You don’t need me to tell you that blockchain is going to revolutionize the modern world.
With that said…
You might not know just how significant the market share will be for blockchain solutions in the near future.
In fact, according to IDC’s annual report on blockchain trends, global spending on blockchain-based solutions is expected to be a whopping $19 billion by 2024:
How about that?
Now’s the part where I turn to you and ask: Are you prepared to make the most of that growth?
Do you have a plan in place that allows you to establish your brand in the blockchain or specifically cryptocurrency space and market it effectively for long-term growth?
That’s where blockchain marketing comes in.
With the willingness to learn (or invest in a blockchain marketing agency that knows what they’re doing), you can learn the fundamentals of marketing your blockchain or crypto project– and do it in a way that actually works.
Below, we’ll be covering two things:
- What blockchain marketing is
- And best practices for marketing your blockchain-based startup today.
Before we jump into best practices, if you’re new to blockchain marketing, let’s cover that first.
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What is blockchain marketing?
Blockchain marketing– or crypto marketing– refers to any marketing endeavor that markets a blockchain product or service.
That might not sound unique compared to digital marketing in general. But as you’ll see, blockchain marketing is its own beast.
That can include something more traditional like creating SEO content for keywords that your target audience is searching for. But it can also be something more hands-on like generating interest on Reddit.
The largest crypto community on Reddit, Cryptocurrency, now has nearly 4.4 million subscribers, so it’s no small fry:
Caption: There are more than 500 crypto-related communities on Reddit as of the end of 2021.
The reason blockchain marketing is uniquely challenging is due to how platforms like Facebook and Google have responded to the large number of crypto scams over the past two years.
As a result, you can’t do traditional paid advertising on most major social and content platforms for ICOs (or Initial Coin Offerings), and there’s a lot of mistrust around new blockchain-related startups.
So, blockchain marketing has taken on a more guerrilla-based approach centered around community-building and based on trust to solve that problem.
(Frankly, how all marketing should be.)
That typically revolves around platforms like:
- Quora
- Twitter (organic)
- And blockchain-specific platforms such as Steemit, among others
Now that you know a bit more about what blockchain marketing is, let’s talk about some best practices to get a better idea of how to actually market your blockchain-based startup effectively.
3 Critical blockchain marketing tips for startups
There’s a lot to keep in mind when putting together a marketing or PR strategy for your blockchain startup. Far more than we have time to cover here.
However, there are some major points to keep in mind, best practices you need to know to make the most of any marketing initiative.
Here are the top three:
1. Focus on building communities, instead of drawing eyeballs.
Blockchain marketing isn’t like traditional digital marketing.
As we talked about, the large number of crypto and blockchain-based scams over the past few years have led to public doubt connected to anything crypto especially. So, trust is king.
And what is the biggest trust signal on the internet? Community.
Take this example from Binance, whose ad was centered around bringing its target audience together through a common goal and creating a movement:
And even 1-year later, the video is still garnering comments that prove the effectiveness of their campaign to build a sense of shared community:
We’re social creatures, and we’re more likely to trust when we see others trust. Community is literally the outward display of trust in a brand.
For that reason, building community needs to be a focus of your marketing campaigns.
That needs to be done differently on each platform, as a highly personal platform like Reddit requires a more hands-on approach while Facebook can be more traditional and brand-driven.
The key is to not treat all the platforms the same, and find out the best approach for each.
You also need to make sure not to spread yourself too thin.
Instead, focus on the 2-3 platforms you believe will be the most beneficial early on and then adjust as you go based on the results you’re seeing.
2. Don’t overlook SEO’s value– and start early.
SEO is kind of like email at this point, it’s often overlooked and every year someone says it’s dead….
… then studies come out each year and prove that couldn’t be further from the truth.
It’s also like email marketing for another reason: It takes time to build, but it is incredibly powerful once you do build it.
SEO takes time, not only because you need to plan and create the content but because that content can take time to build up attention and rank.
Graphs charting SEO traffic growth often look something like this, with the first several months showing little to no growth before an explosion:
It’s better to start on Day 1 with even minor research on valuable audience topics and their relevant associated keywords, even if you can’t start creating that content right away.
That way, once you’re ready to start your content engine, you’ve got a list of topics and keywords ready to go.
But also: Don’t wait too long before creating that content. The longer it takes you to get started the longer it will take you to rank.
Must-Read: How SEO Can Help You Future-Proof Your Startup
3. Make PR a priority.
Blockchain marketing is as much PR (public relations) as it is marketing. Let me explain why.
Once you have a quality product built and you’re ready to launch, it’s time to start turning your attention to marketing.
But an easy mistake to make if you’ve marketed a non-blockchain-related product before is to overlook how much more important PR is when it comes to launching a blockchain startup.
Remember what we talked about before: blockchain marketing is built around community building more than anything.
That’s because changes in your blockchain or crypto-specific startup’s ability to market on major platforms has been inhibited due to recent rule changes on those platforms.
And while this seems to be changing for the better, as seen in Facebook’s recent ad ban reversal, for most platforms this ban remains in place and it’s only made PR more difficult for crypto startups:
It’s no surprise why, though. Whether the ad bans remain or not, the number of scams in the industry have led to public doubt in general.
Because of this, blockchain marketing is as much about building trust signals as it is getting the word out there– and that’s where PR comes in.
A seasoned blockchain marketing agency knows this and will be able to advise you on how to build your community and market your startup in a way that builds these trust signals. Plus, do it in a way that integrates those PR-building efforts with content creation, killing two birds with one stone.
For now, just keep in mind that you should focus your marketing in a way that builds a positive public perception around your startup and product.
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Blockchain marketing doesn’t have to be difficult
Marketing your blockchain or crypto-related startup can seem tricky at first, and things are changing constantly.
But when you understand the fundamental ideas that make up the foundation of a good blockchain marketing campaign, it becomes much easier.
Focus on building community, don’t overlook the power of SEO, and integrate PR into your marketing strategy and you’ll be well on your way.
