A lot of talk, a lot of work, a lot of "spend", a lot of social consternation about DHF governance - the what we spend and why we spend and what we get for spend and etc etc etc. But we are pretty sure that "marketing", "adoption", "onboarding" are things that we want. As I continue to dig deeper, test and iterate - I think there are some very good ideas - "We have good tech", our thing is useful/util - there is utility here.
But how do we "tell people about it". That, is a question about narrative. I never have the same conversation about HIVE twice - but there are some key touchpoints.
As I have been thinking about "Marketing" as a service, its got me thinking about "marketing" in general. Its all connected, in my head at least, and we have a lot of pieces but we need more organizing agents to be ever more nimble in ordering our chaos.
We have a great story - if we can get the right bits in the right order, and in order to talk about it, it kind of helps that you learn about it. There have been a lot of efforts to "make it so easy you don't have to learn", but I am not sure that is fully sustainable either - each place will always need "leaders" in the sense that someone has to be willing to dig into how it all works, or at least get comfortable with figuring out who to ask.
Our "decentralized" unity gives us some power to talk at people from several different angles, and I feel like I have developed somewhat of a natural feel for it - but natural social knacks are not marketing plans, we have to identify "how" to talk about "it", once we figure out what "it" is.
And its more than one thing, so any effort at "marketing" might be well served to identify them and perhaps even take them one at a time, because often mucho abarca, poco prieta.
I have been observing a lot the hotel for which @buttcoins may be famous, even if he is not famous on HIVE for this - he dedicated many years of his life building a system, a community of systems, that integrate and provide value. I have learned so much, by observing, interviewing and yes - even participating! And through many conversations and meditations about the topic, I am now talking to my friend Claude about a possible "program" - whether some version of this is implemented here in Guatemala or not, doesn't really matter - these are iterated and replicable models that might serve to inspire other people around the world.
A "volunteer" experience, with integrated HIVE training. The hotel ecosystem accepts HBD, and the stickiest of the onboards are the #nomadlife type users that have interesting stories to tell and an android phone full of amazing photos.
Here are some of the key points Claude thinks we should emphasize:
Our phase 1 "HIVE Hub Hotel" experience has wound to a close, but we still have a few days left to contemplate about what replication would look like. The Volunteer position is naturally suited for this, the volunteers "train each other" in many ways, like passing a torch.
One of my key takeaways from the Guadalajara to Guatemala experience is that by staying longer in an area we were able to gain much more traction and impact that a quick burst of do-or-die energy. If we integrate a "Journey of a Hivian"-style training program into an already self-sustaining hotelier volunteer management program - could this be a marketing gold mine?
I think there is definitely a template here for success!