What are the go-to-market strategies in web3 for brands and how to target them?
That is what this blog focuses upon. The aim is to help you understand how the web 3 ecosystem is completely different from web 2, and what exactly are the go-to-market strategies for web 3 brands.
Blockchain introduced the world to the concept of decentralization, and the prospect of collective ownership, and the world embraced it with open arms. And this was the advent of a new semantic web that was built on the foundation of community-owned entities and decentralized operations, called web 3. The world of web 3 completely redefined the structure of the market, the entire concept of consumers and manufacturers became null and void in the world of web 3, and that surfaces a very important question.
So let’s get into it…
What Changed from Web 2 to Web 3?
Just one thing changed from web 2 to web 3, the ownership structure. Everything else that has changed from web 2 to web 3 is a direct consequence of this change. Web 2 was all about centralized ownership, brands were owned and controlled by a group of individuals, and the go-to-market strategy was based on the consumer. But with web 3, the ownership structure is completely decentralized. Entities, groups, and organizations are all collectively owned by communities, and the go-to-market strategies expand to the communities.
Web 3 is a fascinating concept and if you wish to get an in-depth understanding of the concept, you can read the detailed analysis of Web 3 and its importance on our website.
Instead of building communities around a business model, brands in web 3 should focus on building a business model around a community because web 3 is more people-centric unlike web 2.
Web 2 go-to-market strategies might work for your web3 project if you choose to market your project as a DAO. But you’re more likely to succeed if you use the right mix of GTM (go-to-market) and GTC (go-to-community) strategies.
You need to bridge the gap between web2 and web3 and convince people to cross the bridge and join your project. And for that, you need the best of both worlds to first attract the audience from web2 to web3 and then educate them about concepts like NFTs, and the Metaverse. We have a primer on Metaverse and NFTs on our website if you wish to explore these concepts further.
The idea is to make these scary-looking concepts look easy and comforting instead of tedious and intimidating.
5 Efficient Go-To-Market Strategies
1. Use Tokens to Solve the Cold Start Problem
The world of blockchain is blessed with the boom of cryptocurrencies and crypto tokens offer a perfect solution to one of the dominant problems in terms of go-to-market strategies in Web 3. But assuming that some of you might not be familiar with the term “cold start problem”. Let’s understand the problem first before moving on to the solution.
Ever bought a tape roll?
Before you can start using it, you need to locate its end. You keep rolling your fingers around its surface but it’s not there. And then you take a closer look and locate the end, and everything after that is a cakewalk. This is pretty much what a “cold start problem” means. The world of web 3 is like a new tape roll, and it is difficult to figure out where to start, but once you figure that out, everything falls in order.
Tokens solve this problem for you. You can simply use crypto tokens to incentivize contributions to your project and attract new members to your community. The tokens may be native to your project like Ethereum, or you can simply use any existing token from the market as Opensea did for their project. The only thing that matters is that the token should have some monetary value in the open market.
2. Leverage Social Media to build Communities
Social media is a powerful tool. No matter who your audience is, you can find them on social media. It’s just a question of whether or not you’re looking for them at the right place. From the lens of web 3, your audience set is usually lurking on Twitter, Discord, Telegram, or Reddit. Twitter is one of the most popular platforms for building communities and we have a step-by-step guide on How to build a Community on Twitter, that will come in handy.
Social media is a great way to educate new users about your project, and convince them that your project is worthy of contribution. Sharing a public roadmap on social media is a great way to acquire the trust of users. You can also host discussions and Q&A sessions to connect to your audience on a more personal level and answer any doubts they might have about joining something as new as web3. These interactions are always fruitful and lead to conversions. Also, the reward structure of your project is also worth sharing on social media as it gives them a clear idea about whether the incentives linked with the tasks are worth crossing the bridge.
Discord is a great community-building tool for web3 projects. In fact, most of the web3 projects have huge communities on Discord, and everything from voting, to task management, is done through discord itself.
3. Airdrops
Airdrops are simply giveaways of free tokens to random members of the community to create a buzz in the web 3 ecosystems. Airdrops are one of the most important aspects of GTM strategies for Web 3 brands, and the reason is that it is a great way to instigate word-of-mouth marketing for your project. It is one of the most effective referral marketing strategies to establish trust among community members. You can refer to our detailed guide on Referral Marketing and How to Apply it to your Business for a deeper understanding of the concept.
And trust is one of the most important factors for growth in the web 3 ecosystem and what better way of instilling trust in the community than word-of-mouth marketing?
When people on the outside hear things from existing members of the community, it’s easier for them to believe the facts. And that’s what makes airdrops so effective, it incentivizes advocacy of the project among the audience and attracts new people into the community.
One of the best examples of effective airdrops is the Stellar Lumens airdrop from November 2018, where the project gave away more than $125,000,000 worth of Stellar tokens to the community members and attracted a lot of attention after the event.
4. Developer Grants
Developer grants are a great way to catalyze the growth of the project, as well as to attract talented developers into the community and incentivize them to help improve the protocol in some way or another.
Sometimes, projects simply declare a developer grant program without even having an infrastructure for the project and developers write the code and develop the software infrastructure of the project from the ground up. This allows the project to attract talented individuals who have a deep understanding of the project’s objectives to be key contributors to the community.
It is also a great starting GTM strategy for your web 3 projects, as it lays the foundation of your community and gives you an idea about what kind of audience you want to attract.
5. Profile Picture Promotion Strategy
This is a new GTM strategy in the world of web 3. It is the equivalent of what influencer marketing is in the world of web 2. This strategy came into the limelight when famous personalities started PFP(Profile Picture NFT projects) as their profile pictures. It drew a lot of attention to some projects like the Bored Ape yacht Club (BAYC). When celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Post Malone, Steph Curry, Marshmellow, Meek Mill, KSI, Lil Baby, and other celebs used BAYC NFTs as their profile pictures on Instagram, the floor price for the project skyrocketed.
This strategy is usually employed by projects having NFT collections to create a buzz for the project and boost awareness in the community. It is one of the most effective GTM strategies for web 3 in terms of efficacy. If you manage to convince a set of celebrities to use NFTs from your collection as profile pictures, then you can expect huge engagement for your project in a short span.
TL;DR
The world is experiencing a major shift in the field of the internet. Organizations are shifting from centralized ownership to collective ownership and governance, and this shift is fueled by a new-age decentralized internet called web 3. But as this relatively new technology evolves, web 3 projects seem fairly perplexed about the go-to-market strategies to employ in the ecosystem.
Web3 is all about decentralized ownership and community-based governance, while web2 is all about the consolidation of control. Therefore, the go-to-market for web 3 is completely different from that of web 2. In web 3, the focus is on the community instead of the product or service.
Go-to-Market strategies overview:
- Using tokens to incentivize participation in governance and contribution to the community.
- Leveraging the power of social media to build a strong community for the project. Discord, Telegram, Twitter, and Reddit are some of the best avenues for community building
- Airdrops are another great way of promoting your project through word-of-mouth marketing and establishing trust in the community by giving away free tokens to random community members
- Developer Grants are a way to enhance the quality of the project and get talented developers to be key contributors to the community.
- Profile Picture Promotion is a great way of promoting projects with a native NFT collection. The idea is to get a famous individual to use one of the NFTs from the collection as their profile picture and boost project awareness in the community.
