Letter/Petition to Businesses to Accept & Adopt Bitcoin - Guerilla Marketing

[mwlarkin1]

Hello,


I was thinking of doing some guerilla marketing for Bitcoin using this letter:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q6WiJPvmx3FCwgSRAcie9-Ay3Pz54GUhlfTXtVlZDFE/edit?usp=sharing

It's a working document that anyone can comment on and download in PDF.  Maybe we could start editing this and improving the wording/facts?  Also, if you already have your own letter(s) - perhaps targeted at small or large business - you could post a reply with a link to yours!


Vive la Revolution!
Matt

[franky1]

nope

your letter is wrote with tooooo much geek speak

try again, but do it with less paragraphs and in plain laymans english.

eg

I’m writing you today on behalf of the Bitcoin community, asking you to consider accepting Bitcoin at [Business Name].  Bitcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency:  a global network that isn’t owned by anyone or any government.  It’s a revolutionary protocol in which people around the world can make transactions instantly and virtually for free.  Merchants and customers pay almost nothing for this service!  Because a lot of money goes into making fiat currency transactions seamless and secure, the system is bogged down and bloated.  Credit card merchant fees are too high in the system as we know it.  The Bitcoin protocol changes all of this.
...

Because it’s relatively new (5 years old), Bitcoin’s value is a little volatile.  However, companies like Coinbase and Bitpay offer merchants the opportunity to accept Bitcoin at zero risk to this volatility through the option to immediately convert transactions to U.S. dollars.  Large companies like Dell, Dish, and Expedia, as well as many “Mom and Pop” stores are now accepting Bitcoin to take advantage of the near zero transaction fees.  This new technology is saving businesses and consumers a lot of money!  The only people who don’t benefit from this system are the credit card companies and intermediaries.  Before this technology, they “granted” us the power of monetary transactions - but now the power is ours!

I’m writing to ask you to consider accepting Bitcoin at [Business Name].  It’s a revolutionary currency in which people around the world can make transactions instantly.  Merchants and customers pay almost nothing for this service!  Because a lot of money goes into making fiat currency transactions seamless and secure, Credit card fees are too high as we know it.  The Bitcoin changes all of this by being secured by encryption and not being sourced in one location which irradiates manipulation and ensures Bitcoin isn’t controlled by any single entity or government.  
...

You can be in full control by selling the bitcoins back to legal tender using services like localbitcoins whenever you like, or hold onto them for investment purposes. Because it’s relatively new (5 years old), Bitcoin’s value is a little volatile.  However, companies like Coinbase and Bitpay offer merchants the opportunity to accept Bitcoin at zero risk to this volatility through the option to immediately convert transactions to legal tender making it an automated and risk free option, should you choose that route.  Large companies like Dell, Dish, and Expedia, as well as hundreds of thousands of “Mom and Pop” stores are now accepting Bitcoin to take advantage of the near zero transaction fees.  This new technology is saving businesses and consumers a lot of money!  The only people who don’t benefit from this system are the credit card companies and intermediaries.  Before bitcoin, these corporations “granted” us the power of monetary transactions - but now the power is yours without their consent.

[minerpumpkin]

nope

your letter is wrote with tooooo much geek speak

try again, but do it with less paragraphs and in plain laymans english.

It may not be the best letter I've seen and there may be better ways of spreading the word. But I've definitely seen worse! Kudos that he's trying to spread the word and hey, he's inviting us to change the letter! So let's not complain, but rather improve things!

[Lauda]

nope

your letter is wrote with tooooo much geek speak

try again, but do it with less paragraphs and in plain laymans english.

It may not be the best letter I've seen and there may be better ways of spreading the word. But I've definitely seen worse! Kudos that he's trying to spread the word and hey, he's inviting us to change the letter! So let's not complain, but rather improve things!

How are worse letters relevant to this one? Franky is right, they will not understand it and that will scare them off (average humans).
This would work if it was a bit shorter, and a bit less complicated. OP +1 for trying.

[minerpumpkin]

nope

your letter is wrote with tooooo much geek speak

try again, but do it with less paragraphs and in plain laymans english.

It may not be the best letter I've seen and there may be better ways of spreading the word. But I've definitely seen worse! Kudos that he's trying to spread the word and hey, he's inviting us to change the letter! So let's not complain, but rather improve things!

How are worse letters relevant to this one? Franky is right, they will not understand it and that will scare them off (average humans).
This would work if it was a bit shorter, and a bit less complicated. OP +1 for trying.

Just trying to tell people that it's not especially helpful just to tell people how bad their work is. They most likely will stop improving when you do that. If we offer honest and helpful critique, who knows, maybe he will come up with the best Bitcoin pitch letter there is!

[cech4204a]

You said that bitcoin price is a little volatile, maybe you could fix that in : very volatile. Maybe you are not that much into finance, but in BTC world 10% price change is normal, which is not normal for most of the assets out there. Imagine EUR/USD change in 10% per day, that would cause colapse to the most of the economies.

[Minecache]

You can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. Retailers and the like will come on board when and if, and only if, bit coin proves it's worth.

Until then we are stuck with cash, debit cards, credit cards, pay pal....

[bluefirecorp]

Whoever felt they really needed to deface it, really?

It only takes 2 seconds to restore it to the old version. It's like defacing wikipedia, there's absolutely no point.

[BitcoinMillionaire]

You should put emphasize on the upsides of Bitcoin. There are quite a few people who became millionaires by using this great currency! Hehe!

[franky1]

i didnt realise the document was publicly editable. hmm i guess it is to be expected that some troll would deface it.

i usually post edits in the forum and allow the OP to edit it from a closed document, saves feeding the trolls

[mwlarkin1]

Ok,


I went back and took out geeky wording and made it shorter.  I also tweaked the format a little.  Thanks for your help Franky1, and thanks for the encouragement Minerpumpkin!  I think it's looking a lot better already!

Here's a link back to the document.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q6WiJPvmx3FCwgSRAcie9-Ay3Pz54GUhlfTXtVlZDFE/edit?usp=sharing

Also, that's a better idea Franky1:  I'll make it uneditable for the trolls, but you can still make comments on it.  Any revisions or ideas for wording can go in this thread!


Thanks so much,
Matt

[franky1]

first paragraph...

This irradiates price manipulation

ummm no
the security of bitcoin has nothing to do with price(FIAT/legal tender value of a coin) manipulation, but irradicates balance / personal holdings (amount of bitcoin) manipulation

second paragraph

You can be in full control by selling the bitcoins back to legal tender using services like Bitpay and Coinbase, or hold onto them for investment purposes. Because it’s relatively new (5 years old), Bitcoin’s value is pretty volatile.  However, using services like Bitpay and Coinbase, you can promptly convert your Bitcoin revenue into local currency if you wish.

firstly i replaced dollars as i was thinking of making the letter more international so it can be usedin the UK or urope without editing. i though using FIAt was a weird word so chose legal tender.. bt now reading it back, maybe either go with dollar or use the words national currency. as the words 'legal tender' may make people think that bitcoins are not 'legal' and open up a floodgate of questioning about if bitcoin is illegal to use. (laymans thinking)

my previous post was saying basically, you can either do it manually yourself using localbitcoins and sell back to dollar/national currency when you like, or just hoard.... or you can automate it using coinbase/bitpay and take the manual effort and price volitility out of the equation for a subscription/small fee.

but it seems like your trying to push them the coinbase/bitpay route without showing all options.. which is kind of leading the customer down a narrow path.

third paragraph

You’ll save a lot of money (with no merchant fees)

bitpay/coinbase do have fee's though. so becareful not to promise things that are untrue

[mwlarkin1]

first paragraph...

This irradiates price manipulation

ummm no
the security of bitcoin has nothing to do with price(FIAT/legal tender value of a coin) manipulation, but irradicates balance / personal holdings (amount of bitcoin) manipulation

second paragraph

You can be in full control by selling the bitcoins back to legal tender using services like Bitpay and Coinbase, or hold onto them for investment purposes. Because it’s relatively new (5 years old), Bitcoin’s value is pretty volatile.  However, using services like Bitpay and Coinbase, you can promptly convert your Bitcoin revenue into local currency if you wish.

firstly i replaced dollars as i was thinking of making the letter more international so it can be usedin the UK or urope without editing. i though using FIAt was a weird word so chose legal tender.. bt now reading it back, maybe either go with dollar or use the words national currency. as the words 'legal tender' may make people think that bitcoins are not 'legal' and open up a floodgate of questioning about if bitcoin is illegal to use. (laymans thinking)

my previous post was saying basically, you can either do it manually yourself using localbitcoins and sell back to dollar/national currency when you like, or just hoard.... or you can automate it using coinbase/bitpay and take the manual effort and price volitility out of the equation for a subscription/small fee.

but it seems like your trying to push them the coinbase/bitpay route without showing all options.. which is kind of leading the customer down a narrow path.

third paragraph

You’ll save a lot of money (with no merchant fees)

bitpay/coinbase do have fee's though. so becareful not to promise things that are untrue

Great points, especially about the "legal tender" ambiguity.  I went in and changed it up a bit.

And you're right, I am sort of pushing them the Coinbase/Bitpay route.  My initial thinking was that'd be easier for them than Localbitcoins since Coinbase/Bitpay have services geared toward merchants.  But'll I'll add in Localbitcoins to give them a broader scope of possible exchange methods.  If they're interested, they can decide upon more research.  It'll vary from business to business I'm sure.

Here's the document again:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q6WiJPvmx3FCwgSRAcie9-Ay3Pz54GUhlfTXtVlZDFE/edit?usp=sharing


Good work, and thanks again!

[Bagatell]

How much do plan on spending with these merchants, OP? What's your monthly BTC budget?

[blatchcorn]

Just FYI, sending letters is direct mailing not guerrilla marketing

[gbooz]

Marketing means selling. So, marketing what? BTC? You can sell your BTCs any time without any marketing.   "To businesses" - your ambitions are high Maybe you can start "guerilla marketing" of the BTC from your local grocery shop around the corner? That would be more realistic.

[franky1]

to be honest, i still think the letter is too waffly.

do you think mastercard talk about dollars with paragraphs describing the cotton paper and patented ink. or the method of joining the chip to the plastic card, or the database link of the accounts.

i think there needs to be less waffle about the decentralised protocols and more about the:
no chargeback
pennies(3c) vs quarters(30c) fee's
hoarding for future gains

basically the practical stuff, not the protocol stuff.. after all if your pushing for coinbase/bitpay. the protocol and security is meaningless to a merchant as its all automated by a third party. all the merchant and customer see's is a QR code.

they dont see or know of the 'ledger' or the encryption stuff, they dont see it as being decentralised, as all their trades go through one company.. not random people.

(sorry for the backwar and forward thinking from post to post. but i tailor my sales pitches to each individual business and the more i read your letter pretending im busines xyz, abc efg etc in different scenarios, the more questions rather than answers i see them come up with)

[mwlarkin1]

Marketing means selling. So, marketing what? BTC? You can sell your BTCs any time without any marketing.   "To businesses" - your ambitions are high Maybe you can start "guerilla marketing" of the BTC from your local grocery shop around the corner? That would be more realistic.

That's exactly what I intend to do!   And my hope is to provide a sample letter from which anyone else who wanted to do this sort of grassroots marketing could draw from.

[mwlarkin1]

to be honest, i still think the letter is too waffly.

do you think mastercard talk about dollars with paragraphs describing the cotton paper and patented ink. or the method of joining the chip to the plastic card, or the database link of the accounts.

i think there needs to be less waffle about the decentralised protocols and more about the:
no chargeback
pennies(3c) vs quarters(30c) fee's
hoarding for future gains

basically the practical stuff, not the protocol stuff.. after all if your pushing for coinbase/bitpay. the protocol and security is meaningless to a merchant as its all automated by a third party. all the merchant and customer see's is a QR code.

they dont see or know of the 'ledger' or the encryption stuff, they dont see it as being decentralised, as all their trades go through one company.. not random people.

(sorry for the backwar and forward thinking from post to post. but i tailor my sales pitches to each individual business and the more i read your letter pretending im busines xyz, abc efg etc in different scenarios, the more questions rather than answers i see them come up with)

That's a really good point, Franky.  Pitching Bitcoin as a means of saving money would speak pretty loudly to businesses as a whole.  If we pitch that idea first, maybe we can grab their attention more directly.  They don't have to have a philisophical/technological point of view to see how Bitcoin can help them:  so why endorse those ideas so heavily in the letter?  If the business is just interested in saving money - great!  If they're interested in the societal impact - also great!  But those are things they'll decided on an personal level.  Speaking about the expense-saving side of Bitcoin will speak more directly to all businesses.

Thanks for the input, I'll work on revising it.

[r3wt]

Large companies like Dell, Dish, and Expedia, as well as hundreds of thousands of “Mom and Pop” stores are now accepting Bitcoin to take advantage of the near zero transaction fees.  This new technology is saving businesses and consumers a lot of money!  The only people who don’t benefit from this system are the credit card companies and intermediaries.  Before bitcoin, these corporations “granted” us the power of monetary transactions - but now the power is yours without their consent.

Nailed it. The above sentences are an adequate sales pitch imo.