The Ultimate IDO Marketing Toolbox for P2E Projects

Recently, the total market cap for Play-to-Earn tokens reached a staggering $38 billion. This number is not just significant for crypto traders: By our approximation, GameFi has already obtained a twenty-percent market share of the total global gaming industry.

With players switching to blockchain-based games at an exponential rate, investors have begun lining up to get in early on new opportunities. One popular way of doing this is through the purchase of Play-to-Earn tokens during special fundraising events called Initial Decentralized Exchange Offerings (IDOs).

With so much happening in the space today, new GameFi IDO projects need to put a lot of effort into setting themselves apart. To help the founders of these projects out, the team at Crypterius has prepared this guide to IDO marketing.

Test Your Idea with an MVP

Before you get started building your platform and raising funds, you need to make sure that your game concept can actually succeed on the market. In our experience, the only way to really be certain whether you should move forward with your project is to build a minimum viable product (MVP).

In the words of Steve Jobs, “people don't know what they want until you show it to them.” Your MVP does not need to be a finished game or anything technically complex: Try at least to create some initial artwork and some videos demonstrating gameplay. Then, carry out A/B tests with different audiences in order to confirm the business viability of your ideas across markets.

An important thing to remember is that you should never spend more on user acquisition at this stage than you would during your fundraiser. User-acquisition costs (UAC) getting too high may be an indication that your initial concept is not as attractive to gamers as you initially thought.

In order to track UAC, make sure you have Google Analytics and Tag Manager set up properly. Use these same tools to check where your traffic is coming from and ad-spend per source.

Don't be afraid to throw out bad ideas — your aim at this stage is to build a 'lean startup,' and you should always be ready to pivot. At Crypterius, we have helped more than a dozen crypto projects run their initial concepts through the complete customer development framework. We can help you to do the same.

Public Relations and Auditing

In order to create a sense of trust around your project, get your smart contract audited as soon as it has been developed. If you procrastinate on this, your entire project might get labeled incorrectly as a scam.

Another way to build legitimacy for your project is to start early on forming partnerships with companies in both the crypto and gaming industries. Every new partner represents a world of new opportunities for your project.

Make regular announcements across your social channels about new partnerships, successful audits, and positive brand mentions. Get into the habit of writing press releases about every project achievement. You can publish these releases to a special section on your website and submit them to popular media.

Get Your Tokenomics Right

Something that many IDO project founders forget is that during your fundraiser, you are as much selling your token as you are your project. Your game idea might be fantastic, but if your tokenomics aren't right, traders will just not be interested.

When preparing for your fundraiser, it's usually best to avoid too much innovation in terms of token mechanics. Research successful projects that are similar to yours and take inspiration from their token models and in-game economic systems.

Watch for current trends in terms of token protocols. For example, Ethereum's recent introduction of token burning through EIP-1559 has led to a number of other projects doing the same thing. Basically, traders like to see fashionable tokenomics in new projects, and implementing them into your protocol will help to attract investors.

Remember to always leave room in your tokenomics for adjustments further down the line, after your game has launched. You never know what new technological opportunities will arrive in the future.

Develop an Informative Website

Starting from the initial phases of your IDO on through to game launch, your website will serve as the primary 'front office' for your project. In our experience, it is preferable to develop a website that can easily and inexpensively be altered and added on to. Your lean startup needs to be designed for change.

Don't refrain from using a content management system (CMS), such as WordPress. Many people make the mistake of thinking that platforms like these are too limited from a technical perspective. We have seen that this couldn't be further from the truth.

In order to not confuse your target market — who may in fact be browsing dozens of project sites a day — try not to innovate too much with the structure and content of your site. On your home page, put priority on things that set your project apart, and near the top of the page, put a link to your white paper and tokenomics documents. Make sure also to include information about your team (with real photographs) and partners.

Provide links to your MVP in a prominent location, but refrain from any heavy tech integrations that could negatively webpage loading times. Slow websites sink to the bottom of search engines. This is not something you want to happen to your project.

Write a White Paper

The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry is, in relative terms, still in its infancy. Nevertheless, the movement which started in 2009 with the release of the Bitcoin whitepaper holds to certain traditions. To this day, it is expected of new crypto projects to put out an initial manifesto that outlines project goals. As you prepare for your IDO, one of your very first steps will have to be the release of a white paper. **
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While sitting down and writing out this lengthy document might seem like a needless distraction from the technical development of your platform, taking the time to clarify key project concepts can actually be very valuable long term. Not only will it give investors a better picture of what you are trying to build, but it will also help to get your entire team on the same page. Moreover, reading the document will enable your sales and marketing staff to understand exactly the message they need to get out to your target market. **
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The development of this document is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Take some time to read the white papers of successful GameFi projects and try your best to imitate the way they are structured. At a minimum, your white paper should include an overview of your game's features, an explanation of what makes your game unique, and a description of the Play-to-Earn functionality. You must also provide an in-depth overview of your game’s internal economy and the role of your game's tokenomics.

Make sure to put a lot of thought into your project's development roadmap. IDO participants want to see that your team has committed to building your game quickly and efficiently. **
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You may also want to consider making shorter, more easily digestible documents, for more time-pressed readers. Many successful projects publish so-called 'litepapers,' which are 10-15 page documents that tell the main story from the whitepaper without all the technical details.

Targeted and Search Advertising

According to Google policy, advertising cryptocurrency, exchanges, and blockchain-based fundraisers on the search engine is prohibited. If you do decide to go down this route, it is essential that you tread carefully: advertise your game as a game — not as a crypto project of any kind.

Most Play-to-Earn IDO projects, weighing their options, ultimately come to the conclusion that it is best to avoid Google's paid advertising products. If Google does end up blocking your project, it could be very bad for your game when you are more actively looking for players, post-IDO.

For similar reasons, it may be best to stay away from targeted advertising on Twitter during your IDO. Twitter has very active gaming and crypto communities that you will want to have access to later on. Basically, include Twitter in your communications strategy, and only depend on it for organic leads, not sponsored ones.

During your IDO, it may be a better idea to pursue targeted advertising through Facebook and Instagram. Still, to stay on these platforms' good side, drop words in your ads like “income,” “profit,” and “earnings.” Additionally, avoid references to top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Make sure in your ads to include vivid imagery from your game. Pictures are always effective and, by some estimates, videos can increase conversions by as much as 20-30%.

Crypto-Specific Advertising Networks

Given that the goal of your IDO is to sell tokens, it makes perfect sense that you would want the viewers of your advertisements to be people who have a history of participating in token sales. You can find this audience through specialized cryptocurrency ad networks like Cointraffic and Bitmedia.

For these generalized crypto audiences, make sure to not be too specific in your ads about gaming. Focus instead on the way your game innovates using NFTs and other advanced blockchain tech.

Search-Engine Optimization

New companies tend to underestimate the power of search engine optimization (SEO). If you have long-term plans for your Play-to-Earn IDO, you need to make sure you have optimized your website from the very start.

If you take a look at any successful companies in the crypto industry, you will see that their websites are optimized for search engines. Cryptocurrency exchanges, for example, understand that a huge percentage of their users come through organic searches. For this reason, they invest significant resources into the production of educational content.

SEO experts generally agree that in order to have your content featured at the top of organic searches, you should publish anywhere between 8 and 12 pieces of quality content per month. In other words, you should start soon!

Of course, this represents a major time commitment for busy project teams. We at Crypterius specialize in streamlining the content production process for startups in the crypto space. Over the last four years, we have helped clients reach millions of organic leads through our SEO optimization and content creation services

Brand Mentions and Backlinks

Mentions of your website and project on external resources have massive importance for building SEO and brand awareness.  An integral part of your IDO marketing strategy should involve finding ways to increase the quantity and the quality of these mentions in the form of backlinks. These links back to your website are necessary to ensure that the indexing algorithms of search engines understand what your project does and that it has legitimacy within its industry.

Many projects strive to get mentions from only the most popular media in their industry. While a few such publications are certainly worthwhile, access for new brands to such media is usually costly, and almost always marked as “sponsored.”

A better strategy is to collaborate with agencies, like Crypterius, that have long-established partnerships with these industry-leading news sites and media. We offer strategies that maximize the online presence of your project while reducing UACs.

IDO, IEO, ICO, and GameFi Ratings

An excellent source of free organic traffic and backlinks are rating sites and calendars that list out and track token sales. Getting your project listed on one of these sites is not very complicated and generally doesn't cost anything.

Some of the most popular sites include:

• https://playtoearn.net/
• https://icodrops.com/
• https://icoholder.com/
• https://egamers.io/
• https://www.icohotlist.com/

Influencer Marketing

A major opportunity for traffic generation for your Play-to-Earn project is influencer marketing. Collaboration with top influencers in the spheres of crypto and gaming will not only grow your community in the short term but will increase your brand awareness for years to come.

If you decide to engage with an influencer for your project, it is recommended to check into each potential new partner using tools like https://socialblade.com. Pay attention to metrics such as the number of new subscribers to the channel per month and the ratio of video views or impressions for each of these subscribers.

If you, for example, see a drop-off in the number of subscribers over the last few months, that may indicate that the channel has recently done something questionable with which you probably wouldn't want your brand associated. If you see few subscribers per view, it may be an indication that the channel generally only focuses on spammy content and should be avoided.

Additionally, Ad placements in popular Telegram groups and feeds have historically been an effective source of traffic for crypto projects, including Play-to-Earn IDOs. For Telegram advertising, take advantage of the excellent analytics platforms Telemetr and Tgstat. Key metrics on these sites include audience quality, engagement rates, and ROMI.

Social Media, Forums, and Community Management

The days when social media managers and CMM could just share company news and brand mentions across channels and leave it at that are behind us. The key aim today for content and SMM marketers should instead be to turn their communities into outstanding places for social exchange. Community managers involved in IDOs need to excel at combining elements of fun with the steady stream of informative content they provide to the growing network around the project.

At a minimum, new projects should have a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, and Telegram. For Play-to-Earn projects, the social network of primary importance today is Twitter. Engagement, activity, and interest in GameFi among the Twitter audience is much higher than on other platforms.

Youtube is useful as a means by which to host and distribute videos of gameplay. While not a social media site per se, Twitch is an extremely popular platform among gamers, and you may want to experiment with different ways of promoting your project there as well.

In terms of community management, the focus of late has shifted from the traditionally crypto-friendly Slack and Telegram to Discord. Make sure to always have a community manager on duty who can answer questions, initiate discussion, and draw attention to important project developments. The same goes for popular crypto forums, such as Bitcointalk.

Build Hype with Giveaways and Airdrops

Airdrops are an excellent opportunity to build your community and add an element of interactivity to your fundraising campaign. Try assigning real-world tasks — perhaps related to your game's theme — that people can complete in order to receive tokens. Develop contests that engage with your audience, and reward participants for providing feedback on your game.

Summary

An expertly tailored marketing strategy is not just about planning campaigns and calculating a budget. It involves setting goals, identifying target audiences, choosing the right communication approaches, and conducting constant analytics and data-based optimization. This is a process that takes a lot of effort and experience.