Steps to take when writing a whitepaper for an ICO

This will give an in depth explanation to the noted flaws in the existing
system you intend to create your tokens for, the proposed solution and
mode of operation.

It should contain explicit information as to the number of coins to be made
available in pre-sales, crowdsales, for reserves and in total.
This should be available to the public.

Whitepaper

A whitepaper gives the details the information of a new coin offering and

expresses what the project is about so that readers can understand.

Staying up to date in the crypto world can sometimes prove to be

a hellish thing to do, because of the constant rise in cryptocurrencies

and the rage surrounding it. Hence, the rush to develop new coin offerings.

ICOs can be very difficult and takes an excessively long time when

structuring, so most times, people do not take care in preparing the

document to give the readers enough information about what they are offering.

They are always only about the currency and how it is going to be the next big

thing in the industry, offering little or no information about what the product is

all about.

The whitepaper should be open and clearly detail out what the cryptocurrency

project is all about and the problem it solves.

In writing a whitepaper, one should keep these information close to heart.

Always remember to go straight to the point with what you are on
about.

Let people see what you have to offer. Your readers are not
in your head to understand what you mean by something which is
clearly not written out.

Do not bore people with information they obviously do not need,

they will lose interest in the ‘whitepaper’ and not finish reading it.

You are going to meet with a lot of people who are not

in the same industry with you. Meeting here means meeting

through the document you are putting out there for them to read.

Start with the non technical issues before moving further to the technical issues.

Your white paper should be written in a lay man language. This way,

you have got their attention and they are completely reeled in.

Keep your readers glued to the whitepaper with important facts they need.

Use graphics that are necessary.

Write about the details, the fundamentals. Cover everything the reader

ought to know from how much your currency is worth to why you think

some items are not what they are.

Let your readers understand you

without thinking you are the next shady thing to happen in the

crypto industry.

Give out your white paper to be reviewed. You never know what you

may be missing.

Youtube channels for making great videos for ICO

There are some great Youtube channels that can help you make great videos for your ICO.
 Below is a list of some of them.

1.Trevon James: Trevon has 103,385 subscribers, 5,991,818 views count, and 661 videos count.
     He makes about 4 videos per week.

2.Andreas M. Antonoupoulos: Andreas Antonopoulos has 82 000 subscribers, 3,238,299

  viewcount, and 221 video count. He is a security expert, author, public speaker and

  entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and well-respected figures

 in bitcoin. He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin”, published by O’Reilly Media

  and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin and “The Internet of Money”, a book

  about why bitcoin matters. He has made lots of videos about bitcoin, Ethereum, and other

 open blockchain topics like ICOs.

3.Ivan on Tech: Ivan has 76,215 subscribers. He answers questions about technology and talks
about bitcoin, mining, and blockchain. He has a great enthusiasm for blockchain and this has
always drawn the right audience to himself.
4.Crypto: Crypto has 69, 000 subscribers. He does a fantastic job at presenting his followers the

         latest news as well as giving excellent advice on how to have the right perspective. He writes

        on blockchain technologies, and is always having prominent figures in the crypto communities

         visit him.

     5.Free Bitcoin World: This is a free bitcoin world channel that makes real paid sites tutorials for

        earning free bitcoin and make real earning. They have 53,832 subscribers, 3,450,622 view

       counts, and 270 videos.

     6.World Crypto Network: World Crypto Network is also another great Youtube channel you

        can go to. They have 47, 372 subscribers, 3,480,373 views count, and 1,281 videos. They are

         an independent media organization that keeps you up to date with the latest news on Bitcoin

          and cryptocurrency and they make about 8 videos every week.



     7.Global Rashid: They have 40,873 subscribers, 2, 323,776 views count, and 297 video count.

         He makes about 7 videos every week.

     8.Bitcoin Official: Bitcoin Official has 35,591 subscribers, 56,060,537 views count, and

         328 videos. They make cryptocurrency and altcoin videos and they make about 2 videos

         every week.

      9.Crush theStreet: Crush theStreet has 31,933 subscribers. They make contents on bitcoin

          and beyond bitcoin. He interviews guests with unique perspectives who discuss the positive

          impacts of cryptocurrencies.

     10.Live Bitcoin Trading:  They have 26, 641 subscribers, 1,825,864 views count, and 9 video

         count. They make about 2 videos every month.


  Share the link of your youtube videos to your other social platforms. Have your team
 share it too and seek social writers to write about it. You do not want your video to be
 swept under the rug as other videos had been.

Team terms and definition in an ICO

A Digital Asset Management is a system that represents connected

structures combining both software and hardware and/or other services

in order to manage, store, ingest, organise, and retrieve digital assets.

DAM allows the users to find and use content when they need it.

A developer is an individual that creates and builds software applications,

he or she writes, debugs and executes the source code of an application.

Advisors are people who gives counsels or opinions or suggestions that are

worthy enough to be followed.

A Partner is a form of arrangement or involvement between an individual, a group

of individuals or a company where gains and losses, rewards and risks, are

shared amongst themselves.  

A Team is a group of people that cooperates together with their different

individual set of skills required to complete a job or a project.There is a saying

which goes “You are only as good as your team.” Teamwork is often the

most crucial part of a business.

A Marketer is a person whose duties include the identification of the goods and

services desired by a set of consumers, as well as the advertising of those

goods and services on behalf of a company.

Investors could be a person or group of individuals who commits money

with the expectation of financial or other gain/return. The main aim of an Investor

is to minimize risk while maximizing return. The reason we have Assets is such

that it can be sold during tough times or used as a collateral , even your signed

business plan can be used an asset.

Customer Service and Emails

Customer service is an important part of maintaining a continuing relationship with

clients (partners, advisors and investors).Customer service is the provision of services

 to investors before and after the purchase of your tokens. Most successful business

 organizations understand the importance of providing outstanding customer service.

Customer service should be a one-stop endeavour for your customers. It is a form of

direct marketing which allows you to have a one-on-one interaction with investors and

 buyers. A customer/investor should be able to get answers to possible questions as

 regarding your tokens whenever they deem fit. The customer service representative

should follow through with the customer until the questions has been answered effectively.

 Proactively following up the investors  or buyers with possible questions they may have,

 is  a smart move in retaining your customers. One good customer service experience can

help a investor/buyer decide if they want to have anything to do with your tokens.



Email marketing is one of the most single form of advertising and marketing on the internet.

 Emails are a very efficient and effective media tool. Note that, Emails are a distribution

 mechanism and not social media itself. Emails can be sent to individual investors.

 Doing this can help you form a direct form of partnership/contact with your investors.

 They can easily, through this medium, communicate their concerns about your products

and also ask questions. Always ensure that you are always available or at hand to reply

emails as quickly as they come. Also refrain from sending mails to investors/companies

who has informed you of their decision not to receive your mails. When you send a main,

remember to tell the contact who you are and also send a valid contact such as a mail

address or number through which they can reach you. Provide a simple way for them to

 opt out of marketing messages and have a system in place for dealing with complaints.



There are sites such as www.viralnugget.com, www.redmarketmailer.com,

 www.maitreapp.co, www.viralsweeps.com and so many others that allows you

 send viral mails to several clients at a time. They make use of automated systems

which allow you to send to send mails to several email addresses at once. Some of these

automated systems have embedded language translators which allows you to send mails

 to clients in other languages.



While writing your mails, be clear about the kind of services and products you have to offer,

 the types of wallets you support and others.  You also need to be clear and direct on what

 your policy is, some of your customers who get scammed by scammers may want to ask

you for refund. Be honest with your policies as you cannot satisfy everyone.

Investors Look out in an ICO team

Ensure that each member has enough experience to cover all the project’s needs

on their side. Be sure to employ people who have enough experiences;

developers who have an active Github account, and marketing experts who have

a great portfolio.

An example of a successful ICO with a great team is ICONOMI.

The members of the project were known for having created Cashila in 2014.

With their reputations, they were able to secure over $10m.

What Investors Look Out For In a Team

Investors are after if the management team can implement the solution.

Investors research deeply about the face of the people you have on your

management team. They want to know if you have tried businesses in the

past and what the future holds for you and your team. Don’t underestimate

these people. They always dig deeper. If you have tried businesses in the past,

was it a success? Did it fail? For what reasons? Finance? Or Could it be

management failure? Unaccountability? Fraud?

Which people make up your team?

• Developers and Engineers: You need more than one developer. 
• Marketing experts: Experienced marketing experts should be 

among your team to assure the visibility of the project  and attract

investors, and increase engagement

• You need designers on your team. A real team member who knows the product, and can build an attractive product for your customers will draw the right attention to your team.
• Active community manager influences the process of bringing the customers and investors closer to your product.

What are your Assets

An asset in simple words is anything that has value and can be

converted into monetary value. Assets can be owned by individuals,

Government, Companies, e.t.c. There are two types of assets.

They are Tangible Assets:

Tangible assets are those things that have a physical form (i.e. things

which we touch, feel and see). It can either be a Fixed Asset (such as

buildings, lands, machineries) or Current Asset (such as Cash at hand

including foreign currency, Inventories, Receivables)

Intangible Assets: Intangible Assets are non-physical things of value

which can be sold later to generate revenue. It is identifiable by being

long-term (such as Brands, Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets)

Startup assets would include cash at hand, land, buildings, patented
technology, trademarks,e.t.c.

What do we consider to be Assets in Cryptocurrencies?

Your Assets could be the cryptocurrency itself, Digital Assets, Assets

could also be Developers, Advisors, Partners, Investors, Marketers,

Your Team, e.t.c.

Digital assets are files that continue to exist as technology progresses

regardless of the device where the digital asset is stored or created.

Contents of the digital assets are stored and kept in a storage/place

called the Digital Asset Management (DAM).

Why create a team for an ICO?

Your team should consists of Developers, Advisors, Marketers/PR

Your Developers code the platform and make changes every step of the
way at each stage, until the finish of your product.

The Team

There are layers of associates in an ICO. The team members, sponsors, partners,
advisors, and people who are simply invested in the project. The team can include
technical specialists, content specialists, editors, PR specialists, community
managers, designers, programmers, etc. The team is a group of players with
different skills and different tasks that work together on a project. Your team
should be more than just a collection of people.

Introduce your team. Everybody knows that ICOs are a high-risk way of fundraising.
However, nobody wants to invest in something they know they are going to lose.
The team is the first place the investor takes a look at. You should always have it at
the back of your mind that the composition of your team matters. Get the best people
in on your team. Make sure they have something to offer. Be careful to ensure they
are really qualified for this particular project. A great team is one of the most
important factors when deciding on contributing to an ICO.

Before I mention successful ICOs with great teams, I should introduce one of the
unsuccessful ICOs that had their token sale in May, 2016. The ICO raised
5,131,445 BTC according to the campaign page. Mycelium locked the BTC price
at $458.67 USD in June 2016, for a total of $2, 353 million. Nothing was heard
from them again after this until  December 2016 when they announced they were
going to raise funds for Mycelium’s Swish restaurant order automation system.
The response was poor, and Mycelium agreed to cancel it and return all funds.

What happened with Mycellium?

Investors grumbled that their money had been wasted and questioned the lack
of transparency from the company over where the funds were spent and why
there had not been any new release. But this is not all. “Daniel Krawisz, a
Former Backend Developer, Quit Mycelium After Claiming to Witness the
Misappropriation of the Raised Funds”. It was not only Daniel Krawisz who
left Mycelium. Other team members left too and in most of the reports, they
used the funds they got from the ICO to pay for their vacation.

If your management team can not implement the solution, it affects the entire organization.

Again, before you employ anybody in on your team, research about their previous
experiences, and make sure the experiences they have had has prepared them for
this current role. Have a list of all your major team members, along with their faces
and social media profiles.

Advantage of using an advert agency for ICO tokens

Using an Advertising Agency

As another way of advertising your tokens, you can employ the services

of an advertising agency.  Purchasing classified advertising for the sale of

your tokens will typically work out a lot cheaper than buying other media

space such as radio or television ads. People often think that advertising

agencies only handle and manage large business campaigns. But most

advertising agencies make their money by running small ad campaigns

and placing advertisements in local media.

Examples of ICO advertising agencies are  FoxTail marketing, BitCoinSuisse,

Cryptonomos, ICOBOX, Cryptoland PR, CoinFabric, Token Agency,

Byzantium, Cryptoassets Design group, Kit marketing, ICO Angels,

ICOfloat and so many others

Advantages of using an advertising agency

1. For Brand Development:

For a startup, developing a well known brand can prove to be a difficult

thing to do. Advertising agencies can help speed up this process for better

future sales, by developing logos and advertising that will develop brand

awareness. Agencies can also design ads for individual media that can

allow you reach a large number of people.

2. Expertise:

Agencies usually have access to researchers, media, buyers, investors to

whom they can  advertise to. Be careful however, to know what kind of

advertising the agency does before involving them in the advertisement

of your tokens.

3. Saving money:

It may seem that hiring an advertising agency is expensive. But it is also

known that these agencies are usually given discounts the media with

whom they are familiar with (Radio stations, Television stations

and publishers). Agencies can also take the time to redesign ads for

better effectiveness.

4. Saving time:

Hiring an advertising agencies means, that you and your team do not

need to spend a lot of time campaigning for the sale of your tokens.

It will allow you spend more time focusing on the preparation for the

sale of your tokens.

However, bear in mind that any form of paid advertisement only

really rents you traffic. Once the paid advertisement stops, it is likely

the traffic stops with it.

Advantages of Online adverts for ICOs

1. Gain followers through promoted accounts:

This is a very good way of increasing your list of followers, especially

if you are new to twitter. Promoted accounts allow you to get your account

in front of potential investors of your tokens. To promote a account, the set of

steps are almost the same as setting a promoted tweet. You should also

choose a budget which can range from $2 to $3 per follower

2. Make use of popular trends:

This involves making use of hashtags

Online advertising can help eliminate middleman, educate potential buyers,

increase sales and introduce your product/tokens to the market. It also helps

potential investors feel your brand is authentic after seeing it several times.

Advantages of Online Advertising

1. You are in total control of your ads:

In advertising your products online, it is possible to waste an ad budget,

but if you know what you are doing, you can reduce the wastage. Online

advertising allows you to drill down on the statistics, looking at the areas

where the campaign is not working and in areas where it works.

2. Online advertising can help you reach a large number of better

customer base:

On Facebook, there are about 1.7billion users who use the platform on a

regular basis. When you advertise on this platform, you are likely to reach

a specific kind of people of certain age, career and interests. Online

advertising can help you target investors who are more likely to purchase

your products.

    3. Online advertising is a long-term strategy:

Almost everyone, if not everyone, owns a tablet, phone or PC. Furthermore,

we are on the internet almost all the time. Due to this technology, customers

are easily accessible. Advertising online can help generate leads from all

over world, from different people with different interests.

   4. Online advertising is very effective.

Online advertising allows you to reach a global audience. The idea is to build

enough base of customers to advertise your products to. Remember, that the

key word here is traffic. The more traffic you get, the more you get to introduce

your product to potential investors.

However, you might still have to contact a small number of investors who

you know can afford  to buy your ICO without advertisement. Some of this

investors may not want to click on your ads in the first place. But with a direct

contact with them, you can always convince them to invest in your tokens.