The Challenges of Web3 Marketing

Marketing a startup is never easy, but when it comes to web3 startups, the challenges can be even greater. In this article, we will explore these challenges and discuss why we need web3 native ad-tech solutions.

The world of web3 startups is rapidly expanding, with blockchain-based companies seeking to disrupt traditional industries and bring about a new era of decentralized applications and services. However, marketing a web3 startup comes with its own set of challenges, which can make it difficult for these companies to effectively reach and engage with their target audiences.

In this article, we will explore some of the key challenges that web3 startups face when it comes to marketing and why it is important to develop web3 native ad-tech solutions to overcome these obstacles.

Challenge #1: Bans on Crypto Ads

One of the biggest challenges facing web3 startups is the ban on crypto ads by major ad networks such as Google, Facebook, and TikTok - for fraud concerns. This ban means that startups cannot advertise on these platforms, which severely limits their reach, as many users rely on these platforms for information and discovery of new products and services.

To overcome this challenge, startups need to find new ways to reach their target audience. This may include using alternative ad networks, such as crypto-specific ad networks or platforms that have not banned crypto ads. Alternatively, most web3 projects have relied on more organic methods of marketing, such as social media, influencer marketing, and community engagement.

Challenge #2: One-on-One Partnerships

Another major challenge for web3 startups is the need to individually establish partnerships with different influencers and publishers. Sourcing, vetting, negotiating, and compensating each influencer or publisher can be a time-consuming and daunting process.

Currently, web3 projects invest time and resources in building these relationships. This may include attending conferences and events where influencers and publishers are present, as well as reaching out to them directly through email or social media. But even after connecting, negotiation is hard: these two parties donât really know nor trust each other, and what we usually see is creators asking for money upfront before producing and posting any content. And it does make sense: what guarantee can publishers have that these web3 projects will live long enough to pay them for their services? And at the same time, what guarantees can advertisers have that these creators will deliver their content? Weâve seen both advertisers and publishers of all sizes battling with this challenge.

Asking for upfront payments may be a convenient way for creators to secure compensation, but at the end of the day, itâs a suboptimal solution to a trust issue, which results in lost opportunities for both web3 projects and creators.

Challenge #3: Measuring ROI

But even if web3 projects succeed in forging these one-on-one partnerships, they encounter a final challenge: marketing attribution. It can be difficult for these companies to track how their marketing campaigns are generating on-chain transactions, and to eventually come up with an ROI metric for these campaigns. Without this crucial data, informed decisions about marketing budget allocation and resource distribution become challenging. Consequently, we see many web3 projects optimizing their ad spend based on vanity metrics such as social media likes, follows, and retweets.

To overcome this challenge, web3 projects will need to adopt attribution software that will let them understand not only how users are flowing in across different traffic sources, but also how these users are transacting on-chain.

Only when web3 projects understand at what cost theyâre acquiring users, will they be able to implement sustainable growth strategies.

The need for web3 native solutions

So do we need web3 native solutions to these challenges? Canât we just adapt the good old web2 software we have been using for years now? 

The truth is that web2 ad-tech solutions have been ignoring the web3 space until now. In addition, it is clear that web3 projects run on top of a different infrastructure and require specific features to web3: wallet-based analytics, on-chain transaction attribution, smart contract enabled payouts and more.

At Fuul, our mission is to enable trustless partnerships between web3 brands and content creators. 

Weâre building for a new open and decentralized ad ecosystem that will provide web3 projects with the right tools to scale their user acquisition efforts, while providing new monetization opportunities for creators.

Weâre happy you are here, and we welcome you to join us on this journey to help web3 projects scale. Follow us on Twitter @fuul_xyz.