In the spirit of ending the year with everyone on the same page, we thought it made sense to compile in one report a summary of the initiatives from the Public Awareness proposal for Q4 2015.
One important thing you should be aware of, if you were not already, is that there was an issue in December and the budget was not paid, we did not get any coins for this budget in December. So the system has only really paid 3 months so far.
Some of the information in this post has been published before I am just compiling it again here for the benefit of everyone.
Detail of Investments
1. Contracted public relations services for a one-time payment of 2000 USD. This assists us with press release distribution and lobbying to better inform the crypto media and promote organic articles on Dash related topics within crypto. We got excellent coverage during Q4. Investment 2000 USD
2. We contracted a partnership with Chinese PR service that works with 8BTC the number 1 Chinese forum and media site for 4BTC per month, of which we have already paid the first month. This has been a breakthrough for us in China and has provided a way better sense of direction. Before we went into this program the Dash section in 8BTC was still under the Darkcoin brand, had no new content and very little attention. As a result of this program the Dash section was updated, everything related to Darkcoin was converted to Dash and they have provided a lot of guidance in our efforts to reach the Chinese audience. We also started translating and publishing any articles we got on the West campaign into 8BTC we even got our Chinese version of the video to be on an article on the front page of 8BTC. Please check for details: www.8BTC.com/dash Paid for 2 months 8 BTC
3. Translated Dash original whitepaper and InstantX whitepaper to Chinese 0.6 BTC.
4. This campaign also includes forum engagement of new users and activities in the 8BTC forum, for this we have a budget of 150 DASH/month that is divided between Lucky Wheel a roulette that runs on the 8BTC forum where one the winning options is Dash and then a campaign for new Chinese users to download the wallet and ask questions on a forum and get a little Dash. These activities are run by Alexy and Raico, our Chinese ambassadors, and have been helping us get new interested users in China. This has been extremely popular so far and we are very happy with the results, engaging directly with people in China has proven to be the best way to grow our community there. Total invested in this initiative: 375 DASH
5. PRWEB Press Release. We also wanted to take our first steps outside of crypto and start testing the waters, so we decided to do a formal press release for Dash through the PRWEB financial package plus advanced placement for 879 USD.
This type of press releases are directed to the general public, they are good for building backlinks, raising awareness and just getting some automated media attention. You can see an example of the published release here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/dash-superior-digital-currency-bringing-070804556.html
http://www.fintech.finance/news/dash-a-superior-digital-money-alternative-to-bitcoin/
6. Completing Animated Video and Video Distribution. Completing our first animated video was a lot of work that took a few months, it has so far been a great success for us and an important milestone with more than 10K views on YouTube. We paid 2500 USD total for this video, 1250 USD before they started and 1250 USD recently after completion. The community collected 751 DASH which remained on escrow until after release, these coins were not enough to pay for the video it was necessary to complete the 2,500.00 USD with 290 DASH from the system.
7. Video Distribution 2 BTC. We invested 2 BTC (they accept BTC through Coinbase), 460 USD and got more than 4000 YouTube views in 48 hours in important territories for us.
8. We have sourced and contracted www.foxtailmarketing.com we are starting with a 2000 USD/month package, which is on the conservative end of this type of service, with a plan to ramp up in the future as we see results. Things went well we worked with them on on-site optimization and link building, etc. Our contract had an out after 3 months ending on Dec 15th. When we went to Mexico in early November we met and started discussions with Michael Terpin and Transform.PR and decided that given their direct experience with cryptocurrency and focus on public relations working with them was something we wanted to try. To make space for this we ended our contract with Foxtail, just because a new opportunity presented itself that we felt was a better fit in the short term. Total investment was 6,000.00 USD
9. Bitcoin Wednesday Amsterdam Sponsorship. Amsterdam marked a very important milestone for Dash, it was the first time the team met in person and it was instrumental for everything that came later in Q4 2015. We sponsored Bitcoin Wednesday with a 1250 EURO donation. The only thing that had a separate budget for Amsterdam was Evan’s plane ticket, AirBNB and expenses. Everyone else from the team that attended covered their own expenses. Total investment 1250 Euro.
10. Incidentals for Latam conference in Mexico. Banner, video interview sponsorhips, brochures and presentation cards, parking ticket that David (Lebubar) got from park meter while manning the booth. 0.45323 BTC + 259.87 DASH.
11. Bitcoin News Br and Sp banner ads and give away promotion. Banner ads for the Brazil and LATAM audience, plus giveaway promotion on Dashtalk.org. 1.3624BTC + 100 DASH
12. BTC Miami Sponsorship. We included a budget for 2000.00 USD in November in preparation for Bitcoin Miami. The basic standard exhibitor booth for BTC Miami has a cost of 2500.00 so it was complemented with 500.00 USD from the PR budget. Investment 500.00 USD
These are the exact numbers, since different initiatives come denominated in different currencies, with the intent to give an approximate overall value, I am going to use an average rate of 2.40 USD /DASH and 300 USD/BTC and 0.90 USD/EUR to be conservative.
That would give us a total approximate value of ~ $16,548.38 USD
We feel very pleased with the results in terms of growth of awareness during Q4 2015 working with the system for the first time. We are all as a community innovating as nothing like this has existed ever before, so it is uncharted territory and we hope that everyone can appreciate that we try to do our best in good faith and based on the experience acquired in the process pivot in the direction that is working the most and building on previous work by taking advantage of new relationships and opportunities we create on the way.
After the LATAM conference in Mexico, new opportunities opened up and we started conversations with Transform.PR and Michael Terpin, to work with them for a 3 month campaign. Trying to work with professional help in the space is worth a try and is aligned with our goal of building our brand and educating the public in all the already deployed features and benefits of Dash. They will also be helping us during the BTC Miami event, we will focus in this direction during Q1 2016. This should help us open up new opportunities and get access to a larger audience.
Happy New Year!
One important thing you should be aware of, if you were not already, is that there was an issue in December and the budget was not paid, we did not get any coins for this budget in December. So the system has only really paid 3 months so far.
Some of the information in this post has been published before I am just compiling it again here for the benefit of everyone.
Detail of Investments
1. Contracted public relations services for a one-time payment of 2000 USD. This assists us with press release distribution and lobbying to better inform the crypto media and promote organic articles on Dash related topics within crypto. We got excellent coverage during Q4. Investment 2000 USD
2. We contracted a partnership with Chinese PR service that works with 8BTC the number 1 Chinese forum and media site for 4BTC per month, of which we have already paid the first month. This has been a breakthrough for us in China and has provided a way better sense of direction. Before we went into this program the Dash section in 8BTC was still under the Darkcoin brand, had no new content and very little attention. As a result of this program the Dash section was updated, everything related to Darkcoin was converted to Dash and they have provided a lot of guidance in our efforts to reach the Chinese audience. We also started translating and publishing any articles we got on the West campaign into 8BTC we even got our Chinese version of the video to be on an article on the front page of 8BTC. Please check for details: www.8BTC.com/dash Paid for 2 months 8 BTC
3. Translated Dash original whitepaper and InstantX whitepaper to Chinese 0.6 BTC.
4. This campaign also includes forum engagement of new users and activities in the 8BTC forum, for this we have a budget of 150 DASH/month that is divided between Lucky Wheel a roulette that runs on the 8BTC forum where one the winning options is Dash and then a campaign for new Chinese users to download the wallet and ask questions on a forum and get a little Dash. These activities are run by Alexy and Raico, our Chinese ambassadors, and have been helping us get new interested users in China. This has been extremely popular so far and we are very happy with the results, engaging directly with people in China has proven to be the best way to grow our community there. Total invested in this initiative: 375 DASH
5. PRWEB Press Release. We also wanted to take our first steps outside of crypto and start testing the waters, so we decided to do a formal press release for Dash through the PRWEB financial package plus advanced placement for 879 USD.
This type of press releases are directed to the general public, they are good for building backlinks, raising awareness and just getting some automated media attention. You can see an example of the published release here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/dash-superior-digital-currency-bringing-070804556.html
http://www.fintech.finance/news/dash-a-superior-digital-money-alternative-to-bitcoin/
6. Completing Animated Video and Video Distribution. Completing our first animated video was a lot of work that took a few months, it has so far been a great success for us and an important milestone with more than 10K views on YouTube. We paid 2500 USD total for this video, 1250 USD before they started and 1250 USD recently after completion. The community collected 751 DASH which remained on escrow until after release, these coins were not enough to pay for the video it was necessary to complete the 2,500.00 USD with 290 DASH from the system.
7. Video Distribution 2 BTC. We invested 2 BTC (they accept BTC through Coinbase), 460 USD and got more than 4000 YouTube views in 48 hours in important territories for us.
8. We have sourced and contracted www.foxtailmarketing.com we are starting with a 2000 USD/month package, which is on the conservative end of this type of service, with a plan to ramp up in the future as we see results. Things went well we worked with them on on-site optimization and link building, etc. Our contract had an out after 3 months ending on Dec 15th. When we went to Mexico in early November we met and started discussions with Michael Terpin and Transform.PR and decided that given their direct experience with cryptocurrency and focus on public relations working with them was something we wanted to try. To make space for this we ended our contract with Foxtail, just because a new opportunity presented itself that we felt was a better fit in the short term. Total investment was 6,000.00 USD
9. Bitcoin Wednesday Amsterdam Sponsorship. Amsterdam marked a very important milestone for Dash, it was the first time the team met in person and it was instrumental for everything that came later in Q4 2015. We sponsored Bitcoin Wednesday with a 1250 EURO donation. The only thing that had a separate budget for Amsterdam was Evan’s plane ticket, AirBNB and expenses. Everyone else from the team that attended covered their own expenses. Total investment 1250 Euro.
10. Incidentals for Latam conference in Mexico. Banner, video interview sponsorhips, brochures and presentation cards, parking ticket that David (Lebubar) got from park meter while manning the booth. 0.45323 BTC + 259.87 DASH.
11. Bitcoin News Br and Sp banner ads and give away promotion. Banner ads for the Brazil and LATAM audience, plus giveaway promotion on Dashtalk.org. 1.3624BTC + 100 DASH
12. BTC Miami Sponsorship. We included a budget for 2000.00 USD in November in preparation for Bitcoin Miami. The basic standard exhibitor booth for BTC Miami has a cost of 2500.00 so it was complemented with 500.00 USD from the PR budget. Investment 500.00 USD
These are the exact numbers, since different initiatives come denominated in different currencies, with the intent to give an approximate overall value, I am going to use an average rate of 2.40 USD /DASH and 300 USD/BTC and 0.90 USD/EUR to be conservative.
That would give us a total approximate value of ~ $16,548.38 USD
We feel very pleased with the results in terms of growth of awareness during Q4 2015 working with the system for the first time. We are all as a community innovating as nothing like this has existed ever before, so it is uncharted territory and we hope that everyone can appreciate that we try to do our best in good faith and based on the experience acquired in the process pivot in the direction that is working the most and building on previous work by taking advantage of new relationships and opportunities we create on the way.
After the LATAM conference in Mexico, new opportunities opened up and we started conversations with Transform.PR and Michael Terpin, to work with them for a 3 month campaign. Trying to work with professional help in the space is worth a try and is aligned with our goal of building our brand and educating the public in all the already deployed features and benefits of Dash. They will also be helping us during the BTC Miami event, we will focus in this direction during Q1 2016. This should help us open up new opportunities and get access to a larger audience.
Happy New Year!
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