Quick Guide to NFT Marketing In 2022

NFTs have become a huge deal in the past year, though they have been making waves for longer than that. In fact, the NFT art scene is particularly impressive, with some impressive sales taking place in 2021. However, the increased competition only makes marketing that much more important.

When marketing an NFT, many of the usual marketing rules and strategies apply. However, NFTs are rooted in the digital world, and the most effective way to market them is by using communities and people. It is all about relationships and, through that, hype.

NFTs are also usable as marketing tools, with many companies dipping their toes into the crypto and NFT markets. Moreover, the same is true of celebrities, who have started to promote projects by releasing NFTs. Keep reading if you want to learn more about the fascinating world of NFT marketing.

NFTs and Marketing

There are many types of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) out there, but they all have one thing in common: they are one of a kind. It might seem obvious, considering what non-fungible means, but it is worth being said. Especially since their unique nature is part of what makes them so valuable.

However, there are many NFTs, so they are not valuable simply because they are unique. In fact, more than anything, marketing dictates their value. After all, even a great piece of art will not be worth much without the proper hype and exposure to make people want to spend money on it.

Equating NFTs to art is a great way to think about it. For instance, a piece of art might not fetch much if nobody knows about it. The value does not soar without exposure and some degree of rarity and hype. Of course, NFTs are more complex than that, and they are constantly evolving, but the importance of marketing cannot be ignored.

Additionally, NFTs are both assets that require marketing and part of marketing campaigns. Basically, they can benefit from it and be used for marketing a brand, company, or group. While the focus will be on marketing NFTs themselves, both will be touched upon.

The Wide World of Marketing NFTs

NFTs are one-of-a-kind digital assets that can be quite rare. Because of that, they can become incredibly valuable. It can even happen in an instant, exploding in worth overnight. However, there are many NFTs on the market, especially now that they have become so popular.

One of the interesting things about NFTs is that their value is not dependent solely on what they are. Even if you look at NFT art, it is not the best piece of art that always rises to the top. An example of this is the CryptoPunk collection, which is worth quite a sum. While the CryptoPunks art is not unappealing, it is not impressive.

So, while rarity, uniqueness, and artistic flair matter, hype is even more important. People have to want the NFT, and if they do, nothing else matters. Therefore, marketing is the most important aspect of an NFTs success. There needs to be buzz and demand, and people need access to the work. To accomplish this, a strategy is required.

Developing a Marketing Strategy

Marketing is vital to the success of NFTs, and a marketing strategy is always the first step to successful marketing. However, doing so first requires understanding the target audience. After that, you can figure out how to connect with them and create content that will target the audience throughout the buyer’s journey.

Figuring Out the Target Audience

Determining the target audience of an NFT is the first step to successful marketing. In fact, just the fact that the product is an NFT already narrows down the audience quite a bit. After all, many people are not aware of or interested in what NFTs can offer. Moreover, casting too wide a net can waste time and resources.

The key is to determine who is most likely to want the NFT you are marketing. While it might seem like a complicated task, there are ways to narrow things down. During this stage, it is important to research the market and any similar competitors. Additionally, a few things you might consider are:

• What type of NFT you are producing
• How often you plan to release something
• Whether the NFT will be part of a larger collection
• Which, if any, communities you are a part of
• The audience of any past work

Social media plays a big role in NFT marketing, so you will want to consider any social media following you have as well. In fact, it can be a great way to get data on your followers and potential customers. And keep in mind that target audiences can be complex, making up a few different groups. Make sure you spend time figuring this out.

Connecting With Your Audience

After figuring out the target audience, the next step is to pick the best channels to connect with them. While there are some traditional marketing avenues that yield success, there are some that are very specific to NFTs.

Social media is still a great place to connect with people, and the list includes Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. In fact, on platforms like Facebook, there are groups dedicated specifically to crypto and NFTs. Other useful channels include:

• Reddit
• Discord
• Telegram
• Steemit

There are a lot of places to reach particular audiences. Therefore, it is important to do research and figure out the most effective places to focus your efforts. Just like picking a target audience, using the right channels allows you to get better results with less effort.

Creating Content for the Buyer’s Journey

When someone makes a purchase, it is usually not a single step. There are different stages of the purchase, which can be called a buyer’s journey. And it often starts with awareness, which leads to the different steps. Each of the steps requires consideration and content. Here is a further breakdown of a buyer’s journey:

• Awareness: Awareness is often triggered by something, which allows someone to learn about an NFT or NFTs, in general. The trigger and awareness are incredibly important since they exist before the consumer knows about a need and take care of giving them more details.

• Consideration: Once a consumer knows about the NFT and has a better grasp on what it is, they start to consider a purchase. Doing so involves looking around and making comparisons. Is it really what they want? Content needs to guide them towards thinking it is.

• Conversion: In marketing, conversion is key. It is responsible for turning consideration into a purchase. In fact, many marketing campaigns and strategies focus on turning interest into action. With NFTs, this step can be considered complete when a bid or purchase is made.

• Retention: After they make a purchase, it is important to retain the consumer. When it comes to NFTs, a great way to do this is by including them in a community or having events. It is also important to turn retained consumers into advocates.

Multiple types of effective content exist for each step, which makes every buyer’s journey different. The key is ensuring you tackle each step from a variety of angles, setting up content in all of the places your target audience might be. That is why having solid marketing strategies is a must.

Examples of NFT Marketing Strategies

The best course of action when marketing NFTs is to be active where your target audience is active. However, there are many effective marketing strategies that can be used to get results. Now that the basics have been covered to some extent, it is time to focus on those strategies.

Work With Influencers

Influencer marketing is a popular way to get a product out in the open and attract interest. And when it comes to NFTs, it is an incredibly useful option. Of course, working with influencers might seem obvious, but there are ways you can go about it that improve the effectiveness.

Make sure to find influencers who appeal to your target audience. That means finding an influencer that operates on a platform you know will be effective. Finding influencers who lend credibility to the marketing campaign is another plus. It is even better if their brand matches the NFT. Moreover, always think of how you can add value for them.

Utilize Whitelists

Reaching out to influencers, community managers on platforms like Discord, and other people is a great way to gain exposure. However, they will want to know what is in it for them, and rightfully so. A relationship is built on mutual gain, and whitelists can be a great way to achieve that.

In fact, not only can certain people gain a discount and early access to an NFT in exchange for helping with marketing, but giving them a free NFT is also an option. Additionally, if you can add value to the community or become an active member, it can strengthen that bond even further.

Discord Marketing

Discord is a great way to grow an NFT community. Building an impressive Discord is not only a fantastic way to gather people with interest in your NFTs, but it can be used as a members-only space if you so choose. Moreover, it is already a space where people interested in crypto and NFTs gather.

One thing to know about Discord marketing is that the community needs to be managed well. Likely, that will involve skilled moderators that know how to set things up and keep the community running smoothly.

Twitter Marketing

While there are plenty of social media platforms out there, Twitter is a great one for building a community and getting information about your NFTs into the open. Of course, it should be used in tandem with other social media platforms, but it does have its own tools. One such tool is Twitter Spaces.

Twitter Spaces involves drop-in audio, and it can be a great place to connect. In fact, it can be a great place to form a connection with influencers, which can help with your other marketing strategies.

NFT Marketplaces

The number of available marketplaces is quite large, so it is important to find one that fits your NFT project. In fact, some focus on certain types of NFTs, which can affect the audience that frequents the site. Here are a few of the popular marketplaces you might want to consider:

• OpenSea: The largest NFT marketplace and a fantastic place to sell art, music, virtual worlds, and more.
• SuperRare: The focus is entirely on digital art, and you will require approval before you can sell anything. It does provide the benefit of promoting NFT releases.
• Rarible: It is a great place to sell a variety of NFTs, and there is an active discussion board that is great for marketing.

There are many other marketplaces out there, and they all have their own specialties and benefits. Not only are these great places to sell work, but they can provide channels to connect with potential buyers.

Create a Website

Everyone who operates in the digital world needs a website. The best part is that they are not difficult to make, and if you do not have the skillset or time to do it yourself, it is easy to get someone to make you a create site. Additionally, it is a versatile marketing resource.

A website can be as simple as a single page with some basic information. It can be used to point people to where they can find your or your work. Moreover, you can easily feature previous and upcoming work, having it serve as the forefront of the page. There is no better way to feature your work than having an entire site dedicated to it.

Email Marketing

Although it might seem a bit dated, the truth is that email marketing is one of the most effective and widely-used marketing strategies around. It is a great way for artists to reach out to people, from interested buyers to investors and partners. And marketing strategies can get quite in-depth if automated and arranged properly.

Some of what you can do using email are newsletters, updates, and announcements. You can even target it toward members or people who have purchased an NFT previously, giving them exclusive insights and advanced access to information.

Add Utility

NFTs are unique in many ways. Of course, adding utility can refer to things as simple as including NFT holders in a club. However, it can also allow them to use the NFT in other places. One example is how they are becoming unique profile pictures on some sites. Another is having them be usable in the metaverse.

Making NFTs more than a financial investment is a great marketing strategy that takes things to new heights. It gives the NFT more value and makes the owner feel like part of an exclusive community. Basically, those who have it feel part of something special, and those who do not will want it more. Think CryptoPunks or the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Cross-Promotion Tactics

Relationships are everything, and mutual benefit is always welcome. That is what makes cross-promotion tactics so effective. The different communities become closer by cooperating with a partner, generating additional buzz. And considering how important hype is, it is a very effective strategy.

It is made more effective because of how loyal some of the communities are, especially with art and celebrity NFTs. There are also plenty of opportunities to weave in other marketing strategies with cross-promotion tactics, including incentives, events, and other marketing ploys that get people involved.

Prioritize NFT Drops

The launch of an NFT is a chance to create some real hype. By making it to be something big, the audience will respond, and people will be eager to get their hands on an NFT. This strategy has even seen success in situations where people do not even know what type of NFT is being released.

However, prioritizing drops requires a lot of other marketing strategies to succeed. It requires you to find influencers and partners, be active in communities, and potentially even include some media PR. But if done right, it will make people think the upcoming NFT is something special and exclusive, driving up the value tremendously.

The Use of NFTs to Market Other Things

Part of what makes an NFT exciting and popular is that it is a unique thing. It gives them ownership of the digital product. That same principle makes NFTs great marketing tools, and more and more people and brands have been using them as such. Some examples of how they can be used as marketing tools include:

• Granting people access to a members-only community
• Allowing people to get products based on their unique NFT
• Giving people benefits in a game through their NFT ownership

Big brands have already used NFTs to create a buzz, including Nike, Pringles, Pizza Hut, and The Hundreds. Moreover, celebrities have been using NFTs as marketing tools for some time, making money off NFTs while igniting interest in their projects.

Interestingly enough, NFTs that are used as marketing tools for big names and companies tend to sell for a good amount. Therefore, not only do they help people and companies market themselves, but the marketing earns some money in the process.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking to market an NFT, it all comes down to relationships and communities. The NFT space is all about hype and people wanting the product, which is not as affected by traditional ad marketing. Therefore, spending time on social media and other platforms to build communities is key to success.

On the other hand, NFTs can be used within marketing campaigns to great effect. It just shows how important marketing is when it comes to NFTs, whether to increase their hype or use them to generate buzz for something else.