PR in the Crypto world, where is the hook?
Crypto is currently the main global topic worldwide. Last time we recorded the first crypto bank in the US and many projects linked to blockchain technology.
Of course, I also take into account the current topics we are constantly listening to, Covid, climate change and the economic crisis. But for now I would like to open a topic about PR in the Cryptoworld.
There are a number of projects on the market, from media, wallets and currencies to crypto machines. Blockchain technologies are already in every area of today’s lives.
It can be said that it is necessary to get acquainted with them and to penetrate smoothly into the intangible world of Cryptocurrencies.
There are thousands of crypto companies in the world that come into existence every day, of which up to 95-99% are fake. They will disappear exactly as quickly as they have arisen. The solidity of such companies is only a relative concept; And once they lose their reputation, regaining it costs a lot of effort and money.
The reputation of any company is built over years, and it works similarly for Crypto projects. In the online crypto world, it’s just a little faster and quite challenging at the beginning. However, there is one unchanging rule, once you lose the company’s reputation, it is very difficult to regain it. Of course, nothing is impossible, it just needs time.
The best and the most proven way is hard work from the ground up. Building a good reputation means traveling the long road. It is possible to start through cooperation with long-term projects, as well as by connecting the company with strong partners on the market. A person who has a good reputation and will help the company by participating in a project is also security. Consequently, communication with potential partners will be made easier. Plus, it is necessary to support all this with a strong financial injection aimed at a strong PR strategy.
In the cryptoworld, PR doesn’t work exactly the same as it does in the real world. For one PR article, companies must pay a high fee of around 8,000 euros up front with no assurances that the article will even be written. Since this is a new, world-wide market, many people try to take advantage of this and scams or other tricks are very common. This means that choosing your collaborators carefully is one of the most important tasks a company must undertake.
- Determining the goal of the PR strategy.
– We can regain the good name of the company by engaging in charitable activities, connecting with functioning companies and cooperating with people with a “clean register”, therefore people with a good reputation on the market.
- Time period.
– The minimum time to build a good name is approximately 6 months, in some cases 12 months.
- Initial investment.
– If you have an idea of the amount you plan to invest now, be prepared for the fact that budget will be 5 times more
- Cooperation + investment in a serious person.
– Cooperation with a reputable company, marketing agency or sales manager is key. I’ll explain why.
“My client and I set up a PR marketing strategy. We have determined the set time period, the initial investment and the way in which we want to achieve the set goal. After 2 months, the result was very bad. Why? In the crypto world, one often encounters deception, cheating, and oftentimes agreements do not hold.
For example, on LinkedIn, you will find the largest number of Crypto journalists and fake managers. Their only interest is to raise as much money as possible at the very beginning. They have confirmations, videos and they really look absolutely real. They work in organized groups and pretend to work for the largest companies.
- They connect you with colleagues, who look like they are in charge of another division, but of course they are also fake. They have one goal: to deprive clients of huge funds. They don’t care about the currency, it can be bitcoin, $, or euros; they only ask what the client is more comfortable with. The only important thing is the money in the bank account. Of course, you will never find the provided funds again. This is how I managed to reveal the network of “Crypto fake profiles” on Linked in. First, I was deprived of an entry fee of $ 500, which was the minimum rate, as I refused to send them the full amount for the campaign in one shot.
- Several Sales managers in crypto media do not respond promptly. The usual answer to information e-mail is an invoice for about $ 64,000. The invoice is without a breakdown of services and with no guarantee.
- Many PR agencies are based in Russia and Ukraine. Communicating with people, on the other hand, is challenging if you do not agree with their terms, so you risk that your company’s name will suffer, as in some cases they know how to use threats or arrogance. Many of the companies are directly linked to Crypto media and have agreements with them.
It is important to notice that with the right connections it is not hard to get articles published in the newspaper, or important tech platforms, usually used as reference to give credibility to a project. The fact that the world of blockchain is little understood makes it easy for a good PR to sell a story of revolutionary technologies that are not clear to the public, but have quite a mediatic resonance, and promote “innovation” in general.
In terms of bringing new “users” on board a project needs a narrative in line with the crypto trends. There must be a point of reference in an existing project that already got some traction, good token economics with referral and cashback programs, possibly a staking system where users can lock up their funds and earn passive income, or access a series of advantages. Of course, a big risk, like is currently happening, is that users buy and use a token of a specific project only for earning more tokens, and for nothing else (because in reality there is no other use); but this only works in the short term, after that the project fades away, like the capital of most of the investors. Sadly, a lot of PR agencies do not make distinctions and promote anything that pays.
Short Interview with Cointelegraph
Ivana / What problem do you most often encounter when preparing an ad for a client?
Cointelegraph: One of the biggest problems in the space is the transparency of the company. Given the modern technological level C levels always have to balance between secrecy and openness. Some companies are here for a short breath and quick pump-and-dump, while the others are with solid and respectable products. Another issue is how deep a client understands marketing strategies and their implementation at certain stages on the road map.
Ivana/ Why is PR in the crypto world so important and at the same time very demanding?
Cointelegraph The answer is simple: most of the projects on the blockchain are driven by the community. and the more awareness and trust there is in the product, the better performance of it is on the market.
Ivana/ Why is this field so interesting for fraudsters?
Cointelegraph: Because, the technological level of one people and their level of education, together with the blockchains features such as: anonymity, price of the assets, speed etc. allow them to take advantage over less knowledgeable people. On the other hand, publicity played the critical role in getting more capital from people that wanted to get rich easily. And with the big bucks comes the big temptation for minds in crime.
Ivana/ Your work is virtual, you also have to communicate with a team around the world and you are rarely in personal contact with colleagues or business partners. Do you all work online from home, how do you build trust and how does collaboration work?
Cointelegraph: It is a matter of self discipline and organization skills. 90% of the industry works remotely or with offices worldwide. The trust is gained through things you do for your client, and as I said earlier the level of sacrifice and openness.
As everywhere in the Crypto world, there are decent people who will be happy to help you, you will make an agreement and the cooperation itself is one pleasant experience. Personally, I am very happy for the new experiences and people who helped me in my orientation and first contact with the world of Cryptocurrencies. I wish a lot of luck Le Globless.
