10 “Must-Dos” for a Successful Token Sale

The number of launched ICOs is growing every month. The competition worthy of reaching the top is becoming really hot. The following question arises: how to become successful and stand out in the crowd of tons of other blockchain projects?

Here’s a list of must-do items to run a big-fruit token sale!

1. The Idea of the ICO — and the Team That Implements It

It’s difficult to predict whether an idea will be successful. Moreover, its value and potential are estimated subjectively.

Whatever it is, it has to be something valuable and different from the crowd of other ICOs.

Here’s a list of required features for leading a product to success:

1. A unique idea, appropriate use of blockchain tools, and open-source availability
2. The problem solution the project is offering to the market
3. A description of the technical components in a written white paper, and a professional smart contract
4. The readiness of the market to accept the project, right now or in the near feature
5. The independence of the project
6. People believe in the project, and see value in it.

The idea factor is one of the important aspects investors pay attention to. A really good team can find solutions to any difficulties, or even create a new product from scratch. A bad one might fail, even with a pretty distinguished idea. The ideal team should consist of professionals in every field: content, editing, marketing and PR, SMM, community, design, code, and targeting.

A good solution is to use intangible motivation with a small salary, and, based on ICO results, offer team members a pleasant bonus. For example, offer a percentage of collected tokens.

The existing team’s achievements show whether it is able to lead the project to success, and whether they can work without major financing. Also, in order to reduce the risk of emergency for investors, provide components like:

1. An available alpha version of the product
2. The ability to take part in different conferences, meetings, and events concerning the field in which the project is presented
3. Access to valuable partnerships
4. A detailed roadmap with clear milestones

2. Explore the Current Market and Competitors

First of all, learn to use your competitors’ experience to your advantage. For this, discover the following aspects:

You should also make a list of the most successful ICOs in the field you’ve chosen. Study their lifespan, the way they were working, and how they reached the top. If it’s possible, try to communicate with team leaders to ask some questions.

You can find information worth taking into consideration on websites like Ethereum, Aragon, or Golos.

Check out these useful services:

ICOSTATS — information about the price of a token after the end of an ICO.

ICO rating — a catalog of all ICOs, in which parameters of upcoming and current ICOs are provided.

ICO calendar — a special ICO calendar that can remind you about the start of fundraising and other important events.

3. White-Paper Development

The main document in each ICO is the white paper. Serious investors and holders will study it in detail to discern the meaning of the project and determine whether or not it is useful for them.

White-paper structure usually consists of:

• existing problem description
• market analysis
• market description and forecasts
• proposed solution to the problem
• technical & business description of the solution
• use cases
• roadmap
• team
• conclusions and concerns
• FAQ

It is also recommended to provide step-by-step tutorials for using personal accounts, transferring from different types of wallets, and acquiring tokens after release.

If you decide to create this document by yourself, have it checked by experts. They will identify any problematic parts of the text and help to resolve them.

4. Create a Website and Blog, and Provide Useful Content

Learn the Internet Marketing Tree, and realize that the website is its root.

Take care of good hosting if you have a large advertising campaign in your plans. Most likely, at the start of sales, your site is waiting for a huge flow of users, in addition to the risk of being subjected to DDoS-attack.

Place the following information on the website:

1. ICO overview
2. Product overview
3. Rules and white paper
4. Team composition
5. Partners
6. List of working cases
7. Roadmap with timeline and action plan
8. Where to find the ICO in social networks and forums

A blog is one of today’s most popular means of marketing goals achievement. Readers will be always in touch with project updates as well as current and future events. Moreover, creating valuable content will show all customers that the ICO worries about everyone, and wants to be useful and helpful. Show that there is room for the ICO’s mission: — that it caters to all, and isn’t just a wish to raise capital.

A blog is a kind of library. A person doesn’t have to read every book to get a full picture of the topic; the content team has already done it for him/her. That’s why assembling a content team of skilled, aware individuals allows ICO contributors find valuable, relevant posts. In addition, it provides one more anchor of trust.

5. Technical Blockchain/Token Economics Applicability

An ICO launch means dealing with the release of tokens. This is why the project must be developed on blockchain technology. In order to provide efficiency in the process, tokens have to be decentralized to implement them in the most appropriate manner. This could completely rebuild the financial system of securities, thereby decentralizing the issue of shares and current means of trading.

For successful token circulation in the platform environment, DD must be provided and analyzed. A system of token economics must be developed appropriately to ensure that investors will receive all indicated benefits from decentralization. This excludes any unneeded minting or emission.

Smart contracts govern the credibility of agreements. Their key advantages are:

• They are self-executing, making the working process much easier
• Governance of agreements between users
• Provision of information about implementing transactions
• Data storage
• Creation of libraries of machine code
• Tokenization of data

Discover the advantages of smart-contracts:

By the way, you can contact Applicature for a professionally-written white paper — and a very “smart” smart contract!

Token Generation and Distribution

Define the priorities of the ICO and the direction of its working plan. Distinguish the features of its token-sale program, both for contributors and investors. Indicate points that would be in their field of interest. Think about the following hot issues for the pre-sale campaign:

• When will the token sale will start and end?
• What will be the basis for the tokens?
• Create the ICO roadmap.
• Tell the audience about ICO plans and goals, and provide the beta-version for testing.
• Determine the type of token that will be used during transactions (i.e., Ethers, Bitcoins, etc.)
• The total number of released tokens and their initial price
• Access to guarantors who may choose to invest
• Ask independent experts to check the source code. You can also publish it on GitHub or on the website.
• Create a full capture of token distribution: (How many will members of the team have? How many will be directed to ICO development? How can users receive compensation?)
• Define the type of distribution.
• What can you offer to the first investors, and on what terms?
• Provide a bounty program.
• Think about ways to cooperate with exchanges to add your tokens.
• Develop bonus programs.
• What minimum and maximum threshold of collected funds can be reached? For example, if the project does not get the minimum amount, all funds will be returned to the investors. As a result, all money will be distributed fairly. This step functions to justify ICO boundaries. A good solution would be to issue funds in percentages after the end of every stage of the token sale.
• What opportunities will foreign investors have?
• Create a special motivational system for investors: buy-back, the opportunity to be involved in management, sale on the stock exchange, etc.
• What are the duration and terms of investment? There are two main ways:

1. Sell tokens immediately after the start of the token sale.
2. Keep them to further the company’s development, and, as a result, multiply growth of the token.

Both ways are effective. The main task is to allow investors to perceive that the ICO has great potential.

• How much must the ICO raise in order to consider itself successful?
• Soft and hard capitalization.

Of course, have a backup plan in case something goes wrong (but we hope you won’t need it, if you stick to all of these points.)

Identify ideas that will help you to create the right strategy for your ICO:

• If there are enough tokens for all investors, this will create a much bigger demand for them when they appear on the stock exchange. Also, the longer the pause at the start of the token sale, the greater the growth of the token.
• When investors are inspired by belief in the project, the token price will rise.
• The team should carry out a high-quality marketing campaign (only if there is an upper limit). This way, more investors will know about the project and want to buy tokens.
• Tokens will not be available on the stock exchange right away. The longer the pause after the ICO, the greater the chances of rapid growth after the start of bidding.

Technical Roadmap

One more important element for a successful ICO token sale is a well-developed roadmap. This presents a timeline perspective of market activity and achievement of key stages. With a roadmap, the price of the token can significantly increase. It also serves as a guide for the team for clear understanding and the meeting of assigned goals.

In order to make the roadmap another advantage of your ICO, replace the following information about its stages of development with a financial component:

Scenario Models for Token-Holders

Everyone has the potential to become an investor. For this, create a crypto wallet, invest some money in it, and buy tokens during the token sale. Every investor should remember that taking part in an ICO also carries high risks.

The investors can:

1. pay on more favorable terms for services within the platform
2. wait until the tokens grow in price, then replace them on the stock exchange with other cryptocurrency or fiat money — and, in this way, receive a profit.

Determine in advance which stock exchange you will use for trading. Remember that some tokens are represented only on certain exchanges, and can only be used within a specific platform. This is why it will be the right choice to start communication in advance with prefered exchanges where you want to be listed first.

6. Focusing on the Right Target Audience

The reality is: if you try to involve everyone in your project, you will definitely end up with no one. Speaking to every potential investor/customer and using all possible ways to be noticed consumes an enormous amount of time and financial resources. As a result, the owner disperses all of their power on everything, and, in most cases, gets nothing back.

Only a clear understanding of who you are going to reach will reduce the field of action appropriately and help you appeal to the right people.

Consider the 3 main steps in the image below:

Identify the main tips that will help you direct your efforts toward the right people:

1. Become absorbed in in-depth research. Study the current environment.
2. Analyze the developed concept of the ICO and define exactly how you can be useful for people.
3. Decide whether the project is more suitable for a community of 100,000 people who will invest $500, or a much smaller one that is more generous in terms of investments.
4. Remember that each community is different; each has its own needs, and requires a different approach in order to become interested in something.
5. Write down every idea that comes to mind.

With these steps, you will identify your target audience and understand how to narrow down your marketing strategy in order to draw true prospective investors.

7. Marketing

Active Social-Media Life

Nowadays, social platforms are one of the key means of promotion for any startup, including ICOs.

Discover the reasons for using social-media marketing in this graphic:

Having discovered the target audience for your ICO, find out the places they spend most of their time. Mostly, there are Reddit, GitHub, Facebook, Slack, Twitter, Telegram, and Medium. But do not hesitate to conduct your own research.

Now, you know exactly where the fish are.

The language you speak to potential users must be understandable and normal to your audience. This will help you bring the necessary meaning and significance to them, and, as a result, increase your impact.

To assume the leading position among other projects, you must offer something valuable while employing best practices.

Sometimes, even 100 admirers of the project can bring the creator to the top. The main idea to focus on quality and long-term cooperation, not just quantity.

Also, do not forget to open the source code of your product on GitHub and provide the blog in crypto forums.

Some platforms serve to communicate with customers, and some serve to inform them about news and proposals. Remember to:

1. Communicate with users. Try to answer them as soon as possible, react positively to critics, and, of course, filter everything you hear from others. Avoid enemies.
2. Establish round-the-clock moderation to control everything that occurs on the platform.
3. Post. No posts on your chosen platforms can be very noticeable to some investors, and will lead to losing their sympathy and loyalty.
4. Maintain your reputation, and work on raising it. Losing devotion comes easily, but getting it is so difficult.

The Role of Podcasts, Live Broadcasts, and Video Presentations

ICO podcasts can offer exclusive interviews with your ICO team. They also allow customers to see that the founders are regular people, just like themselves. Viewers have the chance to ask questions and receive responses.

Providing live broadcasts can increase ICO popularity, and, as a result, an audience of ICO admirers. This will create one more bridge of trust to the ICO in customers’ minds.

A video presentation is vital. People want to see the faces and the energy of the people with whom they will likely be working. Also, most people prefer listening instead of reading. Be smart, funny, and friendly in order to adapt to different audiences.

Event Management: Pitch Sessions and Meetings

Event management plays a great role in marketing strategy. People are inclined not to put great investment into something without a compelling reason. Often, they want to get everything on a silver platter.

The purpose of event management is to give people what they want directly. Conducting different meetings as well as other open and closed events is another PR hook to involve a larger number of followers.

Consider the event management system to prepare all its required aspects:

A pitch session provides a great opportunity to announce the ICO and promote its propositions and news. In general, the leader has up to 20 minutes to tell the audience whatever he/she considers necessary to attract the attention of more useful customers or partners.

Meetings, both internal and external, are an obligation for those who want to run an ICO in a more serious manner. The world of blockchain is developing every day; therefore, all raised issues must be discussed by joint effort, as common work is considered most effective.

In contrast, an external meeting is a possibility to establish new relations, gain new partners, share the experience of each team, and perhaps create a joint project.

Press

Spreading information about the ICO — its history, news, achievements, and positive comments from influential advisors — can often increase interest in the token sale.

When an ICO gets an endorsement from people in real life, perceived or real, it leverages a much greater advantage. In order to inspire investor confidence in the project, run news about it in the most high-powered press outlets in the field of cryptocurrency. Be in constant touch with the editors of major services and the media, to the greatest extent possible. Prepare materials and make lists of websites that are worth cooperating with.

Email Marketing

Email marketing still has power. The current token-sale market lacks email marketing. Many creators exclude establishment of internal database regulation via email from the “must-do” list, and that is not fair. Email is one of the main ways to conduct both internal and external communication that doesn’t require monetary investment.

Consider the email marketing process:

Just think about what has caused your investors to choose the project, and stay in communication with them on the aspects in which they are interested. Discover ways to prompt them to spread information about the token sale to other networks. The importance of “word of mouth” shouldn’t be underestimated.

Realize that most of your customers are waiting for new email from you with content, upcoming events, and new possibilities. So, don’t hesitate — just do!

Your main task is to sell tokens from the very beginning of the token sale. Remember that every new user might be the one who will bring you to the future prosperity.

Make the maximum fee amounts attainable. The greater the chances for increased volume of investment are, the more people will be involved. Provide announcements about possible discounts and bonuses. For example, one free purchase for the first 10 investors, or every 100th token for free. Provide information about all of these possibilities on channels and blogs, publish expert forecasts, and supply information about the number of users on your websites.

8. The Bounty Program

The bounty program tells customers about rewards possibilities for those who take an active part in project development and improvement. It should provide clear motivation to your potential investors, because they will be your first money-makers; based on this financing, you could develop your project further.

This could be implemented in several ways:

• sign up for channels
• take an active part in discussions
• translate your documents into local languages
• publish information on their blogs, social networks, etc.

Also, the terms of your bounty program can be published in different forums. In the latter case, do not forget to add the [Bounty] prefix. It is recommended to create a separate topic to avoid spamming.

9. Legality

The legal status of ICOs is uncertain. A token is not sold as a financial asset, but as a digital product. That’s why an ICO is often called a crowdsale.

Not exactly. Now, the SEC is actively developing legal frameworks for ICOs. You should mention this.

https://www.sec.gov/ICO

https://www.ccn.com/sec-ico-tokens-not-bitcoin-should-be-regulated-as-securities/

In most cases, the findings are not jurisdictionally regulated. This creates the need for a lawyer with experience to govern the procedure of document registration to represent the ICO as an entity. Provide compliance and disclaimers, terms of use, and waivers.

These will protect the project from any kind of scam, and assure investors of ICO stability.

Required methods of compliance method have the potential to deprive the ICO of its advantages over traditional funding.

10. Faith in Success

Last but not least, people must have faith in the project.

The recipe for success is quite simple:

The working process must be inspiring for all participants. The team must be comprised not only of people with developing roles, but also of admirers. If you spend all your time and money on this and still don’t see value in it, who will?

In any case, the best way to bring any business to success is to feel like you fall in love with it, marry, and have children. Even if somebody tells you you are not in your right mind, be ready to do everything for its prosperity, and pay attention to the project as if it were your own child.

If you have an interesting idea and want your ICO to meet the success criteria, our Applicature team will guide you through the main steps!