Hello there! My name is Laureline, I’m responsible for PR at Rebound Crypto. Here at Rebound Crypto, we have been operating in the blockchain and ICO space since 2017. We are a young, agile team who are passionate about everything related to crypto and blockchain. We make sure to constantly monitor what is going on in the industry and we always stay up-to-date about the most recent evolutions.

On a weekly basis we will dedicate a blog post to a topic related to an ICO, that will help you obtain the best results possible. We will help you understand what all the necessary steps are in an ICO. The goal of these posts is to identify the main factors of success for an ICO. Once identified, we will explain in detail what these mean.

This post will focus on 6 things you should take into account when making a decision about what ICO marketing agency you will collaborate with, because this can have immediate consequences to your token sale.

In 2017, ICOs managed to raise about $3.88 billion. However, nearly half of them didn’t manage to raise their targeted funds, or already went out of business. That being said, it is not enough to have an outstanding idea anymore, a lot of the success behind an ICO, is because its outreach to investors, a community that supports the project and also the necessary exposure. This is something you can’t do on your own, you need a marketing agency for that. And the earlier on board they are, the better. After all, you need a lot of preparation time in terms of how you can reach out to these investors, how to get the best exposure etc. After an effective research we conducted, we have noticed that there is about a hundred of agencies willing to help you with your ICO. The ICO market is booming, because of that the list is getting longer and longer by the day. But how do you decide on what the best fit is for you and what ICO marketing agency you should as a consequence be working with?

1. Experience counts

The easiest way to understand what an ICO marketing agency could offer you and how they approach token sales, is to look out for case studies, available portfolios and of course for testimonials. You can easily gain more insight about the kinds of projects the agency has collaborated with, what kind of strategy they have used and what kind of focus they have shed light on in their projects.

An important indicator as to how successful the campaign was, is for instance how much these projects managed to raise in funds. Additionally it’s very useful to find out what kinds of services the agency has provided for their case studies and what the results have been.

2. Consider your budget

ICOs are phenomena of the present. It has been very clear during our research that the prices are not really set in stone. The prices are very unstable in this market and they also vary a lot from agency to agency. There is no indicator in terms of what an acceptable price is, some companies offer full packages with very steep pricing models, others work with an hourly price or even a weekly price.

Marketing is such an important step in your ICO, that it in general requires a larger budget. Without spending both time and resources on marketing, your ICO won’t be attracting the investors that is needed.

3. Stay current with the trends

One of the things to keep in mind is that the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry is a fast paced environment and changes rapidly. This also affects your token sale, think about the recent ban on Twitter for example. In this specific case it is necessary that marketers immediately can counteract with different alternatives for their advertisements or ways around it. The key to success is agility. It’s about being quick and flexible, creating the right business culture and putting your customers first in a fast-paced environment that’s continuously changing.

You need to find an agency that is always up-to-date and has the expertise and ability to change with the different transformations within the cryptocurrency and blockchain world. A small team of experts, often have what it takes to take current evolvements into account during the projects that they encounter.

4. A one-stop shop or outsource service?

There are a lot of nuances in what these agencies have to offer and what niche they are specialized in. In general there is three important fields into preparing for an ICO, the earlier on you find an agency to work with, the better. An agency can either specialize in technology and development, legal and marketing.

Some companies also offer full-scale ICO services. They can be either a one-stop shop or they can outsource their offering. It is important to know that before proceeding with anyone. In case of outsourcing you have to take into account who their partners are.

Some agencies that take the a to z approach only work together with carefully chosen partners and the best of the best. Your prefered ICO marketing agency should have as much expertise in marketing, but it should also be able to assist you in creating all the documents, platforms and providing legal services, even if they don’t offer it themselves.

5. Adding more value to your product

A good ICO marketing agency will take the time to both understand your project, aims, goals, your team and everything necessary to grasp while conducting an ICO. They will be able to help you by adding even more confidence and value to your product by their expertise and knowledge.

Not all ICO marketing agencies offer project assessments. Project assessments tell you what to do and more importantly what you should not do, where you should focus on during your campaign, but they also help you in terms of what happens after the ICO ends. By having this assessment you will also have a clearer view on how to form the budget for your campaign, what areas need to be focused on more etc.

6. Trust is a must

Have you ever spent your budget on implementing a ICO marketing strategy plan, but at the same time not really knowing how effective the plan really was? Marketing plans are not helpful unless you can measure the results. So before implementing anything, it’s important that the marketing agency can provide you with a clear picture of what they aim to achieve, what strategy to follow and the amount of funds to achieve your goals.

This means that during the campaign complete transparency is an important key. By knowing the metrics during your campaign and getting access to monitor the effectiveness of the advertising, it is also easier to optimize your token sale.

Final Thoughts

ICOs have gained a lot of popularity within the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. This also means that there are a lot of different agencies willing to help you out during your campaign. You need to be able to increase awareness about your product, reach out to investors and create trust in not only your product, but also your team.

This is where the marketing agencies can step in. In terms of choosing the right agency, it’s important to keep an eye on the company’s track record, pricing policies, agility, field, project assessments and how transparent they are.

Hopefully this article helped you with understanding what kind of different agencies are out there and guided you to making a choice. If you would like to get some more insight on how to do cost-efficient ICO marketing, download our guidebook here!

This blog post originally was posted on our Medium account, visit the blog post on Medium here.