Starting your own cryptocurrency is one of the hottest new ways to form a tech company or boost your current tech company. The blockchain craze is a lot more than just a fad as clever startup after startup discovers new ways to implement this fast self-tracking style of data processing. There are dozens of unique and innovative new blockchain applications currently either going through their ICO or successfully beginning their well-funded development. If you have a great idea, a superb whitepaper, and are ready to start building investors, the last tool in your toolbox will need to be a talented marketing firm.
But what exactly is an ICO startup looking for in a marketing firm? To be fair, what you need from a marketing campaign isn't the usual social hype and brand development. Rather than getting the general public jazzed to buy a product, you're looking for a team that knows how to convey your project to investors. To help you find the right marketing team for the job, here's a quick outline of the key points you should be looking for an ICO-capable marketing agency:
They Can Explain Your Technology Accurately in Layman's Terms
The number one most important thing about any marketing team you choose is their ability to understand and explain your new technology. Blockchain projects are not branded water bottles or running shoes. Your crypto-coin amounts to a cross between a new software solution and an online currency that work together to provide an innovative new service. This means you'll need a tech-savvy marketing team with experience in the cryptocurrency and ICO world. When you explain your project, they will need to be able to convey the central premise and features into easy-to-understand blurbs and copy for investors.
They Have a Killer Web Design Portfolio
If there is one single marketing asset that an ICO marketing campaign can't do without, it's the website. When someone wants to understand your product, when their eyes cross trying to read your whitepaper, or when they hear about your hot new coin and want to check it out, they'll go to your website. You need this site to be shiny, smooth, and engaging as it explains who you are and what your blockchain project is designed to do. The function needs to be sleek and bug-free to display your tech prowess, the visuals need to appeal to your target audience's idea of 'cool', and it needs to cleanly break down the selling points of your ICO. Take a look at a marketing team's website work in the past to determine if they have the skills for what you need.
They Can Activate a Multi-Platform Team
Once your website is up, the next vital marketing task is getting the word out to the right people who could be anywhere on the internet. Every great social media marketing campaign now involves 3-5 of the big social media platforms and possibly half a dozen smaller and more specialized platforms. This requires an entire team dedicated to managing and monitoring your growing social media presence. They will also need to understand where ICOs are typically advertised and reach out to these communities as well without any problem shifting from one platform to another.
They Have Experience in Technical Content Creation
Being able two write copy on technical products is almost a different set of skills from being able to sell products and local services. Your marketing team, or at least a few members of the team, need to be able to fully understand the purpose and perks of your new blockchain design and explain it in copy that is fun to read for both tech professionals and investors who like ICOs but may not be "tech" themselves. Get a few samples of the team's technical content creation before you decide on an agency that's right for you.
They Understand the Goals of ICO Marketing
Finally, you need a team that understands how to market an ICO. You're not looking for customers at this phase in your marketing, you're looking for big money investors with etherium and bitcoin to spare. This means your marketing team needs to know who your investors theoretically are, how to target them, and what to do with their attention once it's achieved. In other words, your marketing agency needs a firm understanding of how ICOs work and the goals of their marketing campaigns in order to conduct your ICO marketing properly.
Talk to each marketing agency you're considering and evaluate them for these qualities. If they seem to have a strong understanding of what an ICO is, where the investors are, and have a few good ideas for your campaign, you're on the right track.
Ravneet Ghuman