Why a Great Newsletter Matters to your Blockchain Project— A Practical Guide

The upswing in crypto projects over the last year needs no introduction. While the 2017 data has yet to be compiled, according to a Deloitte report, in 2016 there were 26,000 new projects launched — a strong newsletter will set you apart.

With a sea of projects, it can be challenging to distinguish the difference between a legitimate application of blockchain technology and a group taking advantage of the heat within the cryptocurrency industry. Unfortunately, vaporware has become something of a norm, leaving investors and consumers to identify which white papers are the basis for a functioning project and which are not.

For projects that are genuinely dedicated to leveraging the benefits of blockchain technology to disrupt existing business models, strong communication is key. Detailed updates build trust, demonstrating that you have a credible project with a real business case; an existing foundation with plans for next development steps.

So what does “strong communication” look like?

• You can clearly and plainly articulate the value of your project; what you’re building and why,
• You provide consistent, contextual, and detailed development and company updates, and
• You demonstrate commitment to momentum.

At Equibit Group we leverage community channels to engage and distribute our message. Sharing a cohesive and insightful monthly newsletter — along with complimentary weekly Slack updates — is our most significant part of community outreach, but it’s how we communicate our updates that is most important.

We believe that a valuable newsletter answers the right questions, flagged from community channels, as well as the obvious questions, often regarding project timeline. It speaks clearly to target audiences, providing a specific value to each group: crypto-community early adopters, experts from the industry you’re disrupting, investors, and general mainstream observers.

A regular newsletter also gives you power over your own voice and public information. Transparency isn’t just one of our technological tenets, it also strengthens the trust between company and community. Channelling authority over one’s own project developments makes you the primary source, lessening opportunity for speculation.

As we’ve refined our Equibit Group newsletter, we’ve found that a mix of project updates and relevant industry news best suits our community. Our framework includes:

Introduction

Rather self-explanatory; we introduce our key focuses for the newsletter.

An update on strategy

Strategy gives a high level look at what we’re striving to achieve as a company and what we’re prioritizing in order to reach our objectives. It looks at the why behind what we’re doing and explains our focus for the month and/or quarter.

Company update

Your day-to-day team, advisors, and board of directors all carry significant influence over the reach and success of the project. Sharing updates about the people involved is important, as are material updates to do with company growth like corporate partners, office space, and changes to role structure. While they can seem irrelevant, these details help your community to understand commitment and future growth.

Development update

Perhaps the most critical component of a good newsletter, the development update provides credibility and separates you from the vaporware projects. Here we focus on sharing how our team has progressed since the previous month’s newsletter, and what is most significant to our core products. Our December newsletter focused on the development status of our products; implementing adaptive block size, enabling the sending of Bitcoin (BTC) and recycling of Equibits (EQB), creating Proof-of-Concept for atomic swaps, and more. With each update, you can see how our software is advancing.

Regulatory environment

How cryptocurrencies are being regulated globally very likely has an impact on your project. At Equibit Group, regulation affecting Bitcoin relates to us: our network is based on the Bitcoin protocol and accepts transactions in both BTC and EQB. As such, each month we highlight global regulation, providing our readers with a consistent resource for industry expertise.

Cryptocurrency update

With daily volatility in cryptocurrencies, a month’s look at the activity provides greater context. We like to provide a quick synopsis, sharing relevant takeaways like blockchain forks, community activism, developer activity, and key price levels.

Industry acknowledgement

Credibility often comes in the form of peer recognition. Sharing press mentions, notable event participation, and published op-eds builds community pride and certainty.

Unique content

Never underestimate the power of a good blog. A blog gives you the opportunity to develop your company voice, and explain various initiatives with depth that can’t be achieved elsewhere. Blog posts also develop a keen audience, creating a channel for direct communication and brand evangelists. We post several pieces of organic content monthly, all listed in our newsletter.

At the end of the day, a newsletter accomplishes a very important task: it puts focus on educating your community. Aside from your concept, community is number one; without them, a project doesn’t go very far.

See our latest newsletter here, and if you’re interested, sign up for it here.