Jamie Kingsley, COO & cofounder at The PR Genius & founder of JTK Ventures, has delivered global coverage for over 300 Web3/AI projects.
If you’re a founder in the decentralized finance (DeFi) or broader Web3 space and wondering why your project isn’t getting the attention you think it deserves, I’ve got some tough love for you: Your marketing strategy is probably falling short. You might be fighting today’s battles with yesterday’s weapons.
I’ve watched startups burn through funding on flashy campaigns that generate buzz for a hot minute, then fade into obscurity quickly. The Web3 marketing playbook that worked in 2021’s bull run won’t cut it in today’s competitive landscape. Many founders today are pouring resources into short-term tactics—while completely ignoring the foundation that actually builds lasting success.
Why 2021 Thinking Could Be Killing Your Growth
Remember when a single tweet from the right person could send a project to the moon? I believe those days are long gone, but nobody seems to have sent the memo to many Web3 marketing teams. I’ve observed a number of projects still dumping their entire marketing budget into short-burst campaigns. They’ll pay a fortune for a week-long influencer blitz and maybe see some initial pump in followers or total value locked, but then they wonder why everything flatlines a month (or less) later.
That approach worked when retail investors seemed to be throwing money at anything with a white paper and cool logos. Now, the market has matured, and competition is fierce. Doing what everyone else does is a guaranteed path to mediocrity, which is exactly where I think many Web3 projects are currently sitting.
You can’t build trust, authority and genuine community engagement in a two-week campaign. It takes months, sometimes years, of consistent effort to create the kind of brand recognition that translates into long-term success.
The Founder-Marketing Disconnect
I constantly meet Web3 founders who are absolutely brilliant. They can explain complex DeFi protocols or revolutionary consensus mechanisms with passion and clarity. But ask them about their marketing strategy, and they go blank.
The issue? They fundamentally misunderstand what marketing actually is. They think it’s about selling or heavily pushing their product on people. So they either avoid it entirely or delegate it to someone who runs a few social media ads and calls it a day.
Marketing isn’t about selling. It’s about building relationships. It’s about creating trust in an industry where trust is scarce.
What Marketing Actually Means In Web3
Let me break this down for you: Marketing in Web3 isn’t about convincing people to buy your project or service. It’s about creating an ecosystem where people want to participate in what you’re building.
Trust comes first. In an industry plagued by rug pulls, exit scams and broken promises, establishing credibility isn’t optional—it is survival. Consistent communication, transparent development updates and actually delivering on your roadmap promises are how the job gets done.
Awareness follows trust. You can’t just assume people will discover your project organically. Even the most revolutionary technology needs evangelists who can articulate its value proposition clearly and consistently across multiple channels.
Authority is what separates you from the thousands of other projects competing for attention. Thought leadership content, speaking at conferences, contributing to industry discussions and positioning your founders as experts in their field can set you apart.
Comfortability is the final piece. People need to feel comfortable interacting with your brand, asking questions and becoming part of your community. That requires ongoing engagement, not just when you’re launching something new.
How Short-Term Thinking Destroys Long-Term Potential
Short-term marketing campaigns have their place. A well-timed PR push around a major product launch can be incredibly effective. Partnerships with key opinion leaders can introduce you to new audiences. Social media campaigns can generate valuable buzz.
But hype dies very fast. What you need is something sustainable.
To succeed long-term, you need to build content marketing engines that consistently deliver value. That requires nurturing email lists and community channels that keep your audience engaged between major announcements. That also means investing in SEO and organic reach that compounds over time, as well as having a dedicated Discord and Telegram teams to handle customer service and actually listen to holders and users.
The Opportunity Hiding In Plain Sight
From my perspective, the vast majority of Web3 projects are all making the same mistakes, following the same playbook and wondering why they’re not standing out. There is a void, which means there is an enormous opportunity for projects willing to think differently.
Projects that invest in proper marketing planning, build sustainable growth engines and focus on mid- to long-term brand building will likely have a competitive advantage. They’ll be better positioned to capture market share while their competitors are still figuring out why their latest influencer campaign didn’t move the needle.
This market isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a legitimate industry with real companies solving real problems. And in legitimate industries, marketing matters. The projects that will dominate the next cycle aren’t necessarily the ones with the best technology or the biggest funding rounds. I believe they’ll be the ones that figure out how to communicate their value effectively and build genuine relationships with their audience.
If you want that to be you, plan your marketing efforts with the same rigor you apply to your product development. Build systems and processes that can sustain growth over months and years, not just weeks. Treat marketing as a core business function, not an afterthought. The opportunity won’t last forever. Eventually, every project will figure this out. The question is: Will you be ahead of the curve or playing catch-up?
Stop thinking like it’s 2021. Start building for 2026 and beyond.
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