Coinworld reports:
Excellent marketing talents need to delve into Crypto Twitter and be proficient in data analysis.
Author: Nate, Director of Marketing and Growth at Eclipse
Translation: Luffy, Foresight News
One of the most frequent questions I am asked is “how to recruit high-quality marketing talents”. In just the past month, more than 10 companies have contacted me, hoping to hire early-stage marketing personnel, and I have also seen three projects part ways with their existing marketing directors/chief marketing officers. I understand these people’s feelings very well. In the cryptocurrency field, it is quite difficult to find excellent marketing talents, and it is even more difficult to find a CMO. This job is really difficult, and the talent pool worth hiring is very small. Having said that, I also believe that many difficulties come from founders who do not know the qualities that excellent marketing personnel usually possess. This article will focus on why it is so difficult to find excellent marketing talents and what key qualities marketing leaders at startups must have.
Before delving into it, I would like to share a study by @divine_economy, which provides an accurate assessment of the current large-scale adoption of cryptocurrencies. I quote this tweet because many founders need to face reality. Since the collapse of FTX, we have entered one of the worst bear market cycles, and the cryptocurrency industry has been criticized by the public. We are no longer as important as we were a few years ago. Please step out of the cryptocurrency bubble and touch reality.
The current “cycle” is mainly driven by Memecoins. The cryptocurrency market is not like the DeFi summer a few years ago, when major innovations attracted a large number of new users and builders. Not to mention, the regulatory environment in the United States is a mess, hindering many companies from effectively executing their product roadmaps and delivering new products. Do you really think we are welcoming a large number of new users? I mean millions of new users, not just a few newcomers trading junk coins.
To be frank, I don’t believe that cryptocurrencies will occupy a place in mainstream cultural consciousness unless the prices of major cryptocurrencies rise by more than 30% from current levels. I say this because most of my friends are not involved in cryptocurrency work. I have a few friends who are not involved in cryptocurrency work but have started trading junk coins on Solana using Phantom, but I haven’t seen the same level of interest in cryptocurrencies among ordinary people as before FTX. Personally, my standard for when cryptocurrencies will be associated with ordinary people again is when my friends and family start asking me crazily what to buy. I see signs that this could happen soon, but it hasn’t happened yet.
In the past two years, the size of your marketing-relevant audience has not grown significantly. New wallet addresses do not equal new users.
This is why I believe that almost every cryptocurrency project is struggling with marketing. Have you invented a killer DApp that can attract millions of new users? I don’t think so. So when this is a common problem in the industry, why do you expect your marketing leaders to bridge the gap between cryptocurrencies and ordinary users all by themselves? Without sufficient organic demand, your marketing leaders will not be able to magically attract users to your product. However, this does not mean that your marketing personnel are useless.
An excellent marketing leader needs to pay attention to both short-term and long-term trends. In the short term, they need to connect your brand with the existing crypto community. You are competing with a large number of projects (direct and indirect competitors) to attract the attention of a relatively small audience (Crypto Twitter). If you fail to win the attention of Crypto Twitter, you will fail. They are the core users you know will appear in the short term. This is how you survive.
But the real challenge is to capture new users when they arrive. Either because you have such an interesting innovation that it attracts completely new people to enter this field, or because the price has risen enough to create a fear of missing out (FOMO). Therefore, the long-term focus is to build your distribution channels so that you are ready to acquire the aforementioned new users. Do you have distribution channels outside of Crypto Twitter? Do you really believe that your project will be useful to completely new users who are not familiar with cryptocurrencies? Most of the projects I have come into contact with cannot answer these questions with certainty. You need to be able to do this in order to flourish.
This is where I sympathize with founders. Employees who can handle or understand both points (short-term and long-term) are few, and those qualified to help you solve this problem are even rarer. Why is this?
In order to formulate short-term and long-term successful marketing strategies, cryptocurrency marketing personnel need to master two fundamental skills:
They need to delve into Crypto Twitter.
This is where enthusiastic cryptocurrency product users (i.e. trading junk coins, regularly using DApps) and seasoned cryptocurrency practitioners communicate their experiences and track industry trends.
They need to be proficient in data.
They need to collect, understand, and communicate data to your team. Data proves that what you are doing is effective, not just based on feelings. Unfortunately, I find that this quality is usually only found in practitioners from other industries.
There may be exceptions under normal circumstances, but I have interviewed people without cryptocurrency experience and even many people with cryptocurrency experience who simply do not understand Crypto Twitter. It is a very special realm in internet culture, closely related to complex research, computer enthusiasts, and degenerate gambling culture. If you have never experienced having your wallet emptied and waiting for funds to bridge, or have not interacted with the superbrains of the crypto field, you will not immediately succeed here. You cannot communicate with an audience you do not understand.
On the other hand, most native cryptocurrency marketing personnel I have come into contact with are poor at handling data. They cannot build simple dashboards to quantify metrics. They do not know how to conduct A/B testing. They also cannot identify obvious danger signals when data trends are unreasonable. If you cannot do these things, you cannot test activities regularly and iterate continuously to improve your marketing strategies. Interestingly, blockchain technology collects massive amounts of data, but most people are not good at interpreting this data. By comparison, I find that data analysis is one of the core skills possessed by well-reputed employees in non-Web3 companies.
The best analogy I can give is that your marketing leader is driving a car (your marketing strategy). To be an excellent driver, they need to not only see the road ahead but also have a clear idea of the general direction to reach the destination (killer brand). Understanding Crypto Twitter is like seeing the road ahead, and being proficient in data is like knowing how to use GPS. An ideal marketer may also possess many other skills, such as creativity, pop culture, adaptability, management experience, etc. But in my opinion, these two abilities are absolute prerequisites for effectively driving marketing tools.
Unfortunately, few candidates can meet this standard because they usually need rich experience both inside and outside Web3. Essentially, you are looking for an F1 driver… while the talent pool consists of a group of licensed young drivers.
Most of the job descriptions (JDs) of CMOs or marketing directors that I have encountered lack this understanding. They use expressions such as “drive our content strategy” and “oversee the creation of marketing activities,” but in the screening process, they do not fully consider the two qualifications I shared above. On the contrary, I hear many interview questions such as “how can we be more like___?” or “how can we acquire new users?”
You are screening for the wrong things. An MBA will not teach you anything about Crypto Twitter.
This is why current cryptocurrency project marketing is repetitive and boring, and these marketing efforts will not gain any attention for your project. An excellent marketing leader will leverage their understanding of Crypto Twitter and use data to form ideas and experiment. They will not have magical secrets before they start working, but they will be able to provide you with a hypothesis to execute and form a well-thought-out strategic brand positioning tailored to your project. They will stand out because they will not be afraid to make bold attempts that others have never made, even if founders/CEOs have doubts about marketing strategies. Although they may draw inspiration from other projects, they certainly do not want to completely copy them.
Most importantly, they will deeply understand that Crypto Twitter is just one important bet. To build a company that can thrive in multiple cycles, you also need distribution channels elsewhere. To figure out how to achieve this, you need time and a savvy leader. Make sure you screen for the key qualities that can prove this level of savvy: Crypto Twitter warriors and data guides.
In conclusion of today’s article, I want to say something to CEOs of cryptocurrency projects:
Throughout your time as a CEO, you may have always believed that you are the best candidate for this job. You may have the sharpest mind, but you may not be the best marketer. For marketing, your audience is not only those super-minded smart people, nor just the venture capitalists who sign million-dollar checks, but every person who interacts with your brand.
Once you find a qualified leader to manage marketing, are you ready to give up partial control over the brand direction? Because I can assure you that the most qualified candidates will disagree with you on many things, and they should. You need someone who knows your audience better than you do. This person will formulate strategies for you and oversee the entire company.
So, are you willing to have another leader in your company? Or are you just looking for a scapegoat to blame when things don’t go well?
