Here comes the latest buzzword floating around the digital marketing space – NFT Marketing. As part of the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry, NFTs rule the digital world with digital cartoons ranging from art and music to apes and toilet paper. As of 2021, the NFT market cap has surpassed $23 billion, recording over 20,000% annual growth. And let’s not forget about OpenSea, the world’s largest peer-to-peer NFT marketplace which has generated $5 billion in Ethereum trading volume in January 2022. There’s no denying that NFT’s soaring value made it a strong contender as the optimal currency for the metaverse.

While leading brands like Nike, Walmart, and Balmain have all dipped their toes into the crypto and NFT market, it’s time to get your heads around the NFT marketing concept. Yet, don’t get overhyped. Not all NFTs are as valuable as the top tier. With the NFT market getting more mature, you’ll need a comprehensive NFT marketing strategy that promotes uniqueness to the masses, allowing you to leapfrog over the fierce market competition! In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into NFT and NFT marketing, as well as why working with a digital marketing agency to heighten your NFT projects is a good idea.

1. Understanding NFT and NFT Marketing

2. 3 Successful NFT Marketing Campaigns

3. Why do You Need a Digital Marketing Agency for Your NFT Marketing?

1. Understanding NFT and NFT Marketing

1.1 What are NFTs?

Simply speaking, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital assets that can be bought and sold online. These tokens might represent any kind of digital assets such as art, music, tweet, website, in-game items, or even real estate. NFTs, theoretically, turn them into unique, verifiable properties that can be traded on the blockchain. In a nutshell, creators mint NFT by converting their artwork into crypto collections, while buyers receive it in digital format rather than tangible artifacts on the wall.

NFT Minting

As part of blockchain technology, NFTs are often traded using cryptocurrency, yet, they are not interchangeable and could never be exchanged. NFTs hold value because there is only one version of the assets made and exist in the space. Each NFT includes a unique identification code as well as metadata that indicates ownership. In other words, an NFT can only have one owner at a time, and no one can alter its ownership or mint the same NFT on the blockchain. Given this scarcity, creators/owners of NFTs can set their own rates for their assets.

The first NFT project on Ethereum – CryptoPunks, with its alien avatar worth USD 7.58 million.

1.2 What is NFT Marketing?

NFTs have officially taken the world by storm and the market is continuously growing today. Every week, up to 50,000 NFTs are traded, exposing a blue ocean of business possibilities to brands and digital marketers. By “minting” special experiences, collaborations, iconic images, memorable ad campaigns, premium design, etc., your brands can not only increase direct profit, but also engage consumers with new means of brand storytelling and interaction.

Months ago, we saw the news about ‘Jack Dorsey’s first tweet’ NFT selling for $2.9 million. After a few moments, we got statistics that almost half of all its NFT sales are already down to under $200. With new NFTs being launched every day, you should face the fact that simply creating and listing your NFT won’t magically lead to success. Consumers gravitate to something new, or those that resonate with them. This is where NFT marketing comes in. Your audience must understand what your NFT project is about, the message you’re trying to convey, and the value that motivates them – the potential investors – to purchase it.

‘Jack Dorsey’s first tweet’ NFT

NFT marketing entails much more than merely getting your NFT in front of your target audience. Ultimately, it’s all about utilizing creative digital marketing strategies to present your prospects with unique plus meaningful experiences to achieve long-term marketing objectives. The majority of digital marketers, we believe, are well-versed in the significance of NFT marketing. Now that you have the broader NFT marketing basics down, let’s delve deeper into NFT marketing strategies by exploring numerous successful NFT marketing campaigns.

2. 3 Successful NFT Marketing Campaigns

2.1 Adidas: NFT Brand Partnership Marketing

Last December, Adidas made its entrance into the NFT world by launching its debut NFT collection, “Into the Metaverse”. The collection, featuring 30,000 NFTs, was created in partnership with some of the most well-known personalities in NFTs, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, gmoney, and the Punks Comic creators. This collaboration helps build hype and expedite the success of Adidas’s NFT collection as the NFT pioneers signify adequate relevancy to an already developed NFT-passionate community. Thereby, all 30,000 NFTs, worth $22 million, were sold out within minutes since its public launch, generating a huge sum of revenue for Adidas in just a single campaign.

Adidas NFT – Into the Metaverse

Prior to the launch, Adidas announced on Twitter to create noise for the upcoming release. This aided the NFT collection in garnering a lot of attention and awareness. Furthermore, Adidas’s NFTs are used to promote the sports brand’s physical offerings. Holders of these NFTs are granted 4 exclusive physical products at no additional cost which means they can exclusively try out the new products early on and share them in their community as sort of an influencer effect. This provides another digital marketing purpose for its NFT project, which is to promote Adidas’ physical limited-edition product drops with the brand’s KOC (key opinion consumer). The benefits of an effective NFT marketing campaign are way more than you think.

Adidas – Twitter announcement

2.2 Clinique: NFT Social Media Marketing

Clinique is today becoming the first Estee Lauder brand to launch an NFT as part of its loyalty program. Titled “MetaOptimist”, the NFT comes in three editions. It is a conceptual “molecule” that changes colors based on two of its most popular products: the Moisture Surge 100H moisturizer and Almost Lipstick Black Honey. Instead of selling NFTs, Clinique is gifting the Smart Rewards members the chance to win the free NFT by social media contest, along with an assortment of free products yearly over the next decade.

Clinique NFT – Meta Optimist

People enter the game to win by sharing “stories of optimism” content on three social media platforms - Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. For added excitement, the three winners are announced on social media by celebrity Emilia Clarke and Clinique’s brand ambassador Melissa Barrera. By granting NFT access only to its loyalty program members, Clinique is both rewarding members with a sense of exclusivity and incentivizing others to sign up for membership, hence the NFT contest.

Brand authenticity and consumer excitement always give ground to a successful digital marketing campaign. And Clinique’s NFT marketing strategy demonstrates it wholly, on top of its underlying utility. Its uniquely contemporary approach to promoting NFT sparks conversation between the brand and consumers arouses interest around its branded NFT, and puts consumers in the driver’s seat, with storytelling and engagement at its core value. Finally, scaling up its community and sustaining customer loyalty are the perks. You can tell that a mix of social media marketing and NFT marketing brings your brand an unbreakable community value.

2.3 Warner Bros.: NFT Community Marketing

Having the community in place will help ensure the success of your NFT launch. They’re the lifeblood of your NFT project. Thus, it’s crucial to keep them updated throughout your NFT launch journey, just like Warner Bros. did.

The release of The Matrix Resurrections film was accompanied by the Warner Bros. launch of Matrix NFTs, in collaboration with Nifty’s NFT platform. The NFT project includes 100,000 unique avatars, each costing USD 50. Buyers of the NFTs will receive their own randomly generated avatars and will be able to select whether to take a “Blue Pill” to keep the NFTs as they are or a “Red Pill” to transform them just as the film’s main characters. This engagement strategy is not only created for the sake of engagement but is highly relevant to the Matrix story plot which triggers the die-hard movie fans to actively participate in the NFT campaign.

Warner Bros. NFT

In head to support the Matrix NFT drop, Nifty’s shared a roadmap to its Twitter community, where NFT buyers are most active daily. The all-inclusive NFT roadmap is well-communicated to the potential buyers about the project’s long-term plans, such as the reveal date, mint date, available utilities, key milestones, and so on. NFT community marketing assists in attracting more investors to the project as well as keeping current NFT holders engaged and excited about future plans. Nifty made another announcement to the community before the launch. Community members retweet and become unwitting brand advocates. As a result, nearly 300,000 people queued in a virtual waiting room for a chance to get their hands on this Matrix NFT drop, and the long-waited “The Matrix Resurrections” film has attracted public interest in the meantime.

Nifty’s & Warner Bros. tweet on The Matrix NFT release

3. Why do You Need a Digital Marketing Agency for Your NFT Marketing?

3.1 NFT digital marketing agency builds a thriving online community

Last March, the Open Earth Foundation sold its Ocean Front (Beeple) for $6 million. Who determines the value of the item in question? The NFT community. NFTs put the power back in the hands of the community by allowing them to decide what’s popular and incentivizing them to support what they like. Most importantly, the community is the primary prospect of your NFT marketing. That’s the power of the community.

First and foremost, identify the target audience for your NFT marketing campaign. Similar to other product launches, your new NFT requires a product-market fit. Although the blockchain and dapps (decentralized applications) ecosystems are still in the growth stages, target your initial community members as they are usually the blockchain-informed audiences and people who are already interested in your art. Thus, maintaining your community’s activeness by engaging them will be another focus. The foundation for hype and buzz surrounding your NFT collection is a thriving community. They not only support your NFTs sale but also spread your NFT value and drive additional traffic to your profile. It also serves as a venue for you to share brand values, educate audiences, and form meaningful connections with them. Given its essential, inevitably, building and maintaining a community can be a daunting task. Don’t panic, as digital marketing agencies like AsiaPac can help you with that.

Often, communities are formed on social media, such as Twitter, Discord, and Facebook. NFT digital marketing agencies are equipped with social media specialists who are familiar with the trendy content types or creatives styles that are most appealing to audiences. Frankly speaking, they know exactly how to grab your audience’s attention, engage your NFT community as well as lure them to invest in your NFT. Apart from posting sneak peeks of upcoming NFT projects, hosting a giveaway before the project launch is a terrific NFT marketing alternative. It builds anticipation and gives the public a glimpse of your NFT project. Take Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange company, as an example, its Twitter giveaway event received over 12K retweets, contributing significantly to its community and engagement. A compelling story, after all, does do a favor to NFT community building too. Master storytellers from digital marketing agencies engage your target audience with genuine stories about your NFT. Speak on its origin, what it stands for, and your overarching vision. Authentic stories win at creating a natural flow that allows the audience to perceive your NFT’s value.

Binance NFT giveaway event on Twitter

NFT marketing by storytelling

Of course, there’re still other avenues for brands to cultivate a flourishing NFT community, such as adopting Ask Me Anything (AMA) and memes in your NFT marketing campaign. In whatever format it takes, NFT marketing in the community is centered on establishing rapport and intriguing audience interest. By creating a sense of belonging in the community who has subscribed to your NFT’s values and ideology, brands can become true fandoms.

3.2 Digital marketing agency possesses superb NFT marketing knowledge

NFT has been conquering the digital space these days. Even still, the NFT concept is undeniably novel and unfamiliar to the vast majority audience. With new NFT forms hitting the market every day, it’s difficult for digital marketers to grasp fully the latest NFT trends. And once you don’t pay attention, you may end up being a passing fad.

The NFT world is constantly changing. It’s vital for brands to be versatile in order to cope with the fast-changing environment and generate desirable outcomes. Digital marketing agencies are abreast of the latest NFT market trend. Riding on the hypes, they continually come up with innovative perspectives and solutions that deliver results. Based on your NFT marketing objective, whether is to raise brand awareness or drive sales, digital marketing agencies can provide a custom-tailored strategy guaranteeing that you wide and precise audience reach amongst your target market. Developing and implementing an effective NFT marketing plan necessitates plenty of skills and experience. By working with a digital marketing agency, you gain access to a team of NFT marketing specialists who are experts in employing different NFT marketing tools to promote your NFT.

A case in point is the use of SEO and keyword research. In fact, more than half of all website traffic comes from organic search and over 93% of online experiences begin with search engines. Hence, SEO is particularly significant for NFT marketing, thanks to its huge driving force for website traffic and conversions. It boosts the organic visibility of your digital collectibles. Digital marketing agencies conduct thorough keyword research and competitor analysis before curating NFT-related content or building landing pages to ensure that your NFT content appears at the top of search engines like Google and Yahoo. Agencies also take additional metrics into account, including user interface, internal links, and domain authority (DA). All these keep your NFT marketing content in front of motivated audiences who are interested in investing in your NFT collection. Having a digital marketing company to handle the tiniest tactic leaves you with no hassle at all.

Keyword tools are available to assist NFT SEO marketing.

3.3 Digital marketing agency ensures legitimacy for your NFT marketing

Last but not least, the most important prerequisite for any NFT marketing campaign, but frequently being overlooked, is legitimacy. NFT scams do exist. In February, OpenSea announced that around 80% of the NFTs minted using its free creation tool are identified as fraudulent. With some notorious individuals taking advantage of crypto newbies, people are more alert to the legit of NFTs. They are conducting an NFT community or background check to avoid a rug pull. In view of this, digital marketing agencies with credibility are here to dispel any suspicions about your NFT project swindle.

In addition to maintaining an engaged community, digital marketing agencies adopt NFT influencer marketing to boost your project’s credibility and legitimacy. NFT influencers are usually active players who have established authority in the NFT world. They already have a strong follower base of tech-savvy and crypto enthusiasts, whom your NFT is mainly targeting at. Moreover, NFT influencers are trusted and obtained a certain level of influence to drive mainstream NFT adoption as well as provide attestation to the NFT collection. As there is still controversial discussion surrounding NFTs, it’s crucial to pick the right NFT influencer who gives comfort and legitimacy to audiences navigating the NFT landscape. In AsiaPac, we have our self-developed KOOLER AI, which leverages the 200K+ cross-platform database in Asia to match your NFT project with the most ideal influencer. Your NFT influencer’s credibility will no longer be under question!

Alpha Girl Club collaborating with NFT influencer @steveaoki

NFT digital marketing agencies also help to create landing pages for your campaign. When it comes to buying an NFT, the first thing NFT enthusiasts seek is the authorized websites of the creator. A well-structured and captivating NFT website includes the project overview, minting process, community section, NFT preview, and a roadmap that provides an intrinsic depth of your NFT project. In this way, your brand gives potential buyers full transparency into your NFT, enhancing its legitimacy, and giving them the confidence to invest in your project.

NFT Marketing Summary

Until now, the NFT market is still experiencing a buying frenzy. There is no one standard recipe for your NFT project success. To stay ahead of the intense market competition, your best bet is to partner with an experienced NFT digital marketing agency that can provide you with a robust and thorough NFT marketing strategy to generate buzz and convey the NFT’s unique value to the target audience. If you’re looking for a digital marketing agency that can add wings to your NFT project execution, click here to contact us now!

About AsiaPac Net Media

With an extensive digital marketing experience of serving more than 2,500 clients across Asia in sectors such as ecommerce, finance, gaming, travel, retail, beauty, FMCG, education, health products etc., AsiaPac’s expert team is highly recognized for the excellence in providing performance-driven services to businesses across Asia, and global corporates targeting Asia markets. If you’d like to learn more about AsiaPac and the work we’ve done, visit our Cases page. For more information on AsiaPac/ AdTech and our services, please contact us at info@asiapac.com.hk/ info@adtechinno.com.