The Ultimate Guide to ICO Marketing in 2023

Introduction 

If you are looking for the best ICO marketing strategies, you have headed to the right place. Here you shall come across each stepping stone discussed in detail to make your ICO a grand success.  

Different from the traditional approaches ICO marketing has significantly grown its importance in many sectors. It is important for you to note down why an effective ICO marketing is necessary to make your project work better, especially in such severe competition prevailing in the space.  

Let’s us start with understanding what is an ICO?   

What is an ICO? 

In a nutshell, ICO can be considered similar to that of IPO’s. A ICO is an initial coin offering, in which the goal is to raise funds for a particular project through launching and selling of a crypto token with a predefined aim of acquiring the required amount of funds for the project.  

Through the use of various marketing strategies and campaigns, the project agenda is distributed to the audience with the intention of attracting both funds and interest.  

As a way of letting the audience know about the launch of a new project, the ICO can be considered a notice to the audience. ICO is especially designed to follow the limited supply-demand principle that would allow the crypto coins to easily gain more value in the future. 

Now that we are clear with what an ICO basically is, let’s see what an ICO marketing is:  

What is ICO Marketing? 

As a matter of fact, ICO marketing is the process through which a new ICO reaches out to its target audience or investors in an effort to raise the funds it needs. Without effective ICO marketing, conducting a successful ICO for crypto startups would be difficult or nearly impossible.  

In order to ensure that your ICO marketing strategy is effectively executed, all the necessary elements must be adequately looked for from the development of the perfect launch strategy to executing it and tracking the performance of the campaign. 

With the right marketing tips & strategies, ICOs can become easy to execute and can give your token and project a lot of exposure very quickly.  

Things to consider before running an ICO marketing campaign     

1.  Know your audience: 

In order to successfully market your ICO, you first need to understand who your end audience is before you begin with your marketing campaign. By knowing your target audience, you will be able to customize your ads to suit their needs.  

2.  Market:

Not every company should participate in an ICO. Analyse your project orientation and then participate in ICO campaigns.   

Understand how to experiment with the idea of an ICO and how to incorporate it into your business model. To understand that, do deep research into the market insights and adapt your ads and campaigns accordingly. 

3. Competition:

Before starting an ICO marketing campaign, one of the most important things you should take into consideration is to analyze what your competitors are doing in the field. Analyze their strategies in depth and find out what might work for you in your own situation. After all, it isn't necessary that the campaign idea that is great

for them will also be great for your ICO campaign if the results are similar.   

4. Use cases of project:

It is only when a project offers a strong set of use cases that it is considered valuable.  If you want to expand the reach of your project, make sure you include real-world practical use cases that will grab your audience's attention. Entice their interest with giving them exclusive memberships, early entry passes, free gifts, and many more. 

5. Relevant Platforms for project:

The major reason behind a failure of any ICO campaign is lack of relevant communication. It is essential that your end audience gets a clear message of who you are and what you plan to do.   

Utilize platforms such as Instagram, Twitter & Facebook to showcase your features & highlight your project's unique characteristics. Use Telegram & discord to maintain community. Use channels like Medium to publish blogs on your project etc. 

Now that we know, why an ICO marketing is so important for a new crypto project and things to consider before running an ICO marketing campaign, there are some top essentials for launching a successful ICO as well. Now, let’s pour some lights on what marketing strategies you must include in your ICO checklist:  

ICO marketing strategies and checklists -  

1. Crypto investors: 

It is always a good idea to gather information on who can be your potential investors, along with a list of investors who have historically invested in a similar crypto project to yours. Depending on the investors' interest, you can approach them personally and arrange a private crypto sale that is only accessible to those who are interested. As a result, you will get a much clearer picture of who is actually interested in your project, and how much more money you would need in the future to make the project a success. 

2. ICO White paper: 

An ICO's whitepaper is one of its most crucial components. ICO whitepaper outlines all the information about the project with its roadmap and the vision of ICO to potential investors and token buyers.  

Additionally, it explains how investors can benefit from the project or use the token. 

You must ensure not only that the whitepaper is fully optimized with super-quality content, a simple, attractive design, and all the details, but also that it contains the use cases of your ICO project.. 

3. Innovative Website: 

Go for not just an ICO website, but for an optimized ICO website. Ensure your website is effective in attracting and retaining users and encouraging them to buy tokens.  

Optimizing your website means making it better from every angle, both in terms of quality and appeal.    

To do so:   

1. Adding a simple, relevant, and appealing web design is the first step.  

2. User-friendly web design makes it easy to browse content and find options.  

3. Next, add valuable content.  

4. Keep things simple and not overloaded while adding as many details as possible. 

5. A fast and easy-to-use website is essential. Insightful, relevant and high-quality content.    

4. SEO( Search Engine Optimization): 

Using SEO techniques, a target website or project can increase its organic ranking and exposure in search engines. The purpose of SEO is to improve the ranks of your ICO website so that it appears more frequently in the search engine results (Google) for the keywords you are targeting. 

It is likely that your newly launched ICO website will not appear on the first few pages of search results when someone searches for the 'best ICO in the market', for instance.  

The reason for this is that your project is new and not very popular, and there are better competitors on the market. Nevertheless, if your website is well optimized, it can rank higher and eventually appear on the first page of Google, which means more clicks on your website and more traffic for your ICO, which is what online marketing is all about. All pages on your site should include some relevant keywords from an SEO perspective. 

So, use appropriate SEO tricks for better organic reach. 

5. ICO listing: 

Launching a successful ICO is not the end of the story. It is important to search for the best online marketplaces to sell your ICO. ICO marketplaces allow you to find investors who are interested in buying your token and supporting your project.  

By listing your token on an ICO marketplace, you will be able to sell it to platform users. They will charge a commission for every transaction.  

Getting users to buy your token may be difficult if they don't know who you are. The use of an ICO marketplace can help you gain exposure for your project as well as increase your token sales. You can list your ICO project on the below mentioned ICO listing platforms -

ICO Holder

ICO Drops

ICO Marks

6. Build a strong community:

The most underrated but most effective method. Yes. You will need your community when you launch the ICO because these are the people who are going to buy your tokens. So, one can't ignore the importance of community building in ICO marketing.

Building a community from scratch seems to be tough but with the right tips building a community for your ICO can be easy.  Reddit, Discord and Telegram are the most effective community building channels for ICO marketing.

Create your own groups or join existing ones on Telegram, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking platforms. Once you have built communities, you can share useful content, answer questions, invite people to join your groups, offer freebies, and encourage people to try your token (for free). 

7. Airdrops and Giveaways:

Creating a loyal and trusted community through airdrops and giveaways is ideal. In the beginning, you need to give away free tokens or coins to grab their attention.  

With this approach, you can build a thriving community for your project while simultaneously promoting it.  

The airdrop execution strategy must be developed and tracked. Participant tasks may include liking, retweeting, sharing posts and/or writing content on Medium.  

Giveaway campaigns can be organized to promote your ICO and encourage people to try out your token. Some examples include bounty campaigns, social media giveaways, competitions, lucky draws, and bonuses on token purchases. 

After all who doesn’t want free tokens, right? It's a wise idea to set aside a certain number of tokens for giveaways when planning your token distribution strategy. 

8. Bounty Campaigns:

Various incentive programs can be used to attract more investors. ICO bounty campaigns offer a variety of rewards to motivate ICO promotion and help you gain valuable insights. 

Posting content, sharing links on social media, and even testing software for bugs are all examples of these actions. 

Several blockchain networks offer free tokens as part of airdrop campaigns to attract potential investors, or CPA campaigns reward users for completing tasks for tokens.  

9. AMA session: 

AMA, or Ask Me Anything, is a social event that might be considered an essential gathering, where doubts and questions from the audience can be cleared up and they can get a better understanding of your vision. 

To bring your audience on the same page with you, host your followers/subscribers on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter and answer to their questions. 

Through this method, you can build trust in your upcoming ICO by allowing people to ask questions directly to the team. This will enable them to get the most accurate answers about the ICO, the project, or the token.  

It is recommended that AMA sessions take place through the official channels of the company or founder. 

10. Social Media Marketing: 

A social media campaign refers to the use of various social media platforms to market a product or service. Any business or project can find millions of potential customers via social networking sites. Social media helps build a credible profile of the project by showcasing its operation, mission, vision, and many other vital aspects. It is for this reason that social media marketing has become so popular in recent years. 

Your ICO project and token can be extensively marketed and a community can be formed using top social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and Pinterest. 

11. Paid Marketing (Crypto Paid Ad Networks): 

Featured newsletters, offline/online advertising, Pay Per Click, and Google paid ads are just a few of many paid methods to promote your ICO project.  

By using images and other graphical content you can promote a product/service on various social media platforms and display ads on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Google and other channels that are relevant to your project. 

You can even get your PR blogs published and collaborate with other businesses to promote your project. The cost of crypto paid ads is relatively low, but due to the wide exposure you will receive, the returns that are often very high. By tracking metrics like new subscribers and sales, you can measure ROI. If that excites you, here are some of the top paid ad networks you can go ahead with -

Coinzilla

A-ads

Bitmedia

12. PR Campaigns:

After you have launched your website, you will need to conduct a comprehensive public relations campaign. Press releases are the best and most effective way to give your ICO a large audience.  

Professional PR agencies can handle all your PR and media outreach with a guaranteed far-reaching exposure. 

Creating good relationships with top-tier media houses is critical to maximizing your outreach. It's all about creating good content that goes viral easily if you want to do it yourself. 

13. Content and Video Marketing:

Content & video marketing is an increasingly popular way to market new projects in the crypto/ICO space. 

Providing value-added video content accompanied with precise, cut-to-the-chase content is like the cherry on top.  

We know videos are a great way to create a long-lasting impact on the viewer's mind and great copy of content grabs the reader's attention. Leverage these two formats and bring more credibility to your project.  

There is no limit to how you can use videos, from introducing your token to explaining the ICO step-by-step, giving away tokens, and promoting offers. 

14. Influencer marketing: 

ICOs can be promoted using influencer marketing by reaching out to industry experts and influencers. You might find it beneficial if you have access to some influencer accounts or verified accounts when you are looking to promote on social media. 

Using influencers who know and understand your industry, you can ask them to promote your project and token on your behalf. Influencer marketing works on an incentive basis, so you can either pay them the agreed amount, give out tokens, give a share in the project, or do anything you agree on mutual terms.  

The price for the project depends on their knowledge and the size of their community.  

15. Bitcointalk Promotion:  

There are several Blockchain/crypto ad networks that are dedicated advertising platforms that operate exclusively with crypto projects. One such network is bitcointalk promotion, here you can reach established crypto communities and get quick, direct traffic to your ICO.  With the bitcointalk’s established forum your ICO project can be pitched to various crypto communities. Your ICO will be analyzed by them, and a campaign will be developed to meet your goals, for generating more traffic and leads. Typically, these platforms have a network of websites where they advertise your ICO. 

16. Email Marketing: 

By sending direct and promotional emails, a company can convert potential and existing customers into sales or make them take a certain action. Email marketing can be compared to copy or calls-to-action, which are intended to inspire a response. 

Your first step in ICO marketing is to create a curated list of potential investors and industry leaders who might be interested in joining your project or investing.  

To curate more hype and acknowledgment from the investor's emails can be sent during various stages of an ICO, such as; 

1. The launch of the website 

2. The launch of the token 

3. The launch of the ICO 

4. The completion of milestones 

*Additional tip*: A short, focused email with actionable words is the key to email marketing success. 

17. Tracking and Optimization( Measure the campaign ):

You should not assume that the strategies working for other projects will work for you as well. Every project is structured differently and requires a different strategy. Monitoring your campaign results on a regular basis is essential. Regardless of the strategy you follow, it's important to ensure that they are effective for you or not.  

Even after knowing all the ICO marketing strategies, there are certain things to consider while running an ICO marketing campaign one shouldn't neglect. Here’s when, why and how to hire an ICO marketing agency; 

When to hire an ICO marketing agency? 

As soon as you have built your project website and have already begun promoting the project, you should hire an agency that specializes in ICO marketing. That is one of the earliest things you should be able to do. 

As soon as you have the website up and running, with information about the ICO, its team, its goals, its road map, etc., you can start doing your PR, while simultaneously working on everything else related to your ICO, such as its technical environment and legal aspects, etc. 

It makes no sense to spend money on PR and build your community if you don't have a project website where people can find out more about what you are doing and to get in touch with you. 

Soon after everything has been set up and ready for the ICO, you will be able to start doing the advertising - because advertising is the most expensive part of the marketing and it should be done as close to the actual sale date as possible. 

Why to hire an agency for ICO marketing? 

1. Using the services of a specialized ICO marketing agency will save you both time and money. 

2. The ICO agencies are experts in their field, and they have a lot more knowledge, experience, and resources than we do.  

3. When you hire an expert ICO agency, you get the benefit of an outsider's perspective and you will be able to see how your ICO project looks from the user's end.  

4. The most professional ICO marketing companies always stay on top of the latest technologies and trends and have access to specialized tools that assist them in forming a global community and managing it.  

5. A good ICO marketing agency will have excellent media connections and they can help you develop buzz around your ICO project. 

It is for this reason that it is said that it is better to leave a few things to the experts in the field. Choosing the right ICO marketing agency is imperative as it will increase your fundraising prospects. So, you must know some of the most valuable tips to choose an ICO marketing agency.

Final Thoughts:  

The ICO market is undergoing tremendous competition as the number of ICOs continues to rise. For sure, there will be many questions hovering around your mind regarding the ICO marketing process, such as how to do it, whether you can do it yourself or if a professional ICO agency will be needed, etc.  

As a complete newbie to the space with an excellent idea for a project, you definitely don't want to miss out on the crucial step of gaining a larger audience that understands and appreciates the project's vision. 

AIM2DOOR answers all your questions about ICO marketing and development as well as providing you with some of the secret strategies & techniques to promote an ICO.

Visit Aim2door to get a better idea of how we deal with ICO marketing and cater a project from its launch to promotion.