Going viral
DaveDarby
Public
Seen by 168
I want to suggest a new approach to ‘the message’ and how to deliver it.
We’ve had a few goes at producing a message. This one - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oMbRAcLr2rGprUs7Q46zDAr5VIlHOSKXxADFCuHraP4/edit#heading=h.ydgkdhx6n7nt – I think is too wordy, and not really for beginners. This one - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1npJBBQ4Xa9hRoLnr31mndW-PyL-t_Z16SF6BQRSoafo/edit# - removes all the things that enthused me about mutual credit / credit commons in the first place – i.e. how much it can contribute to a new society / economy / world. I want to align the message more with Tom’s book, Matthew’s white paper, and the Money & Society MOOC – all of which were very inspiring to ‘cultural creatives’ like me – our target audience, imho.
I agree with Matthew: “I wonder if we might experiment with more approachable language now that we know our audience. The below is quite neutral, technical, functional, didactic.” Simplicity is key I think. We can wax lyrical in more depth on the blog – we can have articles like ‘why mutual credit is good for small businesses’, ‘why banks don’t like mutual credit’, ‘why mutual credit is the trading system for a new, sustainable economy’, ‘how mutual credit can strenghten communities’ etc. We can all write articles about what enthuses us, and link to them from a basic introductory page on the website. Plus there will be an FAQ page on how to use it etc, so we don’t need to go into detail about that. The aim is to enthuse cultural creatives, to get them to express interest, and to get them to tell their friends.
For example, I sent this cold email to a co-op:
Hi, Would you like a chat about a) being in our directory / blogging with us etc. - https://www.lowimpact.org/ and b) joining the Open Credit Network – https://opencredit.network/? I'm a director of both (both co-ops), and we want to change the economy and actually, the world. Cheers - Dave Darby
About half an hour later, they clicked the EoI button on the home page.
Also, I met someone with a small business who asked what I did. We were both pressed for time. The conversation went like this:
I’m part of a team building a new kind of exchange system – a new money, if you like.
How does it work?
Everyone has an online account. If you buy, you go into debit, and if you sell, you get credit. There’s a limit to how far you can go into credit or debit. That’s it. It can go global.
Have you thought about fraud and how to pay taxes.
Yes.
Why are you doing it?
It’s good for small businesses, bad for multinationals and doesn’t need banks at all.
Where do I sign up?
I pulled out my phone, went to OCN and clicked the express interest button. I asked him the questions and submitted. The whole thing took a couple of minutes. I asked if he’d do the same thing with his friends and he said he would.
[NB you can see the EoI form on a phone, but it could do with a little tweak to make it fit the screen better.]
To go viral, we need to get people doing this with their friends all over the country. But as they’re not going to have any of us there to explain it, I think the most urgent thing we need is probably a one-minute (animated?) video that people can bring up on their phones, to show other people.
Oli and I disagree on how much MC can prevent extraction and how a growing credit commons will affect financial markets, but the messaging approach I’m suggesting below avoids the need to even have those debates (although I’m still happy to).
I think we all agree with the target market though. I think it’s huge and growing. As Geoff said, it’s the cultural creatives that we’re after first. And actually, anyone who is not a fan of the banks – which is quite a lot of people.
If we want to get on the TV, radio and in the papers, the story is that we’re building a new economy and making banks obsolete, not that we’re helping SMEs utilise spare capacity. Of course, make it clear that this is good for small businesses, and tone it down for small-or-large-C conservative groups, but they’re not the early adopters.
I’m too old to learn the tech side of things, and I have no appetite for it. I want to focus on saying things in lay persons’ terms and reaching as many people as possible. To that end, I’ve produced a new messaging and delivery doc. It can be used for quick conversations in the pub, for more leisurely conversations and for presentations. The idea is to explain things step-by-step, and make sure people get it after each step; it will allow us to harvest people’s main concerns, engage early adopters and grow to reach critical mass, which will then put us in a position to start to bring the mainstream on board.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VqlZP_LOnKTP7diUr_VgAJLTWCo5MkK_5HZsyX7cJNY/edit?usp=sharing
dilgreen Sat 1 Jun 2019 7:08PM
For me, in order for MC to 'go viral', we need to bring whole networks on / encourage people to start new networks as groups.
Dave, if you carry on adding 2 a week like this, we'll have 1000 members after 10 years.
If we had 1,000 Dave's , this might work - but we don't, and almost certainly won't.
But if you add one network of 50 a week, then after ten years you have 250,000 traders., but only 5,000 members to deal with (each of whom represents 50 members they deal with themselves).
In fact, according to a more sophisticated version of Oli's P+L spreadsheet I'm about to post in the P&L thread, we should be aiming for a few million members in the UK to achieve anything like our target.
So at some point we need to be adding larger networks, and faster....
The messaging needed for network conveners / groups who might start networks will be different again.
There is no 'perfect' messaging - w'll need different stuff in different forums and to suit different message deliverers, too.
What's great is that there are many messages that work.
Matthew Slater Sat 1 Jun 2019 7:15PM
Bit harsh dil
We need to work out a sales pitch to membera, and test it, probably before working out the pitch to networks.
A working sales pitch to members is part of the pitch to networks.
dilgreen Sat 1 Jun 2019 7:15PM
No harshness intended - I know that both Dave and I are focused on systems change potential - and that we know this implies scale. This is the 'going viral' thread, after all...
This is really worth reading (with the 'network effect' being the important bit).
https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/05/12/strategy-letter-i-ben-and-jerrys-vs-amazon/
DaveDarby Sun 2 Jun 2019 9:30AM
I didn’t find it harsh, Matthew.
But you didn’t get what I’m saying, Dil.
I’m talking about the opposite of me adding 2 per week – we can’t go viral through personal contact. it’s about getting people to get bring their friends on board, who then bring their friends on board and so on – going viral, in other words.
And the people who are going to do that are the early adopters / cultural creatives that we’ve already agreed are our target audience.
I agree with what you say about going for networks (many of which will be full of early adopters), and also about tailoring the message if you’re talking to groups that are not cultural creatives – like the FSB ‘innovators’.
For small business networks, yes, add more benefits for small businesses – but if you noticed, in the ‘reasons for doing it’ section, I’m asking people to tell us what their favourite reasons are – we can actually see what turns people on, rather than guessing.
At Open2018, there was a sophisticated communication / voting system via phones, visible on a screen. We can use that to get detailed info about what turns early adopters on. And attendees at 2019 will certainly be cultural creatives.
Hugh Barnard Thu 25 Jul 2019 4:47PM
Hi folks
This seemed like a good place for this. I'm part of a couple of groups that include anarchist academics and activists. These are probably not network participants but they are (mainly, potentially) mutual social credit allies and communicators.
As such, someone(s) could probably give a talk at LARC or elsewhere in this particular circuit, see below. I've cut and pasted an enthusiastic email in response to my floating the idea. I'm suggesting widening the visibility of mutual social credit, rather than, for example, network invitations. This isn't particularly urgent either and can wait until the autumn too.
All the best Hugh
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Sounds like a fantastic idea. When would be best for you and who would you suggest as speaker or speakers?
If it's in August it will have to be in somewhere like the Common House (2 min from Bethnal Green tube station) or LARC (Whitechapel). MayDay Rooms is closed August 7th - September 3rd and Housmans schedule is more or less full for the remainder of 2019.
LARC have monthly meetings where following events are agreed. LARC is a bit shabby but if the event requires a Skype (or FOSS-equivalent) conversation or a PowerPoint-style presentation then it could be the better option as they recently bought a new projector and projection screen which covers an entire wall.
LARC makes their decisions for upcoming events in their premises on first Wednesdays of the month. August 7th is the upcoming one.
The interview will also be shared on the Channel Zero anarchist podcast network which would be a bit of a coup for any project/cause. Nothing derogatory about tech people but some in the progressive/activist milieu may well have tons of talent and highly worthy causes but their speaking skills let them down badly, so someone like you would make a significant impact
Oli SB Fri 26 Jul 2019 12:30PM
Thanks Hugh - sounds like one to add to the outreach plan @davedarby
Matthew Slater · Sat 1 Jun 2019 6:43PM
Nice progress dave.