Best Practices For Retail Brand Adoption Of NFTs

By Cory Hymel, Gigster

The meteoric growth in the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by over 11,000% in 2021 saw the term NFT elected as word of the year by Collins Dictionary and generated $23 billion in negotiations. It also had many retail brands join the NFT race as a way to change their branding and get closer to uncharted markets.  

Apart from being trendy, fun, and cutting-edge, NFTs are a tool you can use to raise brand awareness, build customer loyalty and engage your target market in a new way with the potential to redefine how brands conduct business and engage with their consumers.

In this article, we’ll dissect the world of NFTs and explain what you need to know to excel in your ability to adapt and use NFTs and set yourself apart from other retail, eCommerce, and consumer brands that aren’t using this new revenue and engagement tool.

How Can Brands Benefit From Using NFTs?

Major brands like Coca-Cola, Taco Bell, Gucci, Adidas, Nike, Samsung, and others dove into the deep end of NFTs and created excitement and impact similar to what accompanied the first days of social media. They found out that creating NFTs enables businesses to develop a digital proof of ownership or attendance to the experiences they offer their customers besides increasing customer engagement.

Here are various ways NFTs can create value for businesses:

• Auction tokenized branded assets to their digital fans
• Sell the designs of their products and retain their marketing rights
• Retailers can sell tokenized tickets for events for a lifetime
• Brands could create one-off products and experiences that are only available digitally, such as exclusive cars for use in online racing games
• Create smart contracts coded into NFTs, so the creator receives a share of the transaction anytime the NFT is sold to a third party
• Continue earning revenue whenever an experience they created for an audience is accessed and enjoyed
• Offer audiences an opportunity to buy into the brand community by allowing them to purchase partial ownership of the business or community

Best Practices For Brand Adoption Of NFTs  

The value of an NFT may very much be in the eye of the beholder. Still, for a successful implementation of your brand’s NFT strategy, it’s necessary to observe strategies common in successful NFT projects, including a long-term roadmap, community strength, and celebrity or influencer involvement.

We propose the following strategies to increase your chances of success:  

1. Define Goals For Your NFT Campaign  

Tie the goals of your NFT initiative to what your business knows about your customers. You must be precise about your target audience and ensure the technology addresses the needs of the customers you intend to serve. Weigh your audience experience and engagement against the NFT goals (e.g., using the ‘cool factor’ of new technology to sway them) that you believe will benefit them if you expect them to follow you there.

2. Design A Creative Message Around NFTs And Make It Visual     

Since NFTs are visual by nature, consider engaging in creative branding and messaging to launch a new product or logo. Incorporate visual elements from high fashion, appropriate iconic toys, or an artistic mix of colors to make your NFT campaign playful, both in characters depicted by NFTs and the actual products your customers could buy. Partnerships with individual artists or relevant nonprofits can add a new dimension to your campaign.     

3. Select A Brand-Friendly Blockchain

Find an easy-to-use brand-friendly blockchain platform that your customers can engage with. Enterprise NFTs are still gaining popularity but have the potential to attract and hold the masses, especially if you can define their ownership since your brand name and digital wallet become part of the blockchain forever. Since the internet doesn’t yet offer the concept of online property ownership, the ability to own NFTs translates to an excellent potential tool for enterprises.

4. Plan What To Do After The Launch  

Know what to anticipate and plan carefully how you will engage your customers after the launch. A loyalty program, another NFT, or plans for the metaverse all require careful planning. The NFT scene is still burgeoning, and a brand that doesn’t have a holistic way of engaging with NFTs before finalizing their creative could easily hit a dead end after the launch. Engaging your fans in a deeper, stickier way gives them a sense of belonging that can turn them into long-term customers of your brand.      

5. Carefully Court Influencers At An Early Stage  

Consider involving NFT influencers from different blockchains active on Twitter and YouTube who are early adopters not necessarily interested in monetary compensation. A clever strategy involves planning to activate relevant influencers at the various project stages, such as the early stage to help in the launch and at later stages to drive more sales. Share your road map with influencers at an early stage and ask for their advice and recommendations.

6. Take Advantage Of The Celebrity Effect

Thanks to its community aspect, the NFT scene is a natural fit for all kinds of celebrities. From movie stars and singers to actors, tech moguls, artists, athletes, and online influencers, celebrities have a natural fan base of followers with the potential to kick start an overflowing community overnight. Consider engaging celebrities who are actively involved in the NFT world for a chance to have them integrate your NFTs into their world and potentially drive it to mainstream adoption.

7. Combine Community And Exclusivity

Unlike the conventional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems that reward high-value purchasing clients NFT rewards early trust and being part of the community – the most appealing value behind every successful NFT collection. Create a Discord community for your consumers and offer an Access NFT which acts as a membership ticket. This allows you to grant NFT holders exclusive access to an online club offering premium benefits like limited edition NFT drops. The Discord app is the one-stop place for millions of diverse NFT communities with servers that enable a high level of engagement among community members.  

Prepare Effectively And Be Ready For Anything  

Brand adoption and a subsequent product launch or strategy involve building excitement, and NFTs are no exception. The speculative nature of the NFT market demands more excitement around your product so more customers will purchase your NFTs. The more valuable your customers perceive your NFTs, the more interest they will create in your product release.

Figure out the unique selling points of your NFTs and create an effective communication strategy to convey to your customers why they must have your NFTs. When it comes to NFTs, the story or significance behind them is what’s most valued, and it’s why people are paying millions of dollars for them.

Since the NFT world is still burgeoning and isn’t showing signs of slowing down, and because no one can tell what to expect next with NFTs, your safety lies in getting prepared for anything. Ask yourself what makes your NFTs significant, how they’re different from others, what value they give the customer, how exclusive they are, and why people will desire them for years to come. If you are launching your own NFT marketplace, prepare for the anticipated flood of users to avoid crashes that have followed hyped NFT releases since customers expect a fair and problem-free NFT launch.

About The Author

Cory Hymel leads all things Web3 as the Director of Blockchain at Gigster, a company dedicated to helping businesses develop software applications with the speed of a startup, coupled with the quality and expertise of the most innovative global talent. Follow him on YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn and read his blog at https://gigster.com/blog.