26 May 2023
Crypto Marketing: What It Is, Why It’s Important, and Best Practices
Yuval Halevi Crypto Marketing Specialist, Transforming projects into market leaders since 2017
Launching a marketing campaign in the crypto world can be quite a challenge. With tough competition and restrictions from tech companies on advertising, crypto marketing isn’t a walk in the park. In this article, we’ll share helpful tips and genuine advice to make the whole process easier for you.
Since founding GuerrillaBuzz a few years back, we have witnessed numerous projects pass through our hands, with many of them evolving into market leaders.
It’s crucial to understand that a well-executed campaign can propel your company into the major league. Proper planning, execution, and evaluation of your efforts, along with identifying areas for improvement, are vital.
By maintaining high standards in all aspects, from appearance and product to branding, messaging, and team members, you’ll be well-prepared to kick off your campaign.
Let’s begin!
Crypto marketing refers to the process of promoting, selling, and raising brand awareness for a cryptocurrency project to attract new investors, community members, users, maintainers, project advocates, and other stakeholders.
This is achieved through a variety of activities such as public relations, search engine optimization, conferences, AMAs (Ask-Me-Anything sessions), webinars, paid media, organic media, and other marketing strategies.
The world of cryptocurrencies is packed with thousands of projects. Each one wants to grab the attention of people and investors. But with so much competition, making your project shine isn’t easy.
At GuerrillaBuzz, we’ve helped many companies that have great technology and talented teams. These companies have solid foundations: their websites are safe and look professional, their branding is on point, and their projects look really promising. However, they struggle to get regular visitors to their sites.
Often, their community is just their own team members and a few close friends.
So, why aren’t these projects more popular?
The world of cryptocurrencies has changed a lot over the past few years. Rapid growth has brought in loads of new projects and money. A study on the institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies shows just how much money crypto exchanges are making from serving big business clients.
With so much going on in the crypto market, it’s harder than ever to make your project stand out. It’s tough to get people to visit your website, read about your project, join your community, and invest in your token. That’s why good marketing is so important in the crypto world.
Developing a robust marketing strategy is crucial for any cryptocurrency project aiming to achieve visibility and credibility in this competitive sector. By following a systematic approach, you can design a campaign that resonates with your target audience, elevates your project’s visibility, and establishes its reputation.
Here is our structured five-step approach to developing a crypto marketing strategy, presented in a data table for easy reference:
Step | Description |
---|---|
Brainstorm | This first step is all about generating creative and innovative marketing ideas for your crypto project. You should explore various narratives and angles that align with your brand image and project goals. This process will also help your team unify their understanding of the campaign’s tone and style. |
Research | This crucial step involves gathering insights about your target audience, understanding the crypto market landscape, and studying your competitors' marketing strategies. Familiarize yourself with relevant social media platforms, crypto communities, and marketing channels. Analyze user behavior to discover unique marketing opportunities. |
Plan | In this step, develop a detailed marketing strategy. Define clear objectives that align with your project goals, create a content schedule, and allocate resources efficiently to ensure the success of each campaign element. |
Execute | In the execution phase, implement the marketing plan. Engage your audience with compelling content, promote on chosen platforms, and harness the power of your marketing campaign to elevate your project's visibility and reputation. |
Measure & Optimize | The final step involves analyzing the performance of your marketing campaign, identifying what worked and what didn't, and using these insights to optimize future strategies. Regular evaluation and refinement will ensure that your marketing efforts continuously drive greater success. |
At GuerrillaBuzz, we’ve designed the Crypto PR Strategy Pyramid, a comprehensive framework tailored to ensure the success of your public relations campaign in the complex world of cryptocurrency. This approach encompasses five crucial stages, each aimed at enhancing the reach and effectiveness of your campaign. By adhering to this pyramid strategy, we ensure that the unique value and vision of your project are communicated effectively to the desired audience.
Now that we have explored what crypto marketing entails, why it’s necessary, and how to craft a robust strategy, it’s time to launch your campaign. In this section, we’ll walk you through some of the best practices to ensure a successful crypto marketing campaign. These insights garnered from running campaigns for numerous companies could potentially save you time and resources.
We aim to let you learn from our triumphs, as well as the occasional missteps that are part of the journey:
In the realm of PR, there’s a distinction between organic PR and paid PR. While paid PR is a matter of financial investment, organic PR arises from possessing a product that’s not only reliable and engaging but also provides worthwhile content to discuss.
Companies often allot a significant portion of their marketing budget toward securing coverage in top-tier publications (like Cointelegraph, Coindesk, etc.), yet they often fail to achieve this goal. The primary reason lies in the stringent moderation and content guidelines these publications uphold.
So, when do these prestigious publications begin to cover your company and accept your pitch?
It happens when your company has built a reputation of trust, recognition, and increased authority. Grasping this concept will alter your marketing perspective—but for the better!
To enhance your authority, focus on producing high-quality content. Publicize the milestones you’ve achieved, engage in Ask-Me-Anything sessions (AMAs), attend conferences, and aim for organic PR in medium-to-large publications. Remember, becoming an industry leader is a process, and every journey includes essential steps that must be followed.
Crypto projects often find themselves in a quandary about when to initiate their SEO activities, if they even consider them as an integral part of their strategy.
Our latest research indicates that a surprising 36% of the top 1,000 crypto projects have neglected their blogging activities this year. It appears that crypto projects rarely prioritize content and SEO, and if they do, it’s typically at a belated stage.
This strategy, or lack thereof, is fundamentally flawed.
SEO might sound daunting initially, but you can start with a few straightforward tasks immediately, like generating content for your blog.
To help clarify what you need to do, here’s an advanced checklist that details each step to get your inaugural blog article live as quickly as possible:
Step | Description | Advanced Tips |
---|---|---|
Keyword Research | Investigate and select relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for. | Use SEO tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, or Ahrefs to find high-volume, low-competition keywords. Consider both short-tail and long-tail keywords. |
Content Planning | Based on your keyword research, plan your content strategically to appeal to your audience and meet SEO guidelines. | Create a content calendar, consider trending topics, user intent, and evergreen content. Balance between informative, engaging, and promotional content. |
Topic Clustering | Organize your content around specific topic clusters to improve SEO and provide a better user experience. | Create pillar content (comprehensive guides on a particular topic) and cluster content (subtopics related to the pillar content). Interlink them for SEO benefits. |
Writing | Write engaging, informative, and SEO-friendly content around the selected keywords and topics. | Ensure keyword optimization but avoid keyword stuffing. Make use of meta tags, header tags, alt texts for images, and include internal and external links. |
Distributing | Share your content across various platforms (website, social media, email newsletters, etc.) to reach a wider audience and drive more traffic. | Leverage social media sharing, guest blogging, influencer marketing, Reddit, Steemit, Bitcointalk, Twitter, Discord and Telegram. |
Bear in mind that the complexities of SEO extend beyond these initial steps, but they’re an excellent place to begin. As your understanding of SEO deepens, you can delve further into each of these areas to refine your strategy.
Since the ICO boom, the crypto ecosystem has been riddled with numerous fraudulent projects, leading to investor losses and growing skepticism toward new projects.
Building authority isn’t merely advisable; it’s a necessity for any project aspiring to be a market leader. It’s a common misconception that authority can be bought simply by sponsoring events or investing heavily in PR with top-tier publications. This approach is fundamentally incorrect.
The true authority extends beyond showcasing achievements. It involves keeping your community informed about every milestone, setback, advancement, and vision you have. Participating in Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) sessions, speaking at conferences (even small ones) and on podcasts, writing opinion articles for strategic websites, and maintaining active engagement on various channels and online communities are all part of this process. Furthermore, transparency is critical in an industry where many projects do not even disclose their team members on their websites.
Building authority will have a direct impact on your crypto marketing efforts. Once your company appears more trustworthy, each marketing activity will have a higher probability of achieving successful conversions.
Traffic is every marketer’s holy grail—the concept they ponder on before drifting off to sleep and often dream about. In the crypto industry, driving traffic to your project can be quite challenging.
You can generate traffic in numerous ways, but it’s important to emphasize that traffic, by itself, is just a vanity metric that may inflate your monthly reports.
Traffic needs a purpose. It should be relevant, targeted, and ideally, capable of converting. Here are some of the effective marketing channels for your crypto marketing campaign:
Study Finds 36% of Top Crypto Projects Silent on Blogging This Year | CoinMarketCap https://t.co/bQxjzdghmg
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) May 5, 2023
The substantial traffic wasn’t the only benefit; these shares also provided numerous high-quality backlinks that reinforced our site’s authority.
The potential for organic PR is indeed immense, but it’s not all rosy. Generating the perfect blend of smart content and innovative ideas that news sites find worthy of covering can be challenging. Pulling it off once might be chalked up to luck, but replicating it on a larger scale takes skill. This complexity is precisely why crypto companies turn to specialized blockchain PR agencies for assistance.
Managing all your crypto project’s marketing tasks in-house can be challenging, costly, and time-intensive. It entails navigating steep learning curves, establishing connections with top journalists, and crafting strategies within a rapidly changing market. That’s why many companies opt for the expertise of a crypto marketing agency. But with countless such agencies available, finding the right fit can be daunting.
So, how can you be sure you’re hiring the appropriate crypto marketing and PR agency for your project?
Choosing the right crypto marketing agency can significantly influence the success of your project. The following table serves as a comprehensive checklist to help you evaluate your potential agency effectively, ensuring that they meet your project’s unique needs and goals. Consider each point thoughtfully before making your decision.
Consideration | Goal | How to Know You've Picked the Right One |
---|---|---|
Experience | To hire an agency with proven expertise in the crypto field. | The agency has been actively working in the crypto space for at least four years and can show a portfolio of successful campaigns. |
Transparency | To engage with an agency that is open about its team and processes. | The agency provides clear information about their team on their website or upon request. Their past activities and clientele are visible and verifiable. |
Content Quality | To ensure the agency can produce high-quality, value-driven content. | The agency's own content is informative, well-written, and valuable. It shows clear understanding of the crypto industry and marketing strategies. |
SEO Knowledge | To select an agency that understands and can effectively implement SEO strategies. | The agency outlines an SEO strategy for your project, discusses its importance, and demonstrates experience in SEO through past work. |
Crypto Thought Leadership | To help establish your executives as thought leaders in the crypto space. | The agency discusses strategies for promoting your leadership team, provides examples of thought leadership they've facilitated, and shows understanding of its importance in brand positioning. |
Navigating the terrain of marketing activities, especially in the crypto industry, can be daunting. It requires a strategic focus on allocating time, money, and energy to the most rewarding channels and activities.
This article has explored essential components to enhance your marketing success. From understanding the power of platforms like Reddit for organic PR and traffic generation to maintaining project transparency and establishing your authority, these considerations are critical.
Remember, the journey in the crypto space isn’t just about participating—it’s about achieving significance, influencing the industry, and driving your project to success. Armed with the insights and strategies outlined here, you’re well-equipped to make a formidable impact with your marketing campaign.
Navigating the crypto marketing landscape successfully means steering clear of common pitfalls that can hinder your progress. By understanding these mistakes, you can develop more effective strategies and avoid costly blunders. Here are some key missteps to avoid:
Tracking the success of a crypto marketing campaign is crucial for evaluating its effectiveness and making informed decisions. To measure the impact of your marketing efforts, you need to identify the key metrics that align with your campaign goals. Some common metrics to track include:
By monitoring these metrics, you can gain insights into the effectiveness of your crypto marketing campaign and make data-driven decisions to optimize your strategies.
Influencer marketing can play a significant role in promoting crypto projects, but it’s essential to approach it strategically. It’s important to note that not all influencers are credible, and many may not work with unknown projects.
Instead of immediately investing in influencer marketing, it is recommended to prioritize building your authority and brand awareness first. By establishing credibility and a solid reputation, your project will be more appealing to reputable influencers and yield better results from influencer partnerships. This approach enhances the effectiveness of your marketing campaign and optimizes your spending.
Content marketing plays a crucial role in a comprehensive crypto marketing strategy. It goes beyond short-term hype and focuses on long-term success. Without content marketing, your efforts may rely solely on temporary PR articles or announcements, leading to limited sustainability.
The goal of content marketing is to combine with search engine optimization (SEO) efforts to build organic traffic and a loyal audience for your project. By creating high-quality and valuable content, you can attract and engage your target audience, establish your expertise and authority in the industry, and cultivate a community of supporters.
Content marketing helps drive continuous traffic to your website, generate leads, and build brand awareness. It allows you to educate, inform, and entertain your audience while showcasing the unique value your project offers. When combined with SEO techniques, content marketing maximizes your visibility in search engine results, ensuring that your project reaches the right audience organically.
By incorporating content marketing into your crypto marketing strategy, you can lay a solid foundation for sustainable growth and establish a strong presence in the crypto community.