How to do NFT marketing: Ultimate guide

If you are not living under a rock, you must have heard of NFTs, unique digital assets that have brought over $260 million to popular brands. And the chances are high that all these success stories have sparked a desire to create your own non-fungible token.

The tech specs are easy to grasp, but the real question is, how do you promote such tokens? How to build your NFT marketing strategy to achieve the most prominent result? Read our NFT marketing guide and find out.

How to create an appealing NFT

A non-fungible token is a unique digital asset by its nature, which influences every step of its lifecycle, from creation to promotion. That’s why, if you decide to create an NFT, you’ll need to sweat on it a little bit until you figure out all the tiny aspects of NFT marketing and hone your approach.

But before fully immersing into NFT marketing and its specifics, let us say a few words on the general process of designing an NFT. 

Launching a successful NFT project step by step

There are multiple types of non-fungible tokens, including digital art, pieces of lang in NFT games, in-game equipment, music, VR items, and much more. Obviously, all of them have different utilities. But what they do have in common is the technical part of their generation and sale.

Here’s a common step-by-step process of creating and selling an NFT:

1. Conducting NFT market analysis.
2. Creating the concept of your future NFT or NFT collection.
3. Developing an NFT marketing strategy.
4. Creating your NFT and uploading it to the preferred NFT marketplace.
5. Engaging with the community and promoting your NFT with the help of other marketing tools.
6. Selling the NFT to the collector who made the highest bid.
7. And voila! Learn from your mistakes, rest, and repeat.

We won’t include many technicalities in this article – there are plenty of resources to learn how to create an account on a popular NFT marketplace or start an auction. However, we will dwell upon all other steps in detail, including the most popular NFT marketing tools and communication channels. So, let’s dive right into it!

Analyzing the NFT market: trends, hype collections, empty niches

The potential success of any project lies in its preparation stage. And NFTs are no different. That is why the initial step in designing an NFT and building your marketing strategy should be connected to market analysis.

A proper market analysis cannot be done in a few days. Usually, it takes at least a couple of weeks to fully understand what is going on in the NFT industry and find an empty niche that would best fit your project.

When conducting market analysis, make sure to pay close attention to the following aspects:

• General trends in the industry.
• The most recent news and events.
• Popular types of NFTs (3D art, music, animation, etc.).
• Successful collections, their concepts, utility, and marketing approach.
• Empty niches.

As a result of such in-depth analysis, you will gain a profound knowledge of the current NFT market. You will be able to generate forward-thinking ideas for your NFT concept and its promotion strategies.

How to promote your NFT?

When developing your future NFT marketing tactics, you should consider all possible promo channels: social media platforms, search engine optimization tools, NFT giveaways, influencer marketing, and much more.

Of course, promoting an NFT project is a complex and pretty hard thing to do, so you might want to hire an experienced NFT marketing agency to do all the dirty work. This way, you’ll be able to focus on creating digital artwork and earning profit.

Hiring outsourced specialists is a valid solution, especially for those teams that have already completed fundraising and have a high enough budget for working with a third party. We’ll talk about all the pros and cons of this option a bit later in the article.

Yet, if you choose to develop a marketing strategy and conduct all the campaigns on your own, the best way to start is by making thorough preparations. This requires a lot of community building and a few global strategic activities for your brand, like working on a roadmap and creating a whitepaper. 

Let’s take a closer look at what you might do at this point.

Integrating into the NFT community

Being a part of the community is key to a successful NFT marketing campaign. As an NFT owner and a person who appreciates digital art, you should take part in relevant discussions, engage in community-building activities, and become friends with other NFT artists and creators.

We recommend checking out NFT communities, groups, and chats on social media, as well as some website-specific forums for NFT and blockchain enthusiasts. But, of course, the best places to look for like-minded people are Twitter, Telegram, and Discord.

Here are a few pieces of advice on how to behave in such groups and communities:

• Don’t advertise your digital art too much – the best way to address the audience is by asking for advice and feedback on your work.
• Take part in community-building activities like polls, contests, and discussions. This will make you a real community member, easily recognized by other users and admins.
• Interact with other users’ posts by leaving comments and replies. Try to stay positive, and don’t criticize their work unless requested.
• Always adhere to the rules and guidelines specific to each website or group you choose to take part in.

As a result of such work, you will become a valuable part of the community and get a lot of insights into the NFT space that will help you create and promote your own NFT art. Moreover, you will be able to study your target audience closely and discover their desires, values, and pain points for efficient NFT marketing.

For this reason, it is always a good idea to start integrating into the community early in the project development, maybe even while doing research.

Addressing NFT utility

As mentioned before, an NFT with no utility has a much lower chance of success than one that brings particular value to the owner. That’s why it is essential to address this matter before starting an NFT marketing campaign. Moreover, since utility is one of the key aspects of the way NFTs work, it is highly recommended to figure it out before you start working on the project documentation.

Some of the most popular utility ideas for NFT assets include the following:

• In-game items, avatars, and abilities.
• Exclusive content.
• Limited product features.
• Voting rights and profit sharing.
• Ownership rights for metaverse real estate.
• Access to closed communities, groups, and websites.
• Real-life items such as art, clothes, or tickets to different events.
• Promo codes and discounts.

There are many additional cases of NFT utility among other NFT projects. Still, there is no limit to human imagination, so don’t put yourself in the box if you have something particular in mind and you decide to come up with a totally new utility case.

Creating an NFT roadmap and whitepaper

A detailed roadmap and an extensive whitepaper are crucial for any NFT project. You might see them as the heart of your work and a promise to your supporters, since such documents show dedication and guarantee your serious intentions.

An NFT roadmap outlines the key milestones you plan to achieve when building your project. It must include all the major events you have planned and the approximate completion dates.

A whitepaper, on the other hand, is a much more extensive document that requires a lot of time and thorough preparation. This is a project’s key document, describing your product’s business logic, tech specifications, economic aspect, marketing plan, roadmap, the team behind the project, and much more.

Make sure to study other projects’ documentation before starting to work on your own, in order to see examples of what works best.

Building your own community

A supportive community should be a central component of all NFT marketing strategies. That is why the first thing to do when pursuing your goal is to build a strong community of NFT enthusiasts who will support your project.

The optimal platforms for community building are social media channels like Twitter, Telegram, Discord, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. However, you can also use different forums for this purpose.

So let’s say you’ve chosen a few primary platforms for building your community and created channels or groups there. What should you do next? The answer is easy – grow your community and engage with it daily to achieve your ultimate goal and conduct successful NFT sales.

Here are a few ideas about what you can do to increase the number of followers and boost engagement:

• Post daily content focusing on bringing value to your community and having a good time together.
• Conduct AMA sessions with your team and/or other NFT projects or influencers.
• Collaborate with other bloggers and communities to conduct common activities.
• Order advertisements from popular channels related to blockchain technology and NFTs.
• Launch paid ads to grow your community.
• Organize different contests within the community and offer appealing rewards.

While developing your community and building strong connections, don’t forget to keep working on the project’s other aspects. We know that interacting with your followers is extremely rewarding, but there are still plenty of other things to do.

Choosing the right NFT marketplace

Alright, as most of the preparations are done, it’s now time to mint your NFTs. 

Just kidding! There is still one vital thing to do before making your NFT artwork public and launching all the planned campaigns. And that “big thing” involves a marketplace.

Namely, choosing the right NFT marketplace is crucial for a proper NFT promotion. This platform should allow you to showcase your work in the best light, as well as provide all the necessary tools for selling your digital assets and conducting NFT marketing strategies.

Here is a list of the most popular NFT marketplaces that offer good conditions for NFT creators:

• OpenSea – the world’s first and largest Web3 marketplace for NFTs and digital collectibles. It enables you to buy and sell non-fungible digital assets and offers a convenient mobile app to keep track of sales on the go.
• Rarible – an NFT marketplace focused on NFT creators and their profits. It charges zero fees for minting NFTs, allowing you to save a bit when starting your own NFT collections.
• SuperRare – an exclusive NFT art marketplace that enables collecting and trading digital art on the Ethereum network. The platform positions itself as a high-end art gallery, so if you want to create digital artwork in the luxury segment, you know where to go.
• Binance – being one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance added support for minting and trading NFTs in 2021. The platform is extremely user-friendly and charges low fees.
• Crypto.com – another crypto exchange that stepped into the NFT game and launched a dedicated NFT marketplace on its platform.

Of course, choosing the most suitable platform among all these NFT marketplaces might be really hard. But the good news is that you shouldn’t limit yourself to only one place. Many NFT artists choose to promote themselves on multiple NFT marketplaces or decide to develop their brand and community on social media rather than stick to marketplaces. Maybe that’ll be your case, too.

Heating it up on Discord

At the moment, Discord is one of the leading social media platforms for NFT and blockchain technology enthusiasts. And it’s no wonder since the app provides necessary anonymity, allows for participating in discussions and activities, and offers easy navigation through all the community spaces and projects. 

That’s why we highly recommend including Discord in your NFT marketing strategy and investing time into building a community there. For this reason, again, we’ve created a separate chapter of this NFT marketing guide dedicated to this social medium.

So, how do you build your NFT community on Discord, and how do you keep it engaged?

We believe that, to implement the right marketing strategy on Discord, you need a dedicated moderator or a community manager, and a few handy bots. This way, you can be sure that all the messages are answered, the new posts are distributed, and your NFT community is thriving.

Here are a few things you can do on Discord to boost the engagement rate:

• Post regular updates, news, and announcements to keep your community abreast.
• Alternate between informational and more entertaining content.
• Host various events, like AMA sessions and interviews.
• Conduct giveaways and contests.
• Recognize and reward users who bring the most value to the community, and much more.

These recommendations are pretty universal and can be applied to most social media sites to develop your NFT brand and attract prospective NFT buyers.

Developing your NFT brand

Many think the main goal of NFT marketing efforts is to sell digital collectibles at the highest possible price. However, building a strong brand is a much better idea. Let us tell you why.

A powerful brand helps you gain plenty of benefits, not only at the moment but in the long term as well. For instance, it will allow you to spend much fewer resources on upcoming NFT projects or even absolutely unrelated products you decide to launch in other industries. Besides, it will help you to build strong partnerships and interpersonal connections, gain a positive reputation, and speed up fundraising, which is an essential factor for many NFT creators.

Thus, all your digital marketing strategies and activities should be aimed at developing the overall brand, rather than on selling NFT collectibles here and now.

Implementing your NFT marketing strategy

Finally, it’s time to make your digital marketing work. By now, you should already have determined the target audience, set your mind on the best-performing platforms, and found a way to build the NFT community that will support your project and buy your NFT artworks.

Of course, there are many marketing solutions and channels that could bring you NFT success, but we’ll focus on the most popular ones. Make sure to review this list and choose only those means of promotion that fit your NFT project best. And don’t forget to add your own creative campaigns – don’t limit your imagination.

Paid ads

Paid ad campaigns are probably the most common way to promote NFT projects and sell digital assets. 

If you have a sound understanding of your target audience and a sufficient budget, setting up a paid ad won’t be an issue. You can choose to create banners or text ads and advertise your NFTs on multiple platforms, including Google, Facebook, Instagram, NFT marketplaces, and other blockchain-related websites.

Considering that most platforms have certain restrictions in place for promoting cryptocurrencies and NFTs, you might want to find a workaround. A great trick is to turn to blockchain advertising networks, such as CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko. These platforms are incredibly popular among blockchain enthusiasts, so your ads will get plenty of views and a good ROI.

In case you don’t have enough experience working with paid ads, it’s better to find a marketing expert or a firm specialized in NFT marketing. This way, you’ll be able to save funds and achieve the desired results faster.

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is another great way to promote your NFT project. This is the process of improving your website to increase its visibility and, as a result, the quality and the amount of organic traffic you get.

Proper SEO includes several branches, including on-page, off-page, technical, and local SEO work. They all work differently but aim to achieve the same result – boosting your page visibility on search engines.

And the best part is that you can implement SEO techniques not only on your websites but anywhere you post content: NFT launchpads, social media platforms, forums, and so on.

Like paid ads and other marketing channels, SEO activities require previous experience and an in-depth understanding of the NFT market, so you might want to consider hiring a dedicated specialist for this purpose.

SMM

Social media is one of the best tools for marketing your NFT collectibles and building the brand image. It’s free, used worldwide, and most importantly, it allows you to build community and strong connections.

Turning strangers into friends is a real superpower that all social media networks grant. That’s why it is a perfect place for digital creators to promote their work and gain popularity in creative circles.

To develop a powerful SMM strategy, focus on your target audience first: who they are, where they like to hang out, what they are interested in, and what they can’t stand. As soon as you can describe your followers in detail, you’ll be able to choose the most effective social media platform for your promo campaigns.

As mentioned before, the most common websites to use when promoting digital collectibles include Twitter, Discord, and Telegram. However, Facebook and Instagram are still popular with certain communities, and TikTok is rapidly winning the market by offering incredible audience reach.

Whichever platforms you choose, don’t forget the main rules to keep your audience engaged:

• Post consistently.
• Interact with your community by means of comments, likes, replies, etc.
• Create high-quality social media posts with a personal touch.
• Make your content easy to recognize in the general feed.
• Stay true to your brand’s vision and values.

If you follow this advice, you’ll be able to grow your audience at a steady pace and build a supportive community by the time your NFT launches.

Influencer marketing

If you know your target audience well, you probably have plenty of insights into what they like and whom they follow. And this is something you may (and should) use in your NFT marketing.

NFT influencer marketing is a perfect promo channel for a few reasons. First, NFT influencers have already gained the trust of their audience, which means that the ROI of such a campaign will be much higher than that of paid ads, for instance. Second, this kind of promo doesn’t require you to come up with creative content – bloggers use the information you provide to design a catchy idea specifically tailored for their audience. And third, a properly built campaign might bring you not only followers but also NFT buyers.

Still, there are a few cons, as well. The thing is that influencer marketing is usually pretty expensive, especially when it comes to popular accounts with hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers. Besides, famous NFT influencers are mostly booked a few months in advance, so if you are looking for a quick promo spot, you’ll only be able to work with smaller accounts.

But, regardless of the disadvantages, we believe that NFT influencer marketing is a great way to build your own community and sell digital collectibles, so you should definitely give it a try.

Articles and guest posts

Content marketing is an integral part of any NFT marketing strategy. And it is pretty flexible, too.

Depending on the type of your NFT collectibles and campaign aim, you can create different blog articles, guest posts, and press releases to develop your brand, spread awareness, and sell your digital assets.

While blog posts are mainly used for your website’s SEO, other types of written content can significantly boost your popularity in the digital space. For instance, a well-placed guest post can help you grow the community, find a buyer, or highlight the yet-unknown features of your project that will influence its long-term development.

We suggest you try a combination of different types of articles in well-known media. This way, you will learn what kind of content works best for you and will be able to adjust your marketing strategy accordingly. But make sure to target bigger media like CoinTelegraph or CoinMarketCap to achieve the best results.

And if you don’t have a sufficient budget for testing hypotheses, consider collaborating with smaller media and individual authors, offering them other types of remuneration. For instance, many NFT influencers and bloggers can accept your NFTs as payment for social media posts and articles about your brand.

Affiliate programs

Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest kinds of promotion to have ever existed. But this doesn’t mean that it won’t work in such a progressive industry as NFT.

The essence of affiliate marketing is referring the product or a certain project to other people and getting a percentage of sales in return. This might include promotion on social media, a blog, a forum, a website, email campaigns, and so on.

In terms of NFT marketing, affiliate programs may involve NFT influencers, your community members, and even other projects. As usual, your imagination is the only limit.

The most convenient thing about affiliate marketing is that you will only need to share a percentage of your profit after making a sale. This means you won’t need an extensive budget to pay the influencers in advance, which might be a dealbreaker for many individual NFT artists and small projects with a limited budget.

Community shilling

Shilling is a way of promoting a product or service by posting some information about it or sharing a link on different platforms. 

Unfortunately, shilling has often been used wrong, with messages resembling spam rather than useful advice. But, even though it has gained a questionable reputation over the years, it might still be an effective way to market your NFTs if used correctly.

Here are a few rules to follow to incorporate proper shilling into your digital marketing:

• Find appropriate platforms and channels for shilling.
• Don’t spam and don’t post messages out of context.
• Organically incorporate the information about your NFT collection or a link to it.
• Create custom messages for each case.
• Bring value to the community.
• Comply with the rules of each community and platform.

If you stick to these recommendations, shilling will be a powerful tool and will help you promote your NFT collectibles. However, spam comments and inappropriate responses can only harm your brand, so make sure to use this tool wisely and carefully.

AMA sessions

Interactive marketing events that allow the community to talk to your team are one of the best bonding activities. They enable you to connect to your followers on a whole new level, learn more about their motivations, and gain their trust. And the easiest tool for that is AMA sessions.

AMA stands for ‘Ask Me Anything’ and such sessions are just that – an opportunity to find out anything about the project and its creators. 

Usually, the topic of the upcoming AMA session is announced a few days ahead so that the team can gather a pool of questions from the community. However, the viewers can add more questions on the go or ask them at the end of the session at a dedicated time.

Another option is to conduct live sessions wherein the team answers questions without preparation. Still, such a practice is less commonly used, since it’s more chaotic and has to be moderated professionally.

Most AMA sessions are recorded in video format and shared on different platforms with or without edits. This allows new community members and those users who have missed the live session to watch it anytime. 

NFT giveaways

One of the most common practices in NFT marketing is probably airdrops, NFT giveaways, and various bounty campaigns that allow your community to get digital collectibles for free. We can’t say that such activities don’t bring the desired results, but we should still warn you to use them responsibly since they attract a lot of spammers and bots.

The aim of such giveaways is pretty clear – to spread awareness about the project and grow the community. But, what exactly the followers will do depends only on you. They can share your profile or posts, tag you on Instagram stories, create videos about your project, write reviews, and so on. In a nutshell, they are supposed to help promote your NFT-based protocol or single assets in a specified way to get a chance of winning a reward.

Usually, giveaways are conducted right before NFT drops to create as much hype around the collection as possible. However, if you have a big event approaching or a specific marketing campaign in mind, you may launch a bounty program regardless of your NFT launch date.

Any benefits of hiring an NFT marketing agency?

To get the most out of your NFT artwork potential, you may consider hiring a dedicated team that provides NFT marketing services. There are a lot of advantages to this decision:

• NFT marketing agencies have enough experience in the industry, they know what’s going on in the market and how to best promote NFT projects.
• Dedicated marketers will take the burden of promoting your NFT project off your shoulders so that you can take care of other aspects of project development.
• Such teams usually have all the necessary specialists for different types of campaigns, including SEO experts, social media managers, PPC specialists, community managers, affiliate marketers, creative writers, and so on. This means you won’t need to gather the team on your own or look for specialists.
• The efficiency of your digital marketing campaigns will most probably be higher than if you launched them on your own.
• A trusted, experienced NFT marketing company will be able to choose the most effective tools and cut the costs of your NFT promo, offering the best value for money.

Many successful NFT projects have hired a dedicated marketing team or an outsourced agency to cover their marketing needs. And it’s no wonder – in this way, you spare yourself a lot of headaches and get guaranteed results. However, it is not an obligatory step in order to launch a successful NFT collection. If you don’t have a high enough budget to work with an NFT marketing company, you may do well simply by hiring a dedicated marketing expert or even doing everything by yourself.

Conclusion

Marketing for an NFT project is a very complex field that requires prior research, some experience, and a good understanding of your target audience to achieve the desired results. That is why hiring a professional NFT marketing agency might be the optimal solution that will save you time and money.

However, if you are a solo creator or have a limited budget, you can also take care of the whole promotion on your own with our complete NFT marketing guide. We hope you have found it useful and will implement some of the ideas you’ve found today in your future marketing campaigns. Cheers!

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