Hello everybody, and welcome to the RunningWeb3 newsletter, where we go over common problems that new web3 founders face and how to solve them! This month we’re going to look at how to generate leads for new customers and users in web3.
But first, a disclaimer. Generating leads does you no good if you haven’t done the prep work. To get the most out of these lead sources, you need to have already:
- Defined your target audience
- Identified your value proposition and how it differs from others with similar products
- Created a minimum viable product
- Built lead magnets to help draw in people from these sources
Also, these sources are based on my own experience getting leads as well as research on the topic. Results will vary depending on your project, your target audience, the market conditions, and a lot of other things.
To make sure the information is digestible and relevant, this month will be broken into two parts – B2B and B2C. The Business to Consumer (B2C) edition will be out tomorrow as a continuation of this edition.
Business to Business (B2B) Lead Generation
Onto the actual sources. Let’s first start with B2B companies. This means that rather than primarily targeting individual users, you are looking to have another project or company as the user/customer.
- LinkedIn can be a great tool to find other serious companies in the web3 space. With the premium version, you can get pretty detailed in your searches and who you target. While this sounds very manual, there are great tools that can help you reach out to people much easier.
- ChatGPT can help with creating captivating copy and openings to approach potential connections.
- Phantom Buster and Octoparse can help you scrape data from LinkedIn searches to quickly further filter the results into the format you want, as well as input them into CRMs
Founder Groups
- These are groups of founders and builders that come together to support and help each other, as well as provide useful resources. Often these groups are join-by-invitation instead of open access, but that shouldn’t discourage you from joining. Building connections with others in your space is a great way to meet higher quality customer opportunities than in many of the more “traditional” mediums. Some examples include:
FutureFounders, Web3 Doers, and Zealy
Relations Managers
- Relations managers help put you in contact with other similar communities, supercharging your ability to cross-promote with other projects. In a similar vein, talking with your community about other projects that they follow can be very fruitful. Community is one of the cornerstones of web3, and having your users advocating for your product is one of the most effective forms of lead generation. Users trust others in their community more than any ads they find, so community advocacy is incredibly effective.
- 3rm
Lead Aggregators
- Lead aggregators are sites that compile lists of projects or companies related to a specific topic. In crypto, an example would be a token listing site. These sites allow you to find projects that fit certain criteria, who you can then reach out to about partnerships or pitch with your product. These are often a great starting point for a huge influx of cold leads, but should not be your only source of leads because the volume of new leads per day is low.
- CoinMarketCap
- CoinGecko
- DexTools
Sponsorships and Partnerships
- Sponsorships and partnerships are another form of cross-promotion. Most people think of sponsorships as reserved for larger companies, with the sponsorship plastered across huge billboards. However, many smaller organizations are open to sponsorships. When considering smaller organizations, it is important to compare viewership numbers, how dedicated the fans are, and how relevant the organization is to your product. While an fighting game esports event might not make a good partner for a DeFi company, it could make a great partner for a GameFi company that created a fighting game on the blockchain.
Product sites
- While this originated in web2, web3 has crept into sites where people share their product. One of the most well known examples of this is Product Hunt, where companies can post about their product to receive feedback, find users, and work towards additional market analysis.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- While SEO (and website design) largely falls into the prerequisites of lead sourcing, it should still be mentioned here. Organic traffic will contribute to new users finding your company. If you don’t have SEO and design in mind when creating your website, those users either won’t find, or won’t stay to find out about, your product.
Thanks for tuning in! I’ll see you tomorrow for the B2C lead generation sources. If you want more useful tips and tricks for getting started with your web3 business, make sure to check out the RunningWeb3 Podcast!
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