DeFi Marketing: How to Promote your DeFi Project

The cryptocurrency audience’s particularities can make a DeFi project harder to promote. But with the right DeFi marketing strategy, a legit project can reach its goals in no time. 

The current digital advertising industry has a lot to offer in terms of communication channels and marketing opportunities. And although still restrictive, even Facebook Ads and Google Ads have started revising their prohibition policy for crypto.  

So, in the following article, we will present you with the right DeFi marketing mix to reach the most suitable audience. 

What Kind Of DeFi Project Do You Have?

When you decide to create a crypto marketing strategy for your DeFi project, the first thing you should clarify is the type of project you have. 

It doesn’t mean you can’t be creative. On the contrary, be as original as you can be while naming your services; however, add a subtext that explains what it means. 

Also, be it a liquidity protocol, an automated market maker, a loaning or insurance platform, or something completely different, your users have to see your main message and tagline the first few seconds they get on your website. 

Is it still in development? 

Let’s say you intend to build a decentralized liquidity protocol that allows users to exchange cryptocurrency assets across a range of networks easily.

Are the protocol and its functionalities completed? 

The answer can be yes or no. And even when the answer is yes, it doesn’t mean there is no more room for updates. The DeFi sector is coming up with new functionalities almost every few weeks. 

Whichever the case is, you will still need to gather an audience and gain investors. And to do that, it will be crucial to offer a clear roadmap for your project before organizing an ICO or an IDO. 

If your project is still in development, your roadmap needs to offer details such as when you are starting the testnet, when the mainnet be available, and when you plan to add the further promised functionalities. 

But if your platform is largely finished, then offer details on what additional functionalities you may implement, where you plan to list your token, or what partnerships you need for the project to grow. 

Is it listed? 

Speaking of listings, most DeFi projects employ at least one token. The more platforms your token is listed on, the more investors will gather around the project. 

Start by creating Uniswap and/or PancakeSwap listings. Afterward, do your best to obtain listings on centralized exchanges as well. Being listed on one of the best crypto exchanges will draw attention to your project and may have the potential to increase the value of your token significantly.  

Advertising Your DeFi Project

Once you have clarified the details about the type of DeFi project you have, start advertising. 

Why?  

Because it is the quickest way to draw in visitors to your website. 

When you start off as a no-name, you need to push your brand in the front so that crypto investors find out about your project. 

Fortunately, digital advertising allows DeFis to promote themselves quite well, especially through Bitcoin ad networks. 

Ads with Google and Facebook 

The most known advertising platforms in the digital world come from Google and Facebook. 

Some of the advertising restrictions associated with cryptocurrencies have been lifted.  

When it comes to Google, if you meet the requirements and pass their application process, you can use Google search ads and display ads in limited circumstances.   

The platform is most likely going to prevent you from advertising your token, tough. But as long as you stick to promoting the DeFi-related application, Google may allow your ads to run. 

Similarly, you can try advertising with Facebook. And just like in Google’s case, the potential client pool is immense, yet you have to be approved. 

If you pass the reviewing process, you can target users interested in cryptocurrencies and reach a large audience. 

But keep in mind that both Google Ads and Facebook Ads are pretty complex, and you may need a PPC specialist to help you with the campaigns. 

Coinzilla Ads 

Facebook and Google did transform the digital marketing industry. Yet, for DeFi marketing, you may need to use a specialized advertising network such as Coinzilla. 

With Coinzilla, you can use a range of display advertising formats that will only show on cryptocurrency-related websites. Being a niche advertising network, Coinzilla focuses on drawing clicks only from users familiar with cryptocurrencies. Also, by the time they are exposed to your ads, their minds will be focused on cryptocurrencies. 

How do we know that? That’s quite simple. The users are exposed to the ads while looking at different crypto news, analyses, articles, charts, and other specialized content types. 

You can approach one of the account managers to help you with the account setup, and if necessary, they can help you with the banner designs as well. 

Search Engine Optimization

Once you start getting attention to your brand through advertising, you will want your audience to find you organically via search engines (such as Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo). 

Why?  

Well, unfortunately, many of the users accessing your website for the first time won’t convert. But some of them will look up your name at a later time. 

Before that moment, you should have already optimized your website so you will rank at least on your brand name’s keywords. 

Ideally, you would want to rank on search engines for other keywords, such as “DeFi token” or a keyword specific to your DeFi project.  

But in reality, that can be pretty hard and expensive to do.  

So, you should concentrate on your on-site and off-site SEO to rank at least on your brand’s name.   

On-site SEO 

Regarding on-site SEO, ensure your sitemap is in order and that your pages allow crawlers. Also, use title tags, H1, H2, and H3 tags accordingly. 

Do that so search engines can both read and understand what your website is about.  

Your homepage needs to briefly present your primary services as well as your token (if it’s the case). However, include a whitepaper-like section where you explain in-depth how everything works. 

While filling your website with content, include your name on the pages where it seems appropriate and use keywords relevant to your DeFi project. (e.g.: DeFi lending protocol) 

SIDENOTE. If you need a free tool to research keywords, you can use Ubersuggest. 

Off-site SEO 

Google and most modern search engines rank the results based on several factors that align with a query. 

The search engine will check that your page is appropriate for the keyword used in the query and create a relevance ranking based on backlinks, anchor texts, and authority. 

Basically, you need other websites to post organic links within their pages’ content toward your relevant pages. 

To reach the first page for a keyword such as ‘DeFi token,’ you may need tens, maybe hundreds of backlinks with that keyword or its variations as anchor text. 

And although Google disapproves of that in theory, in practice, you will most likely have to pay the managers of the websites for quality backlinks. 

Therefore, as an initial investment, you can start by getting a few do-follow backlinks with your brand’s name as an anchor text to build a little website authority.  

And as your finances will expand, you can pursue more keywords.  

PR & getting The Word Out There

Believe it or not, most backlinks go to the websites that have the most backlinks. That’s a tautology, but let me tell you why it makes sense. 

The website with the most backlinks will rank in the first position. Other bloggers or journalists will find them first while researching and link to them as sources. 

But there is a way around this flaw. 

Use PR tactics to have publishers post press releases, news, and organic articles about your project. 

You can use Coinzilla Marketplace to access renowned publishers and Youtubers that can showcase your project in front of their specialized audience. 

Community Management and Social Media

Once you start gathering people around your project, you must keep them engaged and establish a few bidirectional communication channels. 

In other words, your DeFi marketing strategy must include community management. 

In a previous study done on 682 cryptocurrency companies, we’ve found that the top 5 communication channels used by crypto projects are: Twitter(92.8%), Facebook (73%), Telegram (67.9%), Linkedin (42.1%), and Medium (41.2%). 

Also, as a general rule of thumb, keep in mind that the average investor will be looking forward to addressing questions to the developing team through a direct channel such as Telegram. And in most cases, investors may start suspecting that the project is a scam if you do not engage with your audience. 

What should you post within these communication channels? 

The answer is quite simple. Post about how the project is going, what partnerships you establish, updates you are working on, and when they are supposed to come out. 

And if you’re being transparent with your investors, they won’t have reasons to bail on you either. 

Final Thoughts

Establishing a coherent DeFi marketing strategy for your project can be rather tricky if it’s the first time you’re doing that. And that’s mainly because executing a cryptocurrency digital marketing strategy requires specialized professionals to obtain satisfactory results. 

While the initial phases of setting up the adverting and getting your name to the public may require additional resources, the part where you keep the audience engaged will only require your presence of spirit. Once the investors are ‘invested’ in your DeFi project, you just have to keep them informed about how things are going and engage with them. 

And with all the digital advertising tools dedicated to the cryptocurrency market, you can quickly build a brand for your project.  

Also, if you need any assistance with your DeFi marketing, reach out to Coinzilla.