5 effective ways your business can benefit from the NFT marketplace
If someone told you a JPG or GIF would be worth millions of dollars a few years back, chances are you would scoff at the idea. But this isn’t the case these days! In fact, they’re selling in high-end auctions for the highest bidder! NFTs are here to stay and all business savvy individuals are looking into them and how they could incorporate them into their businesses. But before we dive into the NFT marketplace and what makes it tick, here are some things you should know.
What is an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible tokens, it stands for a digital asset which could be anything from a video, a GIF, or an image, these digital assets are recorded on the blockchain. Each token has a unique value and, despite being recorded on the blockchain, NFT functions differently from cryptocurrencies because they are non-fungible. This means you can not trade one for another because each one is a stand-alone exclusive piece. When you buy an NFT, much like a valuable piece of art, you get proof of ownership.
Simply put: an NFT is a digital asset that can be bought and sold on a platform by artists. NFT’s allow buyers to support their favorite artists and for others to build art collections much like the ones that exist in the real world. At the moment, there are many communities that exist each revolving around specific NFT collections, so-called “penguin communities” are popping up across the internet each following their own collection.
But how can your business benefit from NFTs, and should you be creating any to generate profit for your business? The short answer is, yes and no! While NFTs are a good way to gain short-term profit, there are many ways they can provide long-term value for you and your business.
Ways NFTs provide long-term value
1. Research and Development
The exclusivity of NFTs means it could easily be an incentive for your audience to answer surveys, and tests and respond to pain points or benefits of your product. If you provide respondents with a unique and coveted NFT for participating in an R&D test, you not only allow them to get something they want out of answering your questions, but you also gain valuable information about your product that could allow you to improve it
2. Developing a loyalty program
A points system, or program for your e-commerce, is not a relatively new idea. In fact, it’s something that’s adopted offline. When you take it to the world of NFT you can allow your audience to collect them by fulfilling purchases on your e-commerce, rather than just points you could leverage the NFT marketplace as instant gratification for users accessing your site, through a dedicated loyalty program.
This is another example of a win-win situation, where you can receive brand loyalty while also offering your customers something of value. A similar example of this is being applied by the NBA, where fans could collect and trade Top Shot Moments as NFTs, and they’ve already surged in popularity since the adoption of this program even while in beta testing.
3. Access to drops and exclusive features
Another way in which the NFT marketplace could be of use is by allowing consumers to purchase NFTs to receive information about a product launch or drop. Again, when you use this concept of scarcity, you increase the demand for your product or service.
4. Selling the Digital Asset
This is the easiest and most common way to generate a revenue stream from NFT but instead of selling it on its own you can sell the NFT along with your product or service to allow for an additional brand experience, many retailers are opting for this method for an added part of the purchase. This functions very well for e-commerce where people have to wait for their purchased item to arrive, with the NFT marketplace they get the instant gratification that doesn’t normally come with making an online purchase.
5. Community Building
If your business also has a community online or forum for customer queries, offering NFTs as incentives for answering queries could be a way to develop and build a community around your products/services by having them respond to each other. This ties in well with the point made above because it can be a great opportunity for your business to conduct research and work on improving your offerings in the long term. If you’d like to learn more about how your business can build a community on social media, check out our article 3 tips for building a strong social media community.
These are some of the few ways we think NFTs could benefit your business, if you want to discover more about how you can market your business through new and innovative ways, schedule a call with us!
