The Untold Story Behind Paid Marketing in Web3

Web3 projects that are relatively new have a hard time reaching new and potential users on the internet through paid advertising and this can be either a result of a lack of expertise or ignorance of best practices.

Projects spend a huge budget, marketing their products whilst doing the wrong things, and end up with little to no results because they do not understand the rules of engagement and paid advertising in Web3.

Understanding Paid Advertisement in Web3

Paid marketing in Web3 refers to online ads that allow you to target specific audiences on a platform's traffic instead of waiting for them to find you.

Some of these platforms where you can target their audience could be either Web2 native platforms like:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google ads.

It could also be crypto-native sites like:

• Etherscan
• CMC
• Coindesk, etc.

Paid advertising in Web3 is a very sensitive topic, and it requires expertise and understanding of certain concepts to be effective.

In Web2, simple advertising mistakes might be overlooked, but it’s a bit tricky over here.

Narratives in Web3

Paid advertising in Web3 works well with a good narrative and great content.

To get a good narrative, think of what you want people to remember when your brand's name is mentioned.

A good narrative may take time to stick, but your focus should be on long-term consistency and impression over short-term intensity.

What Role Can Paid Advertising Play in Growth Marketing for Web3 Products?

The role paid advertising plays for Web3 projects includes but is not limited to the following:

• Driving sentiments and Narratives
• Boosting organic reach
• Helping to scale faster
• Increasing your reach to a crowded market
• Enabling you to target a specific buyer persona
• Brand awareness

Challenges of Web3 Brands in Using Paid Advertising

• Lack of Product Market Fit

Most Web3 brands are yet to fully identify their buyer persona, and sometimes the product being advertised is not clearly defined and so the advertising may not give the expected outcomes.

Product market fit is the degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand, and this comes from a place of having a well-defined product and advertisement for the right buyer persona and the ability to do it over and over again.

• Multiple User and Users' Journey

Many Web3 projects have multiple users and can sometimes take users on multiple journeys.

In this case, if what is being advertised is not understood by the market and does not have a clear and direct call to action, the paid ads may not convert.

For example, a project might run 2 paid campaigns with different “Call To Actions”. One might be to “sign up for a Hackathon”, and the other might be to “Create/download a Wallet”. In this case, they are splitting their audience and will need to make the ads complimentary to help users take clear actions.

A Call To Action like “Create a Wallet and sign up for the Hackathon through your wallet” might suffice.

• Web2 social sites Advertising Policies

Unlike in Web3, not all Web2 social sites are excited to promote crypto in our faces, especially brands promoting decentralization.

Most of them have very stringent rules on crypto and blockchain ads, so your copy must be structured around these policies.

Words like DeFi, IC0, IDO, NFTs, etc. may be banned depending on the social platform.

Best Practices for Paid Advertising in Web3

Paid ads in web3 will bring you results if you understand the following best practices:

• Always read the advertising rules of the social platform to know what is accepted and what is not
• Be specific in your “Call to Action”. Tell people what you want them to do after reading your ad copy.
• Use storytelling to promote and amplify your narratives.
• Don’t bore people with long-form content in your ad copy. You can direct them to your sites if reading the long copy is important to you.
• Promote great visuals and Graphics.
• Ad copy might have to be a bit vague and your landing page can describe in specific words what your project is about and your offerings
• Create your offering in simple user words and be broad in your targeting to reach more people
• Have a conversion tracking tag to help you track ads’ effectiveness and optimization strategy.
• Use UTM tracking, and know where members are responding to the ads best and which ads are doing well to optimize them.

Content Ideas

To get the best out of paid advertising in Web3, promote content such as:

• Events
• Educational content
• Contests
• Brands mission and vision
• Community activities

Avoid directly promoting your NFT sales, Token sales, ICO, IDO, through paid Ads. etc.

Key Takeaways

Paid marketing in Web3 is only as effective most times as the individual/team responsible for curating the ads and utilizing best practices.

Unlike what most people say, in Web3 paid marketing, “Patience is key”.

There's a need to move away from short-term metrics and focus on long-term impressions.

Move away from instant gratification, Use storytelling to drive narratives, and remember that good things take time.

Do this and thank me later; I'll be waiting for you.

Until we meet again. Bye-bye, my friend.

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash