Score Four! 4 Ways to Grow an NFT Collection Community

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• All you need is FOUR
• Fish where the fish are
• Talk long talk wrong
• DWIT

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Last week we talked about "how to" create an email list of your followers and NFT community members. If you missed that, you can grab it by clicking here!

OOPS!

My original plan was to dive into content creation ideas and strategies today... how to write headlines, how to create effective topics, and how to use the right keywords in social media posts. However, as I wrote I found myself headed somewhere else and figured sometimes we just have to go with our gut. So I went with it.

I'll certainly cover the topics above soon. BUT LQQK---> In the paragraph above, you will still find the promised lesson on using proper keywords so you have a better chance of landing on page one of the search engines.

See how I fit in "how to write headlines", "how to create effective topics", and "how to use the right keywords in social media posts"? (even though it sounds natural?)

People input those EXACT questions into Google/Bing often. By fitting them in here using those specific words, we have a better chance of being spotted and this article and blog being ranked for those terms.

And, if you bold them, or write them in italics, you'll let Google know "these phrases are important"! Yup!

So... moving ahead, today we're going to talk about finding NEW COMMUNITY MEMBERS! Interestingly enough, I would guess that you have never thought of doing what I'm going to suggest today... it's like one of those "forest and the trees" things.

Read on, you'll see what I mean.

All You Need is FOUR!

Joining your community is usually the first step someone takes before minting, buying your NFT on secondary, commenting in your Discord, joining your mailing list, or doing whatever else you'd like them to do. (or finding a lead for any type of business, really)

However, before they do ANY of that, they need to learn or hear about you! This one action may be the single biggest challenge in business building... finding people... or better said... finding leads!

It sounds odd, but if you zoom out and look at the big picture, there are really only FOUR concepts that you perform to reach out to tell people about your great NFT collection before they join your community. (This is a concept I learned from a mentor Alex Mendoza)

Sure there are a plethora (lol, I said "plethora") of options inside each of the four categories, but knowing them will help you focus your thought process so you can work on one at a time as you do the WORK needed to build your group. If you don't know what to do, focus on doing these, and know you'll be doing productive work.

Here are the four ways you can tell people about your NFTs:

There are TWO types of people broken down into TWO ways to communicate with them. This gives us the "core four" that make up the reaching out concept... or the four general ways to find people.

Warm, cold, one-to-one, one-to-many.

• The warm. These are the people you know... or better said, people who know YOU! Friends, relatives, people in other NFT groups you're a member of, colleagues, even competitors. You may not know them, but they need to know or be familiar with you. (this is what today's newsletter is about)

• The cold. Strangers. These are other people's audiences, lists, and even anyone you can potentially get in front of using social media. People on TikTok, Facebook, etc.. The goal there is to gain a follower, and convert them from "cold" to "warm".

• One-to-one. These are people you contact directly. You can phone, text, email, send a DM or private message or use some other way to tell them about your NFT launch or upcoming free NFT mint dates. (btw, I just did the keyword thing again there, hoping to get in front of someone who types "free NFT mint" or even "free NFT mint dates" into Google)

• One-to-many. These are people who see an ad I run on Facebook or Twitter/X, read an article or blog, watch my YouTube video, listen to a podcast, see a television commercial, or whatever other mass-media strategy we use.

So... the 4 methods are a combo of people who know you and people who don't... combined by using methods of either one-on-one or one-to-many... simple huh?

In a nutshell... and sure, it's a big nutshell because the methods/strategies are near unlimited, but either you personally contact people you know, personally contact people you don't know, use mass/social media to contact people you know, or use mass/social media to contact people you don't know!

Either way, it all starts by knowing a combination of what to do and how to do it... then of course putting in the WORK. (a four-letter word that too many people avoid these days, lol!)

I'll be breaking these down over time and going into them each individually in future newsletters... today, we'll be talking about the least costly method, contacting people in your warm market... people who know you... and doing it one-to-one!

Fish Where the Fish Are

I've both heard it was an ancient Chinese proverb and also heard that it was first said by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. Either way, the quote “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” couldn't be more true. So many businesses fail, because they fail to get started.

Getting started is definitely the first step when you're learning how to launch an NFT program. (lol, I did the keyword thing again... you know what I mean, yes?) But when you DO start, you'll get off the line faster if you go where the fish are! In other words, don't ignore your personal inside circle, they're both the easiest and cheapest to contact.

Strangely, even knowing it's the cheapest and potentially most effective marketing strategy you'll come across (statistically speaking), most of you will either hesitate, skip doing this altogether, or only do it in a minimal way.

Why not? Because you're scared.

Some of you (ok, some of "us"... I've been guilty of this as well) will be too embarrassed to contact friends and family, be afraid to spring on your family that you're playing with crypto, or feel too self-conscious for one reason or another.

But do it anyway.

Strangers will ignore you, this group won't. If you think contacting people you know are tough, try calling strangers. You're getting a head start and be planting seeds that can bear fruit long in the future.

Here it is:

Think about all the people who "know you" that you can contact. To get started, open an Excel sheet or Google Doc and create a list. Where do you get the list?

Open your phone and add everyone who is on your contact list. Do the same from Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat. Open your old email addresses you don't use anymore. Are you old? I bet you have a "little black book" sitting around collecting dust somewhere. Add them!

Friends at church? Yup! People you work with? Yup! Neighbors? Immediate family members? Extended family members? Yup, yup, yup! Old teammates? Add them too. Decide if you're going to call, text or email and get to work. (calling is the best!) Yes, it's work. But it's free.

"But Deekon! What do I say?"

I'm glad you asked! Here's a simple script that WILL work as long as you do it.

I can give you a laundry list of tips, but first, just let them know what you're doing... fill them in and ask for help. People who know you will want to help, yes? (unless you've been a crappy friend, lol) Just be truthful, open the door, and without being pushy or sounding like a salesman, see how many walk through it.

Edit this a bit for phone, text, or email. Again, calling and actually speaking to another human being is SO much better! If you're liked, chatty, witty, or persuasive, you're going to crush it...

If you're from Gen X, a Millenial, or of the younger persuasion, I KNOW this isn't what you're used to. But please trust me, you'll have more success actually speaking to them because it makes it harder for them to blow you off. If you email or text, all you'll hear are excuses, or worse... nothing at all.

If you "are" emailing or texting, simply break it up so it makes sense, and try to ask more questions than making statements so they feel obligated to respond. Either way, KISS! (keep it simple, silly!)

Even if you have to email them because that's the only contact info you have, try to get a phone number and call. I know it won't be practical with social media contacts, but you might still want to try. If you can find them on LinkedIn, there may be a phone number there. Be BOLD and go for it!

Here's what you'll say:

"Hey bud! How are things? I hope everything is well. It's been a while but I'm hoping you can help me out. I just created (or am managing, etc) a new NFT collection. Are you familiar with NFTs?

The question above is your ice-breaker, and curiosity maker, and will get some conversation started. Laugh a bit, be casual, and chat briefly, putting them at ease.

If your mint is inexpensive or free, mention it! If you have an incredible lead magnet that can educate or help them understand what you're doing, get them to it. Better yet, tell them you're sending it and add them to your email list on your own. (if you're not sure what a lead magnet is? Read THIS newsletter!)

There are a lot of people who know you who would jump in with both feet for a free NFT mint, especially if it's their first NFT. Many of those same people would probably drop $10, $20, $50, or more either to help you out because it's interesting, or because it's their first NFT. But you DO have to ask!

Don't waste too much time with small talk, however, and when it feels right, you follow up with the close:

"Anyway I wanted to ask -- WHO DO YOU KNOW that might be interested in grabbing one of our NFTs?". (don't say "do you know anyone?", always "WHO do you know?!")

Then SHADDAP! Do. Not. Speak. He who talks first loses.

He who talks first loses

There are a lot of psychological sales strategies going on here by not saying anything, but just trust me on this one. It's natural TO want to say something and you'll even find it uncomfortable.

Even if there's what we call a "pregnant pause" of 20 or 30 seconds, do NOT speak until they do. Among other things, the last thing you want to do is interrupt them while they're trying to remember some whale's name to hand over. (it can happen!)

To be fair, we KNOW that most people will NOT give you a name here... but that's not the goal anyway. What we're looking for, in a non-pushy way, are the people who say something like "Sorry, I really can't think of anyone, but this sounds really cool, I might be interested!".

Cha-ching!

You then give them the info and help them mint, get them to OpenSea or Magic Eden, or do whatever it is you need to help them out. You've now gained a solid holder who may never dump below the floor, and at the same time may have rekindled an old friendship or even touched base with an old flame! (hubba hubba!)

You WILL get some names this way, but we are using an indirect approach because the "who do you know who would be interested?" pitch takes the "hard sell" pressure off, and makes it easier. They won't feel like you're trying to get them to join your MLM or sell them something.

Now... the elephant in the room that we talked about a little above... I can already sense the fear some of you are feeling, and the angst that the thought of actually calling people you know on the telephone to talk about NFTs could send down your spine.

You'll find a hundred reasons why you shouldn't do it. The first time you sit down to do it, some of you will be shaking in your boots... but I PROMISE... it gets easier once you've begun.

I took my first "real" sales job in 1983. I was barely into my twenties, and the sales were made by going "door-to-door" to businesses. ANY business on the block was fair game and held a potential sale... we didn't skip anything.

We'd walk into the pet store, the barber next door, then the grocery store, the bank, Ms Donalds, the dentist's office... and whatever was next on the street seeling our wares! Every DAY for around 9 years I was somewhere between nervous and horrified for the first 10 doors.

By door eleven I was fine... and rocked and rolled.

The first call each day is the hardest. Don't make the mistake of thinking about it. Take Nike's advice and just DO IT! Then another. Then another. Then another. By the eleventh person you'll be chugging away, so don't cheat yourself and your business and skip this... your business deserves the best you have to give.

DWIT!

Do it enough times and you'll get responses. (it'll get easier the more you do it) The only thing you can do wrong is to do nothing... and it sounds rough, but if you won't contact people you know to tell them about your program (your business!) maybe you shouldn't be in business.

Don't give yourself the luxury of being weak. I've had some great success... but I've failed plenty of times at business along the way as well. I can pretty much assure you a couple of my business failures came because I WOULD NOT "do whatever it takes". (DWIT!)

Calling people who know and like you, or who at the least respect you, will build character, give you valuable experience, and grow your business. It may not be fun, and might fully suck some days, but can get your NFT collection (or whatever business you're in) off the ground. You never know where that whale will come from!

Don't be a weeny.

In my humble yet outspoken opinion, once you sell/mint ONE NFT someone pays for, you owe them a sellout. You should have enough utilities and bonuses, as well as a plan, quantity and price, so that each NFT you sell can hold its value over time, provide some service or utility worth the cost, or provide some other benefit to the holder... even if it's simply owning a 1 of a kind NFT or piece of art.

This attitude will help you promote your project, make it easier to find holders and build a community, and push you to give 110% of your effort to make it happen. Even if it means calling your mother-in-law or 4th cousin.

I guess it's ok to skip the MIL, unless she's a whale. Interpret that however you like.

That's "warm leads, reaching out one-to-one". In a nutshell. I would love to role-play, answer Q's, or discuss other ideas and thoughts in our Discord mastermind as well!

And yup... we'll soon discuss the three other overall ways to promote and market your NFT collection... one-to-many to both a warm and cold target, and one-to-one with strangers.

This will include specific details, "how to's", and strategies about organic social media posting, social media paid ads, and a lot more. I have a list of sessions already planned, but of course, if you have anything to request, please say so.

Until next week... if you need help, ask for it. If you don't, prove it!

Deacon Nick

AKA: Deacon Z/Nick Cifonie/dad/Poppy/etc

PS - You have likely NEVER had anyone else suggest you do this. Stick around, I promise this will be the norm.

Just because you've never heard of anyone else generating leads this way, DO IT! All it takes is a couple of whales, and you can light up your NFT collection, and put it on the map!

A Rising Floor is a weekly newsletter and Discord Mastermind created for NFT and ordinal collection owners, staff, and founders, as well as NFT industry gig workers and anyone who wants to promote their NFTs. It’s a free source of news, NFT marketing help, and a place to communicate with peers for the advancement of the industry.

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