IEOs (Initial Exchange Offerings) are on an incredible rise right now. Projects that don’t have a giant budget for self-sustained fundraising are able to get enough money to develop MVP, gain traction or even release a working product with the help of IEOs.

 IEO is a great tool to scale businesses through secure fundraising. However, a lot of really promising projects fail to raise anything at all, because they don’t understand the process or simply hope that the  Exchange will nail this process themselves.

 Having worked with more than ten crypto startups who were able to successfully close their fundraising rounds at such IEO Launchpads like Huobi, Coineal, CoinBene, and SHORTEX, we would like to share our insights about what it takes to conduct a successful IEO.

 

Your product comes FIRST

 

ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) were the Klondike for scammers. With tens of thousands of investors and crypto enthusiasts being fooled, the whole crypto community has become way more cautious and thoughtful with their money.

So it really doesn’t matter how much work you put into the marketing if your project is not relevant. You must have a strong idea before even hesitating to launch an IEO.

If it’s another e-commerce platform or messaging app, you probably have to think twice before launching. Only groundbreaking and truly innovational projects usually find success.

 

Build a community

 

As obvious as it is, somehow a lot of startups still rely on the community of the exchange. Even if it’s a huge exchange like Binance, don’t take anything for granted. Startups have to keep in mind that the major part of any exchange’s community is traders. They’re just trading BTC, ETH, LTC and other big cryptocurrencies.

Before fundraising through IEO, get at least 100 genuine supporters. Use PR and reach out to people via good-quality SMM. Always focus on quality instead of quantity.

In order to execute a decent promotional campaign, startups need to create  a marketing journey. At first, your potential investor sees a post about the project from an influencer. Then he sees a mention of your product in his favorite media. When he will see your targeted ad this time, it will be something familiar for him and chances are he will click the ad. It is all about these 3-4 connections. This is when true ‘marketing magic’ begins to work. No need to spend thousands of dollars on random youtube bloggers and banners. Every penny should be spent wisely.

 

Don’t abuse airdrops and bounty programs

 

Even though airdrops and bounty programs have proven themselves as a decent tool to create traction and activity, it’s a double-edged sword that can easily be turned against you in the future. Your community chat will turn into an ‘airdrop chat’, where everyone is begging for tokens. It will leave a really bad ‘aftertaste’ if a genuine supporter comes in.

 

Don’t put all your eggs into one basket

 

Instead of choosing one extremely expensive IEO launchpad, go for several cheaper ones. That way you will save some money and have a chance to reach a far bigger audience.

Diversification is always good. Keep in mind the geography of the Launchpads. Use one with an Asian audience and one with a more English-speaking audience.

 

Use Private sales

 

Private Sale is a secret tool that often gets the job done. Choosing a Launchpad with an exclusive base of investors is a game-changer. As for our practice, 70% of the successful fundraising can be attributed to Private Sales.

 

Go global

 

Don’t focus only on the English-speaking community. Hiring several community managers from Russia and China can be a super-cheap and worthy investment. Get Free advice. If you are still not sure about your marketing strategy, feel free to contact specialists from SHORTEX to get free advice.