Commentary

Making The Most of NFT Marketing

Brands are beginning to explore the potential of NFT marketing. In the quickly changing landscape of new digital media, this is your chance to stand out and get on the ground floor of The Next New Thing.

NFTs are often associated with digital files such as videos, photos, or art, and each is uniquely identifiable. In 2021, trading in NFTs hit $17.6 billion – which, according to CNBC, is a 21,000% year-over-year jump.

Whether you’re selling them as investments or connecting NFT acquirers to an exclusive experience outside of web 3.0, your goals with NFTs will fundamentally influence your marketing strategies.

Breaking the Traditional Buying Cycle

NFT marketing requires a different approach than traditional D2C or retail marketing. While traditional media is all about availability and service, NFTs rely on rarity and “FOMO marketing” -- convincing consumers not to miss out. Since the market is still fairly small, creating demand to bring people into both NFTs and your brand is key.

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Because NFT campaigns are usually so short, consumers progress rapidly from awareness to conversion. The current audience composition of NFT enthusiasts – plugged-in, with disposable income -- is perfectly suited to an abbreviated sales funnel.

Know Where to Find ’em

Good NFT marketing, like all marketing, means getting in front of consumers in the spaces they’re in, with the content they want to see – but the consumers and the spaces are changing at the speed of light.

While NFT communities tend to be small and niche, they exist on virtually every platform. Anyone interested in crypto or NFTs will also be on Twitter and Reddit, and interests often intersect. For instance, art communities will usually have a subset of people interested in digital art or photography NFTs.

That said, the market is so immature and dynamic that today’s Reddit audience might be cruising TikTok tomorrow, and big events (think Crypto.com’s Super Bowl ad) can sway buying behavior. Advanced marketers should run frequent audience analyses and be ready to shift budget accordingly.

Other NFT Marketing Recommendations

So how do you use digital collectibles in a marketing strategy?

NFT marketing is still in its infancy and changing constantly. Brands are still using NFTs sparingly while considering future potential, with varying results. That said, we’ve identified three must-dos for NFT marketing:

1. Know your brand’s core audience, whether you’re a corporation or a small business. This will depend on the purpose of the NFT, whether it’s to be a collectible to diversify portfolios, or to entice people to use their NFT to access an exclusive real-life experience.

2. If you’re going to make an NFT, make sure it’s unique or very limited in quantity.

3. Blitz the announcement of your NFT everywhere, using PR, organic content, paid ads, etc. Hype the product for a certain number of days or on a specific platform, while emphasizing scarcity to give a sense of pride in ownership. The ultimate goals are to attract new customers and increase brand loyalty with existing customers.

There are also things to avoid in NFT marketing.

One of the biggest mistakes brands can make is not testing NFTs at all. Brands that don’t are missing out on the opportunity to get involved now and get early-adoption competitive advantages, particularly with Gen Z.

That said, start slowly and don’t compromise your branding in the rush to experiment. Do your homework, hire experts and professionals, and work with your agency to instill best practices. Just because this is a relatively new field doesn’t mean there aren’t people with the skills and knowledge to help you succeed, using brand-safe strategies.

NFTs for me?

Getting into the NFT space is much easier than it may seem at first; you’ll just need a skilled developer. If your brand has a working website, you should be doing NFT marketing within the next six to 18 months. But don’t just do it to check it off a list. Start preparing for the new reality of tech and make sure your brand is positioned to take advantage of this emerging market.

1 comment about "Making The Most of NFT Marketing".
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  1. John MacLane from Private, May 17, 2022 at 3:42 p.m.

    Interesting how the article fails to mention how the NFT market is crashing alongside cryptocurrency in general, in addition to the widespread fraud prevalent in the industry and the backlash that has been coming from Gen Z and Millenials.

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