Many discuss topics regarding marketing on Hive. It is something many believe in yet, to date, most have not even taken the most basic of marketing steps. Instead, its seems to be a situation of "we need marketing", someone comes up with an idea, and then it is put forwarded.
This goes counter to the most fundamental question of sales and marketing. It is what needs to be answered before all else:
Who are you going to sell too?
In other words, what is your target audience?
This is the center from what all can flow. Once this is established, the rest literally will fall in line.
For that reason, we will put forth what Hive's target audience could be. At least this is based upon the stats for a particular application. We will also discuss why this makes sense.
Focusing Our Attention
If I was designing a marketing plan, this is where I would concentrate the efforts.
Hive is varied. There is no doubt about it. We see difficulty in creating an elevator pitch due to the fact there are so many directions things can take. Basically, it comes down to what is of interest to the person.
For example, a gamer is not going to have the same reaction to blogging as a serious content creator. The reverse is also true. Many are serious about their endeavors on Hive, understanding it to be a business. Others prefer to keep it light and just joke around a bit.
Meme creators are not always aligned with 1,500 words article writers. Video creators can vary based upon their talents and desires. Those who make 30 minute, fully edited videos contrast greatly to shorts.
Then we have the entire financial realm. Hell, we could go on for hours about the differences between speculation and yield seekers.
The point is Hive offers something to all these people. However, where this is an issue is in the fact that if everyone is a prospect, nobody is a prospect. This means the target audience has not been identified at all.
From this perspective, we will offer a basic starting point.
What Makes Hive Unique
In marketing there is something called USP. This goes back a bit in time and terminology can change. It simply stands for Unique Service Proposition.
It is essentially what separates your product or service from everyone else?
This is something that can obviously be answered in many different ways. Nevertheless, if we are talking about Web3, what brings Hive to the front of the class?
Here is how I will boil it down:
Hive is unique because of the distribution mechanism.
Regardless of the other networks, either Bitcoin or the EVMs, none of them have Hive's method of getting coins and tokens in the hands of people. For the average person, the only way to acquire these, especially at the base layer, is to purchase. To get in the game, money is required.
With Hive, that is not the case. While buying is an option, many are not in that position. Nevertheless, they are able to get some coins distributed based upon their activity. Being a node operator (aka block producer) is not necessary.
This is a unique proposition within the cryptocurrency world. There are not too many other networks that operate in this manner. It is a point that needs to be driven home.
Hive's Target Market
Which brings us to Hive's target market. If we look at the distribution system, we then can turn to who benefits? Obviously, this would be those excluded from the world of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Here is where we have a bit of evidence. While this is only one application, logic says that it is forming across the board.
This is the latest breakdown of users based upon geography for Leofinance according to Simpleanalytics.
The top 3 are:
- Nigeria
- United States
- Venezuela
Notice that Nigeria is ahead by a good pace. Venezuela is closing in on the U.S. I would not be surprised if it surpasses it by year end.
In other words, these two should be areas of focus. Hive can provide an immediate solution to these people as compared to other ecosystems.
Countries like these, along with Ghana, Cuba, and a host in SE Asia lack the financial resources as compared to many developed countries. While digital assets can benefit them, we can see how access that Hive provides offers something unique.
Again, we are looking for a USP.
These economies are such that the bar for making an impact is rather low. Tapping into the Hive economy can offer opportunities that are not resident in their country. Here is where Hive can step in.
Inclusive and Impactful.
Network Effect
One of the most powerful concepts is the network effect. We saw this exercised to perfection in the world of social media. Companies like Google and Facebook excelled (and became worth a ton) because of this.
Here is where Hive can kick this off. When we look at the target market, there are billions of people around the world. A country like Nigeria has a population of roughly 200 million. There are near 30 million people in Venezuela.
Making even the slightest of headway into these countries would be of benefit. They are target rich environments that can be leveraged for the network effect. Just picture Hive with around 5 million daily users. Considering the number of people in the developing world, we can see how this is nothing.
If we want to go one step further, India ranks 4th on the list, a nation with 1.4 billion people.
To me, this is a basic starting point. We can deliver value into these countries through tokenization in a unique manner. This cannot be stressed enough since it immediately makes Hive stand out.
And that is the goal of any campaign.
From this point, the rest of the process can start to fall in place.