Last year saw a massive boom in ICOs, with 234 companies raising around $3.7 billion. While ICOs now offer a tremendous opportunity for companies to raise funds, it also presents the huge challenge of standing out from the crowd. With hundreds of startups across the world vying for investor attention, having a sound marketing strategy has become vital to the success of your ICO campaign.

Among the gravest mistakes that startups make is trying to appeal to everyone with a single message. This approach is flawed because different investor groups have different aspirations and different levels of knowledge. Hence, profiling the ICO investor is critical to designing your ICO marketing strategy.

ICO Investor Profiling

Broadly speaking, there are three major ICO groups:

Blockchain Enthusiasts

This group comprises of tech-savvy folks. These people are typically early adopters of technology; and were among the first to get onto the crypto bandwagon. They’re passionate about how blockchain is set to change the world and how cryptocurrencies disrupt traditional legacy banking systems.

How to Target Blockchain Enthusiasts?

This investor group is highly knowledgeable and, therefore, discerning. An ICO marketing to blockchain enthusiasts needs to have a strong product / solution, robust technology and a sound team. The most critical marketing tool to address this investor group is the whitepaper. It needs to be well-designed and thorough. If you have a Telegram group, these would be the people asking the tough questions. So, your community managers need good FAQs prepared in advance.

Token Speculators

This group comprises of regular investors. Apart from ICOs, these folks would probably have investments in other assets like stocks and forex. They will analyze the potential financial return of a token.

How to Target Token Speculators?

To target token speculators, an ICO will need to have clearly defined financials, including the pricing structure of their token, how much is to be raised during the ICO and how the token value will be maintained. Marketing initiatives need to continue beyond the ICO presale and sale to assist with maintaining and increasing the token value.

Mass Market Investors

This group comprises of those who’ve been hearing about the phenomenal growth in cryptocurrencies and wish to give it a shot. They are influenced heavily by FOMO (fear of missing out). These folks are neither tech-savvy nor have adequate knowledge to judge the financials of an ICO. Instead, they are heavily influenced by PR and marketing hype.

To reach mass market investors, the marketing communication needs to be simple and straightforward, without too much jargon.

Beyond Investor Type: ICO Vertical

Apart from the broad profiling mentioned above, investors from different industries or verticals need to be targeted differently. An energy ICO would have a very different marketing approach and messaging tone than an ICO in the eSports or gaming space.

Even the focus on channels would differ. For instance, education and energy related concepts perform better with social media and referral marketing, while content marketing proves powerful for highly technical solutions, while healthcare does great with webinars and events.

Need help profiling investors for your ICO? Wish to unleash a powerful marketing strategy? Contact daniel@tokentarget.com or chat with us on Skype: tokentarget