Hi, dear web3 enthusiasts! My name is Daria, I’m a host of the Decentralized Voices podcast, an active member of the Ethereum community and know a lot about the product, marketing, and human sides of web3. Lately, I’ve been seeing more and more posts about “lack of marketing talent” in crypto. Interesting timing: this narrative seems to have picked up as prices dropped.
I want to share my vision on the current state of marketing: what’s happening and what approach I believe in.
Tech vs Marketing
So, let’s start from the eternal conflict between the technical team and marketing. Most Web3 founders are technical geniuses and visionaries, but when it comes to marketing, many treat it like a suspicious smart contract. They have seen these overhyped “to the moon” projects that ended in disaster, and they equate marketing with manipulation and pushy sales.
Many say, “we’re not doing marketing” in the case when the project DOES marketing, but the team pretends they don’t because of the “it’s all about product” position.
I remember how much feedback one of the co-founders of Berachain got when he posted that the team was not doing marketing. Those familiar with the Berachain project should have a good laugh by now because the team is doing their promo very well, starting with hiding behind bear masks, finishing their hyped BearBuddies women’s community.
In far 2018, I worked with one of the first L2 projects in the space. The guys wanted to attract big investors, but were sure that their PR strategy depended on publications in scientific journals. They avoided promoting the project actively because, in their minds, marketing was something “ICO scammers” did.
Later, I realised it was typical for many projects in blockchain.
Hear me out:
There’s no shame in using marketing tactics. The game has changed radically in the past years, and it’s evolving as you read this article. If you still think marketing is a dirty word, you’re playing an outdated version of the game.
I can compare marketing with sport. You don’t need to do yoga, run, or play tennis to stay alive, but they help keep your body healthy and sexy. Sport makes us more productive and attractive to others. The same goes for your project: great marketing isn’t just a nice-to-have. It makes your product more visible, more appealing, and more likely to win over users, partners, and supporters.
Is the skepticism earned?
Let’s be honest. This skepticism from tech people didn’t appear out of nowhere. Everyone’s exhausted by the endless shilling of hollow projects and shady marketing tactics where people and their data are perceived as products to sell out.
I also see many marketers skipping the deep work, failing to truly understand the project or using tactics without a clear grasp of the business goals and the cause-and-effect behind their actions.
That’s why I divide marketing into three categories:
- Tells a story, builds trust, and nurtures long-term relationships based on values.
- Chases hype and viral effect. It may look more effective and fun compared to the first one, but it can lose its speed when narratives change. You can’t play the long game with this and keep excitement at a high level.
- The third one is focused on active (often aggressive) sales without values in fundament. Tons of direct messages without learning about recipients and their projects, and an obsessive desire to make a deal are the symptoms of this type of marketing.
I prefer the first category. That’s the kind of marketing web3 needs, especially when it’s still seen as shady by much of the outside world.
So, now we know the problems of both sides, but there is also an industry challenge.
The gated garden problem
Web3 is welcoming and exclusive at one time. The space loves talking about decentralization and open doors while simultaneously creating a walled garden where you’re viewed as an outsider if you’re not deep enough into crypto twitter.
Marketers coming from traditional startups or the corporate sector, even if they’ve shipped massive campaigns for big brands, get dismissed. It’s pretty sad that great professionals have to undervalue your previous experience in other niches if you want to join the web3 space.
The startups struggle with consistent brand messaging or strategy but reject good marketers because they don’t have their direct competitors in their portfolios.
This approach creates conditions when projects try to fight for 5 people in the market, ignoring the other 500 and complaining about “lack of talent”.
There is always a wonder why projects can’t attract quality talent while requiring to be “degen by nature”, “strategic and big-picture thinker”, and “active in crypto alpha chats and dev communities”.
One of the well-known L2 projects requires its marketing candidates to have a master’s degree in math or physics. Let me ask you, how many math grads do you know who dream of writing Twitter threads and organising community meetups?
Marketers are marketing marketers
There’s another issue: the job market for web3 marketers is dysfunctional. There aren’t so many open roles, and only a few are truly desirable. Some founders don’t know how to assess marketing talent referring to followers on Twitter or direct competitors on CV. So we end up with a weird meta where marketers have to market themselves more than the projects they work for.
You can see “growth leads” with thousands of followers but no experience scaling a real product with long-term vision and strategy. As a candidate, I was rejected from a role because I didn’t have 20k followers by someone who had 20k and 2–5 likes per post. Should I explain the origin of these “followers”?
This influencer-metrics obsession is diluting quality. Follower count doesn’t reflect strategic depth.
To get those big numbers in followers, you need to do something exceptional OR be terminally online. If someone is yapping 24/7, when are they working?
Marketers host side events at conferences like EthCC or Devcon to showcase their relevance. But here’s the catch: it’s mostly marketers attending. Founders show up there rarely.
Web3 folks, it’s time to grow up
Web3 tech is maturing faster than its marketing. The projects that will dominate the next bull run won’t just be those with the most innovative tech – they’ll be the ones that can actually explain their value without making people’s eyes glaze over.
Founders, if you want your project to thrive, it’s time to change your view of marketing. This isn’t about shilling. It’s about storytelling, strategy, building systems, scaling sustainably, and earning trust. Marketing isn’t optional, especially when the era of “cheap money” is over. In a crowded space with increasingly high stakes, it’s what separates projects with real traction from those that quietly fade away.
You’ll never find a person who can be a degen, mature strategist, someone who finds a product-market fit for you, and who also can write great texts, make videos, organize events, and be a person deeply loved by the community. Such people don’t exist and never will.
You don’t need marketers who can vibe or promise you a miracle in one day; you need those who can consistently build trust and relationships between a product and an audience.
Marketers, stand up for your boundaries and don’t be afraid to ask uncomfortable (for founders & stakeholders) questions. If the project founder can’t answer the questions of who the target audience is, how the project will scale, and what strategic challenges the marketing team faces, then think twice before jumping on the burning train. And of course, have a great understanding of the product, the market, the narratives, and be a few steps ahead. In web3, you can’t be non-technical.
What do you think about the current state of web3 marketing? Write your thoughts in the comments and share this article with your friends!
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