Choosing a partner in Web3 is challenging for a simple reason: words like growth, community, and launch hide very different playbooks. The goal of this guide is to translate those offers into plain categories, then help match them to your project type so you can pick a mix that moves the metrics you care about.
What Services Are Out There?
Content & SEO. Case studies, tutorials, explainers, SEO optimization, AI SEO, and search programs that attract qualified traffic over time. Deliverables range from technical guides and case studies to keyword maps and internal-linking plans aligned with developer or user intent.
Community management. Day-to-day Discord and Telegram ops, server creation and maintenance, moderator playbooks, contributor programs, and health metrics. Expect structured rituals (e.g., AMAs, office hours), clear escalation paths, and dashboards that track growth, engagement, and sentiment.
DevRel & engagement. Hackathons, live and online technical workshops, meetups, and integration pipelines to win developers and strategic partners. Deliverables include developer courses and modules, SDK examples, technical articles, social media posts, sample apps, and more.
PR & influencers. KOL campaigns, media relations, founder profiles, opinion pieces, and creator partnerships. Typical outputs include tiered media lists, embargoed launches, and creator briefs with clear deliverables and disclosure.
Paid campaigns. Performance media across crypto-native and mainstream channels, plus creative testing and analytics. Plans usually combine wallet-targeted buys and platform ads with A/B creative cycles tied to CAC, LTV, and retention.
Token launch support. Go-to-market planning, listings support, announcements, incentives/quests, and post-launch retention. Workstreams cover narrative and timeline, exchange coordination, incentive design, and post-listing community and liquidity routines.
Analytics & growth ops. Instrumentation, dashboards, and on-chain + off-chain funnel analysis to guide spend and experiments. Typical scope includes event schemas, attribution setup, cohort reporting, and weekly optimization loops tied to target KPIs.
Guerrilla marketing & community engagement. Scrappy, high-touch activations that spark word of mouth and earned reach like coordinated social waves, meme drops, micro-community collabs, co-creation contests, and targeted IRL pop-ups/events.
Which Agencies Fit Which Project Types?
Start with your bottleneck - trust, awareness, acquisition, or retention - and pick services that attack that constraint first. Below are pragmatic mixes, a 60–90 day plan, and key metrics for each project type.
DeFi (DEXs, perps, lending)
What to hire first: content that answers risk and “why us,” plus PR for credibility; add paid only when funnels are measured.
60–90 day plan: publish a clear risk/fees/architecture explainer; ship comparison pages against alternatives; run a small paid test aimed at funded wallets and first trade; hold weekly AMAs to reduce support tickets.
Measure: cost per funded wallet, first-to-second trade rate, net new TVL from new users (not recycled).
Red flags: yield-first promises, no risk disclosures, or paid spend without on-chain conversion tracking.
RWA & Digital Ownership (including NFTs)
What to hire first: Compliance-aware, plain-language comms that explain the asset, ownership, rights, and risks; partnerships/BD to secure custody, a compliant marketplace, and required data sources; community ops for investor-style updates; paid campaigns only where rules allow.
60–90 day plan: Publish a clear product brief (what buyers own, redemption/utility, fees, allowed regions); ship a simple KYC/onboarding guide and FAQ; announce two distribution partners with timelines; run a small allowlisted pilot; schedule regular updates tied to on-chain milestones and any audits.
Measure: KYC completion rate; median time to verify; cost per verified buyer and funded account; funded-account rate, primary participation rate.
Red flags: Hype without legal footing; unclear rights (claim vs. access vs. revenue share); promoting geofenced offers broadly; buying traffic before KYC/onboarding is smooth; one-off drops with no post-issuance plan.
Gaming (on-chain or hybrid)
What to hire first: user acquisition plus creators; community to keep players engaged; content to reduce friction in onboarding.
60–90 day plan: split UA budget between performance ads and creator packs; instrument a simple funnel (install→wallet connect→first session→day-7 return); add in-game quests that feel native to the loop.
Measure: D1/D7/D30 retention, cost per retained player, time to first purchase/on-chain action.
Red flags: judging success by mints or downloads alone, or running UA before onboarding is <2 minutes.
L1/L2 and infrastructure
What to hire first: DevRel and technical content; partnerships that produce integrations; PR only for concrete milestones (releases, grants, notable apps).
60–90 day plan: focus on keeping a clear and useful documentation, easily accessible guides, tutorials, courses on channels like YouTube, Mighty Academy; run workshops and hackathons; line up integration partners with co-marketing.
Measure: monthly active developers, SDK/package installs, contracts deployed, time from first visit to first successful build.
Red flags: press with no documentation and SDK stability, partnerships without integration plans, or events that don’t capture developer follow-ups.
If you’re between categories (e.g., a consumer app with a token), you might want an agency that can tailor-craft a strategy that fits your needs specifically. The right blockchain marketing services should focus on one constraint at a time, prove movement on a handful of metrics, and earn the next phase.
What to Look For Before Signing a Contract
A clear goal and 3–5 KPIs. Tie work to adoption or revenue, not vanity metrics.
Channel–message fit. Ask for examples of creative messaging per channel, not just a plan.
Measurement that spans on-chain and off-chain. Make sure funnels connect wallet actions to web/app analytics.
Operating cadence. Weekly execution, monthly strategy, and a single owner for outcomes.
Right-sized scope. A 60–90 day pilot with a defined decision point beats an open-ended retainer.
Still unsure? Book a short consultation with the RZLT team. We’ll pinpoint your growth constraint, recommend the minimum viable service mix, and deliver a 60–90-day plan tailored to your Web3 project or protocol.