X-Message-Number: 4839
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #4832 - #4835
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 20:27:51 -0700 (PDT)

Hi again!

About marketing strategies: many years ago, when I was working in Australia,
I saved up my money and consulted a MARKETING CONSULTANT about how to sell
cryonics. This turned out to be a total waste of money; I would have done 
better to have spent it on a trip to New Guinea or New Zealand, or for 
subs to lots of science mags.

The basic problem to marketing cryonics, as I see it, is simply that we still
haven't completely worked out just who our market IS in the first place. Sure,
we have hints: scientific literacy, an interest in the future, etc. But 
none of these really gives a statement of our market, just a hint. Without any
basic facts of this kind, no amount of planning etc will help at all.

One thing we MIGHT do (although cryonic societies haven't been at all good
about this) would be to look in detail (perhaps formulate a questionaire) 
at (1) all those who have become suspension members of a cryonics society
(2) all those who have and still do subscribe to a cryonics periodical
(3) all those who regularly read and post on Cryonet (4) all those who 
regularly read but don't normally post on Cryonet. We might learn something
interesting; so far, the only polls similar to that which I know of dealt 
only with members of a particular society.

One class of particular interest would be that of people who we'd expect 
would be fairly knowledgeable about cryonics but have NOT joined. I may be
wrong about Minsky, for instance, but he actually does occasionally post
on Cryonet, and so far as I know he's not joined any cryonics society.
In this vein, it would be interesting to know about those members of the
Extropians who are NOT cryonicists. While he didn't say which society,
Bart Kosko stated in his recent book ("Fuzzy Thinking") that he HAD joined
a cryonics society: the notion that we may someday upload ourselves into
computers may (or may not?) play an essential role in whether or not
someone joins. 

But frankly, for now ie. today, the present, this year (and this decade,
probably) we simply don't know enough to do much marketing.

			Best and long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson


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