START WITH A QUALITY WEBSITE
There is no point in publishing content, sponsored posts, or advertising on social media until you have a website that will act as the hub of all you do online. No, your cryptocurrency won’t be available for sale , but your website will act as your pre-sales tool, signup list, and main source of information. Your website will be the face of your new campaign and must brand you as a newcomer who can be trusted. With the current cryptocurrency boom, this is more important now than ever. If you aren’t yet live, consider adding a clock to count down for each presale phase and final ICO, at least during the last week or so. Depending on how your cryptocurrency is set up, your website might not be your sales site. For example, Bitclave’s website acts as a more informative site that is less numbers and stats,and more of a traditional web browsing experience. They have a menu option to login to your wallet, which takes you to a site that is more about the numbers. Whether one or two sites, you must have more than your average security built-in.
CREATE A WHITE PAPER
While your development team is busy working on your website, it is time for you and your founding partners to sit down and write a formal white paper. White papers can be written in a variety of formats, but in this case the goal is to present your business plan to your target audience. This needs to be detailed and substantial, and present everything from what makes your cryptocurrency unique to, corporate structure, legalities, and absolutely anything you would present to a traditional investor. Since the public is your investor, you must treat them with the same respect , and provide the same high-level information. Your full white paper can be added as a menu option on your website for pre-ICO, and you can market condensed versions and press releases pre and post ICO that link back to your main site for those who want to learn more. Send out these condensed white papers and press releases when you are ready to begin fundraising, as each phase of your fundraising is complete, and pre- and post-ICO.MAPPING OUT PRE-ICO FUNDRAISING
Just like any other startup, you will need to fund your digital currency in phases. The exciting thing about your fundraising is that you can set a minimum amount that can easily fit into the everyday investor’s budget. In most cases, you will entice your initial investors with rock-bottom prices that are anywhere from 2 to 5 times your selling price. This can vary depending on which stage of your fundraising. This fundraising must be marketed heavily online, meaning that you must clearly define your target audience. As cryptocurrencies become less generic and more targeted, this step is more crucial than ever. For example, Steemit is a blogging and social media networking platform based on blockchain technology and their method of earning has a vastly different target audience than Bitcoin. Keep in mind that you will need to cap both individual investments and total investments per fundraising round. The goal is to meet the cap for each stage and have an email waitlist of those ready to invest in each round,and again during your ICO. You may even offer some sort of incentive to those on your waitlist who signed up pre-ICO, but due to your rapid pre-ICO sellout could not invest until your ICO.ONLINE INCENTIVES
Don’t underestimate the value of your early adopters and their ability to help you spread the word online. Look for ways to incentivize your early adopters with referral links and free coins for providing online reviews. Actively identify a few brand ambassadors who you can offer coins to for promoting your brand on their website, blog, or social media. Your incentive doesn’t have to be much to entice a review, article, or social media post.SELECTING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING CHANNELS
Now that you have defined your target audience, you must determine which social media platforms will be the most effective in generating buzz. If you are unfamiliar with social media marketing, you can place ads for a variety of goals , which are effective for both pre-ICO and ICO. For example, on Facebook ads can be purchased to create buzz, build awareness, and boost conversions (Facebook’s advertising policies are constantly changing, so make sure to check them out before the launch). In addition, ads can be targeted by a large variety of interests and demographics , including the countries you plan to target. As the founder of your new digital currency, this is something you should leave in the hands of a social media marketing expert. This should be an individual or a team who knows how to hyper-target, create ads, and design the supportive content (both written and visual) to engage your audience. Pre-ICO means building your email marketing list and attracting everyday investors. Post-ICO means keeping the momentum going by highlighting the diversity of your cryptocurrency.
