From the very day you got the idea of what your Web3 startup will be, you will also think of various ways it can possibly become big. Even though you have read Paul Graham’s essay about doing things that don’t scale, you have some low-key plans of how you want it to scale.
Today is not the day I catechize on various Startup building rules. But this is my main point: from launch to seed stage and series A, you always think of scaling in whatever way possible.
If the Startup is bringing an average of $3k MRR now, as a visionary founder, you will think of ways to increase it to $5k MRR ad infinitum.
And that feeling, my friend, is valid.
Without much ado, I am writing this short essay to teach how you can dramatically increase the activities and revenue of your protocol.
You might want to ask, “John, have you built production-level Web3 protocols or startups before? Why should I listen to you?”
I understand you. It’s normal. We are in the internet age where everyone tend to tell you what they haven’t even practice. So I think I should commend your intelligence for bringing up that observation — impressive!
I won’t beg the question, here are a few reasons you should take what I will tell you seriously:
I have worked in the marketing team of many successful Web3 companies, protocols, and startups
I have also led a few marketing teams
I have been in the core team of many successful projects
So anything I tell you is a result of various insider-level experiences I have. That was quite an unusual introduction, don’t you think? Anyway, let’s quickly get into the main discourse.
The Era of Developer-to-developer Content
What marketers or DevRels call “D2D Content” means Developer-to-Developer content. This often involve publishing developer tutorials, documentations, workshops and lots more.
Here is a good fact to keep in mind: developer-centric content have been a thing from the Web2 days. So it is not native to Web3.
For those who are aware, Postman, RapidAPI, Vercel and other Web2 companies are really focused on pushing out content to educate and marinate the developers that use them.
Why is Web3 content marketing also going this route? You need to understand that the bulk of Web3 is technical.
There is always one migration to do, a component to reroute, an API to call, an ABI to insert. You should be familiar with these things too.
For example, an RPC provider will always push out content around smart contract development and deployment because that is what their target customers do.
A smart contract security firm will center their content marketing efforts on how to build secure code and educate people more around Web3 security. Why? That is the audience they are trying to attract.
In short, the services or products of several Web3 companies are technical. Now, do you see why developer-to-developer content is essential?
But there is something more exciting, and I will share it with you.
D2D is now the Gateway to Web3 B2B
For the technical folks who might not understand what B2B approach means, it means a Business-to-Business content narrative. Now, you might wonder, how will D2D lead to B2B?
Let me give you two examples:
The first one is Linea, an Ethereum L2. Their content marketing is entirely focused on developers. This way, they attract people who build DApps on their network.
The ROI is in two ways; a DApp that exists on another blockchain can support them, and a new founder looking for a suitable blockchain might come across their content and choose to settle on Linea.
That means they are attracting more businesses to build on them. The more these DApps growing in user activities and revenue, Linea gets more network activity and slices of fees from the DApp’s revenues.
This is how L2s make money.
Another example?
The second example is Biconomy, a protocol that helps abstracts gas payment for Web3 DApps. They also create a lot of D2D content, which makes them prominent whenever developers are thinking of implementing gas abstraction in their projects.
This way, they are selling their products to other businesses or protocols in the space.
How can you commence D2D content?
Now that you know Web3 D2D content is the way, you might wonder about how you can commence it for your Web3 protocol. To make everything short, these are the two things you should look out for:
Teach Devs What They Can Build With Your Product
There is a saying in marketing, “don’t say the feature, but the benefit.” It is old, but gold. Don’t say you are the next gen L2 with abstracted ZK layer using lightweight microprocessor. What people rather care about is how your product helps them.
In the same way, if you are building a protocol similar to The Graph, spend the bulk of your content effort teaching developers how to index and query on-chain data with ease with their favorite stack.
Show people what to do, and a good way to show this is to create tutorials—whether video or content—on it. This will help prospective users know the capability of your product.
Hold Workshops
There is a Web2 developer Startup that I love so much - Platformatic. One of the things I admire about them is how they hold periodic Node.js workshops to groom developers using their product.
I have always loved and followed each of their workshops because they make me a better dev; I will always learn something new. Indeed, their attendance grew.
That is something you should keep in mind: devs will always be where they are getting value, and D2D content in workshops is a goldmine.
Plan the workshop in a way that will not overwhelm you; the best frequency is the monthly one.
Here is another bonus: you can turn your D2D blog content into what you will explain in greater details during the workshop.
How about a technical content engine for your Web3 D2D content?
Really, how does it sound? While you are going about with business development, product building, and other core tasks, what if there is a highly excellent technical content engine to handle your Web3 D2D content?
This was why I created Blockchain Alpha. I noticed there was a gap in Web3 technical content creation — there was no agency facing it squarely. And why complain when I can jump into the scene?
Our technical writers are all real-time developers who are well-stacked. Apart from the technical side, we also take care of content strategy, SEO, distribution, and analytics for you. Blockchain Alpha is a Web3 technical content marketing agency by builders and for builders.
Your protocol can increase its reach and revenue dramatically with D2D content. Book a call sometime this week so the best in the game can do it for you.