Branding Your Bitcoin Oriented Business

After reading Matt’s post on marketing a Bitcoin business, I thought, let’s keep it going.

Distinctive brand elements — So your product / service has been differentiated in a way that your team is offering something unique, whether that may be a feature, an incentive, upgrade, or an entirely different approach to the industry.

Now it’s time to focus on bringing everything together in a nice cohesive package of symbolism; that is, the distinctive element(s) powering your brand. The colors, the symbolism, the aspect about your brand that emphasizes what it’s about. Confused? Here’s a great example.

Anyone within the Bitcoin community knows where this came from. Chances are you often see an Adobe illustration, and think… Hmm, CoinTelegraph. Absent of the logo, everyone in the Bitcoin community immediately knows where this image came from.

It’s significant brand elements that reside with us, that we stop to think twice about, that pop into our head when we encounter something uniquely familiar…. the elements that bring us back to a brand for more.

Perhaps a unique color scheme the emulates through all marketing channels, it could be the shear simplicity and lifestyle approach that brought the iPod to life…. Maybe imagery, a slogan, a thought, it could be a symbolic figure. Nike, Adidas, Puma…. Nike doesn’t need to broadcast a website or a name within every advertisement…. These are distinctive elements that speak for themselves, and we learn, understand and familiarize with them.

We familiarize with these brands because we are exposed to brand elements that represent a culture, not a product. We are receptive to advertisements that define a lifestyle, an attitude, not simply a use case or feature.

Total consistency —Distinctive brand elements that align to represent the organizational culture as a whole.

Culture is built upon your mission as a brand, your goals, and the ecosystem around everything you deliver. Product or service offerings, communication, logo, messages, product packaging, promotional incentives, website design, styling (from text and buttons through trade-show booth and billboards)…. even interpreted brand symbols. When intentional and unintentional brand messages are communicating a consistent message, is a beautiful thing and an on-ramp for fans.

Focus — Bitcoin business, startups and entrepreneurs dead set focused on capturing a piece of “the Bitcoin user-base”.

Here’s some advice.

The Bitcoin community is still small, it’s a niche market that is saturated with comparable offerings.
Looking to tap a market that already resides with Bitcoin?

Analyze the community, it would provide some fascinating regional, occupational and perhaps demographic similarities. Most appropriately, the results will provide a display of the ideal target for your product, communication plan, and an idea of the current “non-bitcoiners” that will use your ideas in the future.

The community is growing fast, and you have the opportunity to captivate the early adopters, and deliver a message that encourages Bitcoin use.

Consider how your product or service is going to benefit the Bitcoin community of tomorrow.
Exchangers, investors, economic professionals, financial advisers, individuals and organizations seeking funding, shoppers, retailers, gamblers…. the list continues. How can your platform offer an on ramp to similar segments, yet to enter the ecosystem.

When your organization achieves, alters or clarifies an individuals opinion, impacts a lifestyle, is the sole medium to create awareness of an industry; we promise, the brand equity will follow close behind. Trust is not easily forgotten.

A targeted message — What message are you using to market to the ideal consumer. Does it sound something like this?

Bitcoin is predetermined.
Bitcoin is peer-to-peer.
Bitcoin has no central point of failure.
These are all true, but do these statements directly impact your life? Do you truly believe these ideas are delivered in a game changing context, convincing an individual to flip their total perception around? If you do, you are probably up to snuff with world news, financial markets, and well, that’s how I know you’re already a Bitcoiner.

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
As humans, we need to envision a product within our lifestyle. We need a product / service to accompany us on our journey.

The technicalities behind Bitcoin are fantastic, the innovation is untouched, but if we cannot communicate it in a lifestyle message, in a way that aligns with the culture of an individual, our messages go unheard.

“We have tasty coffee for 99 cents only!”

Now put that in a lifestyle context.
Target the coffee drinking artise.

“Coffee is a new opportunity. With each pot, we open the gates of our imagination. An imagination like nothing you have experienced before. A fresh look a blank canvas we call, the sunrise.”

What about an athletic coffee drinker?

“We busted our asses, busted our asses all year - for tomorrow. All the laughs, sweat, tears… It all comes down to this.. And I know, I know we’ve got this. Morning is game time, coffee is winning time. We make coffee for those who get work done.”

So what could an advertisement targeting a Bitcoin user sound like?
We have seen countless studies outline a concentration of technologically educated, libertarian males, 18–35, so let’s try to speak the language.

“The last 24 hours defined who we are. To some, it’s another day. To us, it’s everything. We’re not here for the name, we don’t want the spotlight. We want freedom. We want privacy. And we will continue until we have accomplished our goals. We are My Coffee Company, and we are with you.”

• My Coffee Company - The people’s coffee, now encouraging Bitcoin transactions. We donate 10% to the cause, 100% for your rights.

So you have a message to share with your target segment….
Will the correct demographics & regions be receptive? What’s the motivation behind it? How does your message communicate the direct benefits in an interesting context? What lifestyle elements are you projecting, and why does your message enhance the vision? Why does your message speak to the consumer directly, and will it reside with them? Once your advertisement has been visited, will it be forgotten, or will your distinctive brand elements reside?

Please watch this 20 minute Ted Talk by Simon Sinek.
I’m confident this video will change your perception of context, and improve your ability to reach customers successfully, increasing conversions.

The Bitcoin Directory — Enjoy Bitcoins