The 3 Missing Marketing Strategies That Causes Most ICOs To Fail
In light of the recent “Crypto Gold Rush,” it seems that new ICO’s are a dime a dozen, all trying to pave their way out of the cryptocurrency underworld and into the spotlight of mainstream media. However, most of these ICO’s (the vast majority, in fact) will never make it out of the planning and conceptual stages. Mainly, the ones that do make it out alive with a story to tell, either have very deep pockets or a full fledged marketing and research team.
While not every aspiring ICO will have thousands of dollars for ad spend right off the bat, or a dedicated marketing team, there are strategies and proven methods of engagement to generate more attention and interest for your ICO. Here’s three extremely useful strategies, that once implemented into your marketing plan, will undoubtedly help to scale and profit from your ICO.
1. Omnipresence Marketing
The definition of “Omnipresence” literally means being everywhere. When explaining this marketing strategy, it’s helpful to think of the general concept of billboards. No matter where you’re driving, whether it be on a congested highway, or a picturesque road through a small town, chances are you’ll see billboards advertising.
Think of the internet as a series of roads and highways, all full of people traveling to certain sections and places. Imagine your ICO or company as one of those billboards, you want to be everywhere there’s an audience. And the most effective way to do this on the internet, is to be spread out to a variety of different channels and platforms, instead of putting all your bets on one horse.
However, before you can start effectively reaching your audience, you must first define your target audience. When deciding on your ideal target audience, answer these questions:
- Where can you find your potential investors? Both online and offline?
- What are their interest and passions?
- What problems are they most interested in solving?
- Age group? Gender? General location?
Once you’ve answered the above, and have successfully defined who your target audience is, you’ll be much more effective when you attempt to reach them.
And to reach them, being on multiple platforms and utilizing a variety of different marketing channels is the key to success. An ICO won’t see their desired traction if they solely market in Telegram ICO groups. Similarly, an ICO won’t raise the money they need if they’re only running Facebook and Google ads to their website.
The solution is to diversify. Post all your visual and graphic content to Instagram. Share news and articles covering your ICO on your Facebook and Twitter page to build credibility. Create and engage in several communities across Reddit and Telegram. By following this omnipresence marketing strategy, you’ll not only be reinforcing your brand everywhere your audience is, but you’ll be building trust and a following for those even outside of your audience.
2. Influencer Marketing
In the past few years, influencer marketing has been proven as not only a viable marketing channel, but a profitable and generally affordable advertising solution as well.
Based on it’s recent success and popularity, it’s not surprising that influencer marketing has been making waves in the cryptocurrency industry as well.
But what is influencer marketing and why does it work so well? And how can you actually apply it to your ICO?
In short: Influencer marketing is when person’s with a high following or audience on a social media platform actively promote a brand, company, or product to their audience.
This is typically much more effective than traditional advertising for the simple reason that people like hearing about companies and products from people that they like. And, it actually works too. A recent study was done that for every $1 a brand spends on influencer marketing, they’ll get $6.00 in ROI (If they chose the right influencer with an audience that matches theirs).
Due to Crypto’s recent surge in popularity, unsurprisingly there has also been a surge in influencers creating content in the cryptocurrency industry. Typically they can be found with quick searches on platforms like Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter.
No matter the hype however, it’s always important to perform due diligence before working with any influencer, by using Influencer marketing tools to verify reach and audience.
3. Community Engagement
Besides from paid advertising, effectively creating and managing a community of people who are truly interested in your company or brand is one of the most effective ways of marketing. The same is true, if not even more effective in the case of ICO’s.
In fact, ICO’s are community oriented by default. As you can see by the active ICO groups on Telegram and Facebook, investors go where other investors go. And if you can harness this power of groups and communities to use for marketing, you’ll see your ROI skyrocket.
Most ICO’s will simply just register on these platforms, but don’t spend the necessary time creating and engaging with the community. By consistently being active in discussions, answering questions. as well as frequently providing updates, a sense of trust will be built, which is the key to a profitable ICO. If you haven’t already started building a community around your ICO and company, Reddit and Telegram is a great place to start.
By getting involved in the various communities, such as https://www.reddit.com/r/icocrypto/, and building your own as many of the more “mainstream” cryptocurrencies have, you’ll not only increase your presence in the industry, but also build credibility for your business.
Conclusion
It’s easy to get lost in the sea of new ICO’s and crypto companies nowadays, but don’t let that get your hopes down. The reason most ICO’s never make it past the conceptual stage is that they’re not effectively reaching their target audiences.
By combing a mix of omnipresence marketing, engaging and being active within the communities, and testing a variety of paid advertising solutions, you’re guaranteed to be one step ahead.
CryptoLaunchPad.io is a rapidly growing service agency, providing certification for ICO’s through an independent due diligence framework.