Ico Marketing – Instructions for a Successful Launch of Your Own Cryptocurrency

Marketing is more than just advertising, it’s the storytelling about a project that is supposed to achieve great power and influence in business life. The methodology of the ICO presentation is intended to give investors a visionary vision of a promising future in collaboration and to give them additional market confidence. A well-conceived marketing strategy targets the appropriate target groups, which are needed for a successful ICO launch. The ICO market costs are as important as they are indispensable for proper online preparation.

ICO Marketing is a special form of online marketing and has some unique features. These characteristics arise from the evolutionary stage of ICOs, which are a novel and recent phenomenon. In terms of content, there is a clear overlap with online marketing, which is operated in a similar data-driven and purposeful manner. As a demarcation serves branding marketing, which often has only the increase in visibility and awareness of the goal. As a higher-level entity, digital marketing provides a solid reference to predict and proactively anticipate further development.

Every ICO launch requires not only a comprehensive marketing plan but also a detailed white paper, which should be informative as well as well written. The primary purpose of this content is to clearly describe the product for the ICO Launch, to explain the use of the tokens and to explain in detail the type of distribution. For many companies, a white paper is like a technical specification sheet and forms the backbone of a successful launch, as investors look first into the white paper to get the facts they need about a project. It should therefore necessarily be why you need this ICO for the launch. However, the white paper should contain no phrases, but really be equipped with tough technical and financial facts.

The design of the white paper should not be neglected – depending on the target audience of your project and the industry, the design may more or less affect the reader’s interest. If you want to create a complex ICO white paper with a lot of technical data (e.g. in the IT industry), then the design does not play such a big role compared to an ICO project in the online gaming industry.

Do not forget to support all industry data and statistics with sources. Figures and statements should not fall from the sky – otherwise, no reader will take the white paper and the ICO project seriously.

Illustrate your concept with graphics, charts, and images: the easier you explain, the higher the chances your readers will read the white paper.

The chapter on the technical features and the application of Blockchain technology is extremely important. Many ICO projects are trying to raise money for a decent idea without actually putting Blockchain behind it. If you have already developed a Smart Contract, you can publish it on the GitHub website and also display it in the whitepaper.

Do not forget to list the team members and advisors in a spreadsheet, including their experiences, roles, and LinkedIn profiles. So, the readers know who is behind the project and if the project team has the necessary expertise and competence to realize the project.

• Languages ​​- English is a must, any other language is an advantage
• Scope – between 20 – 50 pages, ideally about 30
• Layout – graphics to illustrate concepts (product and token), industry data, roadmap, etc.
• Attractive design of the information, elements, font, etc.

Here are the individual areas that should comprise an ICO whitepaper:

• Disclaimer
• Cover picture
• introduction
• Problem Description
• Industry overview
• solution
• Product description
• risk factors
• Token description
• Token application
• Team & Advisory Board
• Roadmap
• Market Examples (Optional)

The structure of the ICO whitepaper may vary from project to project. Nevertheless, the following golden rule always applies to a basic structure:

Awareness: Imagine a problem. You should be at least one industry issue that you solve with your project. They should also highlight the impact of this issue on the daily lives of the target group.

Interest: Ideally, you will reach the reader emotionally, so he wants to know the solution to the problem in any case.

Solution: With your project, you solve the problem/problems that you have described in detail earlier.

Expertise: Then you should prove that you have the necessary expertise to solve the problem with your ICO project.

If you have successfully completed this process, you have probably already turned the reader into a potential investor.

The search for information and projects on the Internet is becoming more and more popular and without a professional website, there is no business anymore. A good website projects the main ideas of the company into the minds of visitors and should, therefore, be attractive, natural, informative and friendly.

The website for an ICO must be a straightforward representation of the entire project and represent the company itself. At the same time, it can serve a serious information acquisition of the user.

The goal of the website is not only to present the online presence for the ICO – the website also allows the establishment of a so-called Sales Funnel. Using newsletters and e-mail registrations as well as user registrations for the token sale potential prospective customers can be addressed with various marketing measures such as E-Mail marketing and thus become paying investors.

The content and structure of the ICO website depend on the phase in which the ICO project is located. Especially the structure of the homepage and the “above the fold” area is influenced by the phase. The reasons for this are the different goals that the ICO website pursues at each stage:

The first phase: During the first phase, you should first introduce your new project. Assuming that you publish the website early in the private sale, it does not make much sense to include CTAs like Buy Now Tokens. Rather, you should provide quick links to the whitepaper, 1 pager and the social media channels (prioritize telegram), as well as an e-mail opt-in (newsletter), so that you can enlarge your e-mail list. Even a “whitelist” application may be of interest to interested parties at this early stage. Place your explanatory video at the top so that the website can quickly get to know your ICO visitors. The project presentation using diagrams and graphics is also recommended.

Second phase: The second phase is already understood as the beginning of the private or pre-sale. Here, the focus is already shifted to the corresponding sales phase. Include an area with the most important token information at the top of the start page, where you can see a timer with the remaining time until the next phase as well as the current financing of the project. The CTAs “Register Now” or “Buy Tokens Now” can already be prominently placed. The accepted Fiat and cryptocurrencies can also be mentioned. If your ICO is already listed on a few ICO listing websites then you should also view the ratings and links to the ICO profile on the best listings. The same applies to press articles from renowned online media – Reuters, Forbes.

Third phase: After all sales phases have been completed and the ICO has at least reached the soft cap, then the ICO website should no longer display all information about the token and the phases of the sales. Now the focus is on performance or on the product. The website should look just like a normal project that has nothing to do with ICO (the ICO mechanism is for funding only – the substance of the project comes from the business idea and the application of Blockchain technology).

Make sure your ICO website is encrypted with HTTPS. HTTPS encryption has been included as a ranking factor by Google for a while now and is a must-have for every website in 2019.

Here is a list of the most important aspects that an ICO website should handle:

• Call to action areas, which entice investors to participate in a presale.
• Social media channels: Telegram, Facebook, Bitcointalk, Reddit, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and similar.
• Technical documentation, presentations or other material to convince investors.
• Extensive presentation of the entire project including all project details. The more accurate the information, the greater the honest interest of investors.
• Disclose price calculations, methods of buying and distributing funds.

While the ICO white paper is intended to illustrate the economic and technological facts, a creative content strategy is needed when it comes to the prospects of the project. It is not about any lofty goals, but about concrete steps on the success ladder, which should be reached within certain deadlines. In any case, long-term planning looks like this. The creative content should still flow even if investors have already invested in the tokens and should be kept up to date. Both e-mails and videos with current news can be used. This awakens positive confidence in the project.

Here are some general tips for a successful content strategy:

1. Write a positive content about the project, product and the market and latest trends, which is not only published on its own website but as possible also shared on external websites or marketplaces.

   Start with your own blog first, and in parallel, create a media blog page where you publish excerpts from the articles on the blog. You can also link from Medium to the article on the website. Medium has a particularly high domain authority and will boost your SEO ranking. Also, it is highly valued in the crypto community.

2. Write an article in the form of an interview that addresses important issues. Thus, new connections or sources of information can be addressed. For example, you can create interviews with the CEO, CTO or CMO of the project.
3. Good content requires a well-paid author who can write professional texts. Cheap providers can do more harm than good. The best you will have such authors in the team who are perfectly familiar with the project. A stranger can only provide a limited quality of content based on the whitepaper.

The professional content should use the provider to publish it on as many websites with appropriate topics. Above all, those pages are important on which investors inform themselves about new projects. There, suitable texts can inspire investors to invest in new cryptocurrencies and the associated ICO launch.

Do not forget that blog posts are just the simplest form of content. Videos and infographics are other interesting materials that you could incorporate into your content strategy.

Then you should promote the content on social media. Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram are the most important channels you should approach.

To achieve a successful ICO launch, the publication of the project in the current mass media is particularly important and this includes, above all, the social media marketing, which achieves a positive attitude towards the ICO launch. To positively influence the opinions in a community positive announcements and news are important as well as the report of an expert and the impression that the whole project reliable and promising, as well as all responsible persons, are reliable. These social networks include:

• Telegram
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Youtube
• Instagram

These sites are considered to be key platforms in digital communications and know exactly how to create customer interest and grow their community.

As you already know, Telegram is one of the most important channels for the promotion of ICO projects. There are hardly any ICOs on the market for which the development of an ICO Telegram Group is not particularly important. The telegram group can be used to market your Airdrop and Bounty campaigns and report the news to your ICO.

ICOs typically start building the ICO Telegram Group before embarking on the other social media channels. Unfortunately, you can also buy telegram users – many ICOs fill their telegram channels within a few days of reaching their maximum number of members. However, these members will not be active at all and will hardly contribute to the success of the ICO. It is best to try to develop your telegram group organically.

Some of the best free platforms for ICO marketing are:

Special websites and forums:

– https://bitcointalk.org/

– https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/

Discussions about Quora:

– https://www.quora.com/topic/Initial-Coin-Offerings-ICO

– https://www.quora.com/topic/cryptocurrencies

– https://www.quora.com/topic/blockchains

Groups on LinkedIn:

• Bitcoin Blockchain & FinTech Think Tank
• Blockchain Business
• ICO Investment Network
• Blockchain Professional Network
• Blockchain and Bitcoin startups
• Ethereum

Groups on Facebook:

– https://www.facebook.com/groups/FASIS.GROUP/about/

For community management, you should have at least 2 full-time employees who act as community managers. They take care of answering and editing digital communication, in front of an ICO launch, which provides for additional advertising in the social networks.

As soon as the ICO is launched, paid advertising is an integral part of the marketing process. Because now the target group must be made to enter the project and participate in the ICO launch. By analyzing previous buyers, the company can find out where the target audience is normally located. There, customized advertisements for the ICO launch should be placed on the customer.

Social media

Advertising on social media such as Facebook, Instagram or Google may not be cheap, but it has a demonstrably greater reach than advertising in all other areas. Even those who only have a small advertising budget should primarily use these media to be able to address such a large target group. Also, tailor-made advertising addresses only those who are really interested in the ICO launch.

General Tips for Social Media Ads:

• The frequency (how many times a person sees an ad) should not exceed three times a week.
• Some networks prohibit words in ad text such as “ICO” and “token sale” (including intentional rewrites such as “token sale” or the like)
• Each ad has a clear call-to-action, a clear call to what the user should do next

Google Adwords

An interesting alternative to social media marketing is Google Adwords. Adwords can be costly for long-term use but generates good traffic for the ICO launch.

The application of websites is only possible for sites where neither the words, “ICO” or “Token Sale” appear nor on which, where such pages are linked. Even keywords like ICO or token sale are often a reason for blockages.

SEA (Search Engine Advertising) are ideal because the user already indicates an interest in ICOs through the search. So, if someone is looking for e.g. “ICOs Germany”, that would be an apt result.

Here are some general Google SEA tips:

• At least three ads should be used per ad group
• Ads can be quickly translated into other languages (localized ads)
• If participation in the ICO is mainly via desktop, Mobile should be excluded
• Remarketing will redirect visitors to Google or YouTube

In addition to the publicly known channels for advertising such as Facebook and Google, there are still special communities with great influence that are less well known. These special networks should be contacted a few days before the ICO launch and informed as soon as possible about the start of sales. These networks can be found at:

– https://cointraffic.io/ – Minimum Budget: $ 10,000

– https://coinad.com/ – Minimum Budget: 0.01 BTC

– https://a-ads.com/ – Minimum Budget: Variable

This section also includes Crypto Ads on Crypto and Blockchain YouTube Channels. YouTube influencers and crypto analysts are particularly relevant to the younger audience and have a broad reach of potential investors. Many of the YouTube channels offer the opportunity to create a video with a review or advertisement about an ICO and publish that video on the channel.

E-mail marketing should not be forgotten. It is the best way to provide a comprehensive group of people with the latest news. Also, private stories, targeted information such as visions of the future can be sent to a specific group of people within seconds via e-mail. The most successful for an ICO launch proves to be not only a marketing way but to use as many and different methods.

To achieve a successful ICO launch, it also needs the voices of influential figures, financial analysts or crypto influencers. But well-known Blockchain journalists are important contacts to make a new ICO launch public. These experts can emphasize the seriousness of a project with positive comments, which is very important for many investors. However, contact with these personalities is usually more or less expensive and recommendations can also be costly.

Given the growing popularity of ICOs in recent years, the only sure path to a successful PR strategy is to buy paid contributions to renowned Blockchain and Crypto related websites. These contributions can cost between 0.1 and 3 BTC but have the potential for exponential ROI.

Even before the ICO launch, the company should be able to demonstrate a beta software. The project proves to investors and investors that they have serious intentions as announced in the white paper and that they should be considered serious. This greatly improves the chances of launching.

Events of any kind are particularly important for an ICO launch in advance, as a company can establish and represent personal contact with investors. Once some of the larger investors are on board, the ICO launch is likely to be successful, as smaller investors often follow suit. They rely on the intuition of the larger investors, which is often said to have a good nose for profitable projects.

The importance of so-called private sale, as well as the participation of private investors in the early phase of project development, is growing with the maturing of the blockchain market. This is another factor that influences the importance of crypto and blockchain events for the future success of the ICO.

Ideally, the ICO will be represented at as many of the world’s crypto events as possible.

At an event, you can participate as a speaker with your own stand or simply as a visitor. If possible, it is recommended in most cases to book a speaker slot including a stand of its own – especially if the participation of potential investors is expected. Countries with a high ICO investment inflow should be prioritized.

Some Blockchain events are specifically addressed to Blockchain developers. Others focus on Blockchain news, opening up new markets through technology, etc. Participating in these events is not essential.

It is not possible to attend all events as a speaker – some have a very high participation fee, some have limited seats, and you also need to be approved for participation. The main objective of participating in events would be to arouse the interest of the press and, above all, to find potential investors who would participate in a private sale.

As a rule of thumb, the following applies: per month should be min. booked a speaker slot (including its own stand). Participation and application for a speaker slot and booth for each of the top blockchain events worldwide are recommended. At further events, targeted investor discussions can be arranged.

To secure the sale of the tokens, a news strategy should be developed to inform potential investors about the details of token sales. This includes the facts about the sale, such as the number of tokens that are sold and how many remain with the company. Thus, the interest of investors remains permanently.

What is Whitelist?

A whitelist is an exclusive list of potential investors who have already announced their interest in the ICO launch. To register for a whitelist, a special bonus is usually given.

How to Create an ICO Whitelist

Investors are somewhat whitelisted and thankful for a chronological listing,

as well as the latest news and evidence of the success of the ICO launch. It should also be possible to improve its ranking through engagement and published contributions on the topic:

• Transfers to the whitelist
• Take on social responsibility or shares
• To take on independent posts in groups and forums
• Publish reviews
• Guest posts on blog posts

Optimal strategy

To determine if its own strategy for the ICO launch works, the company should get an ICO ranking from an external independent provider. In this way, those responsible can eradicate potential weaknesses before the launch and thus support their success.

Conclusion

An ICO launch is a complex process, based on fasted facts and figures, to convince potential investors to invest their money in the project. However, marketing is just as important in attracting these business people to the project and convincing them of its value and uniqueness. Marketing is and remains a complex process that now requires a lot of budgets. Without it is unfortunately no more and the type of marketing decides virtually whether the ICO launch is a success.