No matter how sophisticated the copy, how strong the call to action, or how revolutionary the product, marketing to the wrong audience is always likely to result in wasted time, money, and resources.
This is especially the case with crypto marketing, where there are many details that can be easily misunderstood, and where there is a wide divide in understanding between those who are interested in crypto, and those who aren't.
As a result, crypto/blockchain-based startups that fail to evaluate which segments of the population they're targeting are likely to find themselves in a tricky predicament - one that could see them lose ground to more savvy competitors.
With this in mind, key decision makers must be extra careful when determining their marketing mix and deciding through what medium their message is best delivered. However, in the fast-paced world of crypto, this is often easier said than done.
Crypto has a marketing issue
According to a recent NBC News Poll, only one in five Americans has invested in, traded, or used cryptocurrency in the past.
In other words, despite the potential of blockchain technology and the crypto protocols that it enables, awareness of digital assets remains relatively low - not to mention the high levels of skepticism that still exist.
This is hardly surprising, especially when you consider how young the industry is and how often it's in the news for the wrong reasons - think Mt. Gox, Silk Road, and other high-profile scams and hacks.
Moreover, a Cardify study found that one-third of crypto INVESTORS admitted they have either zero knowledge about the space or would call their level of understanding “emerging.”
In fact, only 16.9% of the 750 investors surveyed revealed they have a complete understanding of their investment's value and potential.
Source: Cardify
Clearly, crypto marketers have their work cut out for them.
What's more, the industry is fraught with regulatory uncertainty, which makes it difficult to know how to best approach marketing efforts.
For example, the UK financial watchdog launched a crackdown on misleading crypto ads and high-risk investments, placing stringent new rules on how crypto platforms can and cannot be promoted.
The power of precision
Aside from crypto, there are plenty of companies that operate in esoteric and jargon-heavy industries that are guilty of wasting money on uninterested audiences.
Take the "Cat Herding" Super Bowl advert of 2000 as an example.
Source: EDS
The advert was confusing, didn't really explain what the company did, and ultimately left viewers scratching their heads.
So, if marketing to a wide audience is such a bad idea, what's the solution?
Taking an efficient, targeted approach.
Of course, much of this begins with audience segmentation - breaking down your potential customer base into workable sub-sections that share similar characteristics and interests.
Once you know who your target customer is, you can then begin to think about the best way to reach them.
Why crypto wire services may be the answer
Traditional press release services, such as PR Newswire, AccessWire and Business Wire, have long been the go-to marketing solution for companies looking to access a broad range of media outlets.
For example, the latter of these two has a distribution network spanning 100,000+ media outlets across 162 countries.
However, while these services may prove effective for more conventional businesses, they are likely to be sub-optimal for crypto companies, because crypto audiences mostly get their news from crypto news sites.
In many ways, traditional newswires offer a shotgun approach - scattering news far and wide to various media outlets, in the hope that it will reach the right person.
However, what crypto marketers need is a sniper rifle; a way to get featured on crypto-specific media outlets, such as Cointelegrah, Coindesk, CryptoNews etc.
A crypto-focused press release distribution platform like Chainwire is more likely to get the message in front of the people who will actually care about it (or even understand it).
Rather than spraying their message to a broad audience, Chainwire's niche distribution system enables crypto projects to get featured on notable crypto news sites.
Image Source: Chainwire
Ultimately, blockchain, Web3, crypto, NFTs etc. are still relatively obscure topics. As such, they require a specific and specialized approach. A crypto-focused newswire service is one of the clear-cut ways to tackle this approach.
After all, most projects in this niche require a nuanced understanding of the technology and ecosystem that underpin them - and that's something that your average journalist and newswire service is unlikely to possess.
Are there other solutions?
Of course, there are other marketing channels that crypto companies can and should explore, such as influencer marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, and content marketing. However, each of these comes with its own unique set of challenges.
For instance, while influencer marketing can be an effective way of getting your message in front of a large and engaged audience, it can also be quite difficult to find credible and trustworthy crypto influencers that are willing to promote your project.
Source: Brian Jung
PPC can be effective to those who know how to efficiently run ad campaigns and measure their ROAS. However, crypto marketers need to strap themselves through a very bumpy ride trying to get their ads approved, since many countries are banning crypto advertisements.
Finally, content marketing is a great way to build thought leadership and drive organic traffic to your website. However, it can be super difficult to produce quality content on a consistent basis - and even more difficult to get it distributed to the right people.
Final word
There's no easy solution when it comes to marketing a crypto project. However, what is clear is that a traditional, one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to be effective.
While there are many marketing channels that you can explore, a targeted approach is likely to be the most effective use of your time and budget, since you can ensure that your message is getting in front of the people who matter most.
