First time I discovered the crypto universe, as a communication specialist, I was impressed. Everything seemed huge. Millions of people reached in weeks. Communities of thousands of people built in only a few days. Billions of tokens sold in a few months, even with a dog on it. And all that for almost 0$ (as pretty everything is paid in tokens, worth 0 until ICO succeeds).
Looked like some kind of marketing paradise!
So I started digging the point to understand it well.
And I realized most of the projects were actually doing sh** in their communication.
While in a bull run, on an attractive market, messing around can work. And it did well. You can communicate and be dumb when crypto is mooning, people are in such a FOMO that they will buy whatever you show them, as long as there is the word “crypto”, “blockchain” or “token” somewhere in your story.
But now things are quite different. 2018 arrived, and the crypto crash occurred. Now, people are muuuuch more cautious before choosing the project they MAY want to support.
And those who don’t know how to communicate well will simply just never emerge.
Here are 5 of the reasons why I think most of the crypto projects do not communicate well and jeopardize their future.
#1 They assume people care about them
When your work all day on your project, you are deeply convinced that it is soooo great that everyone will be fully interested in it. You think everyone knows exactly what you are building up. That everyone is impatient to know more about your next (small) partnerships.
The truth?
Most of the time, people don’t even remember your main activity.
An investor, a bounty hunter, an airdroper, daily receive an amazing number of emails, tweets, messages… Each one from a company who deeply believe its project is incredible.
Our brain is not built to memorize such a quantity of information. So our memory chooses and forgets most of it.
A study showed that almost 80% of the brands could disappear and no one would care. 4 out of 5 brands are not important enough for people to regret it. That is the same thing for all the crypto projects around us. They are too many of them. People focus on a very small part of them.
So, before communicating with your audience, always assume they know nothing about you and don’t really care about you. Think your audience like someone you need to seduce every day, to whom you need to remind daily why you are the perfect match. That is the only way for, someday, maybe, having a nice surprise.
#2 They focus on short-term actions
I see a lot of projects communicating without having the great picture in mind.
They do one thing after the other, like on a checklist.. but without coordination, without clear guidelines.
They make some airdrop to create a Telegram channel but have no idea what they will tell to the people afterward. They launch a bounty program but don’t think well about the task they will ask and the real value they will have. They zig, they zag, but they don’t build something consistent. They start a blog and forget it. They go advertising. And switch to influencers…
You need to have a clear vision of what your next months will be.
You need to know why you are doing it (or why you are not doing it).
You need to anticipate to be ready when required. You need to use your low-busy moment to prepare the busy ones.
You need to have a strategy, not only tactics.
#3 They think they are unique
That is the most common error ever. I see it daily on the non-crypto world.
People deeply believe their product/project is the best, the only one.
They spend so much time on it they become blind to reality.
Other projects in the world are developing the same idea, maybe slightly different but not that much. Startup VC know it well: the idea is worthless, only the implementation is important.
So forget about your supposed uniqueness. Focus on the way to make it live.
#4 They think they have a community
Crypto projects are great at gathering a lot of people on social media, with airdrop or bounty. And they usually call it a “community”.
Well, that is not a community.
That’s just a random bunch of people who don’t know each other and that don’t know you either. They get there for some reason, that some of them already forgot.
A community is a group of people interacting with each other, bounded by a common goal, value, belief. It is a group of supporters that are somehow engaged with you, and are freely willing to speak about you, defend you when attacked, help you to grow and get better.
You don’t achieve it with an airdrop. You don’t buy engagement with tokens.
The problem, when you think you have a community that you have not, is that you are going to ask it things they will never want to give you. I see daily “community manager” asking their follower to RT something or share an announcement. For free. A community will gladly do it because they trust you and are engaged. Random bounty hunter will never lose their time for it. freely.
#5 They are highly predictable in their communication
ICO communications are all the same.
Project communication. Whitepaper presentation. Events. Partnerships. News. More events. More partnerships. MVP announcement. Pre-presale. Presale. Sale. Sale prolongation. Sale prolongation prolongation.
I understand it, as it is both the easy way (you communicate on yourself) and the safe way (you do like everyone else in order not to surprise big investors that may look at your communication). But it doesn’t help you in creating a specific tone of voice, in surprising your audience and make you remarkable. You are just, one more, on ICO among a bunch of others ICO.
After 15 years in communication, I forged deep convictions about some key aspects for strong and long-lasting communication.
I think it’s interesting to share it with you today my main beliefs.
1. I believe in the Brand
Brands have historically been invented to allow producers to stand out from the crowd. To differentiate themselves. At the beginning of mass production, everything was similar, and it was necessary to find a way to be recognized and preferred by its consumers.
It is exactly the same situation today in the crypto universe, and we would do well to restore the nobility of this science.
Strong brands impact. Reinsure. Get memorized.
Strong brands make projects look better.
Strong brands create pride and FOMO.
But a brand is more than just a name and logo. A brand is built around a brand platform.
- What is your view of the world?
- What is your purpose?
- What is your way of doing things?
- What are you proud of?
- What is your character?
Many things to define, for you to clearly identify who you are and be able to transmit it around you.
Many things to define, that will make it possible to bring people together in a sustainable way around your project. Because, as Simon Sinek says, people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
If you haven’t defined yet why you do things and just say what you are selling, you won’t go very far.
2. I believe in customer-centric experiences
Today, each of us is confronted daily with thousands of brand solicitations of all types. Each brand, like in a fashion show, tries to present itself in its best light.
Rather than trying to win the beauty contest, let’s ask ourselves what makes people vibrate. What matters to them. What are their problems. Their desires.
Our biggest competitor?
This is not a similar crypto project. Actually, it’s not a crypto project. Or even another investment option.
Our biggest competitor is a picture of a kitten that diverts our reader’s attention. It is the call of his children who ask him to come and play. It is the shopping needed, the doctor to go and see. The latest fashionable series, the kung fu class that is starting, the call to a close friend.
Our biggest competitor is life. The real one. The one that occupies the thoughts of people. The one that makes them laugh, makes them sad, makes them angry. The one that ultimately occupies most of their time.
Each communication on our part must, therefore, be designed to have a greater impact than one of these events, in order to be powerful enough to make people dedicate time to the project.
No communication should talk about us. It does need to talk about what will captivate our audience.
3. I believe in storytelling and creativity
We believe we are acting rationally. That we control our actions and thoughts by the sole force of our brain. But, as studies show, this is totally false. Most of our decisions are made emotionally, even if we try to hide it unconsciously under a post-rationalization varnish.
What is interesting to know, is that emotion is wonderfully powerful. emotional bonds with people (or brands) create trust. Fidelity. Resilience to relationship crisis. Ambassadorship. Resistance to change.
You want people to care about you, defend you, recommend you?
Emotion is, therefore, the field that must work on. Create emotional bonds, not rational bounds (or at least not bonds that are only rational).
Let us stop talking with ready-made sentences, in the manner of administrative forms. Let’s create a real relationship, warm, specific, emotional.
Why does the Little Prince love its rose more than the other ones? Why does he love the fox and is sad to leave it? Because they created emotional bonds with each other. They shared deep and personal things, not only functional ones.
What better way to create emotion than using storytelling?
Humans love stories. They intrigue them, they captivate them, they remain in their memories. They are shared. They are adapted.
Inventing stories is the best way to make your brand be impactful.
On condition that you choose the story well, and know how to make it live intelligently everywhere, all the time (be it on your website, white paper or your last airdrop).
Be proud of your story, and find impactful ways to tell it to anyone.
4. I believe in business
Because everything else makes no sense if it doesn’t contribute to the business.
Wanna think in a different way you ICO approach?
Knock to my door!
