Decred Latam Marketing and Events Proposal 2
What?
This proposal is a continuation of the efforts to continue growing Decred brand awareness, presence, and adoption in the region. As with the first proposal, the idea is to have a dedicated budget for contractors activities in the region to continue working in marketing, Spanish content, community outreach, PR and operations in Latin America.
Covid-19 has been a critical element to consider while making this proposal. Marketing and communication activities that require physical presence will be ruled out, given that it is highly likely that reunions and gatherings will continue to be disincentivized throughout the year. With that being said, all outputs from this proposal shall be in digital form. One of the objectives of this second proposal is to measure community sentiment over the work that the Latam team has done over the past 6 months in order to understand better our work operating with an independent budget.
Why?
To carry on the works initiated by the author of this proposal since mid 2018 in an effort to make Decred a renowned and familiar name in the cryptocurrency scene within the Spanish speaking audience. The relationships built over time have rendered the recognition of the project among the people actively working to construct the crypto ecosystem in Latam and Spain.
By putting these efforts out there at the same pace as the Latin American ecosystem is being built, the project has had the unique position of showing it’s value at the very early stages of a whole region. The hindsight consequence of this is that key players, industry leaders and newcomers of the region have a solid knowledge of Decred: cryptocurrency exchanges, digital wallet providers, payments processors, mining infrastructure operators, OTC desks, cryptocurrency funds, media outlets and local communities of crypto enthusiasts. The continuation of these efforts would also provide the means to build the needed stream of resources that keep raising awareness, familiarity and engagement on a regular basis, those that foster in-depth education, theme-specific content, and those that provide support to current holders. Leveraging the current stage of the region is open for the project.
The statement of Latin America being a high-interest region still stands. And the crypto industry has not overlooked it: 5 of the top 10 countries in the world where people own cryptocurrencies are Spanish speaking countries, of which 5 are in Latin America. Furthermore, Latin America represents about a quarter of all Bitcoin transactions on localBitcoins and of the top 10 countries where users have different cryptocurrencies, Latam has 3 of them and also 3 are Spanish speaking countries. Moreover, according to studies, there are in between 35 and 135 millions cryptocurrency users worldwide, Latam region represents around 14% of all these users. If we settle the number of worldwide users in 70 million (around 1% of global population) we can argue that there are around 11 million cryptocurrency users in Latam.
Over the past 6 months, the operations and presence of the Decred project have expanded from Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay into Spain, Venezuela, Chile, Perú, Ecuador and Panama. The team grew from 4 to 9 cryptocurrency professionals from Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, each working towards the common goal of building Decred’s presence and brand recall within the Spanish speaking audience. As stated in the previous proposal, Latin America is a key region for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology adoption.
The region’s unique set of non-trivial problems have attracted the interest of many looking for establishing operations and trying out a specific solutions using these technologies. Cryptocurrencies are proving to be answers to problems like hyperinflation, costly and unreliable remittances, lack of access to financial services, suppression of in and out capital flows from central authority, unemployment and costly notarization services. There is a real need for these technologies to be right on their claims. Decred has the potential to provide solutions to more than one of the problems outlined above.
How?
The past 6 months has been an excellent opportunity for Decred in Latam team to test different media products and their impact in marketing the project work. We have created several media productions that will be core part of our work for the next months. After previous months we are in a position in which the team is creating its own working flows to create content, build relations with key actors, present the project in virtual events and articulate our work with the broader cryptocurrency industry space.
Our main goal for the next 6 months is to intensify our efforts on media and resources production, due to already having an interested crowd who is researching for in-depth answers about Decred Project. As an already permanent goal for brand awareness, the virtual events organisation will be doubled inside and outside the cryptocurrency space through a variety of formats, including online meetups, webinars to theme-specific communities/groups (i.e. developers, students, alternative finance), community calls, big-brand events (if the cost-opportunity is worth it). We also have the goal to strategically headhunt talent in Venezuela and Spain. This proposal budget will cover contractor hours and sponsorship of online events.
We are constantly looking for the rhythm to create content and communication outreach on the most effective and impactful manner. Another important focus for the next 6 months is to specifically direct time and effort towards developer headhunting. With the amount of material laying on github, there is a big opportunity for sharing it with an audience who can contribute to the project.
We are certain that Latam and Spain have great potential in terms of software development talent and we look forward to connecting with more devs interested in building for Decred. Over the past months we have built relationships with local hacking communities in different countries and we are organising specific events for devs.
Who?
This proposal will be executed by Decred en Español Ops team: elian (github), francov_, adcade, caibarrad, victorarubin, camilolwi, nachito, pablito(twitter) and tomee (github). The team is distributed across Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.
Decred Latam Marketing and Events Strategies 2
Micro ecosystem <> Macro ecosystem
After 2 year of work building Decred in Spanish we recognise that it is imperative to create links between the Decred ecosystem and the broader cryptocurrency industry space. We see two different approaches to build Decred brand recognition in Spanish. On the one hand we are targeting our existing users that are looking to find quality information in Spanish about the project. On the other hand we are building bridges with the broader industry by creating content that results in cross-marketing efforts.
Products for educating our micro-ecosystem that aim to create discussion from the basic to the complex topics that surround Decred. These products are also part of our efforts to give support to new users and contact information in Spanish for them to up to date with the latest developments of the project. Products for awareness and brand recognition in the macro ecosystem aim at building relationships with the broader space by connecting with other Tier 1 projects, crypto news media outlets and influencers of the cryptocurrency industry in Latam.
As part of this strategy, we are planning to take Decred beyond the cryptocurrency industry by searching opportunities for our team to speak and educate on diverse topics that are not necessarily crypto related. We have found out that exploring other topics and presenting them as “Powered by Decred” can have an interesting impact by allowing us to go beyond the echo-chamber.
These strategies will include the following products:
-
1 monthly Video Decred Journal in Spanish
-
1 monthly Translation of Decred Journal in Spanish
-
2 monthly #HablemosDecred (community call, guest from the industry, Podcast #HablemosDecred)
-
2 monthly “Bienvenido a Cripto” show for crypto 101
-
1 monthly Ad-hoc panels with relevant guests from cryptocurrency industry
Public Relations
Another strategy that we are aiming to develop is a Public Relations funnel to get coverage articles in the main cryptocurrency news outlets and general outlets as well. This is something that the team has already done over the past months and now we want to formalize the process of PR in Latam. By having dedicated materials and processes for these efforts we are looking to grow our media coverage and be set to cover the upcoming project’s launches. We see this effort as strategic in order to expand our communications outreach and connect with broader audiences.
Politeia and dcrtime
We are certain that dcrtime and Politeia can be leveraged for institutional use cases and we want to share and educate people on universities and organisations interested in using blockchain technology for other uses than cryptocurrencies. We will create specific content to portrait these use cases and examples of projects that are using these solutions. We want to push this particular project into universities and civil organizations that are looking to innovate using blockchain technology.
Academic Knowledge
We have built several connections with universities to present Decred Project, talk about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. As we see a rise in virtual events, we want to give more webinars in universities because we are certain that the next generation of crypto users and professionals is likely studying as we speak. Moreover, there is a natural curiosity in students about the innovative nature of Decred as a truly decentralized cryptocurrency and as a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation. One of the ultimate objectives of this strategy is to share knowledge that could eventually be translated into peer reviewed academic sources.
User Support Efforts
As part of our continuous efforts to educate on all things Decred, we will continue to give support for users looking for information and help using DCR. Our user support is focused on serving as first contact through social media. We aim to efficiently solve technical problems and doubts about the project, redirecting to chat.decred.org for more technical or broad matters.
Overall results Decred in Spanish December 2019 - May 2020
Challenges
-
Reinforce the efforts and resources towards building bridges with Dev teams in Latam.
-
Connecting local Decred communities spread across different countries, social networks and industries to form a much bigger and diverse Decred network in LATAM.
-
Coordinate structured agendas for periodical content on social media with all team members and across different channels.
Strengths
-
International team: interdisciplinary profiles, highly specialised in cryptocurrency industries, technology and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
-
Broad network: our team is connected across the sector in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.
-
Content production: proved funnel from planning to execution on multiple media formats (audio, video, text and graphic design).
-
Proven flexibility: due to Covid-19 we changed our entire strategy within the span of days and as of today we have made the same number of IRL and virtual events.
Areas of opportunity
-
More video content about all things Decred, from 101 questions to complex issues for different audiences and in coordination with major project releases.
-
As we continue building communities across Latam, there is a growing need to foster relationships with locals exchanges for future fiat listing as part of our strategy to build local markets.
-
More cross marketing opportunities with Tier 1 projects, organisations and enterprises looking to explore blockchain and broader technology issues.
Financials December 2019 - May 2020
Proposal expenses were divided in contractor hours, sponsorships and operations, our estimates came about right in terms of expenditure percentages:
Expenses by type:
-
Contractor hours: $36,257.00 or 49.4% of budget
-
Operations: $23,063.59 or 31.4% of budget
-
Sponsorships: $14,079.62 or 19.2% of budget
We have a pending budget of $8,672.17 that was destined for operations in Talent Land, Mexico and CIBTC, Spain.
Pending budget assets by type:
-
Stable coins basket (USDT, TUSD, USDC in cold storage): $5,999.05
-
Cash (USD): $700.00
-
Locked funds ePayments: $1973.12
From this pending budget, $1,973.12 are locked on a debit card destined for operations expenses. On February 12th, 2019, ePayments Systems Ltd blocked all of its accounts due to AML concerns by the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom. The accounts are active but funds are locked, there is no news on their behalf on the status of locked accounts. They reported that funds are safe, they are working to get the issue solved and waiting from approval of the Financial Conduct Authority to reactivate their operations.
The final balance of the proposal
-
Proposal budget: $72,000.00
-
Proposal surplus: $10,072.38
Total Proposal: $82,072.38
Full spreadsheets with detailed expenses below.
Covid-19 disruptions
The following events were postponed and will be reschedule
-
Blockchain Summit Latam Panama: the event was postponed to October, the event location remains the same and the sponsorship payment, from previous proposal’s funds, is saved for this same edition. The organisers have agreed to increase Decred’s perks.
-
CIBTC Spain: sponsorship status and benefits will be increased due to disruptions and the event has been postponed until further notice.
-
Talent Land Mexico: sponsorship will be transferred to the next edition of Talent Land in April 2021. Perks will be increased and throughout the year we will participate in a series of virtual events organised by Talent Network.
What Decred in Spanish did between December 2019 and May 2020?
IRL Events
-
Decred talk Talent Nights at Technology Polytechnic Institute, Mexico, November 8 (funded by the 2019 Events Fund, not registered in Latam Events and Marketing proposal 1, photos)
-
Open Banking, Fintech and Blockchain Summit, Mexico, November 14-15 (funded by the 2019 Events Fund, not registered in Latam Events and Marketing proposal 1, photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
Crypto Night at Bull and Bear Trading Academy, Mexico, November 14 (funded by the 2019 Events Fund, not registered in Latam Events and Marketing proposal 1, photos)
-
Decred talk Technology Institute of Veracruz, Mexico, November 21 (funded by the 2019 Events Fund, not registered in Latam Events and Marketing proposal 1, photos photos)
-
Blockchain Communities Meetup, Mexico, December 7 (photos, photos, eventbrite, photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
Labitconf, Uruguay, December 12 (photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
Bitcoin Embassy Bar anniversary, Mexico, December 19 (photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
Decred Global Meetup, Mexico City, Mexico, February 6 (photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
Decred Global Meetup, Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 6 (photos, photos, photos)
-
Decred & Stamping.io Meetup Lima, Peru, February 27 (photos, photos)
-
Decred Meetup Santa Fe, Argentina, February 27 (photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
Decred Meetup Caracas, Venezuela, March 4 (photos, photos, photos)
-
Decred Meetup Impact Hub Caracas, Venezuela, March 6 (photos, photos)
-
Decred Meetup Montevideo, Uruguay, March 12 (photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
Women in Blockchain, Mexico City, Mexico, March 12 (photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
Blockchain Summit Latam Panama, Panama March 12-13 (Postponed October 2020, photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
CIBTC Motril, Spain, 20-21 March (Postponed TBA, photos, photos, photos, photos)
-
Decred at Blockchain Land @ Talent Land, Guadalajara, Mexico, April 13-17 (Postponed TBA, photos)
Virtual Events
-
1st Decred in Spanish Virtual Meetup, March 12 (photos, flyer)
-
Virtual Meetup on CEXs and DEXs, March 18 (photos)
-
2nd Decred In Spanish Virtual Meetup, March 27 (flyer)
-
Binance Ask Me Anything on Binance Spanish Telegram, March 29 (post)
-
Paxful Conversations: Crypto Scams powered by Decred, April 4 (flyer)
-
Panel on Cryptocurrencies and Remote Working at Talent Land Home, April 15 (flyer, flyer, tweet, tweet, tweet)
-
3th Decred in Spanish Virtual Meetup, April 9 (flyer)
-
Let’s talk cryptocurrencies powered by Decred, April 16 (flyer)
-
4th Decred in Spanish Virtual Meetup, April 23 (flyer)
-
Jueves Crypto Drinks Decred and Blockchain Land, April 23 (flyer)
-
Binance Spanish Panel on Cryptosecurity, April 28 (flyer)
-
5th Decred in Spanish Virtual Meetup, May 7 (flyer)
-
Governance and DAOs panel: Decred, MakerDAO and Colony, with Blochainex, May 13 (flyer, photo)
-
Digital Governance Webinar, May 13 (flyer)
-
Decred Meetup with Blockconf Digital, May 14 (flyer)
-
How we fund Open Source Software, May16 (flyer)
-
Decred at Blockconf Digital, May 25-26 (flyer, flyer, flyer)
Decred Journal Recap in Spanish
New Local Campaigns
Translations
News mentions, Articles and Interviews
-
Decred: a cryptocurrency governed by its community, December 11
-
Decred Latam Marketing and Events Proposal Cointelegraph in Spanish coverage, November 13
-
Decred mention on Talent Land article at Cointelegraph in Spanish February 3
-
The state of blockchain around the world (originally in English), February 26
-
Article on Decred in Chile meetup with Blockchain Academy Chile, March 3
-
Article on the 4th Decred virtual meetup about CEXs and DEXs, April 23
Other mentions
Graphic assets:
Social Media Engagement
Twitter: 707 (+202 followers, +42%)
-
Engagement: 0.117 %
-
Impressions: 597, 900
-
Link clicks: 580
-
Retweets: 820
-
Likes: 3665
-
Comments: 209
Instagram: 333 (+148 followers, +78%)
-
Engagement: 12.55 %
-
Posts: 16
-
Impressions: 2212
-
Likes: 410
-
Comments: 27
-
Countries with the most followers: Mexico (34%), Argentina (21%), Venezuela (9%), Brazil (9%) and Colombia (7%)
Facebook: 669 (+194 followers, +41%)
-
Engagement: 1.93 %
-
Likes: 646
-
Posts: 109
-
Reactions: 558
-
Comments: 28
-
Impressions: 33,330
-
Countries with the most followers: Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia and Peru
Youtube: 23 ( +14 subscribers, +155%)
-
Engagement: 0.863%
-
Videos: 10
-
Views: 284
-
Impressions: 2349
-
Likes: 31
Medium: 8 ( +3 followers, +60%)
- Views: 1300
Telegram: 165 (+35 followers, +27%)
Cointelegraph in Spanish total views: 5570
Cointelegraph in Spanish total shared: 171
Budget for Decred Latam Marketing and Events Proposal 2
The total budget of this proposal is USD $46,000 to be used during 6 months after approval. Contractor hours will be billed to the Treasury in arrears and after work is completed by local assets. After the 6 months of activities a general report will be shared with the community and a new proposal should be submitted to continue activities.
This budget has been reduced by 40% because of closure of all IRL activities for the rest of the year due to Covid19. Expenditures are expected to go 90% towards contractor hours and 10% for marketing purposes.