Creating a new, revolutionary DeFi system is one thing, but making it go viral is another. You may have the best programmers and system engineers in your team, but it won’t matter a single dime if you can’t share your technology with the rest of the world. This is where promotion tactics come in to market your DeFi project in the crypto world.
Web3 is overflowing with DeFi projects and crypto-related schemes that can suppress your shouts instantly. Many systems become obsolete due to improper marketing. To overcome these challenges and position your DeFi system as a market leader by 2025, we will present specialized strategies that you can employ for both organic and paid growth.
Challenges of Promoting a DeFi Project
Promoting a DeFi project is one of the most challenging tasks, akin to promoting jet skis in a town without a body of water. Numerous real-world hurdles make it difficult to promote your DeFi project. These include
- Ad Restrictions: TV channels and major social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google, outright ban ads that promote crypto or a DeFi project due to concerns about scamming and regulation. Without paid ads, it becomes extremely difficult to promote your DeFi project organically.
- Compliance Issues: Many countries still don’t recognize crypto or DeFi projects, making it impossible to promote your DeFi project in that region.
- Scam Reputation: The crypto and DeFi sectors have garnered a bad reputation over the years due to rug pulls, fake tokens, and pump-and-dump schemes. The well has been poisoned, and now even the honest teams are considered bad or dealt with skepticism.
- Trust Building: Due to its decentralized nature, a DeFi system doesn’t offer any help in case something goes wrong. This doesn’t create trust among users, unlike traditional financial authorities, where your assets are safe.
- Community Fragmentation: Each DeFi system’s community is fragmented across various social media platforms, including Twitter, Discord, and Facebook. They are not welcoming to new members and make it difficult for newcomers to trust your system.
DeFi Promotion Tactics That Work
Promoting your DeFi system is not about creating noise in an already polluted world. It is all about creating distinction with trust, reliability, and community building. You can utilize reputable influencers who can help your platform stand out with their endorsements. Hiring a reputable PR agency can also yield significant benefits. Below is a list of tactics you can use to successfully introduce your DeFi project to the mass public in no time.
1. Collaborations with Influencers and KOL
Trusted influencers can make your DeFi an overnight success with their promotions and endorsements. These influencers have a large following that trusts their voice and opinions.
Twitter is the real hub of everything crypto. It is the place where all new crypto news breaks, and even a crypto layman visits it to get their daily crypto news. Partner with thought leaders and KOLs who share their opinion pieces and engage in debates regarding the DeFi system with their communities.
Microinfluencers with a fan base of around 50k followers also have a strong-knit community that follows a particular niche. You can also target creators and teachers in your niche on YouTube and ask them to promote your DeFi project.
Substac is the place where all the crypto brain gathers. With their insightful research, these creators are massively respected in the crypto community, and a single shout by them can mean a lot for your project.
2. Paid Promotions on Specialized Crypto Ad Networks
Facebook and Google are not crypto-friendly and have strict rules regarding crypto-related ads. They have policies that prevent the promotion of ads on these networks due to previous scams and rug pulls.
However, there are various other platforms, such as Coinzilla, CoinTraffic, AdEx Network, and Bitmedia, that you can use to promote your DeFi networks. These networks serve as a hub for crypto-related activity, attracting crypto users in large numbers.
3. Targeted PR Campaigns
In the cryptocurrency world, perception is everything, and a well-targeted PR campaign can significantly alter the perception of your DeFi system within the crypto community.
A campaign run by a reputable PR agency can enhance your legitimacy, increase investors’ confidence, and establish a controlled narrative that can make your DeFi system an instant success. This can be achieved by releasing smart press releases, presenting thought leadership, reaching out to relevant media outlets, and making connections with major cryptocurrency events.
4. Incentives for the Target Audience
Incentives in the cryptoworld can be used as strategic tools to entice users and boost your popularity in one go. These incentives include airdrops (rewarding early adopters), referral bonuses (turning users into marketers), and gamified rewards (encouraging users to return for more).
When used properly, these tools not only increase your community engagement but also serve to promote your DeFi system across various communities, making you a powerful presence in the crypto field.
5. Cross Promotions
Cross-promotions with complementary projects can work wonders by boosting your visibility and allowing you to tap into new markets.
With cross-promotions, you get access to shared communities and a boost to your credibility if your partnership is with a reputable system. These kinds of promotions are also cheaper than hiring influencers, as all you have to do in return is promote the other DeFi systems with your community.
6. SEO for Organic Visibility
SEO is the most powerful tool in the digital world to gain organic traffic and visibility. With good SEO, you can build your brand slowly but effectively.
With SEO, you can drive high-quality traffic and ensure your DeFi system appears when it matters most. The traffic gained through SEO is evergreen, and the users acquired are usually those actively looking for you.
When combined with fast-paced influencer promotion, SEO can be an effective tool to drive growth and sustain your system for an extended period.
7. Affiliate & Ambassador Programs
Affiliates are individuals or systems that promote your DeFi system in exchange for some commission. These promoters infiltrate niche communities, bringing you global exposure. The best part? You only pay them upon performing.
Ambassadors not only represent your system, but they are the heart of the community due to their experience with early adoption. New and potential users listen to ambassadors due to their high value, and they can help expand your DeFi system beyond imagination with their promotions.
8. Sponsorships for Conferences & Events
You can also become a sponsor for crypto-related conferences and events, with reputable speakers and industry leaders. This is an extremely costly method, yet it can yield results that surpass those of any other method.
As a sponsor, you can display your banners, distribute pamphlets, or even ask distinguished speakers to mention your DeFi system to the attendees. You can also allow users to check your dApps or distribute your merchandise free of charge. These things can drive your community growth overnight if done at the right time.
Reasons to Hire a Professional Crypto Marketing Agency to Promote Your DeFi Project
While you can drive growth for your DeFi system through organic methods like SEO and paid advertisements like influencers, hiring a professional crypto marketing agency is the best way to achieve your goal. These companies have qualified people with years of research who can run PR campaigns tailored to your system. You should select such an agency because of the following reasons.
- Industry Expertise & Market Insight: Professional crypto marketing agencies have been closely working with the market for years and have valuable insight into how the industry operates. They also know when and where to promote your system and how to do so with massive success. These kinds of results can only be achieved with years of experience and knowledge.
- Targeted Audience Reach: Every DeFi system aims to capture a specific community, and the same will be true for you. To find these communities and target them with specific ads or rewards is what crypto marketing agencies excel at. They already have respected insiders to do their work, which would take you months to accomplish through other sources.
- Strategic Branding & Messaging: Marketing agencies excel at crafting narratives and visuals that represent their clients. They turn your DeFi system into a brand that compels the community to take an interest in.
- Multi-Channel Campaign Execution: Crypto marketing agencies employ various tools across various platforms to amplify your reach. These include approaching influencers for shout-outs, utilizing SEO to drive organic traffic, running paid ads, leveraging PR, and engaging communities in a meaningful way.
- Influencers & KOLs: Crypto marketing agencies maintain close relationships with major influencers and key opinion leaders. They can approach them easily, as compared to when you try to do it yourself.
- Technical Content Creation: DeFi and crypto are complex, making it a challenging task to bring newcomers into your system. Crypto marketing agencies can craft more engaging stories through educational content and explainer videos that help even a layperson understand what they are offering.
- Community Building: A professional crypto marketing agency can help your community grow by moderating your social media accounts and Reddit threads. They have specialized personnel who can answer queries and assist users through these programs, which increases brand loyalty.
- Analytics & Performance Tracking: Marketing agencies utilize specialized tools to collect user data and measure engagement. This data can be used to refine tactics and allows you to acquire and retain further users effectively.
- Resource & Time Efficiency: Marketing is a challenging endeavor if you are not trained in it. Juggling your work with in-house marketing can turn catastrophic. The better approach? Let the professionals do their work. It will save you both time and money in the long run.
Techtonic Marketing’s Playbook to Promote DeFi Projects and Startups
Techtonic Marketing is a crypto and web3 marketing agency that has been helping crypto businesses grow since 2017. With years of experience in specialized marketing and PR campaigns for startups and established businesses, Techtonic Marketing utilizes all the best tools at its disposal to deliver exceptional results.
DeFi projects are nothing without communities, and this is where we come in with a promise of authentic follower growth that converts to users. We also provide strategies that foster genuine engagement and help you secure PRs in major crypto publications for increased visibility.
We also provide high-converting lead magnets, as well as email list building and strategic content funnels that guide prospects from awareness to conversion. We focus on creating the evergreen authority and presence that enables you to ride trends effectively, positioning you to capitalize on opportunities while maintaining relevance, regardless of market cycles.
If you are looking to grow your DeFi project, book a strategy call with Techtonic Marketing to get a free marketing plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What’s the most cost-effective DeFi promotion tactic for early-stage startups?
The most cost-effective DeFi promotion strategy for a new startup is to combine organic content marketing with SEO. These are cheaper options and can help you grow with evergreen users through Google searches.
Q: How do regulations affect DeFi promotion campaigns?
Regulations have a massive impact on DeFi promotion campaigns. Some countries have outright outlawed crypto and DeFi, making it impossible to run campaigns there. Some countries require strict rules like KYC/AML for user onboarding, making it difficult for major systems to advertise themselves.
Q: Can a DeFi project go viral without paid ads?
Absolutely. You can use other methods like referral incentives, social missions, points systems, community contests, and tokenized network effects to make your DeFi system go viral.
