Best ROI for Marketing Talent … Initial Coin Offerings

ICOs clear attribution of marketing to results Although the lifespan of the typical ICO is 34 months a recent conference presentation laid out how to cut this to 40 days The compressed timeline elevates marketingamp8217s impactamp160Key performance indicator amount raised with big upside for good execution The range of outcomes for an ICO is much greater than for an initial public offering with fewer than 100 that have raised significant funding and hundreds more falling short The typical ICO has a amp8220hard capamp8221 a maximum to be raised that is a stretch target Investors will assess the likelihood that the ICO will reach this hard cap a few like Braveamp8217s Basic Attention Token offering do so as that affects the tokenamp8217s postICO price performance The ICO also usually has a minimum target a amp8220soft capamp8221 below which the offering will be pulled Large gaps between the hard and soft caps are not uncommon eg 5m soft30m hard Rules of thumb may gauge progress to these caps eg 1m in ICO proceeds for every 200 Slack signupsamp160The product earlier than typical earlystage startup Fundamentally blockchain protocols can be tokenized and thus funded directly whereas Internet protocols have not been tokenized The bromide that investors fund teams not ideas has made it to the blockchain with particular weight going to relevant experience with blockchain protocols which are complex and dynamic Nevertheless the inventor of ICOs has said amp8220What everyone got really excited about was hey I can publish a paper and people will send me moneyamp8221 An ICO white paper should be clear on the proposed service the status of the protocoldistributed app and relevant timelines Use of proceeds is a key topic although veteran entrepreneurs have been surprised by the wide latitude investors give hereamp160Marketing strategy build community and tap influencers First like crowd funding campaigns ICOs look to recruit supporters of the proposed service Tokens often carry a say in governance although big holders will drive the consensus ICOs require more focus on community building than most financial offerings reflecting their niche appeal and the futurist fervor they look to tap There are fewer than 20m active unique cryptocurrency wallets necessary to hold tokens and no ICO has yet unlocked mass market demand beyond the existing crypto community with successful ICOs often selling to 20004000 investors Thus ICOs are wise to target amp8220cryptowhalesamp8221 the big winners in the crypto boom now looking to diversify eg the 10000 millionaires created by Bitcoin perhaps Second the blockchain community has its authorities like influential programmers wellknown cryptoinvestors and execs with relevant domain expertise ICO rating services are cropping up One tactic is to encourage influencers to share with their followers relevant information about the ICO A wellchosen set of advisors can help reach a diversified set of investor segments including across a range of countries As accredited and institutional investors increasingly invest in ICOs they will likely assess how well the offering is building both grass roots support and positive buzz among the crypto cognoscentiamp160The buyers global techsavvy a mix of evangelists and speculators ICOs are globalamp8212even multilingualamp8212events often requiring multicontinent road shows eg to pitch investors in Switzerlandamp8217s amp8220Crypto Valleyamp8221 Winning investment from cryptopurists requires convincing them that the proposed venture requires execution with blockchain technology although some lucky ICOs have succeeded despite a selfconfessed lack of connection to the blockchain a bubble benefit perhapsamp160The ground rules laws moving under marketersamp8217 feet ICO marketers should stay on top of legal guidelines On the one hand the ICOamp8217s principals may see few limits on how to raise funds from a sale of cryptographic tokens not amp8220securitiesamp8221 On the other hand the ICO fundraising boom over 2bn this year so far is increasing regulatory scrutiny and the default for financial products generally is morethanaverage regulation on the grounds of consumerinvestor protectionamp160 ICOs were hot in South Korea this past week its regulators announced their banHitting the window As the ICO crescendo builds an offeringamp8217s sense of urgency becomes more important ICO site countdown clocks are commonplace Many blockchain investors look to catch in the words of one recent ICO conference speaker the amp8220wave of a lifetimeamp8221 However be wary of shortcuts in attempts to portray a particular ICO as seaworthy such as claims about team sizesqualifications or influencer endorsements that are difficult to verifyamp160Marketing the different use cases amp160Blockchain protocols have three main use cases 1 for storing value and transacting eg bitcoin 2 cryptoassets representing and transacting in other assets whether physical or digital and 3 amp8220smart contractsamp8221 executing business transactionsamp160 Within the last accounting for most ICOs this year distinguishing between B2B and B2C use cases is particularly important given the impact of tokens on incentives eg many media ICOs pitch utility tokens to incentivize consumer engagement Although most ICOs propose disruption a key positive differentiator could be explaining how they will integrate with some of the existing market participants at least as a Trojan horse amp160Selling utility tokens to crypto investors amp8230 the road to Web 30 amp160The many ICOs this year of utility tokensamp8212integral to blockchain smart contracts for newly proposed servicesamp8212look to convince investors who made their money in cryptocurrencies that these utility tokens can attract the demand necessary to appreciate over time Judging by the ICO pipeline many crypto investors are open to persuasion across a range of verticals including finance energy supply chain Internet of Things and mediaamp160 Thus pitching an ICO as the blockchainUber or blockchainFacebook is one route to investors in Web 30 despite practical challenges of blockchain decentralization in executing such analoguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Best ROI for Marketing Talent … Initial Coin Offerings

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

James Dix

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Best ROI for Marketing Talent … Initial Coin Offerings

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

James Dix

Cookies