How to Promote/Market Your ICO
Initial coin offerings might have been a thing since 2017, but in 2022, they are now more common than ever, with countless companies trying to crowdfund their next big idea. With so many ICOs competing for investors’ attention and money, projects should focus on promotion to ensure their ICO gets the awareness it deserves.
No matter how good your token is or how helpful your solution is, it’ll have no chance to take off if it is not promoted correctly. In this article, we look at some of the ways to overcome the stumbling blocks to effective ICO promotion.
Tips For ICO Marketing Success
If you are serious about getting your ICO the attention it needs to be a huge success, here are five things you should do:
Get a Well-Optimized Website That Converts
Your website is ground zero for your ICO marketing strategies. It is the point of first impressions and a sign of credibility. Investors can tell a lot about a project or company from the website, so your web design should reflect your professionalism. So, instead of designing it yourself, find a professional web designer to ensure that you get a high-quality website.
A good website fosters trust in investors and people who believe in your project. But beyond that, a well-designed website also increases your chances of catching the attention of potential investors. Once you announce an ICO and start marketing, your website will be getting a lot of traffic. But the most crucial thing is conversion, and if your website isn’t designed to convert, you could potentially lose out on investors.
Essential elements to include in your web design landing page includes;
- A clear CTA
- Concise Copy
- Simple Navigation Menu
- Catchy Headline and Subheading
- Minimalist / Clean Page Design
- Optimized Images
- Bot assistance
- Clear Contact Information
- Short Lead-Capture Form
Lastly, provide the necessary information that investors would want to see. Your about page, service page, and landing page should contain correct and accurate information about your project. If investors don’t get enough information, they’re likely to believe your ICO to be a scam and would not invest. So, keep all necessary information ready. If you’re not sure of what should be on those pages, take a look at the pages of other companies with an initial coin offering.
Set Up an SEO Strategy
If you have a website, you need SEO to increase traffic, improve lead generation, and increase your chances of a successful ICO. SEO is not usually at the top of the list for crypto marketing, and it’s easy to see how SEO might fall through the cracks during an ICO. But SEO is one of the keys to reaching a wider pool of investors.
For SEO to effectively market your ICO, it has to be at the core of all your other marketing strategies, from web design down to PPC.
There are three major areas you should optimize for SEO:
- On-Page SEO
- Off-Page SEO
- Technical SEO
These three areas cover content, link-building, and website optimization, and when optimized, they work together to improve rank, traffic, and lead conversion.
The right SEO strategy tells investors that you are serious, and in an industry where investors are skittish, trust is invaluable. Like your website, you’re better off getting a professional to handle the SEO aspect of your marketing and coordinate it for all the other strategies.
Have a Great Whitepaper
No investor will look at your ICO proposal twice if you don’t have a whitepaper. A good whitepaper is as essential as the product itself.
A simple way to look at an ICO whitepaper is to see it as a pitch for investors, although it’s more complicated. A whitepaper is a document that outlines who you are, your product, your product’s problems, and how your product solves the main user pain point. It also contains information about the ICO launch, a presentation of the profit projections, a budget breakdown, and a business plan.
Writing a successful whitepaper is more than including all the critical headings; it’s also about ensuring that yours stands out. Other crypto companies with an initial coin offering are also trying to reach out to the same investors, so your whitepaper isn’t the only one they’ll get to read. To position yours as the best, pay attention to the project outline. Your project outline should be unique, informative, and thorough.
Here are some tips for writing a good whitepaper:
- Use clear, easy-to-understand language.
- Double-check for plagiarism
- Show compliance with the laws that apply
- Clearly outline the purpose of your crypto token
- Be transparent about your business idea and budget
- Use high-quality graphics
The above is only a summary, and you can always read more if you are serious about learning how to write a killer white paper.
Social Media Marketing / Community Management
Social media is the primary marketing tool in crypto because it has the highest reach. So, it only makes sense that it’ll play a significant role in your ICO promotion strategy.
There are two ways you can use social media for marketing your ICO:
Building Communities / Sharing Information
Potential investors see a community as proof of stability and authenticity. Additionally, community members are great marketing tools as well. They increase awareness and create a buzz for your ICO by making posts, sharing posts, and engaging posts about your project.
The increased mentions trigger social media algorithms to boost visibility. You build your community using your social media followers or other well-established communities for community management. You can use both to increase your reach and get more people interested in your ICO.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is like using community members to promote your ICO, except that you handpick influencers to promote your ICO. Influencers are people who have built a brand in the crypto industry and have a large number of followers who listen to their opinions.
Social media marketing is a great marketing strategy only when it is on the right social media platforms. Six social media platforms are excellent for crypto marketing, and each of them has its strong point.
Reddit is best for building and joining crypto communities as its members are knowledgeable and great at sharing helpful information.
Twitter has a thriving crypto community, so you’ll gain access to a large target audience. Spaces also allow for webinars where you could share information about your ICO.
There are groups of fellow crypto CEOs where you can join to create connections and learn.
- Telegram
Telegram is a nascent crypto platform. It is also a good place for building crypto communities, and many crypto companies have Telegram communities.
- Discord
If you’re interested in a topic, there’s almost certainly a subsect of people talking about it on Discord right now. It creates an engaged and motivated community in crypto world.
Pay-Per-Click Advertisements
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are another way to improve awareness and increase traffic. Social media platforms would have made the perfect place to start, but crypto-paid ads are banned. There are other avenues for PPC, and they are:
- Dextool
- Coingecko
- Ethscan
- Bscscan
Conclusion
In conclusion, marketing is an essential part of any successful ICO. Undertaking marketing for your ICO yourself might not be the best idea. It is often better to outsource your marketing efforts to qualified crypto marketing agencies who have the requisite experience and can do a great job.
