Bitcoin needs a marketeer

[jim618]

I have been talking to my family over Christmas and have come to the realisation that we really need a marketing professional to help us promote Bitcoin. At the moment it seems like we have 100 nerds trying to explain to the general public why Bitcoin is <insert nerdy techno-babble here>. An experienced marketing professional will do the job 10 times better than these 100 ever will.

So here is an advert that outlines what this "job" entails:

Wanted:  Experienced marketing professional wanted to persuade humanity to use Bitcoin. No remuneration,
but it will look fantastic on your resume. The project has a 50/50 chance of success. If successful, you will dine out on this success for years to come. If not, well, you will go down in a blaze of brilliant flame - Icarus will take second place.

In order to help you succeed, you will be able to draw upon the collective expertise of a phalanx of professional developers and enthusiasts.

Your marketing budget will be zero, unless you can raise some.

The world's banking institutions will want you to fail, unless you can win them round.

The world's governments will want you to fail, but Bitcoin will free their people.

Overcome these challenges and you will become famous.

[paraipan]

lol, we should put it on craigslist

[julz]

I think we need improvements in Bitcoin clients for mobiles before we need more marketing.

My family and friends use a mixture of iPhones and android devices.

If.. in a matter of minutes I can install a bitcoin wallet app which has an integrated QR scanner (or launches existing QR app),
and if I can then perform small demo spends between android and iPhone without
a) waiting 10 mins or so for block inclusion
b) paying a proportionally large fee even on a small amount such as 0.01 BTC

then..  I think Bitcoin has a chance to grow much more rapidly.


I've tried a few times to do some demos on friends/family phones and it's been a pretty tedious and flaky experience so far.
Full blockchain download on mobiles is a non-starter except for enthusiasts or people who specifically know about and want a local blockchain.

Wallet apps also need to explain 'where' the bitcoin private keys are kept, both in a detailed manner for the techies, but also in a user-friendly manner for the average user - at least enough to know things like:
a) if my phone is thrown in the sea do my bitcoins disappear with it
b) if the company providing the wallet goes out of business - do my bitcoins disappear with it
c) is there a way I can just hit a button, enter a password and backup/restore my wallet using a cloud service something like dropbox.

To me these things seem like basics that need to work - or the marketing is largely wasted.

[jim618]

Yes I agree that the user experience for introducing bitcoins to users is still a bit flakey.   With the skills we have amoungst the current 'bitcoiners' I am pretty sure this will improve over time though.

One of my family works for a multinational and explained that they have a person dedicated to 'credentialing' future products two years before the product launch.   Apparently this person introduces the ideas/needs that the product will address into the target market long, long before it is launched.

It made me realise we have all these techies working on improving Bitcoin at the technical level, but virtually none of us know the Art of Marketing. To recruit even a single person who knows this area inside out would be beneficial overall I think.

[julz]

It made me realise we have all these techies working on improving Bitcoin at the technical level, but virtually none of us know the Art of Marketing. To recruit even a single person who knows this area inside out would be beneficial overall I think.

Well I agree some marketing will be good to have some time.. but I think weusecoins.com is pretty good - and in fact perhaps too good. Same with some other videos from crowds like bit-pay & cryptoexchange.
We're *already* marketing at a level that seems above what can be delivered in terms of convenience.

[jim618]

That is a valid point - to promise a slick "Mercedes Benz" user experience and then deliver less than that gives a very poor impression.

(I am not criticising any of the bitcoin solutions mentioned - I know we are all trying to make things as good as possible but we are definitely not there yet).

It is just that I would hate us to get to the point where we have everything rock solid and then we lose, say, 6 months because we should have started <insert well known marketing technique none of us know about> earlier.

[farfiman]

We're *already* marketing at a level that seems above what can be delivered in terms of convenience.

I agree,  one thing we don't need is novices having bad experiences with bitcoin as it is today.
 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I offer up this only 3:02 video to hopefully address this marketing issue. Please take the time to view it in its entirety to get the full impact at the end. This guy is the marketers guru's guru. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cELuBcZxmKk

I've read that we're back to that chicken and egg thingy. A marketer would say forget about the smartphones for a second and concentrate on Bitcoin's other strengths, e.g., online transactions which are quick enough for direct purchases. As this aspect evolves, somebody will come along and develop that uber-smartphone APP for Bitcoin, albeit it's even being worked on as we type and read.

If I was a great marketer and read this ad, my wheels would spin in the following direction. Take up this marketing position by joining BitcoinTalk, thereby having a community behind me. I would stake at least a 10K BTC claim knowing that my investment would more than double in a relatively short period of time all due to my marketing efforts. In fact, I would get one of my marketing buddies to do the same thing, thereby combining our marketing knowing to hedge my, now ours, investment. (BTW, this thought has nothing to do with the video which I encourage you to view)

~Bruno~

[btc_artist]

I don't think bitcoin needs marketing until we have something better to offer in terms of desktop and mobile clients, and mobile clients fully support easy-to-use POS transactions.

[DeathAndTaxes]

I don't think bitcoin needs marketing until we have something better to offer in terms of desktop and mobile clients, and mobile clients fully support easy-to-use POS transactions.

Exactly.  Right now Bitcoin is "rough around the edges".  It is functional but hardly user friendly.  Spending resources trying to get everyone's brother, sister, and grandmother using Bitcoin is not only futile it is likely counter productive. 

The first time they lose coins because they didn't realize that deleting wallet.dat was bad they will not use Bitcoin and they will call it a scam, a trick, a piece of shit, a good way to lose money .... etc.

The first time their Mt. Gox account gets hacked the same thing happens.
the first time they naively pay a seller "100 BTC upfront" without escrow and the person disapears the same thing happens.

There will be a time when Bitcoin is ready for mass adoption but it isn't today.  The good news is Bitcoin can continue to grow filling niche cases, and being adopted by tech savy users.

[bitcoinbetas]

I have been talking to my family over Christmas and have come to the realisation that we really need a marketing professional to help us promote Bitcoin. At the moment it seems like we have 100 nerds trying to explain to the general public why Bitcoin is <insert nerdy techno-babble here>. An experienced marketing professional will do the job 10 times better than these 100 ever will.

So here is an advert that outlines what this "job" entails:

Wanted:  Experienced marketing professional wanted to persuade humanity to use Bitcoin. No remuneration,
but it will look fantastic on your resume. The project has a 50/50 chance of success. If successful, you will dine out on this success for years to come. If not, well, you will go down in a blaze of brilliant flame - Icarus will take second place.

In order to help you succeed, you will be able to draw upon the collective expertise of a phalanx of professional developers and enthusiasts.

Your marketing budget will be zero, unless you can raise some.

The world's banking institutions will want you to fail, unless you can win them round.

The world's governments will want you to fail, but Bitcoin will free their people.

Overcome these challenges and you will become famous.

This basically sums up why Bitcoins hasn't taken off mainstream lol

[proudhon]

Somebody get Don Draper on the phone!

[phatsphere]

An experienced marketing professional will do the job 10 times better than these 100 ever will.

not true, geeks can also learn how to talk to other people.

watch this video and educate yourself:
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

[Brunic]

I don't think bitcoin needs marketing until we have something better to offer in terms of desktop and mobile clients, and mobile clients fully support easy-to-use POS transactions.

Bingo!

I've studied marketing at university, and had a couple of jobs in that domain(salesman, market surveys, sport promotion, business plan, etc). I know this domain pretty well.

btc_artist is spot on. You would be amazed about the lack of knowledge and fear that general people have with computers. You guys know that "google" is one of the top searches in Google?

Bitcoin have many "interfaces" problems. First, it's really long to start the first time. Yeah, I know, it download the block chain, but for somebody who don't know about it, they just see it as "it's long".

Ok, so now you have Bitcoin installed. Where is the button "Get Bitcoins"?. I can't use them if I don't have some. And opening your browser to go to MtGox/Virtex/whatever, making an account, validating that account, copying your bitcoin address and funding your account to buy Bitcoins is not something easy for a newcomer. It looks like a mountain of hard work and time to invest that they're not interested in doing.

And we're not talking about the wallet security yet. We don't need a Bitcoin wallet, we need a Bitcoin safe. The unbreakable kind, with a way to be able to manage many wallet on the same computer without moving the file each time and risking of overwriting wallet.dat. We need to offer better tools for people with a lack of skills.

The main competitors of Bitcoin on the Internet is Paypal and credit card payments. If Bitcoin is not as easy-to-use than those ones, don't bother with the mass market.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

An experienced marketing professional will do the job 10 times better than these 100 ever will.

not true, geeks can also learn how to talk to other people.

watch this video and educate yourself:
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

That video was going to be the very next video I was going to link to in this thread. Thanks for beating me to the punch, phatsphere.

~Bruno~
 

[phatsphere]

Thanks for beating me to the punch…

VICTORYYYY

[Daily Anarchist]

I wouldn't worry too much about promoting Bitcoin in general. I would focus more on offering whatever goods/services you can in Bitcoin. If you have a financial stake in Bitcoin, Bitcoin will be promoted by default. We need more businesses willing to accept Bitcoin as payment.

[Matthew N. Wright]

BitTalk Media is at your service.

[ineededausername]

I think we need a "Bitcoin Wizard," a site that lets "normal people" scroll through the typical newbie's learning process in about 5 minutes.
1. What is Bitcoin? (don't talk about the blockchain, talk about tangible benefits like tiny fees, international banking, instant transfer, no chargebacks)
2. Get a Bitcoin "account"/address (which term is better?)
3. Buy bitcoins
4. How to use it

[Phinnaeus Gage]

From this list http://www.marketingminds.com.au/features/gurus.html

I picked this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ7EG58J5eo

WOW! Part 3 is good! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N-1NzS4OJk&feature=related

Going to watch Part 4 now.

[justusranvier]

Just my opinion - target small business owners who sell over the internet and are tired of PayPal's bullshit (that would be nearly all of them).

Emphasize the lack of chargebacks and lack of any central authority who can freeze your account for an indefinite time and arbitrary reason.

Services like bit-pay are ideal for merchants who just want an easy way to get paid without the hassles involved with PayPal and also don't want exchange rate exposure. Getting USD deposited into your bank account every business day with no chargeback risk and for a fee that's competitive with PayPal or a MasterCard/Visa merchant account is a really good deal for them.

Get the merchants on board and they will encourage their customers to follow.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Just my opinion - target small business owners who sell over the internet and are tired of PayPal's bullshit (that would be nearly all of them).

Emphasize the lack of chargebacks and lack of any central authority who can freeze your account for an indefinite time and arbitrary reason.

Services like bit-pay are ideal for merchants who just want an easy way to get paid without the hassles involved with PayPal and also don't want exchange rate exposure. Getting USD deposited into your bank account every business day with no chargeback risk and for a fee that's competitive with PayPal or a MasterCard/Visa merchant account is a really good deal for them.

Get the merchants on board and they will encourage their customers to follow.

The only thing I would improve on that model is having a fee scheduled where the more BTC exchanged, the lower the cost, with the highest percentage ever a business pays is the lowest that PayPal charges.

Or consider this hypothetical scenario:

On a website, an Xbox 360 Console is priced at $278.50. At checkout, the buyer is presented with the traditional PayPal option and the Bitcoin option. With the Bitcoin option, the buyer notices an $8.08 savings (2.9%) if he opts for paying with bitcoins. He's even offered three choices of which he must click only one box that's next to those choices (box not show below for this example).

• Take the $8.08 discard now.
• Give me half and I'll apply the other half with my next purchase from your company.
• I opt to use this instant rebate on my very next purchase, good for the next 10 years.

Now which one is the buyer more likely to click. I'm guessing the first box. And that buyer will jump through hoops at this stage of the purchase to get those coins into his wallet so that he can purchase this hot new game (I know it ain't new, but...).

The bigger the ticket item, the bigger the savings, the more apt a buyer will consider using Bitcoin.

The other end of the spectrum is in those smaller purchases and micro donations that have been discussed on this forum, e.g. the Indies (independent) market.

~Bruno~

[justusranvier]

Or consider this hypothetical scenario:

On a website, an Xbox 360 Console is priced at $278.50. At checkout, the buyer is presented with the traditional PayPal option and the Bitcoin option. With the Bitcoin option, the buyer notices an $8.08 savings (2.9%) if he opts for paying with bitcoins. He's even offered three choices of which he must click only one box that's next to those choices (box not show below for this example).

• Take the $8.08 discard now.
• Give me half and I'll apply the other half with my next purchase from your company.
• I opt to use this instant rebate on my very next purchase, good for the next 10 years.

I don't see that as a bad idea. I'm not sure how many merchants would bother though.

I just want to emphasize that it's in the best interest of people who want Bitcoin to succeed as a currency (rather than those who just want to make themselves rich via speculation) to focus on the needs of merchants and customers because in the end the value of Bitcoin as a means of exchange trumps everything else.

Merchants want to make it as easy as risk-free to sell their products as possible. They generally don't care about toppling the international banking cartel.

When people talk to me about Bitcoins I explain to them why it can be beneficial for selling things over the internet and encourage them to convert any Bitcoins they receive immediately to local currency. I don't want people who are dipping their tow in the water getting burned by exchange rate fluctuations.

I think that's what Bitcoin needs to be right now: a high-velocity online means of exchange that is superior to PayPal. If that keeps the exchange rate low in the short to intermediate term then so be it. If Bitcoin makes life easier for buyers and sellers of real products and services then its use will grow over time and eventually there will be enough of a real economy backing it up that it will make sense to start holding on to them.

Only then does it make sense to start talking about Bitcoin as a store of value.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I don't see that as a bad idea. I'm not sure how many merchants would bother though.

Probably only the merchants that desire to sell more product. As a buyer, I'm offered two sites to buy a certain product, both at the same price. But one does offer an extra payment option, one of which I would recognize an immediate 2.9% discount. I'm going with that one. The seller just got an extra sale, one where PayPal didn't get a cut. He's out $0 (or he gained $.30, the other part of that PayPal fee). He even has an opportunity to sell that same product to that buyer's friend(s) because not only does everybody love a bargain, but they love bragging about it, too.

If I had a formidable website which sells a variety of products, I would have a campaign outlining how the next 1,000 people who purchase from me, using Bitcoin as their sole payment option, will enjoy a 2.9% discount on everything I sell--for life. I suggest after you make your purchase, to tell your friends and family about this amazing offer. Only about 1,000 will be able to enjoy this offer, so hurry.

You know the beauty of the above? They'll have no idea if 108 or 7,339 people took me up on that offer. It costs me nothing and, in fact, I gain. I recognize the same exact profit margin as I did when I only accepted PayPal. But I'm selling more product. (forgive the tenses--not editing)

~Bruno~

[justusranvier]

Does your calculation assume that the store is accepting Bitcoins "natively" without using one of the third-party services that immediately convert sales into USD? Because offering a 2.9% discount for Bitcoin is only a break even proposition for a merchant if the total fees involved with a Bitcoin sale, everything from when the customer clicks "pay" until USD (or applicable local currency) hit his bank account is 2.9% less than the total fees involved with the other methods of payments.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Does your calculation assume that the store is accepting Bitcoins "natively" without using one of the third-party services that immediately convert sales into USD? Because offering a 2.9% discount for Bitcoin is only a break even proposition for a merchant if the total fees involved with a Bitcoin sale, everything from when the customer clicks "pay" until USD (or applicable local currency) hit his bank account is 2.9% less than the total fees involved with the other methods of payments.

A fair question. But I wasn't thinking about converting them at all, but using every single one of them on products and services I would normally purchase with fiat. I would still have dollars coming in via PayPal, cc, money orders, etc. That is until down the road when all my sales would be made with Bitcoin, as a myriad other companies worldwide would be.

[justusranvier]

A fair question. But I wasn't thinking about converting them at all, but using every single one of them on products and services I would normally purchase with fiat. I would still have dollars coming in via PayPal, cc, money orders, etc. That is until down the road when all my sales would be made with Bitcoin, as a myriad other companies worldwide would be.

I understand that attitude and in the long term that's where we want people to go but first you need to consider a different type of merchant.

The economy is bad right now. Margins are thin and many businesses are struggling. There are a lot of business out there that are barely hanging on and for whom a chargeback or a freeze on their PayPal account while they investigate a complaint could be devastating or even fatal.

If you start talking to those people about alternative currencies they will tune you out because they have neither the time nor the resources to investigate.

On the other hand if you talk to them about a more reliable way to get USD into their bank accounts suddenly they will be all ears.

Get those people onboard and give them a reason to prefer Bitcoin over debit/credit card or Paypal and they will have the necessary incentive to get more of their customers shopping with Bitcoin. When their own suppliers start pestering them to use Bitcoin then you'll see more of them holding on to them for B2B transactions.

[mav]

On a website, an Xbox 360 Console is priced at $278.50. At checkout, the buyer is presented with the traditional PayPal option and the Bitcoin option. With the Bitcoin option, the buyer notices an $8.08 savings (2.9%) if he opts for paying with bitcoins. He's even offered three choices of which he must click only one box that's next to those choices (box not show below for this example).

• Take the $8.08 discard now.
• Give me half and I'll apply the other half with my next purchase from your company.
• I opt to use this instant rebate on my very next purchase, good for the next 10 years.

Now which one is the buyer more likely to click. I'm guessing the first box. And that buyer will jump through hoops at this stage of the purchase to get those coins into his wallet so that he can purchase this hot new game (I know it ain't new, but...).

In a thread about marketing bitcoin... this kind of user experience is not marketable. Who wants to make one of three choices at a checkout?! Most people just want to buy their shit.

Better marketing for bitcoin in this case would be 'buy with paypal' button next to 'buy with bitcoin' button and both are equally easy to use. That would be marketable. I reckon people would be more tempted to use bitcoin if that were the case. Offering a complex set of discount options is not what people want at the checkout and only heightens the 'bitcoin is complex' image.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

The cost savings for a business on a per-transaction basis will not be a huge selling point.  Plus they may have up-front costs associated with integrating and debugging a new payment system, whether they use a package like ours, hire someone to do it for them, or futz around with it themselves.  It will take time and money to get it working.  So saving money is probably the weaker argument for a typical business.  

The bigger benefits are

- no hidden fees
- no chargeback risk

Now if your selling point is "lower fees" then a better market to go after is Remittance.  This is where people pay outrageous fees.

Try sending $200 by Western Union from the US to someone in Mexico.  The fees can be as much as 20%.  Bitcoin can be one tenth the fees.   if one guy in the Mexican village will act as a local bitcoin dealer, then we can put Western Union out of business pretty quickly.

What we need are more individuals (like us) stepping up to be local bitcoin-for-cash dealers in each community.  Or getting all these "cash for gold' places that are popping up on every corner to add "cash for bitcoins" to their menu.  that would be better, as they already have an established retail location with staff.  just give them another product to sell.

[justusranvier]

The bigger benefits are

- no hidden fees
- no chargeback risk

Now a better market to go after first is Remittance.  This is where people pay outrageous fees.

Try sending $200 by Western Union from the US to someone in Mexico.  The fees can be as much as 20%.  Bitcoin can be one tenth the fees.   if one guy in the Mexican village will act as a local bitcoin dealer, then we can put Western Union out of business pretty quickly.

What we need are more individuals (like us) stepping up to be local bitcoin-for-cash dealers in each community.  Or getting all these "cash for gold' places that are popping up on every corner to add "cash for bitcoins" to their menu.  that would be better, as they already have an established retail location with staff.  just give them another product to sell.

I agree but you don't need "cash for bitcoins" people in the developed countries - you need to set those up in the developing countries.

I have a small amount of personal experience in this matter. I am a US citizen that was married to a Perivuan for several years and we sent remittances back to her family frequently. You're absolutely correct that it's very expensive and inconvenient.

Now that you can make deposits to the exchanges via cash to the branches of major banks it's very easy for someone in the US to get their hands on Bitcoins to send back home. The far larger problem is enabling people in the developing countries to convert those Bitcoins to local currency.

That means partnering with locals and setting up brick and mortar currency exchanges in a lot of different developing world locations. I've got some ideas for how one of those would work and I've considered working with some of my former inlaws but it's certainly not an simple undertaking.

[justusranvier]

Another thing to consider is that if a business has a presence in the US and in Mexico and is involved in moving money from one to the other it's going to become entangled in the laws that make those other services so expensive.

I would never start a business in the US that had anything to do with remittances. Let people who want to send Bitcoins obtain those Bitcoins themselves and just be merely a currency exchange in the target country.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Services like bit-pay are ideal for merchants who just want an easy way to get paid without the hassles involved with PayPal and also don't want exchange rate exposure.

Yes, but there's another hassle too that I didn't realize until just recently.  One business owner really liked bitcoins and wanted to accept them, but he said "my accountant will hate this, how is he supposed to record this?"

With Bit-Pay, the merchant does not have to see, hold, or possess the bitcoins, ever.  They report the gross USD amount of the sale, and expense our commission fees, just like they record revenue and commissions from Visa or MC.  

One thing that is perhaps overlooked about us, and I probably need to clarify this on the next site update:

Our fee is a fixed percentage of the gross order amount they transmit to us, and is not affected by the amount of bitcoins we actually collect, or what we are able to sell them for.

So if a merchant sends us an order for $10.00, they get exactly $9.70.  the amount of bitcoins we collect doesn't matter, and the proceeds we get from their sale doesn't matter.  the merchant has zero bitcoin risk.

[justusranvier]

Services like bit-pay are ideal for merchants who just want an easy way to get paid without the hassles involved with PayPal and also don't want exchange rate exposure.

Yes, but there's another hassle too that I didn't realize until just recently.  One business owner really liked bitcoins and wanted to accept them, but he said "my accountant will hate this, how is he supposed to record this?"

With Bit-Pay, the merchant does not have to see, hold, or possess the bitcoins, ever.  They report the gross USD amount of the sale, and expense our commission fees, just like they record revenue and commissions from Visa or MC.  

One thing that is perhaps overlooked about us, and I probably need to clarify this on the next site update:

Our fee is a fixed percentage of the gross order amount they transmit to us, and is not affected by the amount of bitcoins we actually collect, or what we are able to sell them for.

So if a merchant sends us an order for $10.00, they get exactly $9.70.  the amount of bitcoins we collect doesn't matter, and the proceeds we get from their sale doesn't matter.  the merchant has zero bitcoin risk.

I would certainly recommend advertising your service as a more reliable and hassle-free way for a merchant to turn sales into local currency in the bank. The fact that the underlying mechanism for doing so is decentralized crypto-currency is something that is not relevant to most businesses.

In fact, if it were my motto I'd make it:

Bit-Pay : Merchant Solutions for Small Businesses

Your customers are the businesses, not the Bitcoin movement. Bitcoin is not the reason your business exists, it's your competitive advantage. Really your customers don't even need to know how you are able to deliver payment processing that is faster, cheaper and more reliable than PayPal unless they're curious. All they need to know is that you can and do.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Services like bit-pay are ideal for merchants who just want an easy way to get paid without the hassles involved with PayPal and also don't want exchange rate exposure.

Yes, but there's another hassle too that I didn't realize until just recently.  One business owner really liked bitcoins and wanted to accept them, but he said "my accountant will hate this, how is he supposed to record this?"

With Bit-Pay, the merchant does not have to see, hold, or possess the bitcoins, ever.  They report the gross USD amount of the sale, and expense our commission fees, just like they record revenue and commissions from Visa or MC.  

One thing that is perhaps overlooked about us, and I probably need to clarify this on the next site update:

Our fee is a fixed percentage of the gross order amount they transmit to us, and is not affected by the amount of bitcoins we actually collect, or what we are able to sell them for.

So if a merchant sends us an order for $10.00, they get exactly $9.70.  the amount of bitcoins we collect doesn't matter, and the proceeds we get from their sale doesn't matter.  the merchant has zero bitcoin risk.

I would certainly recommend advertising your service as a more reliable and hassle-free way for a merchant to turn sales into local currency in the bank. The fact that the underlying mechanism for doing so is decentralized crypto-currency is something that is not relevant to most businesses.

In fact, if it were my motto I'd make it:

Bit-Pay : Merchant Solutions for Small Businesses

Your customers are the businesses, not the Bitcoin movement. Bitcoin is not the reason your business exists, it's your competitive advantage. Really your customers don't even need to know how you are able to deliver payment processing that is faster, cheaper and more reliable than PayPal unless they're curious. All they need to know is that you can and do.

+1

On a website, an Xbox 360 Console is priced at $278.50. At checkout, the buyer is presented with the traditional PayPal option and the Bitcoin option. With the Bitcoin option, the buyer notices an $8.08 savings (2.9%) if he opts for paying with bitcoins. He's even offered three choices of which he must click only one box that's next to those choices (box not show below for this example).

• Take the $8.08 discard now.
• Give me half and I'll apply the other half with my next purchase from your company.
• I opt to use this instant rebate on my very next purchase, good for the next 10 years.

Now which one is the buyer more likely to click. I'm guessing the first box. And that buyer will jump through hoops at this stage of the purchase to get those coins into his wallet so that he can purchase this hot new game (I know it ain't new, but...).

In a thread about marketing bitcoin... this kind of user experience is not marketable. Who wants to make one of three choices at a checkout?! Most people just want to buy their shit.

Better marketing for bitcoin in this case would be 'buy with paypal' button next to 'buy with bitcoin' button and both are equally easy to use. That would be marketable. I reckon people would be more tempted to use bitcoin if that were the case. Offering a complex set of discount options is not what people want at the checkout and only heightens the 'bitcoin is complex' image.

I'm going to hold my breath until I come up with a counter-argument. (this may be my last post) 

That means partnering with locals and setting up brick and mortar currency exchanges in a lot of different developing world locations. I've got some ideas for how one of those would work and I've considered working with some of my former inlaws but it's certainly not an simple undertaking.

Or as a Bitcoin Card sold at convenience stores near the register on its own stand with the caption "For Those Other Things in Life". (placed next to the Bic cigarette lighters)

[Coinabul]

I went on Omegle recently to try and convince the average person there that Bitcoin was for them!


It failed horribly.

But I learned a couple things. Most of the people there don't hate Paypal. But Bitcoin is best explained (and most intriguing to them) by creating a parallel to Paypal.

I don't think Bitcoin will be ready for the masses until the clients are superior in terms of ease of use and platform support to Paypal itself.

We're not there yet. It'll be awhile.

[justusranvier]

I went on Omegle recently to try and convince the average person there that Bitcoin was for them!


It failed horribly.

But I learned a couple things. Most of the people there don't hate Paypal.

The average person is a customer rather than a business owner. PayPal heavily favors buyers over sellers so naturally the average person isn't going to see the any of the problems. It's not very hard to find horror stories from the seller's point of view, however.

On the other hand please don't misinterpreting my previous posts as discounting the desirability of usability improvements for the average user. It is important but the necessary mindset for improving Bitcoin from the point of view of the merchants is slightly different.

It's really a case of two parallel and only partially overlapping efforts - one targeted at the users and another targeted at the business owners.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I wonder how easy it would be for http://www.merchantplus.com/ to add Bitcoin as a payment option to their business model. I think there are a few more companies like this one as well.

Thoughts?

~Bruno~

[Raoul Duke]

Get e-junkie or plimus to add bitcoin to their payment options and you might be into something

[paraipan]

The cost savings for a business on a per-transaction basis will not be a huge selling point.  Plus they may have up-front costs associated with integrating and debugging a new payment system, whether they use a package like ours, hire someone to do it for them, or futz around with it themselves.  It will take time and money to get it working.  So saving money is probably the weaker argument for a typical business.  

The bigger benefits are

- no hidden fees
- no chargeback risk

Now if your selling point is "lower fees" then a better market to go after is Remittance.  This is where people pay outrageous fees.

Try sending $200 by Western Union from the US to someone in Mexico.  The fees can be as much as 20%.  Bitcoin can be one tenth the fees.   if one guy in the Mexican village will act as a local bitcoin dealer, then we can put Western Union out of business pretty quickly.

What we need are more individuals (like us) stepping up to be local bitcoin-for-cash dealers in each community.  Or getting all these "cash for gold' places that are popping up on every corner to add "cash for bitcoins" to their menu.  that would be better, as they already have an established retail location with staff.  just give them another product to sell.

+1 i was thinking about this few days ago but i think i lack the experience atm to convince a gold buying office about bitcoin  

[BitPay Business Solutions]

i think i lack the experience atm to convince a gold buying office about bitcoin  

The office doesn't need to have a long or short position, or assume any risk.  Think of them as just a retail outlet for bitcoin exchange.  They trade wholesale on the exchange for 0.5% and charge the customer 6-10x that much.

[paraipan]

i think i lack the experience atm to convince a gold buying office about bitcoin  

The office doesn't need to have a long or short position, or assume any risk.  Think of them as just a retail outlet for bitcoin exchange.  They trade wholesale on the exchange for 0.5% and charge the customer 6-10x that much.

got it, would be great if all those gold offices had bitcoin exchange on their menu

[worldly]

I would put my hand up to be the marketeer for bitcoin, this is my argument:

Organised the bitcoin conference in Prague (with no budget) - had bitcoin being accepted at hardrock cafe
15 years experience in starting businesses and marketing them
Experience ranges from door to door sales of books to enterprise level software solutions (never had a marketing budget)
I use bitcoin and would like to see it succeed
Im not a developer
I talk to entrepreneurs and business people all over the world all day
I have no schedule
I have no idea about the technology that runs bitcoin, i just love the concept.
I would be prepared to spend some of my own money on it.
Is there someone with more experience than me prepared to work for free?

This is what id need from the community:
100 people to pledge support and volunteer hours per month to development.
If enough people indicate on this thread that they will support it then ill formalise the pledging process as ill need to know your skillset.

Here are some things i think about regularly:
bit-pay is great for merchants, by enabling the same security on the other side of the transaction (for the consumer)
this would remove any bitcoin risk to both parties.
Encourage bitcoin enthusiasts to meet and pool their spending power and target a place that everyone is willing to spend money.(a site to coordinate this would be the first thing i would develop)
if there are 5 people willing to spend btc in a shop then thats where adoption begins.  'Think globally act locally' has been used before but makes sense to this idea too.
Everyone has ideas, and their have been some great ideas mentioned earlier, but whats needed is someone to say - lets execute them.

So if we get 100 people to commit then I will volunteer to execute some of the ideas that get thrown around here.
If 100 people dont support the idea then everyone should support tony from bit-pay as he is doing a pretty good job already.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I would put my hand up to be the marketeer for bitcoin, this is my argument:

Organised the bitcoin conference in Prague (with no budget) - had bitcoin being accepted at hardrock cafe
15 years experience in starting businesses and marketing them
Experience ranges from door to door sales of books to enterprise level software solutions (never had a marketing budget)
I use bitcoin and would like to see it succeed
Im not a developer
I talk to entrepreneurs and business people all over the world all day
I have no schedule
I have no idea about the technology that runs bitcoin, i just love the concept.
I would be prepared to spend some of my own money on it.
Is there someone with more experience than me prepared to work for free?

This is what id need from the community:
100 people to pledge support and volunteer hours per month to development.
If enough people indicate on this thread that they will support it then ill formalise the pledging process as ill need to know your skillset.

Here are some things i think about regularly:
bit-pay is great for merchants, by enabling the same security on the other side of the transaction (for the consumer)
this would remove any bitcoin risk to both parties.
Encourage bitcoin enthusiasts to meet and pool their spending power and target a place that everyone is willing to spend money.(a site to coordinate this would be the first thing i would develop)
if there are 5 people willing to spend btc in a shop then thats where adoption begins.  'Think globally act locally' has been used before but makes sense to this idea too.
Everyone has ideas, and their have been some great ideas mentioned earlier, but whats needed is someone to say - lets execute them.

So if we get 100 people to commit then I will volunteer to execute some of the ideas that get thrown around here.
If 100 people dont support the idea then everyone should support tony from bit-pay as he is doing a pretty good job already.

Here's what I think. I read the first sentence, then glanced over to see who penned it. That was enough for me.

I second this!

+1

~Bruno~

(now on to read the rest of this post)

100 people to pledge support and volunteer hours per month to development.

May I suggest you start that thread? That way you'll have a tad more control during that pledging process. I, for one, would welcome you in that role. I didn't need to read that resume thingy. I've already spent several hours learning about you during the beginning of you starting that Convention in Prague. I like what I'd read. I like you. I believe you'll have no problem getting the support you need. Of course, count me in as one of those supporters. Anything I can do to help.

[worldly]

Cheers Bruno,

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

I have created a new thread here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=56032.0

If you feel the need for someone in this role and are willing to support me then please add your name to the list.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Cheers Bruno,

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

I have created a new thread here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=56032.0

If you feel the need for someone in this role and are willing to support me then please add your name to the list.

Added! Commented! Done!

This thread was started, in essence, to hunt down a marketeer. I feel we now have the right person to do that marketing--worldly.

~Bruno~