- Duplicate this page and make it your own! To do this, click “Duplicate” in the righthand corner of your screen 👆 and login to Notion to edit. Use the tables below to plan the marketing initiatives for your round.
TL;DR on GG20
- Any and all feedback is always welcome
- Please join this Telegram group if you’re not already a part of it!
- To direct your community to donate to your grant, the link to the round will be live once the round goes live.
- Changes to a grant can be made at any time in Builder, but only one application to each round per project will be possible. (Once a grant applies for a round, there will be no way to change the grant proposal. But you will be able to preview the grant in Builder before you apply!)
THE BASICS: Hot tips for your round marketing strategy
Whether you’re a big team or a team of one, there are some things you need to know in order to make your Quadratic Funding round a success. In marketing your round, you need to keep two key things top of mind: DONOR (i.e., community) ENGAGEMENT, AND engaging with and supporting OTHER GRANTEES!
John Ellison of ReFi DAO (A project that has been the top recipient of matching funds for at least the last two Climate Solutions rounds:
“It’s also about generosity: Be sure to give to other projects and also retweet content.”
Your goal for the round is to attract as many people as possible to participate in and donate to your round. You can do this through:
- Leveraging your most reliable communications channels. Twitter? Absolutely. Lens? Why not? Email? No brainer. Bonus: Do a bit of analytics research to learn where you usually get the most traction with your community and go to town.
- Asking for community support to amplify your messages. What’s better than a couple of RTs? A community of people spreading the word and inviting their frens to donate! The trick is to make it simple. We recommend creating and circulating a doc or an email outlining how your community can amplify your message. Get detailed, create a helpful launch doc like this one by Giveth that gives people a clear picture of what and how they should be communicating.
- Support your community in contributing to your grant. The most effective grantees in a round know how to activate their networks and invite all of their frens to support them. We also recommend that you connect with other grantees during the round. A Gitcoin, we run a few Grantee Twitter Spaces that give grantees a chance to pitch their project to the wider community and get more exposure during a round.
- How to connect your wallet
- Explorer Guide
- How is Passport being integrated for GG20? (NO MORE COLLECTING STAMPS!)
- Gitcoin Grants Donor Portal Link
- Our Quid Pro Quo Policy
- Visual Content: Use eye-catching graphics, videos, and infographics to explain your project. Visuals are powerful tools for communication and engagement.
- Pin the link to your grant to your Twitter profile so that it’s easy for your community to find it!
A helpful tip is to ensure that donors know how to do the basics, such as creating/having a web3 wallet! Here are some useful articles that you can share:
WHY PEOPLE DONATE
Gitcoin is still undergoing donor audience research but our preliminary findings show that donors typically donate to a grants round for a mix of the following reasons:
- They are friends with a grantee in the round
- They care/are invested in the given ecosystem’s growth
- They care about a specific cause being worked on by a specific grantee or entire ecosystem
- They want to get involved with promising projects at its early stages as they see a potential investment opportunity
- They want a public record/signal of support/make a general impact
- Airdrop farming*
*Take special care with making promises to donors around potential airdrops (this includes NFTs, POAPs, etc.). This marketing tactic can increase the chance of Sybil attacks (fake accounts run by the same person to reap more rewards) and will detract from the main objective of a QF round: having real community members contribute and decide on how to best allocate your funds to incentivize ecosystem growth. It is also against our quid pro quo policy.
GETTING TACTICAL: Marketing tactics to consider for your plan
With your strategic fundamentals in place, let’s get to the actual tactics. Note: We’ve designed this tactics list to support you during the Gitcoin Grants Beta Round, but there are still some helpful suggestions and templates that will support any grantee to effectively market your grant.
Best Practices
- Keeping your community engaged throughout the grants round is very important. It shows that you care and it creates a hype around what you’re doing!
- Make sure to stay up to date with the latest and update your community accordingly. For example:
- One resource for finding the latest updates & events is to bookmark the Gitcoin Community Hub’s Grantee Portal.
- Key dates and documents
- Be sure to tag @Gitcoin in your GG20-related tweets. Please also use the dedicated round hashtag: #GG20.
We recommend that you think about your marketing plan in three separate phases:
[PHASE 1]
- Outcome of phase: To increase the number of eyes on your grant. This phase primarily focuses on donor enablement but allows for a secondary focus on building wider awareness of your grant with potential donors. This phase contains two sub-phases, allowing for a more granular focus:
- Awareness - Increasing awareness of your grant. You want as many people to know that your grant is happening and that they will have the opportunity to participate. This sub-phase mostly focuses on attracting high-value grantees to apply to your round.
- Discovery - Build hype & help prepare your audience by promoting your ecosystem’s objectives for the grants round (i.e., why you’re running the round). This sub-phase still primarily targets grantees engagement but begins to put a stronger focus on donors as well.
[PHASE 2] In-Round - First day & beyond
- Beginning at the start of the Grants Round
- Objective of phase: To increase the number of unique donations given to the round. This phase primarily targets funders. This phase contains three elements to consider:
- Promotion - Use promotional content, storytelling, and online events to engage your community and bolster support for your round. This sub-phase targets individual donors.
- Improvement - Tips to help boost performance of your round
- Support - Ways that Gitcoin can help support your round’s performance
[PHASE 3] Post-Round - 1 week post-round
- One week after the end of the grants round.
- Outcome of phase: Create a comprehensive round recap for your audience & reflect on learnings. This phase primarily targets your community. This phase contains two sub-phases:
- Recap - Provide content that highlights outcomes and wins as a way to close the round.
- Retro - Learn what worked for your round.
Phase 1: Pre-Round
Objective: Increase awareness of your round within your ecosystem’s audience and the broader Gitcoin Grants audience.
Discovery (once you’ve been confirmed!)
Objective: Promote more widely to gain community interest (& beyond!)
Task
The intention here is to tell stories to inspire your audiences & support community building.
Content Prompt: What impact can you share that will inspire your community and attract new interested donors?
Announcement of Round participation
Audience
Everyone
Everyone
Channel
Twitter / Email / Blog
Twitter / Email
Example
Discovery (cont)
Objective: Build hype and get participants ready to donate.
Task
- Tweet about Kickoff Date of round.
- Highlight upcoming events: Twitter spaces, Discord Chats, meme contests or other community events happening before/during/after the round within your ecosystem, other partner ecosystems and at Gitcoin.
Tell your story!!
You can do this via a showcase in a series of Tweet threads.
You can do this via a Twitter Spaces Grantee Shilling Hour.
You can do this via a podcast run by your ecosystem.
You can do this via email.
Update your website to feature your grant in the round
Audience
Everyone
Supporters
Everyone
Channel
Blog / Twitter / Email
Twitter / Event / Email
Website
Example
2 Days Before - Discovery
Objective: Building anticipation and getting supporters ready to donate
Task
- A simple tweet reminding funders to get their wallets ready to donate.
- A short email (preferrably w/ a prominent banner) with a countdown to the round start.
Audience
Everyone
Channel
Twitter / Email
Example
Phase 2: In-Round First Day & Beyond
First Day of Grants Round
During the round, promotion can get exhausting so be sure to have a plan that includes some time off. During past rounds, the beginning and ending of the round is when we often see the most donations and events so plan your time accordingly. One way to engage with other grantees is to schedule a Twitter Space and invite other projects to participate. You can also watch the Grantee Portal for more opportunities like all day Give-a-Thons for opportunities to shill your project and support other grantees. Be sure to keep retweeting info on projects you are supporting in the round and consider starting or joining a grantee community to help each other throughout the round.
Task
See Gitcoin’s Grantee Portal for up-to-date details on our community events.
Audience
Everyone
Channel
Event
Example
Ongoing throughout the Grants Round
Task
Submit Retweet Requests
Gitcoin will Tweet daily metrics on leading rounds and leading grantees within each round - feel free to RT these or ask us for your most current metrics so you can tweet them yourself.
Make sure to take part in the Twitter Spaces to shill your grant, gain support for their projects and support each other.
Audience
Gitcoin
Everyone
Everyone
Channel
Internal
Twitter / Event
Example
Last Day of Grants Round
It’s important to stay updated and aligned with the countdown of the grants round! Remember, only donations during the round will count toward the QF matching pool so be sure to watch the clock and know when the round closes!
Task
Remind supporters of last day to donate
Audience
Supporters
Channel
Twitter / Email
Example
Phase 3: Post-Round
Gitcoin will also be publishing end-of-round results and metrics so ff to RT/QT to collaboratively celebrate the round! Make sure to keep an eye on our Twitter.
Task
Week after Grants Round
Finale Event
Wrap up Posts
Round Performance Metrics
Internal Retro
Audience
Everyone
Everyone
Everyone
Everyone
Internal
Channel
Twitter/Blog
Twitter/Blog
Example Content
AWESOME Grantee content from past rounds
Current round
Example Posts
Grantee Showcase Blog Posts
Example Tweets
Grantee Marketing
MEMESPIRATION
