While Web3 businesses typically operate in the digital world, they also have various manifestations in the material world. As we’ve said before, they host conferences, launch physical products, and maintain physical locations. Web3 PR isn’t limited to the digital world, and there are many ways to take it offline.
One of the most effective ways to do this is to partner with local businesses for our awareness, credibility, and mutual benefit. Partnering with local enterprises to get the word out is nothing new, but Web3 businesses have to approach it with intention and care.
Benefits of Partnering with Local Businesses for Web3 PR
Often, when Web3 entrepreneurs think of business partnerships, they assume it is with other entrepreneurs in the same space. Local businesses, especially those that aren’t explicitly Web3, can get lost in the noise. But there are several benefits to partnering with these businesses:
- Instant Visibility: If your Web3 business isn’t yet established in a specific location, partnering with a local business can give you instant visibility. We all know local businesses that are community staples. If you partner with them, the community you are targeting will know you this way.
- Credibility: Many Web3 entrepreneurs have struggled to build credibility, especially with people who are more sceptical about the space. Partnering with a local business that already has a ton of credibility can lend you some, too. Local residents who trust these businesses are more inclined to trust you by association. Likewise, non-locals who simply hear of the partnership will see your business as an incredible one that wants to serve the local community.
- Physical Presence and Access: While some Web3 businesses thrive by only existing in the digital space, others seek to establish themselves in the material world. An online QnA session can help, but so can an in-person coffee meetup where you speak directly with people. Partnering with a local business gives you access to a physical location and a sense of in-person realness that cannot be replicated online.
- Mutual Benefits: Of course, local businesses don’t exist to promote Web3 enterprises, and they’ll typically need something in it for them as well. Perhaps you can help a legacy, but analogue business establish a presence in Web3. In turn, you can get access to their audience and location. Perhaps you can bring in your own audience or Web3 enthusiasts to a local coffee shop or event center. When well executed, Web3 and local business partnerships can benefit all involved.
How to Plan a Web3 Local Business Partnership
Gaining all these benefits is not as simple as partnering with any old business; instead, it takes careful planning and consideration:
- Find a Collaboration Opportunity: Consumers are quick to spot collaborations that make no thematic sense and feel like a cash grab. This can actually harm your Web3 PR, so you want to avoid it. Instead, look for natural collaboration opportunities. For example, on Bitcoin Pizza Day, you could partner with a local pizza place. For Christmas, you could partner with a gift shop to give away physical crypto representations. There are many more opportunities, but make sure they align with both your business and the one you are partnering with. You will also need to clearly communicate the mutual benefit to business owners to increase your chances of success.
- Create a Shortlist: A community can have dozens of local businesses, and not all of them will be a good fit for your business. So, well ahead of time. Write a list of the local businesses you are considering, including the category they operate in, how long they have existed, and their general reputation. Then, by consulting with people within the community, begin to eliminate some from the list until you decide which ones will benefit you the most.
- Show Value Proposition: Many of these local businesses might be Web3 sceptics or might reject it entirely. Rather than simply going into the establishment or sending a message asking for a collaboration, create a detailed pitch deck about what you can offer them and what they can offer you. Give tangible options, such as the number of customers you can bring in for them, the services you can offer, and more. By doing this, you’re more likely to gain success.
- Act Early: This is especially important if you want a one-off or experimental collaboration. Pitch a Christmas collaboration in the summer; pitch a Bitcoin Pizza Day collaboration months in advance so everyone can prepare. This avoids any shoddy production on the day and disappointment on either end.
- Publicize: At the end of the day, you are trying to secure Web3 PR benefits, and so, you have to put your publicity hat on. Put out relevant press releases about the collaboration and target not just Web3 platforms but local business directories, local newspapers, and much more. This is where cross-audience collaboration comes in, as it can expose you to a large audience even before the partnership goes live. Also invest in flyers, social media posts, local influencer marketing, and more. By letting people know you are participating in this collaboration, you reap more benefits.
Conclusion
Web3 PR can take unconventional forms, including local business partnerships. If handled well, this can lead to a long-term partnership and goodwill with these local businesses, favour from the people who patronize them, and lots of publicity. But to avoid becoming one of the hundreds of random collaborations that yield benefits for no one, you have to be intentional about choosing partners, communicating value, creating value for attendees, and more.
Consider the steps without a linear article, and feel free to visit our packages page to find out how you can distribute your press release, whether for a one-off local business Web3 partnership or anything else. As an agency that does online and offline PR, we can help you seamlessly move between the two while maintaining your long-term PR vision.