‘’Pirates’’ will save crypto?

Perhaps, why not!

What stops crypto from bullish growing?

To my mind, the main reasons are not the volatility and lack of clear legal regulation, but the lack of new users (new blood), which creates a ‘’narrow’’ market.

‘’If you invested in bitcoin (or in another cryptocurrency) exactly a year ago, then even now despite the market drop caused by the new “black swan” — a recession against the background of coronavirus, you would get more than 35% growth’’ — Why is this not like a strong PR message? A message that can potentially attract the attention of brand new users who cannot take into account other investment tools (because of their complexity or high entry point or just because of the restrictions of policies of accredited investors). Let us look at the chart below.

Chart ‘’Bitcoin to USD from March 2019 to March 2020 ’’

Why do we see that the audience of followers is not updated? Why all the projects are fighting for the same fans who entered the crypto before 2018 and continuing to place media uselessly on the same sites?

As we all remember, until 2018, each project had access to 2 billion audiences, through a whole set of tools from advertising on social networks to context advertising. We used LinkedIn, Reddit, Twitter, and of course, the 2 main tools for attracting traffic (google and Facebook). Each crypto project, using these marketing instruments, brought its advertising messages to a new audience, not only carrying out the KPI of the project but also fueling up interest in the blockchain as a whole industry; thereby, increasing the demand for crypto and its liquidity. Like any new financial instrument, crypto is faced with the resistance of the old financial system:

· misinformation on TV and the mass media (crypto is a lie, crypto is a drug and terrorism)

· pressure from regulators (SEC refused, limited, punished)

· And, of course, a decision that has the most “destructive” effect — a ban on the largest advertising platforms in the world.

Unfortunately, the sweet times before the “ban” can no longer come back. Since January 2018, advertising of blockchain and cryptocurrency projects on most of the platforms in the world and social networks has been prohibited. The first to limit the right to advertise was Google AdWords and DoubleClick, introducing a direct ban on advertising content in terms of cryptocurrencies and related materials. A similar situation with context advertising is in Yandex Direct. Social networks also show unfair attitude to the crypto industry. Nonetheless, the crypto industry is approaching a line that it becomes simply impossible to ignore. After all, no matter how the new model is revolutionary and capable of making the world a better place — it is doomed to die if no one knows about it. Of course, if you have a good marketing agency, and you are a large and successful venture blockchain project (from the top of best and most famous), with all the necessary licenses, you can still compete for banning in Fb and google. Moreover, although it takes a long time, I know several projects that now have permission for official advertising. Despite the fact that the largest platforms have banned startup blockchain advertising, there are still ways to promote it.

What should everyone else do? What to do for a new comer that is just entering the market. Or for an old project that failed to get into the top of the most recognizable?

‘’Use your existing inventory’’ — it seems like the most important piece of advice that almost every project follows. Now we see how hundreds of projects are simultaneously placing on the same platforms (crypto news, ICO listings, bloggers), squeezing the last attention and investments from the same target groups. What are the results? They are obvious. Fundraising is falling, the number of new users and investors is not increasing, and liquidity is falling. In addition, for these reasons, in the last year, crypto has finally turned out from an instrument that would destroy the hegemony of big money, into an instrument — not very studied and too volatile.

What to do in order to revive the interest to crypto?

Right now, to start to search and apply new traffic tools. Sources that can give huge coverage and this will help attract new users to your project, for whom you can become the first successful investment in the blockchain. What to study from? What and how to apply? The easiest way, as always, is to learn the experience of those who live in the world of advertising restrictions for a very long period. For example — casinos, forex, bookmakers, unlicensed video, etc. We analyzed the largest representatives of these advertisers and chose the most effective method of placement, which appeared at the top of all advertisers — pirate sites with unlicensed content. It is also not a secret that many well-known offline and online retailers and not only are not ashamed of advertising on such sites along with advertising of the above-discriminated businesses. In addition, the crypto industry can be considered so far as discriminated in its rights.

What makes pirate sites so attractive?

The main sense of advertising on resources with unlicensed content is the incredibly large coverage of the audience at relatively low prices. The largest resources provide 10 million unique visitors every month. The cost differs depending on the format — pre-roll, branding, banner, and order of display. Price — from $ 10 for 1 thousand unique views. It is also worth considering the possibility of paying with crypto and a simple workflow, which allows you to make placements for very young and unknown companies. Technically, such platforms can track all interested users, so that later they can activate their attention in other campaigns to optimize marketing and advertising costs, which will allow the advertiser to save the customer’s budget in such a financially turbulent time while generating even more leads. Indeed, traditional media today are still too expensive and do not have such technical capabilities of their platforms. The millionth audience of pirate resources is explained by the fact that the user loves unlicensed content, and such a user has other interests and hobbies, including the crypto, blockchain, venture projects and much more, which is so discriminated in advertising by official media and social networks. The ethical issue in the modern world of capitalist chaos caused by the global crisis can be left aside, as for marketing strategies, such ‘’pirate’’ resources:

· provide an opportunity to build moderate total project costs

· save on advertising, but do not limit yourself in their use

· as much as possible and as soon as possible can reach your target group and collect leads

· despite of discrimination to the dissemination of information about the crypto and blockchain project, to have workarounds to gather your audience

· not depend constantly on the changing policies of official expensive advertiser’s platforms and their instructions

That is precisely what projects need in order to be successful during the limitation and expensive media.

If you are interested in the opportunities described above or you can offer services that will help crypto projects gather more audiences — feel free to write me: regionprojects@rambler.ru or in telegram — @golubev_serge

Sergey Golubev (Сергей Голубев)

EU structural funds, ICO/STO/IEO projects, NGO & investment projects, project management, comprehensive support for business