There is no standard when it comes to the costs of running a successful initial coin offering (ICO) marketing campaign, or one for a security token offering (STO). In fact, there are significant differences in budget allocations from one business to the next. For most companies, the ICO or STO begins with the creation of a Whitepaper. The founders lay out the company’s vision, and mission - sort of like a roadmap for investors and stakeholders.
The vision and mission aside, there are costs that cryptocurrency companies must deal with. One of the most important assets of an ICO or STO marketing campaign is the company’s website. It’s a rather vague question to put a price tag on the value of a converting, effective, and didactic website. However, the typical cost of creating this type of online resource could run anywhere from $5,000 up to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the time, effort, functionality, interactivity, and multimedia-rich elements available. An article appearing in Hackernoon indicated that companies could pay $300,000 for an ICO marketing website by outsourcing ICO marketing.
The Importance of ICO Marketing and STO Marketing
It comes as somewhat of a surprise that ICO and STO companies which operate at the forefront of technological advancement are somewhat behind the eight ball when it comes to the websites they create. Poor allocation of resources towards creating an STO or ICO marketing website can significantly deter ICO investment or STO investment and erode confidence in the ICO/STO itself. There are two time intervals that should be considered when creating an ICO or STO website – pre-launch and post-launch.
Both have specific purposes, and neither one can replace the other. In other words, a carefully structured strategy needs to be put in place to create a pre-launch ICO or STO marketing campaign that is geared towards providing stakeholders with the information they need and to convert them into buyers. Every page on an STO or ICO marketing website should be tailored to perfection.
Why Is Mobile So Important for ICO Marketing Purposes?
Think of the cryptocurrency boom in Q4 2017 and how many traders were accessing this burgeoning new market… Mobile devices. Mobile is the go-to medium that cryptocurrency traders, talking heads, and market experts trust most. Today, the Internet is awash with people searching their favorite websites via mobile. PC and Mac have given way to Android and iOS devices as the preferred way to surf the web.
A Website Can Unravel the Fog in the Cryptocurrency World
Believe it or not, new initial coin offerings (ICOs) and security token offerings (STOs) are popping up all over the place. Today, there are more than 1,500 digital currencies spread across over 8,700 markets. That’s an enormous number of new assets to track, especially when the market is dominated by the top cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin, bitcoin cash, and ethereum classic. There are so many digital currencies out there, that the only way to get proof of concept out to the masses, besides an STO or ICO Whitepaper, is with a website.
Without the right visual stimuli, online presence, and optimized website, an STO or ICO marketing campaign is effectively moribund. The time for getting a website up and running is not just before the launch of the ICO or STO – it’s several months before. All the kinks must be ironed out well ahead of time so that when the launch is about to take place, the website has been fine tuned to perfection.
The process of purchasing the tokens or coins via the STO/ICO's website should not be complicated. Investors should be able to use bitcoin, ethereum, or other cryptocurrencies, to make coin purchases via the website's interface, without having to go through any complicated steps. In this context, using wallets' APIs or cryptocurrency payment processing solutions can greatly simplify the checkout process on the STO's or ICO's website. APIs of Blockchain.info, Coinbase, and Coingate can be very helpful and serve as easy-to-use checkout solutions for almost any ICO or STO website.
A website serves as a reference point for PR, media buzz, word-of-mouth, proof of concept, and more. The company website is akin to a resume. It provides all the relevant information needed to convince stakeholders to invest. It must be converting, and that means it must be attractive, didactic, and investor ready. There are several different approaches that can be adopted with cryptocurrency websites.
You may be inclined to create a pre-launch ICO or STO marketing website that is rendered null and void after the launch. Or an investment could be made in an all-inclusive website that speaks of the launch, but provides a bedrock of information about the company, its vision, and mission. In any event, it’s important to present the ICO or STO in such a way that it adds value to society. Blockchain technology is the core of all smart contracts.
ICOs and STOs can write their own success by investing in the requisite technology to present their product offering in a professional way. To get people interested, initial coin offerings can be used as a marketing tactic to ignite stakeholder interest. The more hype that can be generated and shared, the better. While contemplating best-practice strategies and tactics for ICO and STO launches, it should be remembered that this asset category exists in a highly volatile geopolitical climate.
Multiple countries, such as India, Bangladesh, and China have taken a rather firm stance against ICOs in some fashion. For example, China has enforced a complete ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining operations. On the other hand, South Korea has developed a relatively more friendly stance towards cryptocurrencies, as it only banned anonymous cryptocurrency trading. ICO marketing professionals need to be well aware of current market events to be compliant with country-specific circumstances, whereas STO marketing professionals need to be aware of the regulations surrounding securities and security tokens. At best they should never wander into unregulated territory, and at worst they should always offer plenty of wiggle room in a grey area.
How Can Social Media and STO/ICO Marketing Campaigns Work in Unison?
There is one word that everyone in social media understands: viral. When something catches the audience’s attention, it gets shared at an exponential rate through shares of shares and so forth. Naturally, this is the goal when creating a highly converting STO or ICO marketing website. If marketing professionals are going to be including social media connectivity, such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube, it is imperative that those social media pages are optimized with plenty of updates, lots of user activity, and highly converting content.
Bitcoin Talk, the world’s top cryptocurrency forum, is an indispensable tool for marketing ICOs and STOs. Technically speaking, no initial coin offering (ICO) or security token offering (STO) can survive without creating an announcement thread here. The thread will also serve as the main communication channel between the coin's developers and investors.
Telegram is an amazing cloud based messaging system that has recently helped many successful ICOs raise millions of USD. For example, Sirin Labs interacted with potential investors via Telegram, which helped the company raise more than $150 million via their ICO.
Every new social channel that is added, whether it be a live Twitter feed, a blog, or a webinar, must be optimized and synchronized for maximum effect. The last thing you want on an STO or ICO pre-launch website is a dead link to a social media account, or an inactive social media page. These are but a handful of the many lesser known behind the scenes tips and tricks that ICO and STO marketing experts use on a daily basis.
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