Marketing strategies are all about getting involved in popular platforms and expanding trends. Here, NFTs come into play. It’s new. It’s interesting. Most importantly, NFTs offer many opportunities for digital marketing.

Well, the success of NFTs has grown in popularity over the past two years, quickly catching the attention of digital natives such as Millennials and Gen Z. Did you know:

•    NFT trading volume totalled US$25 billion in 2021 alone, increasing more than 20,000% YoY .

•    The online marketplace OpenSea is now worth US$13.3bn after a new investment of US$300m.

•    Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold the first-ever published tweet as an NFT for a whopping US$2.9 million.

What is NFT?

NFT stands for non-fungible tokens – a digital asset that has value and can be collected, whereas transactions being recorded in an encrypted form that cannot be changed, authenticity is guaranteed. They can be any kind of digital assets such as any piece of art, meme, tweet, image, story you create on social media, and more.

So, what does a buyer purchase exactly? The digital certificate of ownership for one of these creations which is registered on the blockchain. With the help of blockchain technology, NFTs can be exchanged in the same way as cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. They rise up and down in value alongside market trends.

The benefits of NFT marketing

There are a number of benefits associated with adding NFTs to your marketing strategy. From attracting the attention of a digitally active demographic to protecting your brand image, read on to find out why introducing NFT based tactics could be your key to success.

01 Build Brand Awareness

Being a pioneer in your industry helps you get noticed. People like living brands. When you provide new experiences to your online community, it will generate more interest to your brand. Accordingly, NFTs will increase conversions and drive sales. Probably your competitors are not here. Therefore, you will boost brand visibility even with a simple marketing project on these NFT platforms.

Pizza Hut embraced the NFT strategy in an effort to promote its new pizza flavours. Pizza Hut Canada recently released their ‘One Byte Favourites’ campaign, where customers could purchase an NFT sold for the equivalent of one bite of pizza.

(Image Source: Eater)

02 Expand Audience Reach

First of all, by joining the NFT marketplaces, you reach new audiences. With 15,000-50,000 NFT sales daily, the NFT market is quickly growing in popularity. Ranging from digital creators and art collectors to young or experienced entrepreneurs, diverse communities are there. As it’s new and its real-world value increases, people are ready to engage.

When people familiarise more with you and talk about you, these interactions in the NFT marketplaces will enable you to extend your customer base. Reaching more potential buyers means a higher chance to close a sale.

McDonalds warmed the hearts of its most loyal consumers in the United States for celebrating the 40th anniversary of McRib, where customers who followed the network on Twitter and retweeted an invitation would participate in the raffle of the network’s first NFT.

Another example, Aquarium of the Bay, a San Francisco based aquarium partnered with ViciNFT and launched its own NFT campaign in 2021 that attracted a tech-based demographic while they are also using its platform to send messages about supporting the sea life environment.

(Image Source: ViciNFT)

03 Create Unique Brand Experience

Nowadays, brand experience is why people choose a brand over competitors. NFTs can encourage interaction and engagement with your brand by cooperating with artists and content creators.

Marketers can use the metaverse for NFT campaigns, using specific platforms to speak directly to their targeted demographics. As a result, you will be more visible, more memorable, and most importantly, building authentic relationship in the community.

Coachella, one of the most famous music and arts festivals in the United States and the world, has launched a collection of NFTs that guarantee benefits to token owners, such as lifetime access to the event, VIP gifts, redeem physical copies of photo books of the event, and many more. Coachella went further by linking the NFTs to the brand’s social impact strategies. Part of the proceeds from the sale of NFTs will be used for actions with charities.

How to add NFT to your branding strategy?

The future of marketing is digital. Brands need to stay on trend and get prepared for new technological advancements in a post-pandemic landscape.

As with all marketing strategies, it’s also important to understand your persona for achieving the best results. Marketers should understand if your target audience is interested in this trend. Don’t forget: strategy comes before tactics.

We are not just talking about NFTs, but also the Blockchain and other virtual experiences like the metaverse. The future is right ahead of us, companies should face it, learn it, and figure out what makes sense for them to explore.