The blockchain copywriting guide for crypto startups and founders
Blockchain copywriting isn’t easy. To do it well, you must be able to mix knowledge of a technology that many people struggle to get their heads around with an ability to engage the reader with the stories you tell.
Many of the people involved in blockchain are there because of their exceptional technical ability. While their writing of code might be second to none, the same is not necessarily true of their ability to craft words into engaging copy.
Of course, there are a handful of people who have managed to achieve both, but many of the startups, founders and senior executives in this industry struggle to communicate through their words. Breaking down the process of copywriting and identifying where it matters so it can become less of a barrier is exactly what this guide is all about.
In it, we look at why blockchain copywriting matters, which areas of a business or personal brand it is important to and how anyone can go about producing high quality blockchain copywriting. So, if you’re a startup or a founder who struggles with it, this guide is for you.
Why blockchain copywriting is important
It plays a big part in people’s first impression of you and your company.
First impressions matter. This is especially true in an industry that is still likened to the Wild West, where people have a justifiable reluctance to take everyone at their word. Making sure you perfect your blockchain copywriting can help to assuage these fears, as others are able to dig into your content and weigh up your vision and opinions in more detail.
For startups, this first impression could involve visitors to your site getting a much better understanding of your business than just “it’s a blockchain for x”. For individuals, it might allow you to open doors and opportunities by allowing others assess your credibility straight away.
It differentiates you from noisy, untrustworthy scammers.
As mentioned, people working in blockchain and crypto markets have a justifiable scepticism about new products, services and ideas they are introduced to. The Russian proverb ‘trust but verify’ lends itself neatly to these markets and blockchain copywriting is a useful tool in helping to smooth that verification process.
After all, there’s lots of noise to work your way through, which usually comes in the form of social media posts or anonymous chat replies. Therefore, being able to regularly and consistently explain your startup’s angle or your personal view through well researched, long-form content will automating mark you out as different.
It allows you to build awareness and influence within the industry.
Blockchain copywriting also has the great benefit of allowing you to build influence over the long-term. Startups and individuals will sometimes give copywriting a go thinking that a single Medium post will magically get them recognition overnight. Then the enthusiasm for producing content quickly disappears when they realise it’s not as simple as that.
The startups and founders who make the most of blockchain copywriting realise that to do so is a marathon not a sprint. By taking a long-term view of content production, they enable themselves to regularly extol the virtues of their solution, hammer home their USPs and build awareness of themselves as a thought leader within the industry.
It demonstrates rigour in an industry that values accuracy.
Of course, for blockchain copywriting to benefit crypto startups and founders, it needs to be of the highest quality. You might say that’s true across all industries but what makes it even more important here is the value that market participants put on accuracy.
Everyone in this industry is aware of the importance of immutability and the issues that have occurred over the years when crappy code has caused people to lose huge amounts of money. An attention to detail matters and that goes for your blockchain copywriting just as much as your code. After all, how many times during the ICO rush of 2017 did you read a whitepaper littered with errors and just know this wasn’t the team you wanted to bet on?
Which areas does blockchain copywriting cover?
Blockchain copywriting is required throughout the lifecycle of a crypto project, while founders and senior executives will need to consider it on an ongoing basis. The following areas where it can be used is listed in a relatively chronological order, which reflects the general progress that a startup might make.
Core branding: As any project gets going, it needs some core documents that can clearly explain the business idea. These include boilerplates and a one page summary, which potential cofounders, investors and early sales prospects can use to understand what you’re offering.
Website copy: Your website will likely go through many iterations as your proposition develops. Blockchain copywriting allows you iterate quickly and test different messages for different audiences, which will help you to understand what’s really hitting the mark.
Whitepaper writing: Most crypto projects start off with a whitepaper to explain their technology, team and vision for the future. Blockchain copywriting helps you to merge the technical aspects needed to satisfy developers with the commercial elements that investors are looking for.
Investor deck: An investor deck is a core asset that senior management rely on during the early stages of a project’s development and potential future fundraising rounds. Employing a blockchain copywriter to achieve the accuracy investors expect is a worthwhile investment.
Article writing: Whether a project is ten days or ten years old, article writing is a crucial element of getting your message out into the world. Blockchain copywriters and ghostwriters can enable startups and founders to remain relevant and involved as the industry develops.
Social media: Social channels abound these days and, in conjunction with article writing, play a crucial role in keeping the industry aware of your brand. Blockchain copywriting helps to ensure posts are engaging, while also supplying the content that social media managers require.
Advertising: Advertising gives a paid boost to any sales or awareness campaigns. However, promoting poor content is like flushing money down the drain. Blockchain copywriting can help ensure the ad copy you use leads your audience to take the action you desire.
PR: Press coverage, whether via the large, traditional publishers or the new wave of industry influencers, is crucial for getting your project or yourself noticed. For all of the press releases, offers and interviews required to achieve this, you’ll need a quality blockchain copywriter.
Research reports: Once a project is established and any initial buzz has disappeared, research reports that engage new users and journalists are a great way to stay in the spotlight. Using proprietary data and quality blockchain copywriting can help these assets stand out.
UX writing: In-app blockchain copywriting becomes increasingly important as a project develops a large user base. UX writing for blockchain apps aims to improve micro copy within an app or platform, which may seem insignificant but can make a big difference to user behaviour.
Community engagement: Another consequence of a growing user base is the increased need for client communications. Blockchain copywriting is often the most important element of newsletters, project updates and forum interactions.
How to produce quality blockchain copywriting
There is no secret to quality blockchain copywriting. Like anything else, it involves a process that should be followed and perfected over time. Practice makes perfect and anyone thinking that they can turn their hand to it in an instant may be surprised to find it is harder than they thought.
At Blockchain Copywriter, our process is just five steps - research, order, write, edit and proof - although doing all of these steps thoroughly to produce quality content takes ability and diligence. In addition to following our process, there are some other rules that startups and founders should keep in mind.
Take some time to develop your angles.
Today, with 24/7 rolling news and always-on social media meaning it’s easy to have an opinion about anything, it can be tempting to follow this strategy with your content. However, long-term consistency is still the best strategy for winning people over (and staying onside with google, of course). Therefore you should take some time to establish some core values that you can stick to, along with some key topics you want to regularly write about. Linking these to search keywords is also a good idea.
Dedicate time to copywriting and find your rhythm.
Charles Dickens famously wrote in the morning and did nothing after 2pm. Others find that there’s no way they can write first thing in the morning and need the calm of night to write at their best. Don’t assume that you know which is right for you until you’ve tested both. Once you know, stick to that rhythm and give yourself the best chance of success by ensuring you’re free of any distractions while you do (smartphones and social feeds are usually the worst culprits).
Talk to your audience not your stakeholders.
One of the main reasons there’s so much content out there that goes to waste is because it meets the requirements of internal stakeholders rather than the needs of an external audience. Just as you should research the topics you cover before embarking on blockchain copywriting, so you should spend some time researching what your external audience will find useful. This simple strategy is easier said than stuck too but can have a major effect on how engaging your content turns out to be.
Sort out your internal process and sign off first.
It’s important to understand the process you’ll need to go through from coming up with an idea for content to publishing and sharing it. As mentioned, following the Blockchain Copywriter process might seem simple but, until you’ve done it, you do not know the blockers you might face. One major thing to look out for early on is who needs to sign off the content before it can go live and whether they need to be involved at multiple stages, so you don’t do a lot of writing that is never published.
Hire an experienced blockchain copywriter.
If this makes it sound like high quality blockchain copywriting is hard, that’s because it is. At least, it is if you’ve never done it before. Dedicate time and effort to establishing a process and perfecting it through repetition, and you’ll gradually improve to the point where it becomes second nature. However, if you’re a busy founder with limited time, hiring an experienced blockchain copywriter to help is a good idea. This is exactly what we provide at Blockchain Copywriter, so get in touch if you need our help.
Blockchain copywriting essentials for crypto startups
As mentioned, the most important thing to keep in mind with all the blockchain copywriting that is needed for a crypto startup is talking to your chosen audience about what matters to them. Deciding on a clear tone of voice and being precise with your language are both good starting points for producing the range of content that is needed.
Boilerplates: While you might not automatically recognise what boilerplates are, they are journalistic devices that can come in very handy when initially getting your project’s message out there. A boilerplate is a sentence or short series of sentences (a bit like an elevator pitch), which explain what your project does and who it does it for, so you can quickly distribute this information to interested parties. For example, a journalist might ask for a 50 word boilerplate for your project and the great advantage of having this ready is, when the request has occurred a number of times, you have the same message about your project appearing in various places.
Website copy: Most projects set out to build a website as a crucial first step in establishing the building blocks for future progress. However, while many can make progress with the design and development of a site, copywriting is often considered as an afterthought. As a result, it can be become a blocker to getting the site live or be rushed to the point where the overall effect of the site is underwhelming. An experienced blockchain copywriter will work with the designer through the whole process, ensuring key messages and calls to action enhance the user flow, and long-form descriptive content is available for those seeking in-depth information.
Sales and investor decks: Once your project is gaining some momentum, you’ll need to move it from the idea to the reality stage and this will involve your first attempts at producing the cash flow needed to sustain it. To do this, you’ll either be asking investors for funding or trying to make your first sales (and probably a bit of both). Therefore, the presentation decks you use to sell your idea are of paramount importance, as are the words you use within them to convey the benefits of your project. Ensuring your blockchain copywriting is of the highest order is therefore crucial to producing assets that will impress your audience.
Blog articles: Writing regular content to build out the information on your website and share across social media channels is rightly thought of as one of the most important first steps in marketing your startup. It allows your audience to gradually get a much better sense of who you are, what makes you unique and how they can benefit from your idea. It also builds a base of in-depth background information across your website for any new visitors to reference. Quality blockchain copywriting has a hugely important role to play in this area.
Blockchain copywriting essential for crypto founders
For founders and senior executives working in crypto, an inability to produce quality blockchain copywriting can be one of the biggest blockers to establishing themselves as thought leaders within the industry. However, there are some simple steps they can take to help start them off in the right direction. One of the most important things to do is to think about how your project, your personality and the market environment can be blended together in order to ‘take a view’, around which you can build your profile over the long-term.
Articles: One of the best and easiest ways to start building your profile within the industry is to write regular, long-form thought leadership and opinion articles that showcase your views on a range of topics. Quality blockchain copywriting is crucial as you want to ensure your articles demonstrate technical expertise and industry awareness, while also being engaging and easy to digest. This can be difficult for founders or senior executives, either because they are not natural writers or because they simply do not have the time to write. If either scenario sounds familiar, hiring a blockchain ghostwriter to do the hard work for you is an option worth considering.
Guest posts: As you publish more articles, a range of different audiences will start to become aware of your views and opinions on the market. One of these groups will be industry websites and magazines who often allow guest writers to submit articles. These opportunities are usually reserved for individuals who can demonstrate existing experience, hence the usefulness of having already published your own articles. It should be remembered that these guest slots are usually news related and dependent on a deadline being hit. If you’re not too busy to respond, these are fantastic opportunities to be seen by many more readers than usually read what you write. If time is tight though, employing a blockchain copywriter can help you hit the deadline and not miss the opportunity.
Presentations: Founders and senior executives are often called upon to give presentations to employees, investors or sales prospects. While you might know the messages you want to get across, finding the right words to appear on screen or as you talk can be much harder. A blockchain copywriter can assist in both situations, helping you to develop key messages that link what your audience sees and hears. Ensuring these two elements complement one another is an important part of a great presentation, with many people believing it’s enough to repeat what is on screen in what they say. Taking the time to get this right, or relying on a blockchain copywriter to help you, can make a major difference.
Speeches: Once you have published a number of articles, guest posted for publications and honed your presentation skills, the holy grail for many founders and senior executives who want to establish themselves as influencers is speaking at major industry events. While these opportunities have increased across industries in recent years, it is still the case that a handful of blockchain and crypto influencers make up the majority of event schedules. Therefore, founders and senior executives who are offered speaking opportunities should make the most of them, and blockchain copywriting is essential to ensuring you do this. It can enable you to stand out amongst a crowded event schedule in a way that pulls in the crowds and demonstrates to organisers that your speeches should remain a feature of any future events.
Using a blockchain copywriter to produce your content
If startups or founders decide that the important task of blockchain copywriting should not be completed by themselves, they can choose to hire a blockchain copywriter to help them. Should you choose to go about finding a blockchain copywriter, there are a few important things to consider.
Do you want to hire a permanent employee to work full time or liaise with an agency on a project-by-project basis? Are you more interested in the quality that an experienced blockchain copywriter can provide or the quantity that a non-specialist freelancer would be more suitable for? Is your content marketing at such a stage that you are ready to brief a copywriter straightaway or should you plan your strategy some more first?
Once these questions have been answered, you’ll be ready to get started. Founders and startups who want to rely on an experienced team can get in touch with Blockchain Copywriter. For founders looking to build their reputation as an industry influencer, we provide a ghostwriter service for long-form thought leadership articles on blockchain and crypto. We also provide a comprehensive content marketing service for blockchain and crypto startups, which includes ghostwriting articles and regular reports for brand awareness.