Blockchain Marketing Trends in 2019
During 2018, on average, a successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) campaign reached the funding goal within a week. In 2017, even faster. However, as the token economy is evolving, blockchain startups are starting to face harder competition in the market. That is the reason why is it so important to deploy an effective and result-driven marketing campaign. Following the cryptocurrency market crash and a major shift in ways of funding the marketing trends in the industry are changing as well.
In this guide, we will go through the latest trends in the industry and list the essential points to consider when promoting a Blockchain project.
The Market Shift
From the beginning of 2019, we can see the changes in the market. The number of ICOs has decreased significantly while new, more secure, ways of funding started to get traction. Security Token Offerings (STOs) are set to be the most significant trend in 2019. Besides public funding, we also see the spike in private funding, as more and more companies decide to hold only private funding rounds.
“The token model is going through a shift. Companies are realizing that not all projects need tokens and STOs with real asset backing will become more prevalent. Also, we are seeing innovation in the form of buy-backs and other incentives to help mitigate the declining market for token holders. I expect to continue to see more of this.” — Atsushi Hisatsumi, Founder of Patron, for Forbes.
After three years and thousands of ICOs, the investors became cautious and harder to please. It’s not so easy to grab the crowds’ attention like in the old days, and marketers have to be creative in order to succeed.
Creating a disruptive buzz is one of the ways to success. If people talk about your project, then you must be doing something right. So, how to achieve that in 2019?
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing remains one of the best ways to promote your crypto project. Getting top thought leaders on board can boost the team’s credibility, increase audience reach and improve the project’s image in public. For example, when Don Tapscott joined the ICON project and took pictures with the team, many saw it as a good sign. ICON reached a hard cap, raising 42,8 million USD.
Another way to do it is through leading video channels, podcasts, and blogs. By cooperating with top influencers, the project can be presented in the right way and get all the aspects covered.
- General info and token sale detailed can be displayed in a review.
- The team can be presented with a series of interviews.
- Use cases can be discussed on live broadcast or video with the experts.
There are plenty of options, and the best thing is — the community gathered around the influencers can provide much valuable feedback which can be used to improve the potential stumbling points in the project.
PR Campaigns
In the past, we have seen some really memorable ICO campaigns. Bancor protocol raised 152 million USD in three hours. Brave, the browser focused on privacy and ads-blocking, raised 35 million USD in just 30 seconds. One thing these projects had in common was a massive and well-planned Public Relations campaign.
By analyzing PR strategies of similar blockchain businesses and understanding the customers, you can find the key to developing a relevant and powerful PR campaign. Publicity can be good and bad, so tread carefully. This is why it is vital to rely on someone that has the experience in the field, especially when it comes to industry so new and tech-oriented as ours.
Make sure to highlight your unique selling point, the one thing that makes your project stand out from the competition. Diversify to get the most out the PR campaign. Send out press releases in all relevant languages, attend relevant conferences, conduct interviews, organize meetups and try to show that not only your project is different, but also your team.
Advertising
Yes, advertising. After Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other big networks banned crypto-related ads many gave up on this form of promotion. However, now display ads are starting to come back. There are a few providers that know their way around these bans and can provide highly-targeted ads that can make a significant impact.
Brand awareness is not the only goal with the ads. It is possible to target the industry’s influencers and attract their attention. If your unique selling proposition is strong, it is possible that the thought leaders will notice the project. Capturing attention of the leading experts can bring anything from valuable feedback to full-on endorsement, depending how much they liked the project.
Social Media & Community Building
Depending on whether you go for public or private funding of your project the community size, activity, and overall positivity can be more or less critical. Social Media, on the other hand, are equally important in both cases, as they are a way to keep investors and other interested parties informed.
If you are going with a public sale, creating a positive atmosphere and a bit of hype can be helpful. Community plays a key role in this, so your efforts should be focused on community building.
The community should be built organically. A quick guide on how to do it:
- Post quality content
- Keep the response time short
- Make new members feel welcomed
- *Bond with the community
*Make exciting competitions and quizzes, organize meetups, share goodies with the supporters, etc.
By having the community on your side, it becomes easier to get new members and spread the word. Make sure to listen carefully to all they have to say. Hosting Discord Q&A sessions where the community can join the voice channel and ask questions is also a popular option, helping build trust and integrity.
Affiliate Marketing
Giving a commission to the partner for delivering results was always trendy because performance-based programs are usually not risky. One of the most significant advantages of affiliate marketing lies in cost reduction since the project only pays for results achieved. Also, the transparency of the entire process makes it desirable. This is one of the few forms of marketing where you can clearly see the results and pay for them accordingly.
So whether it is getting a person to invest or sign up for an email newsletter, this results-driven form of marketing can be used.
Email Marketing
Email marketing remains one of the most effective strategies to date. Sending a pitch in a *cold email to a list of potential investors can bring impressive results, and regular updates and offers to your newsfeed subscribers can quickly turn some of them to investors.
*Cold email is an email sent to a potential customer that has had no prior relationship with you.
Also, keep in mind that creating newsletters and offerings with a personal touch can go a long way, so try to stay away from generic messages.
A Quick List of Things That Are Always in Trend
Here’s a quick list of things to keep in mind at any time, as they are always in trend.
Videos
Many people do not want to go through an in-depth whitepaper covering the project details. Videos are not a trend; they are something you simply must do. Presenting the info in a quick, easy-to-understand visual manner can help you present even the most complex projects.
User Experience and SEO
The project’s website is a place where authentic information can be found. The majority of users trusts only the original website and visit it to get informed and check for updates. It should not be even mentioned that the website needs to have a user-friendly interface and be Search-Engine-Optimized, to appear in the search results. Still, considering how many projects neglect this, we have decided to include it in the article.
A whitepaper
The whitepaper is a first tangible block when it comes to building a project. It needs to be clean, well-explained and above all — honest. Enough said.
Things That Do Not Work Anymore
Here’s the list of three strategies that are not as effective as they were before.
- Project Rating Websites
Project rating websites, presented as a way to give credibility to projects, ironically, lost their credibility. Over time, things went sideways. Shady projects with large budgets were often given a perfect 5-star rating, while legit projects were ignored or given lower ratings. The blockchain industry has an ethical high ground, but it’s made of just humans, after all.
2. Airdrops and bounties
In the early days of cryptocurrencies, airdrops and bounties were a way to reward the community that gathered around the project. Over the years, things changed and airdrops and bounties became a way to gather a large crowd in a very short period of time, instead of rewarding the existing community which is actually interested in the project.
Nowadays, having just numbers is no longer working. Investors want to see is the community real and interested in the project. When the rewards are distributed, the crowd that came without any interest in the project disappears, and the project looks hollow. Projects with just a few hundreds of real supporters can often look way more attractive than projects that have ten or even hundreds of thousands of followers in the artificially-created communities.
3. Advisors
With so many people in the industry accepting payments to endorse the project without even knowing the basic info about it, the importance of the famous advisors declined. Nowadays, only a small number of people are paying attention to the faces in the “advisors” sections. So, it may be better to spend money on some other form of marketing.
Final Thoughts
Blockchain marketing in 2019 will be full of challenges, but that’s what makes this industry exciting. After a wild two years of ICOs, blockchain projects are beginning to understand that real value lies in quality. Good marketing takes time, trust and money. By getting your project out there as a real brand, you help the industry as well, as we step towards mass adoption.
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