The tech world is going through a transformation. A transformation towards open source, decentralised systems. This transition is happening at a staggering pace and as you already know the Web3 world keeps on going 24*7, 365 days a year.
So before we dive into building a marketing career here it is apt that we spend some time understanding Web3 and see what all this fuss is really about.
I’ll take you through the core concepts of Web3 and getting jobs in Web3, how it affects traditional marketing and the great career opportunities it presents for aspiring Web3 marketers.
What is Web3?🕸
As I just mentioned, Web3 is the new internet, the “decentralized web” as people call it. So what’s different here compared to Web2?
Unlike Web2, which involved centralized platforms and intermediaries, Web3 leverages blockchain to create a decentralized network.
This decentralized nature inherently gives people much more power over their data and their interactions online.
Marketers are the people who connect a product to the users, they are the ones who are charged with showing users how their product solves a pressing issue.
If you are a marketer who really wants to build a career in Web3 then understanding the key features of Web3 is crucial to be able to communicate well with potential users.
Blockchain: The foundational tech behind Web3 is blockchain, a secure and transparent digital public ledger that records transactions as well as data.
Tokenomics: Tokens are digital assets that represent ownership, access, or value within a specific ecosystem and enable participation in public blockchain ecosystems.
Web3 projects heavily utilize tokens to incentivize user participation and reward contributions through things such as staking, airdrops, additional rewards etc.
Tokenomics for certain Web3 projects are also designed in a way that it promotes honest behaviour from the participants, one such term that you can explore is “slashing”.
Smart Contracts: These are self-executing programs that are supposed to automate and enforce certain predefined actions based on if some specific conditions are met.
Although Bitcoin enabled basic level contracts, it was not before Ethereum that proper Smart Contracts were used in Web3.
It is because of Smart Contracts that we are able to see fully functional dApps.
New Opportunities in Web3 Marketing 🚀
Marketing is a data rich job and marketers rely on all sorts of data to make better decisions for their marketing strategies.
Web3 inherently changes that.
Ownership of Data: In Web3, users have greater ownership and control over their data. This is a great thing when it comes to privacy but not having certain kinds of data can make a marketer’s job at least different if not harder.
It means marketers have to come up with alternate ways to build successful marketing campaigns for Web3 projects.
We see a much different overall focus on marketing channels such as influencers for targeted advertising, social media for brand awareness & community engagement.
I will take you through various mediums that could be explored later in this article.
Tokenized Incentives: Equivalent to traditional giveaways, token incentives are rewards that could be shared with the users to bring more adoption to the ecosystem. These are inherently different that typical giveaways because a user can choose not to sell but to either stake or hold to vote in the ecosystem which is amazing.
This aligns directions much better, improves retention & engagement compared to simple monetary dollar reward based giveaways.
New Revenue Streams: You probably already have seen that marketers tend to have multiple sources of income as they keep trying new ideas.
Well, Web3 ecosystem also has many such opportunities including but not limited to grants for creating and sharing content about a specific ecosystem etc.
One of the things I am personally excited to see is high quality decentralized ad networks. The traditional ad networks are not only opaque but also sometimes share less than 50% of the revenue with the creators.
This is an area that could be very interesting to keep an eye on as a marketer IMHO.
Navigating the Web3 Ecosystem 🗺
As a marketer entering the Web3 space, it's crucial to understand the broader ecosystem and its components:
The best thing as an aspiring Web3 marketer to do is to spend time in understanding the ecosystem so you can build better campaigns.
A basic understanding of DeFi, NFTs, Exchanges, and other Web3 protocols will allow you to figure out best marketing vectors and help build better performing marketing campaigns.
Essential Skills for Web3 Marketers 🛠
It’s not easy to thrive in Web3. The industry moves fast and keeps moving day and night. This makes it much more difficult to build campaigns but as with anything else, there are pros and there are cons to this.
Now that we’ve looked at an overview of what you need to know about Web3, I will take you through specific skills & knowledge that you need to be an effective Web3 marketing manager.
Basic Web3 Proficiency
A foundational skill for anyone working in Web3 is a solid understanding of blockchain and how things are built here. If we do not understand the product then how can we expect ourselves to market the product well?
For the topics I’m about to share exploring YouTube channels such as Whiteboard Crypto, Coin Bureau etc should help.
Blockchain Basics: Pick up fundamental concepts of blockchain, including block structure, nodes, consensus mechanisms, and cryptography.
You don’t have to go too technical here but at the very least you must understand how each of these things work.
Smart Contracts: Understand the basics of how smart contracts work, the pros and the cons.
As a marketer you are also a communicator and be it product updates, launches or dealing with a tricky situation you’d need this knowledge to communicate well with the stakeholders.
Crypto Basics: Understand the functioning of crypto, tokenomics, and how tokens could be leveraged to acquire new users and retain them.
This will also allow you to understand user motivation and main driving forces which is essential to build robust marketing funnels.
Data Analytics and Interpretation
Web3 is highly data driven, afterall blockchain is a great way to store data. This means that as a marketer you should be proficient in data & marketing analytics.
Apart from basic marketing analytics you should also look at blockchain analytics & data security practices.
Blockchain Analytics: Learn to use on-chain analytics tools that provide insights into transactions, important token movements, and user behavior.
On-chain data in crypto tells the real story and anyone working in this industry should understand on-chain analysis IMHO.
Data Privacy and Security: Web3 users are very particular about how their data is used and overall data privacy.
Understanding data security & privacy is a must for marketers since they could be on the forefront interacting with the users.
It’s especially important for marketers to understand how to handle PII(personally identifiable data) of the users they might have had to interact with for support, feedback & reviews or anything in between.
Not all new projects might have data handling policies in place and time and again we have seen a lot of Web3 projects getting thrashed online because of their mishandling of user data.
Creativity and Innovation
Web3 marketing demands creative thinking and the ability to innovate throughout the marketing funnel.
A lot of traditional marketing platforms aren’t available yet to marketers and that means we need to innovate right across acquisition to engagement and retention.
Web3 Marketing Professionals IMO must also think how to build a user referral & feedback loop into their marketing funnels, be it through product led growth ideas or through core marketing campaigns through platforms such as Zealy.
Incentive Design: Building interesting incentive designs into marketing campaigns is imperative especially through bear markets in order to encourage user participation and loyalty.
This can be done through giveaways or token incentives but marketers also must keep in mind that the users onboarded through giveaways might not generate as much platform engagement as organic users once the incentive campaign is done.
Content Marketing: Other interesting ways could be explored to distribute content while driving on-chain engagement, such as NFTs and decentralized content platforms such as Mirror.
Keep Learning
Web3 changes every single second of every single day which means everyone working in the industry needs to spend time and effort to keep themselves updated.
Staying Updated: Web3 marketers must keep themselves updated with the industry news and trends including but not limited to evolving community landscape across social platforms.
This enables them to build campaigns that bring better ROI and great overall engagement numbers.
Exploring New Platforms: As new platforms and tech emerges, be open to exploring their potential for marketing opportunities.
New platforms usually are going to provide better brand building opportunities while keeping the advertising costs low since there is less competition.
Community Engagement and Relationship Building
Web3 marketing revolves around building strong communities and facilitating relationships between the community members.
Community Management: Web3 relies on community participation and integration to a much higher extent as compared to Web2.
So, all Web3 marketers must understand how to build and nurture communities in the space through social platforms such as Discord, Twitter or even in house.
The Art of Building Trust: Marketers must understand the importance of transparency, authenticity, and building trust within the community.
Web3 communities are very quick and any inconsistencies get circulated through social platforms on steroids.
So ideally marketers must learn how to build trust and maintain cohesiveness across the board.
Key Web3 Marketing Job Roles 💼
As the Web3 industry expands, so do the job opportunities for marketers.
I’ll take you through a few key job roles that are available for marketers in Web3.
Each role comes with its own responsibilities, skills, and career path.
Although things are very flexible in crypto & Web3, these roles should still give you a basic idea of what you can expect here.
Crypto Marketer
General Web3 marketers focus on promoting projects in the space. The closest comparison with Web2 would be a marketing manager or content marketing manager role.
This is a role that you can find in relatively bigger Web3 projects and these tend to be managerial roles where you will have a few people in the marketing team.
Although most Web3 startups prefer to divide this role into specific smaller roles, there are still opportunities for broad T shaped Web3 marketers.
The average salaries for crypto marketers stands at about $65,000 globally.
Web3 Community Manager
Most projects in this space rely on an engaged community to build their project and keep growing.
Moreover decentralized projects also involve governance which of course requires an engaged community as well.
Many people believe that putting out tweet replies and managing discord servers is all that a community manager does, but there is a lot of nuance to this position apart from those things.
We have a complete crypto community manager article up on our blog if you are interested in building a career as a community manager in crypto.
The average Web3 community manager salary is about $46,000 globally.
Tokenomics Advisor
Tokenomics specialists focus on designing and managing the economic model of a blockchain project.
Although this is not a core crypto marketing role it comes pretty close. Tokenomics is very important because it does technically decide the overall user experience spread over the complete lifetime of the project.
If the tokenomics are poorly designed the community might not have enough incentives to keep interacting with the product so there is an element of marketing involved.
The average salary of Tokenomics analysts/specialists stands around $74,000 globally.
Web3 Influencer Marketing Manager
Marketing in Web3 requires a great influencer marketing strategy since the industry is small and many new projects keep popping up regularly.
The fastest way to build trust and brand awareness in Web3 tends to be influencer marketing as of now.
Influencer marketing managers strategize campaigns, come up with content plans for those campaigns, coordinate, negotiate and execute campaigns with influencers across social media platforms.
Web3 Relations Advocate
This is a role that exists within core Web3 marketing as well as in Web3 development. You will see Web3 Developer Advocates in the space as well, people who are developers but also are great at creating content, interacting and building communities of developers.
Responsibilities of relations advocates might include publishing articles, blog posts, and social media content as well as participating in conferences, webinars, and podcasts to share expertise around a specific project/ecosystem with the goal of attracting talent and users to the project.
As you can probably guess these are not even half of the roles that are available in crypto marketing.
There are other roles such as web3 social media managers, meme marketers, marketing graphic designers etc. that are available and one great way to understand such roles is to check out the job descriptions of these roles.
Practical Experience as a Web3 Marketer 🧤
In any field practical hands-on experience reigns supreme.
However it might be a bit difficult to land your first marketing job in Web3 especially during a bear market, so I’ll share a few ideas to help you build your portfolio up.
These mostly would require you to work either unpaid or at relatively low pay at the start for a few months(internship) but would help you setup a profile with which you can show your practical prowess.
Open-Source Contributions
Aren’t open source contributions just for developers? Well, technically yes but there is a way marketers can also make open source contributions.
Apart from the grants programs that also extend into marketing you can in fact make guest posts, guest explainer videos, twitter threads and share them with the projects to share on their marketing channels.
You can offer guest posts on project websites as a way to help build your portfolio. But make sure not to copy paste a ChatGPT response, it’s not good for anyone!
This is the closest you can come to open source contribution as a Web3 marketer.
Freelance Projects
Engaging in freelance Web3 marketing projects can provide practical experience and build your portfolio.
You could help projects with their GTM strategy into your local market, help them translate existing content & material into regional languages in order to reach a deeper market segment as well.
Internships
Internships allow you to understand how teams in the real world work and how things are structured in a well functioning marketing team at a crypto project.
Internships are not very hard to come by, especially if you leverage cold reachout the marketing team members or the CEO to explore if the project is open to explore a marketing internship.
We also have an in depth guide to find internships in Web3 that you can read.
Personal Projects
Creating a personal project can actually kill 2 birds with one stone.
Social media is the language of Web3 marketing. You can literally start educating people about various projects in crypto on your social media channels.
If you are able to grow them then it says something about your marketing skills, if the accounts stay small it still is a differentiating factor compared to tons of other marketers who haven’t tried anything of this sort.
You’d still have built a distribution channel, no matter how small. This tends to be a positive signal overall for the hiring manager IMHO.
Community Engagement
Actively participating in Web3 communities and events can help you build extremely strong connections in the industry and build a name for yourself.
Web3 is a highly relationship dependent industry and if people remember your insightful replies and interactions then you have a higher chance of landing opportunities as a marketer in the space.
Crafting an Impressive Web3 Marketing Portfolio 📜
A well crafted marketing portfolio communicates your experience, learnings and shows that you understand the markets and user behaviour well enough to be given a chance to work on projects.
You will reap great rewards by including such a portfolio into your Web3 focused resume. We have shared a guide on using STAR method to build an effective resume in an article on our blog that you can get started with.
Portfolio Content and Structure
A well crafted portfolio that clearly shows skills and potential benefits that a team can gain by making you a part of their project takes careful planning.
If you are building a profile for a general Web3 marketer then make sure to include a variety of projects otherwise it is better to stick to a single niche that you want to specialize in.
Organize your portfolio into sections, such as "Projects," "Case Studies," "Skills," "Education," and "Testimonials."
The most important of these are going to be? Can you guess?
Alright, it’s going to be “testimonials”. Make sure to gather genuine testimonials as you work with various projects.
People trust people who are trusted by other people.
Case studies are also a good way to build your portfolio.
What if you are completely new in this field?
Well, you can still do marketing strategy audit reports and include them in your portfolio.
Don’t forget to share these audit reports with the team of the project, you never know it might turn into an opportunity!
Your Web3 marketing portfolio is a reflection of your skills and understanding of the market and user dynamics.
Having a well crafted portfolio can open up more doors than you can think of.
Networking and Building Industry Relationships 🌍
If you read any career roadmap article that I’ve written you will realize that I make sure to include this section in each of those.
The reason is pretty simple. As I mentioned earlier in this article as well, Web3 is a highly relationships dependent industry and building a strong network can be the main thing that propels your career forward.
Spending time on interacting with others and building relationships is never a bad idea. Even if those relationships do not turn into work opportunities they still turn into great friendships with amazing people.
I often get a question around what if I’m in a tier 3 city and don’t have direct access to travelling or meeting Web3 people then what can I do?
Well, the answer is simple: Social media platforms like Twitter (now X).
They provide convenient ways to connect with other amazing people in the Web3 space.
One great strategy that many marketers swear by is being the reply guy. Adding value via replies to various conversations is one of the best ways to find like minded individuals in this space.
Participating in Web3 events is another powerful way to network with others. Many conferences and events also have virtual panel discussions and workshops that you can attend in case you aren’t able to travel to the location.
Also, it goes without saying that you mustn't build relationships just to network and get a job!
Building a Personal Brand 📹
The Web3 marketing world is highly competitive and establishing yourself as a subject matter expert while building a strong personal brand is essential for career growth.
Here are a few topics that you can work around when thinking about building a personal brand as a marketer in the Web3 space.
Becoming a Thought Leader
By creating in-depth articles, threads, videos and content can help you share your way of solving marketing problems while building you a great personal brand.
It never hurts to share your creative ideas to solve marketing problems in the Web3 space.
This way others also get a glimpse into your thinking process and they can gauge your working frequency better too.
Content Creation and Sharing
Content creation is an extremely powerful tool for building your personal brand, especially in marketing.
Web3 marketing does not have many content creators. There is an obvious vacuum in the space which you can fill up with your content.
Ideally you must build a content library focused on education all the while resonating with your target audience.
If you create a great piece of content but don’t distribute it well it is worth 0.
You must put an equal amount of focus to distribute your content across various platforms, including your social media, forums, and guest articles.
Pick a Niche
There is a popular saying in marketing: “Riches are in the Niches”
Focusing on a specific niche within Web3 marketing can set you apart from others.
If you can specialize in areas like DeFi, NFT promotions, blockchain gaming etc then you can make a name for yourself in the space.
Although if you get really good at it there can be certain situations where you might be approached by competitor brands and you’ll end up saying NO a lot. (most contracts have a non-compete clause)
This actually is great for your Web3 marketing career.
Public Speaking and Workshops
Web3 is a space with tons of Twitter spaces, workshops, virtual panel discussions, IRL panel discussions etc.
Be a part of those discussions and spread ideas, share your viewpoint and watch it open doors for you that were all previously closed.
Collaborate and Contribute
Collaborating with others can expand your reach and credibility in the space.
It’s best to explore collaboration with similar sized accounts to get started since it’s easier to convince them.
Collaboration is the key though!
Future-Proofing Your Career 🔒
The Web3 world is in a constant state of evolution.
To thrive in this landscape, all Web3 marketers must be adaptable and learn consistently.
We must be prepared to adapt our strategies as Web3 trends and the tech evolves.
Skill mapping is a great tool to use to keep an eye on where we lack, what are the top skills the industry demands and how we can keep building in that direction.
You can always leverage online courses, workshops, Twitter spaces etc to keep learning more and more here.
Follow tech news to keep an eye on how the Web3 world is changing. As marketers we must read a variety of material to keep our creative intuition sharp and be able to connect the dots better and in more innovative ways.
A Roadmap for Your Web3 Marketing Career 🛣
We have discussed a marketing manager roadmap in another article however using a generic roadmap is good to get you started but not beyond that.
In order to really build our careers we must build a career roadmap that is custom built for our own goals. Once you have some hands-on experience you should be able to gauge things that you know you don’t know, to things that you don’t know that you don’t know.
It’s imperative to build a clear roadmap that acts as a living document which you keep modifying and working on as you get more experience in the industry.
Setting Clear Goals
Start by writing your long-term and short-term goals for your Web3 marketing career.
Long-Term Vision: Where do you want to be in 5 years in your Web3 marketing career?
Short-Term Objectives: Break down your long-term vision into smaller milestones.
Identify Skill Gaps
As you start to get some hands on knowledge you will start to uncover skill gaps.
Based on those skill gaps and how big of a difference they can make in your career you can take focused efforts.
Planning Your Learning Path
It’s important to plan your learning path as well once you’ve noted the skill gaps in your marketing prowess.
A proper learning path will make sure that you do not end up wasting time on things that you don’t need, and as you already know in Web3 things move fast, so it’s imperative to focus.
Continuous Review and Adaptation
Regularly review and adjust your roadmap based on progress and changes.
As I mentioned above, the roadmap is a living document so make sure to keep updating it as you gain more experience.
Additionally I recommend talking to other experienced marketers in Web3 and get their insight.
A one hour discussion with an experienced professional can save you years of toil and wasted effort.
Ethical and Responsible Web3 Marketing 🦸♂️🦸♀️
As you start to get good at marketing Web3 projects it is but natural you will also start to get offers from shady projects in exchange for big bucks.
There are tons of pump and dump scams as well as possible rug pulls that you need to be aware of as a marketer.
As a marketer you must spend some time and effort to research the projects with whom you work. You will get offers to market products that offer you very high payment & exorbitant token amount without team vesting etc.
Ethical & responsible marketing is the way to go as users in Web3 are financially vested too in projects.
Wrap Up 🎁
Building a marketing career in Web3 is extremely rewarding, brings a massive creative outlet and of course pays well.
Ideally you should make sure to keep learning, keep building a portfolio and network with others in the space to keep opportunities coming your way regularly.
As always, good luck for your crypto job search!
