Using NFT Branding to Increase Brand Awareness

Having a stable and increasing brand awareness is important for your business’ overall performance and one way to achieve that is through NFT Branding. To have a respectable and ambitious brand awareness is an important factor in terms of how your company is doing overall and how widely recognized it is. If your brand was called Dancing Frog on a Rock, and it was of a respectable size, what would customers think if they were to hear that name? Would they associate it with positive feelings or rather negative experiences? Do you have a recognizable and distinguishable brand logo that people know and love? Does your product stand out for people on the shelves or does it blend in because your brand doesn’t put an attractive light around it? 

These contexts refer to what brand awareness means, and quite frankly, the reason why brand awareness matters. If you check out all these boxes, then you’d be assured to have a successful business. Your customers will always think of your product as a necessity or an uncontrollable desire that they want to buy.  

Through brand awareness, you can achieve much for your company. Your product will stand out from competitors and it will always be obvious to customers. This will influence the purchase decision for many people to your benefit. Furthermore, by being a trustworthy and known brand, any existent and new customers are more likely to grab your product because of the good word around it. People like to be loyal to what works for them, and if your product has always worked to their advantage, they won’t give up easily on it.  

If your brand has established itself already, you might wonder how it is possible to push its awareness even further. Of course, you could always look for opportunities to expand the market and thus reach new and bigger audience, you could look to partner with other businesses or to collaborate with known and beloved people. But nowadays technology is more advanced than ever and you could take advantage of that to expand your business awareness through NFT branding. 

Understanding the Fundamentals of NFTs

Non-Fungible Tokens are a technology that started in 2014 as a collaborative project between Kevin McCoy and Anil Dash in the attempt to create a system for artists to have control over their own work. They would do so by having their artwork converted, or also known as minted, into NFTs after which the artists could claim ownership over the artwork and earn money through it.  

The technology has since evolved to an extent that it no longer only represents paintings and digital artwork but music, videos, virtual estate and so much more. There are companies who store certain goods, like expensive whiskey bottles, and provide NFTs as a token for them, which the holders could exchange for the actual product should they decide to. 

The creation process is fairly simple starting with the creation of the art. Then it is secured on a blockchain. Blockchains are decentralized public ledgers where all transactions and records can be seen and proven and it is secure without any alteration chances. Once that step is done, the artwork receives certificates and data attached to it and is now a proper NFT which can then be sold on a market. Another thing that NFTs are very good for nowadays is boosting your brand’s awareness. 

Top Ways Branded NFTs Can Boost Your Brand Image

In the attempt to boost your brand’s image, you should always look for what is available nowadays. Although old-school ways to run your business are proven to work, the world is moving rapidly along with technology and that shouldn’t be overlooked. Adapting and showing progressive mindset are something that can inspire your customers to believe in your brand. NFTs are an ever-advancing technology as well and one such that can not only boost your brand awareness, but also act as a strengthener for your overall brand identity. The following ways will show you how branded NFTs can boost your brand’s image successfully. 

If your strategy focuses on making sure all of these ways to boost your brand’s image are completed, then you’re doing all the right things already. Let’s expand these five examples and delve deeper into the whole picture. 

Enhanced Brand Visibility

There are researches that show that as of 2021, approximately 2% of Americans owned an NFT at some point. This number doubled to 4% in 2022, and although it might seem like a very low number, it equals to 9.3 million Americans. That speaks only about Americans though, but as we know, technology is a worldwide phenomenon that many people are using on a daily basis. Especially with NFTs, one of the biggest advantages is, that people from any point in the world, as long as they have internet access, can tap into the industry. These numbers are showing a promising development and will surely multiply in times with the coming years.  

If your brand creates NFTs and expects exposure through them, then that’s exactly what branded NFTs are going to offer you. If we grab our imaginary brand again, Dancing Frog on a Rock, and say it’s based in the USA, this doesn’t mean that our investors, or NFT buyers, are to be only from the USA. A brand in itself can expand through several markets worldwide and attract loyal customers. But if this brand launches an online initiative like a brand NFT strategy, then more of these people can come together to support it. Your online presence is very important for this to work and can secure a wider audience resulting in a bigger revenue. 

Unique Brand Experience

There are people who would buy a product to support the brand or of similar interest that doesn’t directly benefit them. But the traditional customer will always reach for a product that they either personally want or need. To push this further, loyal customers believe in this product and the name behind it. People like to be involved in the things they believe in. So, your brand could only benefit from inviting your customers to be part of it, one way or another. This can be easily done through NFT branding. 

There are many NFT collections which do this exact thing to give an incentive to buyers and to draw them in. Many of those collections offer exclusive merch, NFT-holder-only parties, community benefits like Discord chat rooms and many more various benefits. If there is a person interested in your branded NFTs, one sure way to assure of their purchase is to provide benefits with that brand NFT. In that case, they wouldn’t only be owning something but also receiving something in return. This way, your business can engage with its audience, it can provide a better and more interactive approach that will be appreciated by your customers. 

Additional Revenue Streams

NFTs are a great way to generate additional revenue for your brand. When creating NFT collections, you are more likely to be creating at least hundreds, if not thousands, of NFTs, each selling for a set amount. Some NFT collections have been sold for millions, each NFT costing at least a couple thousands of dollars. This is a perfect way for your brand to generate additional income while boosting its brand visibility.  

Branded NFTs also provide an additional revenue stream through NFT royalties. This method is most likely to benefit artists and content creators, but nevertheless, it’s always a good option to have in mind. NFT royalties are essentially royalties paid to the NFT creator from every secondary sale. The creator sets the percentage of royalties themselves and can set a different value for each different NFT. For example, we are branding an NFT collection for our brand Dancing Frog on a Rock. We sell our NFTs for 10 ETH (≈19,000 USD) each and set the royalty at 10% which equals 1 ETH (≈1,900 USD). Every time our NFTs are resold, we would be gaining 1 ETH in royalties as the creators, which is an amazing additional revenue stream from branding NFTs. 

Authenticity and Ownership

NFTs are a very secure way to confirm ownership. This is because they are based on blockchain technologies which are decentralized and transparent. This gives the opportunity for any ownership, transaction and metadata attached to the NFT to be viewed by the public and easily authenticated. Additionally, NFTs are created with smart contracts which have a very secure and legitimate mechanism behind them. NFTs are also associated with only one wallet address at a time which too is very secure by having its own key address attached to it. By simply offering NFTs to a brand’s customer base, the brand is also offering pure transparency and authenticity, especially if offering luxury, limited edition or collectible goods. 

Brand Loyalty and Engagement

NFTs are not only a way to generate additional revenues for your brand, nor are they specifically useful for expanding your brand awareness. NFTs can have a wide range of benefits for your business. By offering an NFT collection of your brand, you can also establish further customer engagement and secure their loyalty to your brand. This is achievable by offering exclusive content, benefits and even merch to your customers who are also your brand NFT holders. Once people see result from their participation, they can be provided with yet another incentive to invest more in your company, be it through purchasing your products, recommending the brand or even buying more NFTs. 

A Guide for Successful Brand NFT

The thought of creating your own branded NFT collection might seem very exciting so far. And it certainly is also a very rewarding experience at the end. It’s a niche revenue model and can be sometimes very tricky to successfully manage. Without the proper equipment and people behind the project, it could quickly be an unsuccessful attempt to increase your revenue streams. Therefore, it’s always best to have a guide to show you how to make this unique way in boosting brand awareness and increasing revenue to your own advantage. 

Partner with an NFT Agency

Working by yourself on a project that you’re not fully confident in can become very hard on both yourself and the project. Why challenge yourself through a lengthy trial and error process, when you can reach out to an NFT agency for help? One such agency will be your friend and support from the beginning to the completion of your dream NFT project. NFT agencies have the expertise and experience over any type of NFT projects and have the skills required for a successful campaign. From research, design, behind-the-scenes tasks and delivery of the project, they are more than capable to be your best shot at this quest. Here’s what a dedicated NFT agency, like Digital Artists, can provide for your NFT campaign: 

• A full NFT solution designed to help your brand develop 
• All of your NFT services in one spot 
• NFT experiences that are token-gated for your Shopify store 
• With our frictionless payment experience, purchasing NFTs has never been easier 
• Personalised reporting tools and analytics dashboards include NFT wallets and creator profiles 
• Assurance for the success of your NFT sale 
• Working with team of experts 

Having a team of experts behind your project is always the best guarantee for your success. By securing the benefits shown in the list above, you can be reassured that your campaign will always be on the right track. Messy and disorganized systems usually slow down the process, so it’s always beneficial to have everything in one place. Additionally, having an overlook of reports and analytics about your brand’s NFT project is healthy for your perception on how the project is doing. An NFT agency like Digital Artists aims to support business owners in realising their dreams and to start with beautifully curating a plan for their ideal outcomes. Communication is a core value at DA and you are always encouraged to get in touch to discuss the important questions, starting with an effortlessly simple approach through the DA website. 

Define Your Objectives

Some people work best by looking at the bigger picture and by focusing on the end goal, but it’s important to always dive deeper into the project and establish each part individually. To help both yourself and any helping hand like an NFT agency, you should be able to outline your goals early on.  

There’s always a reason behind a business project and if you can’t pinpoint it, then you will struggle to steer your project in the right path. Maybe you want your branded NFT collection to help you with boosting your current brand awareness. This will not only reflect on current customers and the way the see your brand but can also attract a wider audience from across the globe. The reason behind your NFT project can be to raise more revenue or to establish a further revenue stream. Engaging with your customers more than before is also a good reason to begin a project of such scope and/or to provide them with authentic products. Your NFT collection can have all of these as its mission for your brand, and to continue with your project, you will then need to start designing your NFTs. 

Design Compelling NFTs

NFTs, in most cases, are outstanding in themselves, with each NFT differing from the other. Most NFT collections which accumulated a great hype around them were something different than every other NFT collection before. Most of them also consist of around 10,000 individual brand NFT examples. And as a general rule for most collections of NFTs, each NFT should have a combination of attributes that no other piece in the collection has. If, for example, our brand Dancing Frog on a Rock had an NFT collection, then we could offer NFTs of a smilingly dancing frog on a rock. 

Now why this is important is because it would reflect our brand visually, and if our brand had a great awareness to it, then people would immediately recognise our brand within these NFTs. Once customers are able to associate the brand with any type of branding material that doesn’t state the brand’s name, then you know that your customers have a great sense of awareness in terms of your brand recognition. Your company is then doing well.  

Going back to the diverse NFTs of our brand, we would need different attributes to be able to generate a big collection of 10,000 NFTs. One attribute could be the rock itself, it can be of different colours, materials, sizes, shapes and so on. Another attribute could be the positioning of the frog’s hands and legs. Once we have enough different attributes to put into the generator, we can also set up how many NFTs in total will have a specific attribute, how rare it can be and many other options. This way you could also ensure that there are very rare NFTs in the collection, which can be offered as limited editions and you could even sell those for a higher price than the rest of the NFTs. If your collection receives big interest by the public, a lot of people will want to have this limited edition NFT. So, remember when we mentioned NFT royalties? That’s when they’d come in handy.

Choose the Right Blockchain Platform

You now have your NFT collection ready to be minted on a blockchain platform and ready to be sold out. There are a couple of options as to which blockchain platform might be best for your branded NFT collection, but there are a couple of factors that you need to consider before choosing one. 

Some blockchain platforms have higher transaction costs but in return offer a wider user base and can therefore have your NFT collection exposed to more potential buyers. Those tend to also usually be more secure than the others. There is a reason why the more popular platforms have a bigger customer base and why they have become popular. One of those reasons is also how easy they are to navigate, to upload to and to sell through. These are very important things because if you’re not an expert in the subject, then any difficulty might throw you in a whirlpool and it’s always best to look for the easiest and most secure option. 

Promote Your NFTs

You upload your NFT collection and now expect it to attract people and sell out. Did you do anything beforehand to attract potential buyers? Or are you expecting it to just happen by itself, after all, your brand might be quite well known. But regardless of how well known it is, if the word that something is happening with your brand hasn’t gone out, then you’re less likely to achieve what you so desire to through your NFT project. 

Campaigns are more likely to attract a number of buyers when they release some type of news about their project before it launches. That gathers interest from current and potential future customers. The best way to do this is by using social media. Statistics show that as of 2023, approximately 4.9 billion people across the world use social media. That is such a large number to take advantage of to spread the word about your campaign.  

Every social media platform nowadays offers the option to reshare a post that someone else has posted. So, let’s say Dancing Frog on a Rock shares a post about our new NFT collection and the meaning behind it and what we are aiming to achieve through it, people can see that and share it on their stories and even profiles. Letting your loyal customers spread the word is one of the easiest and best marketing strategies out there. To do even better, you can spread the word to your email subscribers and/or reach out to influencers and create partnerships. 

Engage with Your Community

A proper marketing strategy is not going to carry your project across the road of success by itself. If buyers buy your NFTs and see that there is nothing more to the whole thing but only you getting money, then you’re most likely to sell some part of the collection but then achieve nothing more. Again, the feeling of inclusiveness and commitment shows people that they are participating in something meaningful. That’s why all of the most successful NFT collections interact with their NFT holders in different ways, to show that they care and to give back to their community. 

Through apps like Discord, NFT collections can offer dedicated and NFT-holder-only communities where those NFT holders can interact with each other. The brand behind the collection is also part of this community and can share news and interact with members. The NFT brands usually also gather feedback from their collectors through channels like Discord and members-only events. Once you have secured your community, you keep it engaged and interested in your brand and NFTs, the word around your NFTs will always grow and be positively looked at. 

Monitor and Adapt

Once you plant a seed, you want to watch it grow and to know how it’s growing. If something’s wrong with it, you’d want to change your way of caring for it. That’s exactly what your NFT campaign should feel to you like. Because the campaign has a mission to help your business in terms of evolving in one way or another, it’s a very delicate and important thing to see through. Having the best monitoring and analytical tools is essential to keep track of your campaign’s progress and to adapt if needed. 

One of the best benefits of having an NFT agency helping with your NFT campaign is that they offer various services, including monitoring and management of your campaign. By analyzing sales progress, customer engagement and feedback, your collection can learn an adapt to become its best version. 

Brands Already Adapted NFTs and Results of That

Despite NFTs being a more recent technology, there are already many study cases in recent history to learn from. Using NFT branding to boost your brand awareness is not an unknown subject anymore and there are many brands who have used branded NFTs for that same reason. As we mentioned before, it’s very important to be aware of the message and mission behind your campaign and even more important to make it obvious when promoting it. The following examples will show you how brands have incorporated NFTs into their business strategies, what their aims were and how they’ve achieved what they were hoping to. 

Coca-Cola: Align NFTs With Your Broader Marketing Strategy

Coca-Cola is one of the biggest brands in the world and has been for ages. It is easily recognisable to the extend where people think of Coca-Cola when they see a single polar bear – only because of some successful Christmas TV ads including polar bears. Coca-Cola surely knows how to deliver successful marketing and expand their brand awareness and they also did so through NFTs. For Friendship Day, which is on 30^th July, in 2022, the huge brand released The Coca-Cola Friendship Loot Box NFT.

The Loot Box NFT represents a 1956 retro vending machine with four additional NFTs inside it. One is a virtual Bubble Jacket which can be worn in a virtual world called Decentraland. Another NFT represents a friendship card designed in the 1940s. The final NFT represents Sound Visualizers of sounds all Coca-Cola consumers know by heart – the pop of a bottle opening, the pouring of Coca-Cola over ice, the beverage’s fizz and the sound of a first refreshing taste.  

Our first-ever NFTs are officially up on @opensea! Check them out. #NFTCommunity #OpenSeaNFT Tap for details: https://t.co/SIJ0HnNfdu pic.twitter.com/ElZG9Btu1r

— Coca-Cola (@CocaCola) July 30, 2021

The meaning behind this campaign was to donate all funds to the Special Olympics International, who have been Coca-Cola’s partner for 53 years as of the launch of the campaign. Given that the campaign was all about Friendship’s Day, the company wanted to take their first steps into the NFT technology while also supporting their friends. The NFTs were sold for $575,883.61 to the winning bidder. 

Norwegian Cruise Line: Commitment to Social Good

The Norwegian Cruise Line were the first in their industry to explore the world of NFT. They launched their NFT campaign on 13^th April 2022 and sold out in just 20 minutes after launching. NCL were trying to promote their new sister ships, the mega ship Prima and Viva. The collection consists of six NFTs, the bidding for which started at $2,500 for the first one and $250 for the rest. Again, this campaign used NFT royalties and any secondary sells will give the company additional 10% of the price.  

NFTs are officially here! Own a piece of our Prima Class today. All proceeds from the auction and sales will be donated to Teach For America. #NorwegianPrima #NFT #NCLNFT

Place your bid or own one today: https://t.co/GSs7FR3fUO pic.twitter.com/OvBFTHNZYO

— Norwegian Cruise Line (@CruiseNorwegian) April 13, 2022

The NFTs were designed by Manuel Di Rita, who also happens to be the designer of the ships’ hull artwork. But this campaign was not only done to promote NCL’s new ships, nor only to gain extra revenue or expand their brand awareness. It also functioned as a fundraiser with all proceeds being donated to the Teach for America foundation. 

Adidas: Incorporate Real-World Experiences

Adidas are the perfect example of how to successfully incorporate NFTs in your business strategy. They didn’t only boost their revenue stream but also established a further community for themselves. They launched their Into the Metaverse NFT drop on 17th December 2021 as a collaboration with GMoney, Punks Comics and Bored Ape Yacht Club.  

Hey Into the Metaverse NFT holders,

It’s time to move into phase 2, claim your exclusive physical ITM merch at https://t.co/m70gU99NQA.
1/6 pic.twitter.com/7RLDQ0rS2b

— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) April 28, 2022

The NFT collection sold 29,620 NFTs for more than $22 million. An initial rule to buy their NFTs was that one had to own an NFT from one of the three partners beforehand. The benefits of owning Adidas NFTs were that NFT holders could claim physical and one-of-a-kind physical merch. This of course generates a craze around the NFT collection because of how big the streetwear limited merch collecting community is. These collectors are after rare and unique pieces, and that’s exactly what Adidas was delivering. Adidas is one of the biggest sportswear brands in the world and much was expected from them in an NFT project. Luckily enough, they were able to provide their buyers with both virtual and tangible benefits. Additionally, NFT holders were able to customize their own BAYC profile pictures with their Adidas NFT gear through a special Adidas PFP Styling Tool. 

NFL & Ticketmaster: Be Authentic

To celebrate the Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles on the 13^th February 2022, NFL and Ticketmaster collaborated with a unique NFT drop. Every fan attending the Super Bowl LVI could receive a free NFT ticket with their section, row and seat as a memento from the day. Sports fans have been known to be great collectors of memorabilia like tickets, balls, cards and shirts and NFL and Ticketmaster saw a great chance to give back to their fans through complementary NFTs.  

Heading to an NFL game this season? You're in for something special. Get a free virtual commemorative ticket in the form of an NFT when you attend select NFL games this season (including all Week 1 games). See a full list of eligible games here: https://t.co/6OnOSXlHEZ pic.twitter.com/qa4ItHtcSV

— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) July 14, 2022

The NFL saw this initiative as a great way to explore NFTs as a substitute to printed tickets. In the previous seasons, the NFL sold half a million tickets as NFTs, so they aren’t really new to the game. But by collaborating with Ticketmaster in this campaign, they have more ways to introduce this new ticketing systems and want to normalise this concept for the future. The NFL was also able to monitor and evaluate how NFTs were engaging their community and can use these analyses for their future plans. 

Original Penguin: Influencer Marketing

Original Penguin is a huge name in the leisure and sportswear industry, and they reached out to TikTok influencers for a new collaboration. The TikTok influencers were of different types, dancers, photographers, and some post content of slimes or all about golf. Original Penguin created eight penguin NFTs, three designed by them and five designed by the five TikTok influencers.  

Clothing line Original Penguin is auctioning eight NFT penguins that buyers can view in augmented reality before bidding. Three of the NFTs were created by the brand, and the other five are from TikTok influencers. https://t.co/sh4ZrcXvqP pic.twitter.com/mojRt7WtgH

— Ad Age (@adage) November 9, 2021

Apart from reaching out to influencers for a collaborative NFT project, Original Penguin had another idea to make this project even more interesting. They implemented an augmented-reality showroom of the eight penguin, which people could join in through their phones and look at. The campaign was also raising funds for a charity called Free Arts NYC, which aims to support underserved young creatives through arts and mentoring programs. 

NFTs and Their Results for Businesses

Hopefully by now you’ve realized the potential that NFTs have for any kind of business. They’re not just some pictures that people can buy online and use as profile pictures. They are a whole system that businesses can implement in their strategy to achieve different goals. If you’re looking to secure a wider customer base, NFTs are the perfect way to improve your online presence and widen your brand’s horizons. Raising funds for you company is just so much more achievable through NFTs and you could simultaneously create a second revenue stream while you’re at it.  

The benefits are numerous, and the more we explore the technology behind NFTs, the better we get to understand them and implement them in the way we do business. Of course, they’re not the easiest technology to understand and learn, because there are many concepts and thin lines behind the scenes. The best way to ensure the that your brand is going to succeed with a brand NFT strategy is to reach out to an NFT agency.  

A competent NFT agency can provide you with all the tools that you need. By having all NFT services in one spot, you are letting go of messy and challenging conditions that will only slow down the process. Experts in the field will be behind you in this journey and will assure that you receive the best there is to offer. And through analytical and managing tools, you can have a glance over your project’s status. This is one of the best ways to ensure that your mission and business aims are achieved successfully. 

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