How to Promote Your NFT Program for Free!

If you have deep pockets and your brother owns a marketing agency you can pay for the traffic and eyeballs to sell out an NFT project. The rest of us need to find some more inexpensive ways to promote! Here they are.

If you prefer, you can listen/watch all of our newsletters as videos or podcasts here: https://youtube.com/@arisingfloor/videos

Last week we talked about mistakes people make when launching an NFT project. You can listen or read to that one by clicking here: https://arisingfloor.com/articles/post/nft-social-media-plan

In today’s newsletter you’ll learn:

• The good old days weren’t that good
• Social Media marketing is free marketing
• Airdrops and giveaways FTW
• Podcasts and discussions
• Calendar, calendar, calendar
• The art of the shill
• Howdy pardner

The Good Old Days Weren’t That Good

When I was marketing my businesses in the past, the only real free marketing we had was referrals… or “word of mouth”. There weren’t review sites, there was no internet… so we had 4 main choices: TV, radio, newspapers/magazines, and direct mail.

And they were ALL expensive.

I can’t point out enough how fortunate we are today, to have so many free marketing options… that you kids take for granted, lol! (couldn't resist) Read on!

Social Media Marketing is free Marketing

One of the best and cheapest ways to promote your NFT collection is by building your social media profiles. There are plenty, but the most important are easily Twitter, Twitter, Twitter... then X.

After that Facebook is good, as-is LinkedIn if you’re in a more business-oriented niche… then Instagram, Tik-Tok, Reddit, Quora, and Medium are also important places to be. They’re all great for NFT marketing. And cost zero.

Keep in mind, that there’s always an investment… in this case, it’s time. if you have more money, then use paid methods. Either works, but paid marketing will always work faster.

As long as you have or can develop a real and engaged audience (community) that genuinely believes in your project, over time you’ll grow. Start promoting your project a month or two before the launch, so people have plenty of time to share, save funds, etc..

Let people know what’s happening, when it's happening, and why they should get involved. I commonly hear people say “I don’t know what to post”. If this is an issue, here's a very simple example: write an article on Medium or a long -form post on Reddit, then pick out parts of that article and post those snippets daily on the short-form sites.

If you do this weekly, you’ll never run out of content. Write a Medium article each week, then break it up for 7 days. Rinse and repeat.

Airdrops and Giveaways FTW

NFT airdrops and Giveaways have become incredibly popular, and Twitter is a great place to get the word out. An airdrop or giveaway increases your brand exposure and lets the NFT world know what you have to offer.

They are one of the best ways to breathe life into a struggling product, or to use as a utility after a launch for a new one. To be fair, giving away other project NFTs or tokens isn’t always entirely free, but you can have the holder pay the fees and it won’t cost you much in the long run, especially with tokens.

NFT airdrops increase signups for your NFT Marketplace, clicks on your social media sites, increase mints, and help to grow a bigger community as well… as long as you require it to participate. This is a great way to bring in new users.

Join Podcasts and Discussions

Another option that most producers ignore is to promote your NFT collection on blockchain-focused podcasts, videos, and discussions. There are a lot of NFT podcasts, Twitter Spaces, and Twitch streamers who have live discussions all the time, and many of them are starved for ideas.

A lot of these people would be happy to have you on their shows… if you simply reach out to them. Make a list, check it twice, separate the naughty from the nice, and contact them. Introduce yourself and see where it goes.

These can be a great way to connect with potential fans and spread the word about your NFT project., without costing a dime. Tell your community about the streams and such, come up with an offer for the host’s community, and enjoy!

Yeah. I know. You’re nervous. So what, do it anyway.

Calendar, calendar, calendar

There are plenty of websites that feature different NFT collections in a weekly newsletter. Some of the bigger ones charge, but the smaller and medium-sized ones, like the podcasters and influencers above, are looking for things to write about. Be that thing.

In addition, dozens of NFT launch calendar sites are exactly what the name sounds like... NFT launch calendars. (ironic, no?)

They list every project launching daily... as long as you register... and the cost is always FREE! You can usually upload an image, your project name, a blurb about what you’re doing, and off you go.

The calendar sites are easy to get on… the websites are not quite as easy… but get to work reaching out or having someone do it for you, and you’ll find yourself finding some success on both.

The art of the shill

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about shilling… or better put… spamming gracefully. Rather than re-writing it I’ll just link to it:

https://arisingfloor.com/articles/post/the-nft-shill

The short description is going to OTHER PEOPLE’S social media sites and posting about yours… give it a try. Like the rest of the examples above, it costs nothing.

Howdy pardner!

You might be able to guess, but I saved this one for last because if you get good at this, you can crush it… collaborations and partnerships!

There are a lot of collaborations and partnership types, but there are two types of partnerships I would focus on. One requires both parties to mutually promote each other, so BOTH parties do a giveaway or mention.

You offer information, a giveaway, a contest entry, or something similar to your people, and they do the same. If this is pre-launch, don’t assume that they won’t be interested because you’re small… just act with confidence and make your offer.

You can offer to promote them back later on when you’re bigger or come to some other arrangement. In a lot of cases, you will approach someone your size or smaller, and create a long-term arrangement where you can both come back to each other often and create a great synergy as you grow. Win-win.

The other type (of these 2, there are many) is “one-sided”, where you don’t do any promotions on your side, and they are simply giving away your NFTs, offer, or tokens to their people. Either can work, depending on your utility and offer.

Don’t feel the other guy isn't benefitting this way either… they’re giving something of yours to their people. It benefits you both… they get a perk… you get free exposure.

I hope this gets your creative juices flowing, and you can use these tips to help drive your business into the future. As always, I’m available in Discord to answer questions or make suggestions.

Until next time…

Nick

PS- Have a wonderful holiday season, and as always — if you need help ask for it. If you don’t, prove it!

Follow Nick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickcifonie

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