How to grow Web3 marketing like OG

The world of crypto, blockchain and the wider web3 space has been expanding and evolving rapidly.

Humble Origins is a safe haven for fintech enthusiasts who use blockchain to overcome the traditional financial system. Now it's an industry that regulators want to regulate, celebrities have backed, and some big institutions are investing.

This means that over the course of a decade, the story told to outsiders has also changed in an effort to attract long-term users. How do you tell the story of an ecosystem that has so little history? How do you sell an idea that is constantly evolving?

Cointelegraph spoke exclusively with Amanda Cassatt during the Paris Speech Confirmation. Kast is the founder and CEO of Serotonin's leading marketing company, Web3. She was formerly the Chief Marketing Officer of Consensys and explains how she built one of the most successful marketing empires, telling Web3 Stories.

Telling a story without one

Kasat made his own foray into the crypto space in 2015. He was looking for a payment solution as a founder in 2015 in New York. It was then that she stumbled upon one of the first Ethereum conferences.

“What I noticed, even though I couldn't do due diligence on the codebase – was that this was the smartest group of people I've ever met, and they were excited to see anyone in that number. , this smart, maybe in my whole life,” she explained.

Cassatt said it took them “a while” to explain the concept behind Ethereum because it wasn't explained well or properly in “accessible ways” to non-technical people at the time. She added that it blew her mind to learn that Web3 could be the foundation of an “advanced financial system” alternative.

“Instead of locking you into one system based on where you're born, basically, it allows different systems to be shaped and compete with each other and let people choose – and that sounds better.”

It was during this time that she realized she had to join what she called the circus.

“I realized that a lot of people in that group didn't have a background in storytelling and didn't know how media works,” Cassatt explains.

Eventually, she grew into a role at Consensys, where she became part of creating some of the explanations.

Roots of growth

However, relatively new space stories, especially in 2015-2017, things were very different.

Kast explained that terms like crypto, bitcoin or ethereum are not allowed on any paid platforms like MailChimp, Google Ads or Facebook – any of the meta business platforms that are key for digital marketers.

She said there is no way to do standard Web2-style programmatic advertising for the emerging sector.

“We had to get out of the prescribed model of what marketing was—marketers managing these big spends on Web2 ad platforms, because we couldn't really do that.”

According to Serotonin's CEO, there are three types of marketing: owned, earned and paid. In the early days of Consensys, the focus was on acquisitions and acquisitions.

“We basically couldn't do paid stuff outside of event sponsorships and hosting events and stuff like that because the platforms wouldn't allow it, which was great because it meant we got back to the hacker roots of our development.”

Seeing more paid growth marketing in the space is “a reflection of the maturity of the space,” which Cassatt considers a positive development.

Organize the organizers

One of the most effective tactics she remembers employing on behalf of Consensys was building a network of meeting planners. She described this as people wanting to add the title of “Ethereum meetup host” to their identity for a specific city.

“So we organized the organizers.”

“We've made sure they have money for pizza and beer or culturally relevant funds,” she said, “or we've made sure there are standardized pitches and presentation templates to standardize and professionalize how you talk about projects.”

Cassatt says they've finally created a series of new DApps that will visit all the different gatherings and take users and get feedback.

This means there's always fresh, organic content, and it brings more efficiency than not having to organize every meeting group ourselves.

“It's a great metaphor for how to build an organic community in Web3.”

“You make sure you have a system that people want to opt into — a motivational framework with intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Plug people into that system, and instead of coming up with all the great ideas yourself as a marketer, explain them, then look around your community and see where the spark is.”

Every company is a media company.

Another visionary approach to the Web3 space, which can be broadly applied to startups, is in the way companies look at the content they produce.

“Essentially, I think every startup is its own media company about its own subject matter.”

Cassatt says startups should consider themselves that way, and for example, an email newsletter that covers all the developments going on in a particular topic or niche.

She pointed to her work at Consensys, where people put out various newsletters about “everything that's going on in Ethereum” so that people read them for editorial value, not just product promotion.

“It was the source of truth that people could bring to space.”

Advice for the next generation

And while one of the most challenging situations in the Web3 space—marketer, developer, or user—is keeping up with the rapid changes, Kast offers some timeless advice.

“Try to find product market fit. The opportunity to get high rewards in the crypto space has brought many inventors and founders and this is amazing because they are more shots at the goal of creating something good.”

She says this means there isn't much startup training or much discipline and experience compared to venture-backed Web2 startups.

“I was learning how to really find a product market for a startup. Come up with an idea, people you know, test it out in your target audience, see if they want to use it, see what they want. Pay for it,” she said.

Then, after finding the first frame that fits the original evangelists, send a message to the next circle of people, see what they think, and see if they use it:

“Get the people you know in your target audience excited before you grow to the next one and the next one. People forget this, but it's really easy – you have to do things that aren't big at first.”

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