With facts like these, it’s no wonder that more and more users are turning to distinct methods of investing in cryptocurrencies, looking to get ahead of the crowd and find the next biggest crypto before it gains mass media attention. Due to this, many people turned to early-investment opportunities in the form of fundraising rounds. What started with Initial Coin Offerings has now grown into a diverse financial system.
Splitting off from ICOs, one of the most recent additions to this investment sphere in the world of crypto is IFOs, which are currently taking DeFi platforms by storm. In this article, we’ll guide those looking to launch an effective IFO PR campaign, helping you put the right foot forward.
We’ll be discussing:
- What IFOs are
- The benefits of IFOs
- Best practises for successful IFO PR launches
Let’s get right into it!
What are IFOS?
IFOs, standing for Initial Farm Offerings, are a fundraising method used specifically by Decentralized Finance platforms that are looking to launch. Their main goal is to onboard new customers, generating capital through participation and helping to fund the development of their projects.
An IFO is always run through a DEX (decentralized exchange), with the exchange going through the due diligence of checking the validity of the different projects launching on their platforms. The period of verification and scrutiny that a new project undergoes before accessing a platform provides a level of security to the farming events.
Instead of any company being able to launch an ICO, which lead to a huge amount of scams, DEXs will actively check the credentials and intentions behind the projects before they get onto a platform. Due to this, IFOs have become very popular over recent months, this providing a safer way of investing capital.
Typically, the DEX that hosts IFO events are PancakeSwap, with new projects choosing this platform due to its extreme popularity. While investors get a financial incentive from participating in the IFO, the company themselves will get exposure and capital from their token being in a liquidity pool within the farming process.
How do IFOs work?
Initial Farming Offerings follow two methods of active progress, each having different requirements and being suitable for different projects. These are:
- Unlimited Additions – Users pay a fixed fee, then getting access to a specific farming event. They can then add as many platform tokens as they want to the liquidity pool, giving the project funding through their locked allocations. Most commonly the tokens used within these liquidity pools are either BNB or CAKE tokens (as per PancakeSwap’s domination of this fundraising event).
- Limited Additions – Users don’t have to pay any fees, being able to submit a certain amount of tokens into the liquidity staking pool. This ensures there is less of an initial investment, but less of a long term payoff.
Once investors have chosen a specific event to get involved with, they’re able to stake the tokens that they want. These tokens will then be locked away in an associated liquidity pool for a fixed duration of the event. After the event is over, users are then rewarded with tokens. Depending on which format you use, the IFO PR campaign you run will differ.
What are the benefits of IFOs and IFO PR?
As they’re verified by DEXs, IFOs are a great example of a more secure form of early-stage crypto investing. Anyone that’s been in the crypto community for more than 15 minutes has probably heard about the 81% scam rate of ICO projects, demonstrating the dark past that crypto fundraising has to its name.
Even in 2018 alone, the amount of capital raised by different ICOs was huge, with this meaning that a ridiculous amount of money was lost to rug pulls within this industry. Just looking at the amount of money invested in ICOs throughout the year in 2018, you can actively trace people’s trust in the system, with all investments dropping off after a few months of scammers making off with millions of USD.
Battling against this history, crypto fundraising schemes have been looking at different ways of supplanting their past and creating a system of trust. One of the most trusted methods has become IFOs, with the need for approval from the DEX itself stopping just anyone from making a crypto fundraising event.
Alongside security, there are several benefits to IFO campaigns:
- No Middle-men – Within traditional fundraising structures, there is always a middleman system that takes a cut of the earnings. By using the native token on a DEX, decentralized finance platforms earn through hosting the event, making this a win-win system for everyone that doesn’t have a greedy middle man in the way.
- Transparency – As these events are run on a decentralized system, all transactions have a documented history. This keeps everything above the table, ensuring there is maximum documentation to prove the validity of a project.
This is an effective fundraising system, making it a promising avenue of pursuit if you’re looking to launch your own DeFi system or cryptocurrency.
Best practices for successful IFO PR Launches?
If you’re convinced that your project could benefit from an IFO launch, then you need to ensure that you understand IFO PR as much as possible. With any new form of fundraising within the crypto community, IFO PR is a novel industry, making this a difficult thing to get your bearings with.
When trying to launch an IFO PR campaign, we recommend that you follow these three practises to make your media campaign as effective as possible:
- SEO is Key
- Create a Brand Identity
- Work with an Agency
Let’s break these down further.
SEO is Key in IFO PR
Standing for Search Engine Optimization, SEO is one of the most vital elements that you can incorporate into your IFO PR campaign. As the actual fundraising portion of your campaign will be held on a DEX, you need to ensure that the marketing around the actual project is as effective as possible.
To do this, you should focus on creating an active blog page on your own website. This will allow you to target keywords that are directly related to your project, using keyword strategy to move up the Google rankings and bring more exposure to your brand.
As IFOs are a harder form of fundraising to pull off, you need to make sure that you’re getting as many eyes on your campaign as possible. One of the most effective ways of doing that is to focus on SEO strategy, turning your project’s personal website into a hotspot of information and keywords.
SEO is so vital because the vast majority of users will never scroll to page two on a search engine results page. Due to this, if you’re not beating out your competition by using SEO strategy, then you’ll significantly reduce the amount of people that naturally come across your campaign.
Not only does this reduce the effectiveness of your IFO PR campaign, but it also means that you’ll have to spend more money on alternative forms of marketing – like PPC marketing.
Create a Brand Identity Before You Start Your IFO PR Campaign
There’s a reason that 77% of all marketing experts say that branding is critical to the success of any PR project. Branding is one of the most important elements of any PR campaign because it allows people to build up recognition for your brand.
Especially in the untrusting world of crypto PR, creating a recognizable and trustworthy brand is one of the most important things you can do. Before even launching your first media correspondence on your IFO PR campaign, you should endeavor to have your branding on point.
Ensure that you have your basic elements like logo and company colors down. After that, it’s on to something that will come up continuously in your public relations efforts – brand tone of voice. Your TOV is how you write, which impacts how people perceive your brand and how people will resonate with what you’re saying.
Depending on the image you want to give off, work on refining your brand voice and creating a set of guidelines that will be the basis for all content your produce within your IFO PR campaign and beyond.
Work with an IFO PR Agency
Running an effective SEO strategy and creating a detailed understanding of your own brand’s tone of voice isn’t an easy aspect of any PR strategy. Due to this, when working with an area of public relations as delicate as IFO PR, we recommend that you get in touch with professionals.
By contacting an IFO PR agency, you’re able to get expert help from some of the best minds in the business. Not only will they be able to advise you on the most pressing elements of your strategy, but they’ll also be able to help you design your communications going forward.
If as you learn more about IFO PR, you’re continuously feeling more overwhelmed, then it’s a good idea to partner up with an agency. This will also help you free up time in your schedule to work on other elements of your brand, like ensuring the project is as successful as could possibly be.
Remember, when it comes to something you don’t enjoy within business, if you can delegate it to someone more skilled than yourself and focus on what you’re good at, you’ll be radically shifting the probability of launching a successful project.
Final Thoughts on IFO PR
When entering the world of fundraising, especially when it comes for blockchain marketing projects, you need to rely on modern techniques, open avenues, and clever marketing strategies. If you’re looking to launch your first IFO PR campaign, be sure to keep SEO at the center and nail your brand identity.
Both of these things will boost the visibility of your campaign, guiding more people towards your fundraising page on their DEX of choice. If you’re new to the world of PR, then we’d suggest hiring a crypto PR agency. With years of experience GuerrillaBuzz will help you create an effective IFO PR campaign strategy, boosting your probability of success and nailing your PR campaign execution.
Get in contact with our team today for more details.
About the Author
Yuval is a savvy SEO and marketing expert with over a decade of experience. Specializing in the blockchain industry, he's the go-to guy for crypto companies looking to simplify their digital marketing strategies and achieve explosive growth. As a digital nomad and successful company builder, Yuval brings a fresh, creative perspective to every project he tackles.
