60-Day Online Marketing Campaign

.
There is short video pitch and an infographic attached to help to understand the approach of this proposal and to get to know me.

Link to the video pitch: https://vimeo.com/542664040

________ I M P A C T _________

How does this proposal fit into this challenge?

The goal of this challenge 'Proposer Outreach' is to attract entrepreneurs from outside the Cardano ecosystem to join and participate in Catalyst. This proposal addresses this challenge directly by offering to launch an Online Marketing Campaign. An Online Marketing Campaign is a fast and effective way to raise awareness about the promoted product (in this case Catalyst).

How will this campaign add value to our ecosystem?

Currently Catalyst has about 20k members on Ideascale. The goal is to grow to 100k members to the end of 2021 (see town hall video of April 21st). This campaign is going to reach +500k views and +25k clicks and interactions. Therefore, this campaign will have a huge impact in reaching the set goals and will help our community to grow not only in size but also in quality, because the campaign will also support entrepreneurs to create successful proposals (see more details below).

Outlook and future challenges?

This proposal includes the possibility to apply for further funding in the future. Since the content (video and landing page) is already created then, the funds can be used more efficiently to reach the set goals in community growth and engaged entrepreneurs.

______ F E A S I B L I T Y _______

BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE MARKETING CAMPAIGN

A successful online marketing campaign consists of two key elements:

1. increase awareness through great content

2. a strong call-to-action plan

Great content is the foundation of any online campaign. But the reach and therefore the success of the campaign depends mainly on the way in which the content is implemented and whether the attention can be turned into call-to-action. Therefore, the creation of content, the generation of traffic and the call-to-action part must be linked together.

1) Define the goals of the campaign:

Main goal:

• Increase the number of funded proposals submitted by entrepreneurs
• Increase awareness about Catalyst among blockchain industry

Secondary goal:

• getting projects from other blockchains moving to Cardano

2) Define the target group:

This second step is very important because you need a different approach to reach a developer or an entrepreneur. And it is also crucial to consider the background of the entrepreneur. In conclusion, this campaign targets two types of entrepreneurs:

• The first one already is involved in the blockchain industry but outside of Cardano.
• The second one has a business or business idea that will benefit from using a blockchain system like Cardano.

3) How do we reach the target group with efficient cost?

This campaign will use two major channels to reach the target group:

• YouTube Ads
• Google Display Ads

Both channels reach 90% of internet users worldwide and YouTube in particular has a very active "crypto" community. The given options for setting a campaign on these channels enable to effectively reach the target group. Of course, the ads will be shown next to blockchain-related content. A further advantage of this channels is the low cost-per-click ratio. And thanks to real-time tracking, adjustments can be made at any time.

Paid ad vs. organic search strategy:

Great content will eventually be found organically, but you should obviously do everything you can to make sure your video gets the attention it deserves. That's why a paid ad strategy is important to get the reach we want.

4) How to convert the traffic into meaningful participation on Catalyst?

The heart of the campaign will be a new created landing page. The video and display ads will direct the user to this website.

In conclusion, the website will support the campaign in two ways:

• First, the landing page contains a strong call-to-action plan by encouraging entrepreneurs to propose their ideas on Catalyst and also providing assistance to do so successfully.
• Second, the landing page will give the opportunity to measure analyze the traffic which is important to run a campaign successfully.

5) What content will be created?

Landing page

• As described in 4)
• In addition to the YouTube and Display Ads, the landing page will contain keyword-optimized content to generate organic traffic via Google Search. Since it takes time to improve visibility in Google Search, the creation of the website has already started.
• The URL for the landing page will be: www.catalyst-fund.io
• The name of this site is good to use for SEO as it covers the most related search results to this fund.
• This creation of the landing page also includes the creation of the banners for Google Display Ads, as they will have the same design.

Animated commercial video

Animated videos are great for making complex content easy to understand. And a well-presented video increases the recognition of the message. The created video will explain why and how a business will benefit from Cardano in general and from Catalyst in particular.

The video will be approx. 45 seconds long. In my experience a longer video will not increase interaction. Since the first 5-10 seconds are of great importance for advertising videos on the internet, I will create two different start sequences to see which one is more successful. This increases the probability of a successful campaign. The video will be presented on the landing page and on YouTube as ´Display Ads' and 'In-Stream Ads'.

What will be the approach to reach the target group and reach the set goals?

• The campaign will present Catalyst as the door to Cardano.
• The campaign slogan will probably: "Get your blockchain project funded"
• The key message will be: Up to 15M$ every 6 weeks for different challenges

6) What is the requirement for the content (video and landing page)?

To ensure that the created content is relevant and helpful for the target group, the campaign takes the following aspects into account:

"Make sure that technical knowledge is not an entry barrier to Cardano"

The main focus of the Cardano website is on technical and philosophical aspects. Personally, I like it, but if you don't have a background in IT, it's sometimes difficult to get the point.

"Relevant information must be easily accessible"

The Cardano website is full of helpful information, but sometimes it may take persistence to find the relevant information. Therefore, the landing page summarizes specific content for entrepreneurs.

COLLABORATION

• I also encourage the community to contact me if there are other use-cases for the video.
• In addition, we as a community can share (post/retweet) the created video on other social media channels, to expand the impact of this campaign. Especially I mean here Twitter, because there is a very active crypto community. I didn't choose Twitter for a paid ad strategy because it is much more expensive (cost-per-click >5$) than Display/YouTube ads and much harder to plan (there are high variations from my experience).
• On the landing page of this campaign there will be the possibility to sign up for a newsletter, which informs about current dates and success stories in Catalyst. For this purpose, I will also partner with the proposal Cardano Catalyst Newsletter (in case both get funded) to share our reach and content.

TEAM

• Dominik (proposer): strategy, video script, campaign management (see link above)
• Vera: landing page, design, campaign management https://www.linkedin.com/in/vera-stumpp-436b971b1/
• Thomas: video creation (effects, animation) https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaszuchtriegel/
• Max: video creation (script, cut, edit, sound) https://mxvisualarts.com/

CHALLENGES

As mentioned earlier, content creation is the easiest part of a campaign. However, reaching the right audience is difficult and needs to be carefully built up. It is very easy to waste money on online ads (especially on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, where the cost-per-click ratio can be very high without getting the desired result). Because of this, this campaign starts with YouTube and Google Display Ads, where costs and results are easier to manage. In addition, I will partner with Vera to ensure the success of the campaign. Together we will constantly evaluate and adjust the settings of the campaign based on the impact of all the actions we have taken.

BUDGET

The budget is divided in two parts: content creation and advertisement

Content creation: 7.900$

• Landing page (incl. content, design, hosting, SEO, display banner): 2.500$
• Animated commercial video (incl. script, effects, editing, cutting, voice, sound): 5.400$

Advertisement for 60 Days: 20.000$

• 300 $ per day for YouTube Ads and Google Display Ads = 18.000$
• The allocation is not fixed and will depend on the success of each channel
• Campaign Management (tracking and adjustments): 2h per Day for 60 Days: 2000$

Budget explanation:

Cost-Per-Click calculation: YouTube & display ads: 18.000$ = 18.000 clicks = 1$ per click

I have chosen the goals (see metrics below) carefully and from my experience a cost-per-click ratio of 1$ per-click is realistic. Of course, there is a little uncertainty and the ratio usually changes a bit from week to week. One week you might pay 70 cents, the next week maybe 1,40$ per click. This is why it is important to constantly monitor the progress and always choose a campaign setting where the ratio is within the limits. Therefore, it is necessary to have a benchmark (here it is the 1$ per-click ratio) for a campaign to reach the set goals.

The main part of the budget will go to the team for content creation and campaign management and to third parties for ad payments. The costs for campaign management are at 10% of the media budget, which is far below industry average (20-30%). I personally will have a financial benefit from this proposal when I reach the goal of 15 successful referrals afterwards.

******__ A U D I T A B I L I T Y _____

ROADMAP

The end of the voting for Fund5 is expected to be in June. We will be fully prepared to this date, so that we can start to produce the video right away within one month. After that, the campaign will run for 60 Days. The landing page should be ready for the start of the Fund6 submission phase. We will create this site regardless of the voting result. If the timetable will change like in Fund4, the roadmap will be adjusted.

Our schedule includes the following milestones:

• 1 month after voting: content is created
• 3 months after voting: campaign has been running successfully
• 3-12 months after voting: In the months following the campaign, the intended 15 referrals will be reached (ideally already after 6 months)

METRICS & KPIs

It's not possible to measure all the triggered engagement on Catalyst through this campaign, therefore, I have chosen related indicators to measure the success of this campaign:

Main goal:

• Successful funded proposals: 15 (measured as referral)

Media coverage:

• Total views of ads: min. 500.000
• Total clicks: min. 20.000
• Landing page visitors: min. 25.000
• Landing page interactions: min. 250 (measured as subscription or using contact form)

OUTLOOK

The idea behind building this campaign is to lay a foundation (with the landing page and commercial video) that could be used for further campaigns. As soon as I have the first data of the success of this campaign, I will apply for another funding to extend the campaign for additional weeks. I will also test the content on different channels and then use the results and insights in the next funding rounds so that we can achieve the desired growth for Catalyst as quickly as possible.

Let's grow together and thus positively influence the development of Cardano.

Thank you for your votes!

.

.