionally, higher tier exchanges have the same reasons for delisting. But they just don’t list you even if they doubt for 1% you wont neet their criteria in the future.

3 Likes

Two years ago 50% of the community wanted a full transition to ERC20 MAID. I wonder what percentage supports this at the moment. Do you want to run such a poll?


Privacy. Security. Freedom

2 Likes

I wonder who did the Algorand transition work? Could that be a community project?

IMO We run the risk of poll fatigue here :wink:

4 Likes

50% of the small portion of the community who voted, when asked if they ‘wanted ERC20 MAID’, voted yes. Their options when voting were yes or no, and there was little to no information about how long and/or difficult it would be beside the poll. There was also this comment from @piluso towards the end which was very much appreciated by everyone and, at the time, I thought summed up the sentiment:

"On the other hand, you have the other clean option:

  • Focus 100% of the energy of the team on the launch of the network.
  • Once the network is ready for launch, negotiate with the exchanges once to integrate to the SafeNetwork, so the native token can be traded there.
  • The team will have now the time to focus on the planning of swapping and considering all the edge cases that it may encounter.
  • Officially make the public announcement and the PR campaign about the launch of the network, with the token swap, alongside the names of the exchanges that accepted to list the official native token.
  • People who are excited about the swap will be excited to test the new network, and won’t be disappointed. People who were skeptical about the network will have to swallow their cynicism.
  • (and now that will have the official Safecoin vs the scammy Safecoin, and it will be much easier to direct people to the right one when you only need to discern between two options)"

No criticism here @Dimitar, just if you’re going to link the poll with only that information I think the other side’s argument should be heard, and people mightn’t have the time to go read through it again.

The argument as it stands is only stronger now in my eyes, as we revel in the glories of a functional testnet.

Our US friends now have market access, there’s a testnet to shout about, the forum is buzzing with testing and old characters popping back up, new faces popping in out of nowhere, we’re on the brink of optimisations and tweaking and UX, BGF will be rolling soon, there’ll be time soon for a few interviews I imagine and more AMAs and such, press kits are ready so presumably a few articles will be popping up, price is at ATH levels - what’s the stress? Where exactly is the fire? I don’t see it.

3 Likes

My personal opinion is that there will be a safe token on centralized exchanges until the first suicide due to revenge porn published forever or the first child porn that can never be deleted. From then on, the media will start a war against us, and this whole argument with the centralized exchanges goes in the trash. The only future for the safe tokens are the decentralized exchanges…


Privacy. Security. Freedom

1 Like

Marketing is a tool nothing more. How it is used determines wether or not is a black art or lacking morality.

Forces as old as time are against individual Privacy, Security, and Freedom. If Safe Network is delivering these concepts to regular folk then there is a war with those that want to eliminate these concepts from humanity and those that want to preserve and protect them. P.R. has to be used to face these forces. Safe Network’s P.R. is vying for the attention of those being targeted by these Forces. P.R. is a tool how it is used determines whether or not it’s moral.

We don’t want to get stalled out pondering and pontificating. We’ve had our fill of that. Humanity is under attack now more than ever before in history. They are targeted with the best known techniques to convince them that Privacy, Security, and Freedom should not be in the hands of the individual.

Why does this have to be difficult? We remain morally true by not using Fallacies in our marketing and P.R. As much as humanly possible we speak logical truth. If we succeed our messages to folk should be simple and clear. They will go right to the heart. We will speak truth to them using every proven technique. We can avoid the Sludge by being by stripping our marketing and P.R. of fallacious concepts. Such marketing will be a refreshing change for regular folk who are bombarded by manipulative techniques that try to bend their will.

How do you see us spreading the word? How do you envision the approach? When do you want to start?

We have people in our community that are experts in marketing. How to we not waste their time and get useful work done in the direction of Marketing and P.R. starting now?

3 Likes

Saying it does not make it true. Marketing can appeal to philosophical base concepts and realities that challenge the normal and prompt people to think about how the world could be better for them. There are “forces” who do like change but it’s a war of attrition with reality and corrupt interests fall away over time.

That is back to front! Reality is solidly behind those concepts - they are basic attributes that follow from the social contract and not imposing stupidity on other people. It’s a corruption that thinks otherwise.

and there are you noting the art of war… philosophical one.

That’s a confusion but there are certain propaganda units used to drive corrupt interests forward and they are truly toxic for what they do and how. Still, those who have no regard for reality or for others and want to force their will, cannot win the arguement against reality that calls for individual freedoms… and those include privacy; security; and broader freedom to choose.

“P.R.” is just a notion of communication… it is a tool, if you want to phrase it that way but the morality is linked to the agent that invokes it and the error or not of that intent.

“They” sounds conspiratorial… and much of what we are faced off against is just a sign of the times - dull thud of academic minds tempting simple stupid solutions to complex problems… and of course a run of incompetence and ignorance from those with power, too often.

Exactly this… align with reality … be brave and great forces will come to aid.
Actions aligned with reality are easily than those at odds with it… and the arguements that follow too.

Keep it simple… and avoid the politics and tribal fallacies.
Privacy; Security; and Freedom, for all… is simple.

Beyond this, I would suggest necessarily follows a need to see that users have power to choose… to choose what they see and not… and what that becomes is a “tool”. So, there is a challenge there for seeing content filters and methods for that. I wonder it’s not difficult to sum opinions on content to see effective options that empower the users. But first the basic network needs to be reliable, then next layers can be wondered at.

Dimitar’s post above is oddly motivated by fear of what others will do but the point to take away from that is similar for what will be useful to marketing… a bit of variety and flexibility goes a long way to providing robust response to challenges.

So, the answer to the question is to mirror it back…

:wink:

3 Likes

You do know there is porn on the bitcoin blockchain and nothing to stop more of it?

6 Likes

We already have and I have been for 14 years now. There are many ways to do this and assuming any way is valid is IMO opinion wrong. The folk who do Marketing or PR for tobacco / poisoned water / keeping slavery and more for kids and the poor will all use your arguments.

I am not saying you are wrong I am saying you are not correct in every application of what Marketing or PR is. It can be good or it can be evil and keeping it good is not a small feat. This is regardless of the experience or capability of the Marketing folk. The companies above have probably the very best Marketing and PR. So it’s not about capability and never saying we have good marketeers makes it right.

It is all about the shared vision. So here is some questions to show you the issue!

  • We have an option of sneaky or (even) slightly misleading PR/messaging that rockets the price 100X, do we do that?

  • We can stay honest and not do the above, but still put out the messages and the price halves, now what do we do?

Now lets change it slightly

  • We have an option of sneaky or slightly misleading PR/messaging that rockets the price 100X, but has almost no users, do we do that?

  • We can stay honest and not do the above, but still put out the messages and the price halves, but the network is used by millions of previously disenfranchised folk, now what do we do?

None of these has any bearing on the capabilities of those spreading the message, but they are questions we must face continually and thinking we can get 100% agreement on these from any reasonable size group is wrong.

5 Likes