Picture this: you’ve spent countless hours pouring sweat and tears into this awesome product, only for it to be hidden in the obscure corners of the internet, gasping for the attention it deserves.
So it ultimately fails – just like the other 947 listed cryptocurrencies (on average) that vanish each year.
If you ask me, it is high time your crypto project reaches its audience.
How?
The strategy is hidden at the crossroads where cryptocurrency meets SEO and content marketing that delivers results.
But first, let’s talk about how crypto marketing:
- Differs from standard marketing for tech companies
- Differs in culture and messaging
We’ll ultimately break down content marketing strategies and channels that work for each major crypto sector (NFTs, DeFi, tokens, crypto SaaS) and how to avoid common pitfalls.
Sounds interesting? Let’s get started. 🚀
Crypto marketing is different from your typical marketing
If the crypto space is young and the crypto marketing space is in its infancy. There are only a few specialized marketing agencies for crypto, let alone content marketing agencies for crypto companies.
This prompts crypto brands to seek help from general marketing agencies, assuming that marketing is marketing — an erroneous mistake.
Web2, or traditional marketing strategies and tactics, tend to fail miserably in Web3’s decentralized, community-driven landscape.
Marketing in the crypto industry requires far more engagement with users, education — especially if you offer new solutions or paradigms, such as DeFi — and continual adaptation and experimentation due to the industry’s evolving nature.
A strong community is the backbone of everything
Coinbase has 227k+ members.
Crypto projects are supported and often governed by communities — so much so that there is a handful of Discord marketing agencies — the industry’s infancy being the main reason for this.
The lack of reliable information and thought experts forced people to seek information from their peers in online communities on Telegram, Discord, Reddit, Kakao, and WeChat, which became crypto hubs.
In comparison, traditional communities are situated on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other industry-relevant forums.
Trust matters more
Crypto and Blockchain are still compared to MLM schemes and scams, and recent affairs with FTX and Luna repelled the general public even more.
It isn’t enough that you state your mission and unique selling point — you need third parties to vouch for you. Having trusted projects and individuals, venture investors especially, confirm the quality of your project and offer is substantial.
Content that educates people about your product and meets them at each step of their journey goes hand in hand with that.
Chainlink does a good job of educating customers about its product and backing it all up with case studies and testimonials.
Chainlink’s blog.
Chainlink’s testimonial from the Founder of Ether Cards.
The focus is on the owned and earned media channels
- Your website.
- Your newsletter.
- Your podcast.
- Your social media channels.
Unlike other companies, you don’t have access to Google ads, Twitter ads, Instagram and Facebook ads, or Reddit ads — paid acquisition isn’t as viable for crypto as it is for other tech brands.
However, there is a growing body of crypto advertising networks worthy of exploration, such as Coinzilla, Bitmedia, and Cointraffic.
Language barrier: you need to be a crypto native to market to a crypto audience
Vocabulary and slang are barriers not only for people who want to join the crypto industry but also for marketing professionals trying to promote crypto projects.
You must choose personnel with technical knowledge and experience for a successful content marketing campaign.
It’s also important to know how to tailor messaging to different customer segments: are you trying to educate and convert people new to crypto or institutional investors who just want to hear the technical side of the project.
Understanding the crypto culture and audience
The crypto audience is diverse due to the range of people interested in blockchain technology, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t bound by a few common characteristics:
- Strong community drive: Crypto community values open-source projects and collaborative efforts. Information, support, and ideas are mostly exchanged on Reddit, Discord, and Twitter.
- Skeptics and independent thinkers: This psychographic isn’t very trusting of government, traditional institutions, and large entities — they question mainstream narratives and seek out alternative sources of information, relying on their own research and judgment.
- Tech-savvy: Majority of crypto enthusiasts are well-versed in technology and are comfortable using digital platforms, online wallets, and navigating the evolving crypto landscape.
- Privacy-conscious: They prefer solutions that minimize sharing personal information, hence why cryptocurrencies’ anonymity is highly appreciated.
- Early adopters: Many people in the crypto community are early adopters, keen to try out new technologies and solutions before they become mainstream. They have a high-risk tolerance and are excited by the prospect of innovative projects and ideas.
- Financially curious: Crypto audiences are interested in financial markets, alternative investments, and wealth creation. They are attracted to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, which offer potential financial opportunities outside of traditional systems.
Besides these characteristics, we always segment the target audience based on how invested they already are in the crypto and blockchain world:
- People who have been in the industry for a long time 🐇🕳️ – Often jaded, but have a substantial understanding of tech concepts. You will realize that these people are the ones that question mainstream, exchange information in online communities, and need to be persuaded with tech-savvy content. However, they are also more likely and easier to convert.
- People who are new to crypto – Enthusiastic, but uncertain and reluctant to dive in. The language barrier makes it difficult to grasp concepts. Remember that you don’t want to alienate people new to crypto with overly complicated content, if they are a part of your target audience. They are also more likely to look for information on search engines, rather than in the communities.
Regardless of the segment, people don’t want to feel marketed to; they want to feel like they’re being introduced to tools and software that they want to use and that solves their problems.
Understanding these nuances makes a huge difference in your crypto content marketing campaign.
For example, if you are a first mover for a certain blockchain SaaS, your content marketing campaign will be vastly different than for a new cryptocurrency company.
Matching different sectors of crypto with appropriate content marketing channels
For the majority of crypto sectors, Twitter is the most important since it has become the de facto social media platform for the crypto community.
LinkedIn is great for business development and networking rather than marketing, and Google presence is just great for all.
Here’s a breakdown of content marketing channels appropriate for each major crypto sector.
Cryptocurrency exchanges ⚡:
- Social media platforms (mainly Twitter) for announcements, promotions, networking, influencer marketing, and customer engagement.
- YouTube and podcasts for tutorials, interviews, and market analysis.
- Blogs and news websites for publishing informative and educational articles, glossaries, market updates, and thought leadership pieces.
Blockchain development platforms and tools ⛓:
- Developer communities (GitHub, Stack Overflow, and GitLab + Reddit & Discord) for sharing code, updates, and collaboration.
- Technical blogs, Knowledge Bases, and Medium for in-depth articles, tutorials, guides, glossaries, and case studies.
- Webinars and live streams to provide real-time support and demonstrations.
- Twitter and LinkedIn for networking and sharing industry news.
DeFi platforms 👨🏽🌾:
- Discord, Telegram, and Reddit for community building, support, and updates.
- Twitter for announcements, promotions, customer engagement, and collaborations.
- Blog and Medium for educational content, glossaries, project updates, thought leadership, and bottom-of-the-funnel content.
- YouTube and podcasts for tutorials, interviews, and industry insights.
NFTs and digital art platforms 🐵:
- Instagram and Pinterest for showcasing digital art and NFT collections + influencer marketing on Instagram — NFT audience significantly overlaps with the art audience.
- Twitter for announcements, collaborations, and artist promotions.
- Clubhouse, Discord, and Twitch for live discussions, AMAs (Ask Me Anything), and community events.
- Blogs and Medium for educational content and project updates.
Crypto wallets and payment solutions 🔑:
- Social media platforms (Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram) for promotions, updates, influencer marketing, and customer engagement.
- Blogs and news websites for publishing informative articles, updates, glossaries, and thought leadership pieces.
- YouTube and podcasts for interviews, reviews, and interactive content.
Crypto mining and hardware ⚒️:
- LinkedIn and Twitter for networking, product announcements, and industry news.
- YouTube and podcasts for product reviews, influencer marketing, tutorials, and interviews.
- Blogs and Medium for in-depth articles, glossaries, mining guides, and case studies.
The effectiveness and choice of these channels depend on the target audience, objectives, and resources available.
A well-rounded content marketing strategy should combine multiple channels to maximize reach, engagement, and ultimately conversion.
The most successful content marketing strategies for crypto projects (with examples)
Knowledge hubs – Guides, Reviews, Reports
Republic’s “What is Humanode?” post
As stated above, most of your content should be about educating people on what the product is.
This industry is still in its infancy, and you can’t just tell people, “Here’s Human powered blockchain,” when they don’t even know what “blockchain” is.
We’re not marketing iPhone in a world where smartphones exist, we’re marketing new products and solutions that the world hasn’t seen before.
Educating your target audience can yield and huge ROI in the long run.
Create comprehensive, easy-to-understand guides, tutorials, and explainer videos addressing the learning curve of crypto and blockchain technology.
This will help demystify complex concepts and make them more accessible to a wider audience.
Chainlink is a good example of a well-executed educational content strategy. On the aHrefs snap below, you can notice that they get plenty of traffic from only a few education pages.
Chainlinks traffic based on aHrefs report.
Blockdaemon is another good example of how high-quality blog content can increase the credibility and awareness of your project.
Instead of situating your knowledge base on the blog, you can also create it in Notion, Obsidian, or Clickup, especially if your goal is to create product tutorials and FAQs, or share processes, templates, and project progress.
Glossaries
We started working with our B2B SaaS clients at DuoQ Digital on building topical authority through glossary pages.
Only 6 months in, and most of them are ranking and getting serious traction solely from glossaries — it turns out that works wonders in the crypto space too!
Creating dozens of pages targeting keywords relevant to your industry and niche signals to Google that you are an expert or go-to place for that industry.
Internally linking those pages with other pages and blog posts further increases crawlability and relevancy.
Here’s the glossary performance of CoinMarketCap and Binance Academy:
Thought leadership
Thought leadership example: How flare network is driving the development of real-world applications through its EVM layer-1 Oracle network and smart contract platform
Sharing insights, opinions, and analysis on current trends, positions you as a reputable, trustworthy, and reliable project or company.
Publish well-researched articles, whitepapers, and opinion pieces on platforms like Medium, LinkedIn, and industry-specific blogs.
Thought leadership content differentiates you from your competition and can open doors to new partnerships and collaborations by showcasing your expertise and industry knowledge.
Case studies
Chainlink’s case study library
Case studies help you demonstrate the real-world value and impact of a crypto project.
They provide a detailed account of how a company has addressed a specific problem or challenge, offering insights into the solutions, processes, and results achieved.
This builds trust and credibility through social proof with potential customers who are seeking solutions to similar problems or challenges — and trust is invaluable among crypto audiences.
Well-executed case studies can showcase a product’s use case and direct value a customer can derive from it:
Case studies don’t have to follow a boring “Client, Situation, Problem, Solution” format — at DuoQ, we ensure that case studies are insightful, interactive, and showcase your product’s value and benefits, all while keeping readers engaged.
Community building
Binance has multilingual Telegram communities and channels.
Community building is essential for the success of any crypto project, as a strong and engaged community can drive adoption, provide feedback, and create a network effect that attracts more users.
When you distribute content within communities, remember that 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, and they help because they want to help, and you should do the same.
Don’t try to sell, self-promote, or excessively mention your company and product.
Crypto content marketing for Reddit: Chainlinks subreddit
Chainlink has fostered a strong community of supporters, known as “Link Marines,” who actively promote the project and its native token, LINK.
The Chainlink team has cultivated this community through regular updates, transparent communication, and engagement on Discord, Reddit, Twitter, Telegram, WeChat, and Kakao.
The community plays a significant role in raising awareness and driving the adoption of Chainlink’s decentralized Oracle network.
Besides being active on Discord and Reddit, which mainly focus on Western audiences, many successful crypto companies are focusing on WeChat and Kakao to accommodate Asian crypto audiences.
Even if you haven’t gone live with your project yet, we recommend you start working on your community. It can help you navigate your offer + people love being a part of something bigger and follow your growth every step of the way.
Memes
Memes generate buzz and connect you with a wider audience.
The best example of meme content marketing centers around Dogecoin, which was, in fact, originally created as a joke and skyrocketed in 2021, partly due to Elon Musk, who frequently shared Dogecoin-related memes on Twitter.
Memes are so popular among the crypto audience that they inspired the rise of meme coins, such as Shiba Inu, SafeMoon, Kishu Inu, and Baby Doge Coin.
Just remember that you need a healthy balance between humor and professionalism so your project is not perceived as lacking credibility or seriousness. That’s why we always use memes alongside other content marketing strategies.
Airdrops
Even though it isn’t entirely a content marketing strategy, an airdrop is a popular and effective strategy used to distribute tokens or coins to a large number of people, usually for free with minimal effort.
Airdrops are used to raise awareness, create a community, and incentivize user engagement.
In 2017, OmiseGO conducted an airdrop where they distributed 5% of the total OMG token supply to Ethereum holders. This airdrop helped raise awareness for the OmiseGO project and increased the visibility of the OMG token within the Ethereum community.
Uniswap is another good example. In 2020, they conducted a retrospective airdrop of UNI governance tokens, distributing 400 UNI tokens to each wallet address that had interacted with the Uniswap decentralized exchange prior to a specific date. This airdrop rewarded early adopters and helped establish the UNI token as a key player in the DeFi space.
PR & news announcements
News announcements can help build credibility, increase visibility, and create awareness around a project when executed the right way.
Aside from sending your own announcements, you should partner up with reputable people in the industry and get them to create a content piece about your service or a token.
Having other trusted, known projects, enterprises, or influencers share good information about you is more important than you doing it yourself.
The goal is to piece perception from a bunch of different third parties and make sure they’re confirming the quality of what you’re doing.
Venture investors also play a big role in validating the quality of projects.
Just starting out?
Metaverse Group features rare Golden Fur and Bluebeam Apes
Here’s what we’d do if we were bootstrapping our crypto project right now:
- Setting our messaging straight – If people can’t understand what we’re doing, everything else is a money-waster. The website and copy should be easy to understand even for the crypto newbies.
- Open Twitter account ASAP – Start community building right away. It’s free, and it’s where the audience is. Building your project in public is amazing because people love to see the progress, how you deal with roadblocks, and overall be a part of the journey.
- Check what other brands are doing – Just because the competition does it doesn’t mean that’s the right thing to do, but it’s worth analyzing.
- Create a deep knowledge hub – We want to meet potential customers at every step of the journey.
If you are uncertain about starting points, you can’t go wrong with these 4.
The rest will depend on your project and the ROI of these first few marketing initiatives.
If you want someone to handle content marketing for your crypto brand, feel free to reach out 🙂
You can schedule free consultations with us here.
FAQs
What is crypto marketing?
Crypto marketing is a specialized branch of digital marketing that focuses on promoting cryptocurrency projects, blockchain technologies, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and other related products or services.
What is the best way to market crypto?
There is no best way or one solution that fits all. However, having an active Twitter profile, great website with amazing design and copy, and a comprehensive content marketing strategy is a must for numerous projects. If you want to know what would work best for you, schedule free consultations with us.
What is crypto content marketing?
Crypto content marketing is a strategic approach to creating, distributing, and promoting valuable, relevant, and engaging content related to cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.
