Web3 marketing is not traditional marketing with a token on top: the audience is a community that can own part of the product, the channels are different (Discord, X, on-chain), and the rules — from MiCA to national advertising circulars — decide what you are allowed to say. This is the strategy we apply, in the order that works.
1. Community before campaigns
In web3 the community is the distribution channel. Before spending a euro on ads, the product needs a place where early users talk, get answers and see progress: a Discord or Telegram with real moderation, a public roadmap and founders who show up. Campaigns amplify a community; they do not create one.
2. The channels that actually convert
X (Twitter) remains the town square: threads that explain, not announce; builders and partners who repost; spaces for launches. Discord/Telegram for retention and support. Content and SEO for the long tail — the questions people ask before they trust a protocol. KOLs and partners only with disclosed compensation and measurable deliverables; undisclosed paid promotion is exactly what regulators are chasing. Paid ads last: the major platforms restrict crypto advertising and require certification, and the cost per acquisition only makes sense once the funnel converts.
3. Token and NFT mechanics, used honestly
Airdrops, quests, NFT passes and referral tokens are powerful when they reward real use and toxic when they reward extraction: a campaign that attracts wallets that leave the next day inflates every metric and buys nothing. Design the incentive around the behaviour you want to keep, cap what can be farmed, and measure retained users, not sign-ups. Governance through a DAO is a marketing asset only if decisions are real.
4. What you are allowed to say
Marketing a crypto-asset in the EU is regulated: MiCA requires marketing communications to be fair, clear and consistent with the whitepaper, and in Spain the CNMV's Circular 1/2022 sets prior-notice duties and mandatory risk warnings for mass campaigns. We summarise them in crypto advertising rules in Spain. A campaign designed without this filter is a campaign that gets withdrawn.
5. Measure what matters
On-chain data makes web3 marketing measurable in ways web2 never was: retained wallets, transactions per user, holding time, cohort behaviour after an incentive ends. Define those metrics before launching, and judge every channel by them — not by impressions or followers.
Campaigns that worked, and why
We analysed the campaigns of large brands — what converted, what was withdrawn and which formats are worth copying — in web3 marketing campaigns that work. If you are launching a product, a token or a game (see web3 game development) and need the strategy, the channels and the compliance filter in one place, that is our web3 marketing service. Talk to us.