CryptoBoost’s Guide to ICO Marketing
2017 was a revolutionary year in cryptocurrency. Investment in ICO’s multiplied 4 times in comparison with 2016. 371 successful ICO’s raised in excess of $6 billion! Unfortunately, more than half of the token sales launched in 2017 were unsuccessful in reaching their funding goals. What separates a successful ICO from an unsuccessful ones is more often than not, a solid marketing strategy.
Investors invest in token sales due to the potential of a high return on investment, but this comes with an increased risk of scams, deception and fraud. It is important to entice and win the trust of ICO investors before and during your token sale. That’s where ICO marketing comes in. Gone are the days when the strength and value of a project would be enough to guarantee investment from the public. Now, public perception, community strength, and strategy define the success of an ICO.
The ideal marketing plan uses a mix of traditional strategies and innovative, unconventional methods to reach out to potential investors. Take a look at this ICO marketing plan that outlines the most important strategies that drive investment.
- Create Brand Awareness Through Social Media
After proving the concept of your project through an in-depth whitepaper and roadmap, it is necessary to ensure your efforts are visible to the community. It’s also important to keep potential investors in the loop with continuous updates to engage your community. This is where social media comes in.
Websites like Reddit, Bitcointalk.org, Telegram and Twitter have an active cryptocurrency community. Content creation and management of your community on these websites is an essential part of building credibility with investors, as well as creating social proof! It’s a good idea to team up with influencers on YouTube to produce videos about your project. We generally recommend a review of your ICO, or an interview with key team members.
- List Your Project on ICO Listing Sites
Due to the ever increasing number of ICO’s, investors often turn to ICO listing sites or ICO calendars like ICOBench and ICOAlert to find their next investment. These websites provide a thorough list of upcoming and ongoing ICO’s. Think of them as a directory. While some listing sites are free, others offer a premium spot to increase visibility of your project. It is important to build a sound strategy with the right budget to be listed on the right listing sites for your ICO.
- Running a Bounty Campaign
Bounty campaigns are a type of guerilla marketing reward system for people interested in your ICO. These campaigns use the token economy as an incentive. People who complete tasks like sharing your project on Twitter, or joining your Telegram group are given a stake in the project. This helps in two ways. It improves the overall number of stakeholders in the project to increase its chance of success, and it allows the community to help the project in it’s marketing efforts, thereby increasing its reach to potential investors. Referral campaigns are another way of implementing this. Current investors are given a percentage of the investment if a new investor signs up using their referral link. These strategies are an excellent way to generate social proof.
- Using Public Relations and Media Outreach
Media outreach is essential to the success of your ICO. Not only will the ICO benefit from the generated awareness, being featured on major media outlets is a huge credibility indicator. In an industry with so many bad actors, building trust with investors is crucial. Clients that work with CryptoBoost are regularly featured on Yahoo Finance, Reuters, FOX and more. Consider reaching out and pitching your project to as many journalists as possible. Alternatively, get in touch! Since 2013, we’ve been building connections with a vast network of journalists — let us handle the marketing.
This guide explains some of the key strategies to drive an ICO towards success. Due to the work and needed expertise that’s involved in carrying out a comprehensive ICO marketing strategy, this task is best handled by the experts. CryptoBoost is a full service Blockchain marketing agency. We’ve helped countless projects reach their funding goals, and we can help you too.
Your ICO’s marketing strategy is what will make or break your project, investing in it should be a priority. Feel free to reach out to us for a free of charge, no-obligation consultation.
