In 2017, the world of online users was captivated by buzzwords like cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and ICO. These concepts became an integral part of daily life for many individuals. Now, let’s explore these notions from a marketing perspective and delve into how startups can effectively promote their ICOs using the power of email marketing.
Growth of ICO for business development
In 2013, Mastercoin pioneered the concept of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) by launching the first-ever ICO or Token Sale. This groundbreaking project introduced a protocol layer on the Bitcoin blockchain, enabling developers to create their own cryptocurrencies. With this innovative crowdfunding approach, Mastercoin successfully raised five million dollars.
The remarkable success of Mastercoin served as an inspiration for numerous young companies, leading to the widespread adoption of ICOs as a means of raising startup capital. In the past year alone, ICO projects across various industries have collectively raised an impressive 3.9 billion dollars.
Initiated with ICO Marketing
Startups often turn to ICOs as a means of raising initial capital, especially when they have limited budgets for advertising. To optimize their marketing and promotional efforts, these startups often develop and launch bounty campaigns.
In these campaigns, participants voluntarily promote the project and receive token rewards after the ICO concludes. Some participants engage in crossposting content across various social media platforms and contribute posts on forums. Others contribute by writing articles on platforms like Medium or creating video reviews on YouTube.
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Simultaneously, startups themselves promote their products by sharing content created by copywriters, designers, and marketers on popular platforms frequented by crypto enthusiasts.
Promotional Platforms used for ICOs
Telegram
ICO projects leverage messaging platforms to create news channels and chat groups. These channels serve as a quick and efficient way to update potential investors, drive traffic to the landing page, and gather feedback from the community.
Bitcointalk
This forum is a dedicated platform for blockchain enthusiasts, including miners, traders, and investors who are well-versed in crypto-related topics. ICO projects utilize this platform to create their own threads and then enlist the assistance of bounty participants to localize these threads into other languages. This helps to expand their reach and engage with a wider audience.
This social network serves as a platform for sharing news and information. It is organized into various categories known as subreddits. Companies involved in ICOs create dedicated subreddits to share links to reviews, updated documents, and other valuable information related to their projects. This allows them to effectively communicate with the community and provide relevant updates.
Quora
It is a platform where people exchange their knowledge by asking and answering questions. The ICO representatives often participate in discussions on specific threads. They describe the technology they developed and provide a link to their website.
Restrictions on crypto-related content digitally
ICO is a popular way of raising initial capital, but it also attracts many fraudsters who deceive investors. To prevent possible scams, countries such as the USA, Canada, Singapore, and Japan have legal regulations for initial coin offerings.
Social media platforms are also taking action against scammers. To protect their users, they are restricting all crypto-related ads.
Facebook and Instagram do not allow users to post ads about binary options, cryptocurrencies, and ICOs. Starting in June 2018, Google will block similar ads on all its platforms, including YouTube. Twitter will also prohibit ads promoting ICOs, cryptocurrency wallets, and exchanges while Medium has set some rules for any post related to these topics.
Given the situation, marketers are looking for a better alternative to social platforms for ICO promotion. And email marketing can be the one.
Email marketing is known as the best backup for ICO projects
Email is the second most effective marketing channel after a website, with 3.8 billion users in 2018.
For an ICO startup, email marketing is a reliable channel to communicate with potential investors. You can use it to introduce your product, motivate them to take action and earn their trust.
But not all email service providers (ESP) are crypto-friendly. For example, MailChimp now prohibits all emails that promote, sell, trade, store, or market ICOs and cryptocurrencies. So, when choosing an ESP, pay attention to Use Policies, which specify what content is allowed.
Five Unique Tips for Improving ICO Email Marketing
Gather email addresses of potential investors
To collect the emails of potential ICO participants and build a long-term relationship with them, put a subscription form on your landing page. Explain the benefits of receiving emails from you and set their expectations.
Categorize your subscriber list
To build your mailing list based on the language a potential investor speaks, you have two options. You can either let the users select their preferred language in the subscription form, or you can make your website multilingual and put a language-specific signup form on the relevant pages.
After you get the required information, you can split your mailing list into segments based on the language. This way, you can send emails written in the language your community understands.
Present your product to newcomers
One of the challenges of launching a new ICO project is to explain your vision and technology to potential investors, especially when they only see your landing page. A good way to communicate with them is to set up an automated email campaign after they sign up. This will allow you to connect with them and share more details about your product.
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SAG IPL does this by sending a welcome email that contains a brief introduction to their product and a link to the most important document of their project, the whitepaper.
Update about the changes and progress
Your ICO project may undergo some changes along the way. You may update your whitepaper, improve your technology, modify your token distribution scheme, or even change your ICO date. These are important news for your investors that may not reach them through chats and social media feeds, but they will through email. Use this opportunity and keep your subscribers updated about what is happening via email as well.
Keep in touch with your community after the ICO
Don’t stop communicating with your community after the ICO is over. The investors believed in your product and invested their money in its development, so keep them updated about everything that is going on with the project after the ICO as well.
Share with your subscribers the news about your token being listed on the exchanges and the milestones being reached on your roadmap. You may send weekly reports so that your investors can see your progress. Let them know about the events you are planning to attend.
Conclusion
Here are some steps you can take to promote your ICO with email marketing:
- Find an email service provider that supports crypto projects.
- Add a subscription form to your project landing page.
- Divide your mailing list into groups based on the users’ language.
- Design a branded template and set up a welcome email series.
- Send different email campaigns during and after the ICO project.
If you are looking for a reliable ICO marketing company, you should consider SAG IPL for your ICO promotion through email marketing. It has a team of highly skilled professionals who have experience and expertise in the latest trends. SAG IPL guarantees to deliver the assigned task on time and at an affordable price.
