What Is ICO Marketing?
Imagine a multi-billion dollar industry running the world and free from regulation. That was unimaginable a few years ago. Today, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology proved the impossible possible. According to 2021 market size reports, the cryptocurrency industry is now worth $1.6 billion and could hit $2.2 billion by 2026.
Cryptocurrency is not new to the world now, but surprisingly, the industry still lacks a solid regulatory framework. Anyone with the ideal tech can launch an ICO. For now, we put everything else aside and focus on the unique strategy for crypto projects, the ICO.
ICO Meaning
As commonly used in the crypto world, ICO is an acronym for initial coin offering. It is a cryptocurrency marketing strategy similar to initial public offerings (IPO), where investors buy shares. For ICOs, companies looking to run a cryptocurrency project sell part of their crypto tokens to early investors to raise funds to finance the project.
Usually, the project team develops a website dedicated to the token where interested investors can find all the relevant information about the ICO. They can see the wallet address to which they send funds to receive the crypto coins once the coin launches officially. The token website will also have details of the possible fiat currencies that investors can send, accepted crypto coins, the price per token, soft and hard caps, and the duration of the ICO.
While the crypto space has been explosive and attracting millions of investors, it’s not easy to run an ICO campaign successfully. For instance, in 2017, only 48% of ICOs managed to hit their soft cap, even though it remains the breakthrough year for ICOs. However, successful ICO marketing campaigns raised about $6 billion in that year.
Most ICOs have a target amount that the team intends to raise within the ICO period. If they hit the bare minimum, the project proceeds and the money is used to pursue the project goals. The team communicates project goals beforehand via a whitepaper, so investors know the project plans, goals, and roadmap before investing. On the other hand, if the ad campaign fails to raise enough funds, the team may return the money to investors, in which case they deem the ICO unsuccessful.
How Can You Launch an ICO?
As noted earlier, there are no definite rules in the crypto space, so any tech-savvy person who comes up with a worthwhile project can launch an ICO. However, the unregulated nature of the industry still poses a threat due to the risk of ICO scams. Fraudulent individuals can conduct false ICOs and get away with investors’ money. For instance, in 2018, a group of scammers came up with a project dubbed ‘Giza’ and made away with $2 million after a successful ICO. Therefore, the biggest challenge comes in convincing potential investors about the legitimacy of your project.
In any case, if you are planning on blockchain marketing, it’s good you start by checking how other blockchain businesses conducted their campaigns and whether they were successful. See their approach and the ICO marketing strategy that helped them stay on top of the game and use your analysis to develop your campaign strategy. Typically, when you want to launch an ICO, your marketing strategy should focus on making your project team known, community building, and meeting potential investors.
Introducing Your Project Team
Avoid launching a project anonymously if you want your ICO advertising journey to get anywhere. Going anonymous alarms potential investors, and even legitimate projects may get labeled as scams. If you are confident about the project, you should be proud to put your name on it. Focus on creating confidence in investors by introducing the project and the project teams. List all your associates on the website and include details of their experience in the blockchain or tech space.
Here, you can use your influencer network to benefit from having the audience of their large following and help your project appear more credible.
Build a Community
The success of an ICO is mainly dependent on brand awareness, and that’s why you need to build a vibrant community. Make sure you are transparent with your team to counter any uncertainties and fear. Always be welcoming to customer queries and, where possible, respond to them directly.
Here, you can leverage the power of social media networks like Telegram, Reddit, and Twitter and use them to create a vibrant online community. The online community will increase your brand’s social media presence and awareness which is the core for the success of the ICO.
Meet Potential Investors
Before you launch an ICO, you know your target group of investors who will probably benefit the most from the project. Whether you are sure about their stand or not, approach them literally if you think they are potential investors. You can meet potential investors in blockchain seminars and conferences, perfect for benchmarking and possibly tabling your idea.
Summing It Up
Generally, the success of an ICO will depend on a mix of different factors, but awareness is a significant player. There are professional ICO marketing strategies and services that project teams can leverage already. The industry is pretty dynamic—it’s upon you to identify the options that work best for you, depending on your project. Later on, you can see what brings you desired results leverage what doesn’t align nicely with your goals, and cut down on it.
