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How to promote NFTs with proven NFT marketing strategies?

26.January.2022

The NFT marketing space is gradually getting more competitive. Hundreds of NFT collections are launching every week; while audiences are getting more and more educated and selective at the same time. In addition, more experienced audiences who are doing comprehensive research across various channels will easily sniff a cash grab project.

Observing the current landscape of the non-fungible token (NFT) community, various groups scatter across different social media channels. The NFT enthusiasts & crypto savvy audiences are mainly active on Twitter, Discord & YouTube, while non-English audiences, especially in China, are on Telegram. For instance, the recent record-breaking NFT collection ‘Phanta Bear’ pump was initiated on Telegram.

What are the successful marketing strategies to promote an NFT collection?

Similar to real-world art, the value of an NFT is very much in the eye of the beholder. Yet more to the aesthetic aspect, among all the successful & popular NFT collections, a common trinity is observed: long-term roadmap & utility, community strength & influencers/celebrity involvement. Applying the same NFT launch strategy as other previous NFT projects is probably the strategy to avoid. We do recommend having a look at the trendiest project to get inspired by their successful tactics, while not replication a launch strategy already implemented in the past: https://nftgo.io/

For example:

A Chinese crypto KOL Launched a DAO to Build Web3 Social Media

It is worth learning from creators & top NFTs collections who are leading the way into the metaverse through out-of-the-box approaches compared to traditional brands. Inspired by various sold-out NFT projects ranging from the most prestigious ones, the native early comers, and the latest trending collections, here are some key learnings on NFT marketing.

Influencers 

The best way to engage with NFT influencers is to consider & involve them instead of only offering compensation. NFT influencers are often NFT early adopters, and most of them are not aiming for money. NFT projects that get featured by NFT influencers are the ones that involve NFT influencers from the very early stage. They share the NFT roadmap with the influencers and ask for advice and recommendations at a very early stage. 

Before anything else, NFT is a community of passionate people. NFT entrepreneurs should adopt these codes to develop an authentic relationship with their partners. We recommend looking at this website to identify NFT KOC through the “activity from featured collectors”: https://context.app/feed/collectors

NFT influencers are primarily active on YouTube & Twitter. It is important to note when selecting the right influencers: most of them focus on one blockchain; for instance, promoting a Solona-based project through an Ethereum-niche influencer will unlikely succeed. 

Here is a list of the Top 10 NFT influencers on Twitter & YouTube for 2021 across the world by different segments, including mega-influencers, macro-influencers & micro-influencers.

A relevant strategy to consider would be to activate different types of influencers at different project stages. For instance, develop interest through NFT influencers at the early stage of the project, and drive more sales working with celebrities at the first drop.

Celebrity Effect

Among NFT collectors and enthusiasts, we see a lot of singers, actors, and other celebrities. The community-driven aspect of NFTs makes them a natural fit for celebrities. Tech moguls, online influencers, athletes, movie stars, and artists already have a fanbase, followers, and a certain level of influence to kickstart a community overnight. Yet a random celebrity does not establish a significant influence simply after buying one NFT collection and displaying it on their profile picture, without integrating it into the NFT world. 

To be genuinely influential among the NFT community, the celebrity would usually have active involvement in the NFT world long enough to drive mainstream NFT adoption. The celebrity could also establish authority as an NFT collector who has been buying good projects. A few of the most influential celebrities include Steve Aoki, Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Fallon, Jay-Z, Kygo, and the list goes on.

Community & Exclusivity

NFT is a new decentralized way to do CRM, and Discord is a fantastic tool to push specific communication in a structured way where users access information per category. It reminds RSS feed aggregator where users access the appropriate information whenever they need and want it. It makes the overall flow more user-friendly and more decentralized than traditional communication push on Social or even Email marketing. While conventional CRM usually rewards clients who are high-value purchasers, NFT usually rewards early trust. Once again, NFT marketing is about trustable community building.

One of the most appealing values behind a successful NFT collection is its community. Owning certain NFTs is like a community pass or a membership that grants holders exclusive access to an online social club or premium perks such as limited edition drops, etc. These projects benefit from network effects, which necessitate a broad appeal and widespread awareness.


Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is one most successful and prestigious collections in NFT history. It has acquired a cultural weight and status symbol and is becoming an off-chain brand with merch (a brand outside of the blockchain). There are exclusive events Bored ape owners such as yacht parties and concerts featuring star appearances in New York and meet-ups in Hong Kong and the UK.

Phanta Bear, backed by Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou, provides owners access to premium perks such as ticket access to virtual concerts and other exclusive access to premium venues.

Thanks to their unique nature, NFTs offer immense CRM potential for brands to reinvent themselves and offer new kinds of rewards and experiences to their customers. Ultimately, it cultivates a close and exclusive relationship that promotes loyalty. Yet before hopping on the NFT bandwagon, brands should not neglect to build solid digital foundations such as social media and data. 

Utility

More than just an artwork, people go for NFTs with underlying utility or application that brings long-term value, perks, access, rights, and opportunities. For example, access to play-to-earn games, the option to stake an NFT in exchange for an associated cryptocurrency, and much more. The more solid the utility is, the more propelling the collection will be and have greater longevity.

Neo Tokyo Citizens: Owners will have private access to new projects, advice from well-known influencers, each NFT is earning a set of tokens every day (depending on the rarity)

Giveaways

Hosting an NFT Giveaway as part of an upcoming collection is highly common yet an essential pre-sale marketing effort on socials. Holding giveaways in this manner of “follow-tag-share/retweet” or fan art contest creates additional excitement around the NFT collection, drives more engagement among your following and awareness among other new audiences.

Giveaways can, of course, extend to physical goods or any other form. Have you heard of the Bad Grandma riding dirty in a lime green Lamborghini?

(A Bad Grandma NFT owner from the Philippines won the Lamborghini after the NFT collection was sold out.)

Interesting fact: NFTs are gaining relatively high traction in the Philippines among Asian countries. It is because Filipinos initially entered the NFT world through play-to-earn NFT games, which allow players to earn income and earn more than the median salary by only playing a few hours a day.

Brand Partnership

Brand collaboration or partnership helps build hype and accelerate the success of an NFT collection. Big brand-backed NFT signifies adequate resources and foundational strength, including budget and expertise to build a passionate community. Consumers are conquered by the prospect of owning digital assets with a symbolic, one-of-a-kind, commercial value with advantages such as exclusive drops in the future.

CloneX NFT prices spike after Nike acquired RTFKT Studios, the digital sneakers company behind this NFT collection.

Adidas partnered with BAYC to launch their NFT collection, which has linkage to physical goods.

Shine your talents

Showcasing the team behind an NFT collection greatly enhances its legitimacy. It can be the developer, the marketing team, the artist, etc. It does not mean you have to be someone famous or well-known like Beeple in the team to be successful. What matters more is to have a public portfolio, which is better than staying anonymous. It gives confidence to NFT collectors, especially those who will conduct their background research. 

Ride the latest meta trend

Trend jacking exists in the NFT world and the hypes are intriguing to follow. 6 months ago, it was generative art, i.e. @artblocks; 3 months ago, it was about cute cartoon/animals, for example, @CoolmanUniverse. Currently, the hypes are around virtual land in the metaverse, women-focused projects & 3D arts.

Metroverse (sold out upon launch) – a land trading NFT strategy game on Ethereum

In conclusion, a solid pre-sale marketing strategy to build the hype around the NFT collection is necessary for success. There is no one standard successful recipe to the current ever-evolving NFT context – an explosion of creativity and imagination. What is working now does not guarantee the same result one month later. Though one thing is certain: there are limitless opportunities for pushing the boundaries in terms of innovation, and the NFT community loves it when you give them something mind-blowing, something they’ve never seen before.

The following article will deep dive into the metaverse and discuss this new wave of advertising potential. Stay tuned!

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