HashWin

In the current crypto market, new projects often face the "cold start" challenge: lacking a user base and credibility, resulting in limited initial visibility. Early momentum is crucial to a project’s success. Particularly before a Token Generation Event (TGE), effectively marketing without a token determines whether a project can secure sufficient attention and community support when it launches. Research shows that most projects that perform well post-launch have already established brand awareness weeks before their launch; they understand the importance of accumulating early interest to attract genuine supporters, rather than relying on short-term hype during launch week. Therefore, pre-TGE marketing has become a critical step in project initiation—a prerequisite for building a community foundation and boosting market enthusiasm.

This article provides a practical, universal guide for all Web3 project teams, sharing strategies to generate hype, attract attention, and elevate community expectations during the pre-TGE phase without a token. It covers key areas including KOL collaboration, AMA sessions, and multi-platform synergy, with reference to early success cases such as Sui, LayerZero, and Blast. By synthesizing these methods and lessons learned, we aim to help more Web3 startups break through initial barriers and gain a head start.

Table of Contents

1. KOL Collaboration

2. AMA Sessions

3. Multi-Platform Synergy: Integrating Twitter, Telegram, YouTube, and More to Build Anticipation

4. Conclusion

1. KOL Collaboration

1.1 Identify KOL Types and Focus on Authentic Influence

KOLs in the crypto space can be roughly categorized into three types:

• Speculative KOLs (≈90%): They chase every trend blindly and prioritize profits above all else. They often create illusions of popularity using fake data and cross-promotion alliances—accepting payments for promotions, dumping tokens immediately after receiving them, and abandoning any follow-up engagement with the project.

• Semi-Speculative KOLs (≈5%): They focus on specific niche areas (e.g., DeFi, NFTs), produce more vertical content, and have relatively genuine fan interactions. They are generally trustworthy but may compromise their principles to "take a risky bet" when tempted by high remuneration.

• Genuine KOLs (≈5%): They build their fan bases through long-term dedication to professional content, rarely accept advertising deals, and only collaborate with projects after carefully considering their fans’ interests. These KOLs possess in-depth industry knowledge and influence, delivering the highest-quality user conversion for projects.

Genuine KOLs that align with your project and have authentic audiences are the ideal partners for collaboration. Core members of the Kaito community, for example, fall into this category and hold significant market influence. Before selecting a collaborator:

• Use data tools to analyze the KOL’s audience composition and real fan count.

• Leverage industry connections to source high-quality KOL recommendations—prioritize quality over quantity.

• Avoid being deceived by superficial follower counts; instead, focus on fan quality, alignment with your content niche, and engagement levels.

1.2 Lay the Groundwork: Clarify Your Project’s Narrative and Positioning

KOLs only amplify your message—before partnering with them, your project must first "strengthen its internal capabilities":

• Ensure your product actually solves real industry pain points.

• Align your team around a unified brand positioning, core selling points, and clear market differentiation to craft a coherent narrative.

This is the foundation of all subsequent marketing efforts. If your project’s story and positioning are vague, even the most influential KOLs will struggle to deliver results. As the saying goes: "If you don’t control your own narrative, the market will define it for you"—and the outcome is rarely desirable. Therefore, before collaborating with KOLs, confirm that your project’s value proposition, brand voice, and communication channels are fully prepared.

1.3 Prioritize Long-Term Collaboration and Sustained Content Engagement

Avoid one-off "transactional" KOL campaigns. Instead, aim for long-term partnerships where the KOL publishes content related to your project over weeks or months. Here’s why:

• A single promotional post is easily dismissed as a one-time paid ad and quickly forgotten.

• Repeated mentions from a KOL shift audience perception from "paid promotion" to "genuine endorsement," building trust over time.

• Sustained exposure reaches a broader segment of the KOL’s fan base and sharpens your project’s image within the community.

Additionally, when other KOLs see a reputable influencer consistently highlighting your project, they may proactively reach out to collaborate—creating a positive feedback loop. Note that you don’t need to limit yourself to million-follower "mega-influencers": "micro-KOLs" often have more niche, engaged fan bases and can drive higher-quality community conversion. Need help building long-term KOL partnerships? Feel free to connect with us.

Real-World Examples

• Before LayerZero launched its token, many KOLs began educating their communities about its cross-chain capabilities and hinting at potential future airdrops. This strategy sparked massive user interest—countless users actively interacted with the product without token incentives, driven by the "what if" of a future airdrop.

• Blast, an L2 project incubated by NFT platform Blur, invited industry influencers to participate in community discussions and promotions during its early launch. Leveraging expectations of high yields and airdrops, it attracted widespread attention and saw its Total Value Locked (TVL) surge to approximately $567 million in just a few days.

Caution: Over-reliance on speculative traffic carries risks. Analysis shows that Blast and zkSync Era’s airdrops attracted large numbers of "farmers" (short-term users seeking airdrops only), leading to a sharp drop in market attention and unsustained hype post-TGE. This reminds us to balance hype with conversion quality and long-term user retention.

2. AMA Sessions

2.1 Choose Platforms Flexibly for AMA (Ask Me Anything) Sessions

AMAs are a highly effective way to build trust with your community. Common formats include:

• Text-based Q&As in Telegram groups.

• Live voice interactions via Twitter (X) Spaces.

Having founders or core team members host AMAs conveys transparency and approachability. Regular sessions (e.g., weekly) keep your team connected with potential users and maintain ongoing community interest. Based on experience:

• Telegram is ideal for fast-paced text Q&As.

• Twitter Spaces supports deeper voice discussions.

Alternate between platforms to reach audiences with different preferences.

2.2 Prepare Topics in Advance and Guide Message Delivery

A successful AMA requires careful planning:

• Before the session, outline key messages and highlights (e.g., upcoming features, partnerships, milestones) and structure a narrative flow.

• Proactively introduce topics during the AMA to guide community questions, ensuring your core messages are naturally communicated.

• Prepare responses for sensitive or technical questions to ensure sincere, informative answers—avoid leaving gaps that competitors could exploit.

Remember: The core goal of an AMA is to build credibility. Being transparent about challenging questions and addressing doubts head-on will earn community 好感 (goodwill) and shape a reliable brand image.

2.3 Promote Widely and Incentivize Participation Appropriately

To maximize AMA impact:

• Promote the session across platforms in advance: Share details (time, guests, topic) on Twitter, Discord, and Telegram channels several days beforehand to encourage community members to prepare questions and join on time.

• Offer light incentives to boost engagement: For example, raffle testnet NFTs or whitelist spots among participants who ask questions, or reward users with high-quality questions.

Note: Keep incentives moderate. The focus should be on guiding attention to your project’s content, not just attracting users for rewards.

2.4 Integrate AMAs into Ongoing Community Operations

Treat AMAs not as isolated marketing events, but as part of your long-term community strategy. For example:

• Host themed AMAs every two weeks: One focused on product technical explanations, another on ecosystem planning, and a third featuring partner co-hosts.

• This consistent cadence builds community expectations: Users learn to anticipate regular opportunities for direct interaction, and your team demonstrates a commitment to listening to feedback.

Top projects like Uniswap and Aave have maintained regular AMAs, which not only sustain community engagement but also help clarify misunderstandings and share updates—providing strong support for their long-term success.

Real-World Examples

• HashWin, a decentralized oracle project, prioritized community engagement mechanisms like AMAs during its growth phase. The team hosted multiple themed AMAs to explain technical advancements and address community concerns, building a strong reputation and trust.

• Sui, an emerging blockchain, hosted a series of community meetups and AMAs ahead of its mainnet launch. By showcasing its features and gathering feedback from ecosystem developers, it successfully attracted a large following. When Sui’s mainnet went live, user enthusiasm was overwhelming: Binance users alone staked nearly $4 billion in assets to subscribe to SUI tokens, farming a total of 40 million SUI—clear evidence that pre-TGE marketing had peaked market excitement.

3. Multi-Platform Synergy: Integrating Twitter, Telegram, YouTube, and More to Build Anticipation

3.1 Synchronize Promotion Across Platforms

Web3 audiences are spread across multiple online platforms—marketing should not rely on a single channel, but instead leverage cross-platform synergy to drive traffic between channels. Globally:

• Twitter (X) is the primary hub for crypto discussions.

• Telegram serves as the backbone for real-time community communication.

• YouTube is used for long-form content like interviews and tutorials.

• Additional platforms like Discord, Reddit, and Medium each have unique audiences.

Develop a cross-platform content strategy tailored to your target users’ habits:

• Ensure key updates (e.g., project announcements, event previews) are published simultaneously across all platforms.

• Adapt content formats to fit each platform’s style:

• Post short updates with links on Twitter.

• Explain details in a more conversational tone in Telegram groups.

• Upload explanatory videos to YouTube, then share the links on Twitter/Telegram.

This synchronized coverage and cross-traffic driving ensures users on all platforms receive timely information and are directed to your core community hubs. Multi-platform operations also create the perception that your project is "everywhere," increasing exposure frequency.

3.2 Maintain Consistent Brand Tone to Unify User Perception

While platforms vary, your project’s brand image and core narrative should remain consistent across all channels to build clear user recognition. This includes:

• Using unified logos, profile images, and visual elements.

• Highlighting the same mission statement or slogan in your bios.

• Maintaining a consistent tone (e.g., professional, or friendly and humorous) across platforms.

Consistency builds trust and familiarity: Whether a user sees a post on Twitter or chats with admins on Telegram, they should experience the same brand identity—no disconnect. As one founder put it: "Making users feel they receive consistent information and service regardless of the channel has a huge impact on brand image and loyalty." Conversely, disjointed content across platforms can confuse users and erode trust. Therefore, your team should align on a clear content tone and cross-check materials before publication to ensure consistency.

3.3 Leverage Platform Features to Create a Marketing Loop

Each platform has unique interaction mechanisms—using them effectively can deliver a "1+1>2" effect. For example:

• Host a poll on Twitter, then direct users to a Telegram group to discuss the results.

• Run an AMA in Telegram while streaming it via Twitter Space to expand the audience, then edit key AMA moments into a video and upload it to YouTube for those who missed the live session.

These actions create a closed user journey:

1. First exposure to your project via a Twitter topic.

2. Join Telegram for in-depth discussions.

3. Watch a detailed YouTube tutorial.

4. Return to Twitter to participate in follow-up topics or share insights.

This flow guides users across platforms, deepening their understanding and 认同 of your project.

Take it a step further: Encourage community members to engage across platforms. For example, organize active Telegram members to advocate for your project on Twitter and participate in public discussions. This increases your project’s visibility in public discourse and prevents your community from becoming an insular group. Ultimately, multi-platform synergy aims to create a mutually reinforcing ecosystem where your project’s message reaches every corner of your users’ online experience.

3.4 Phase Your Content Across Platforms

Focus on different platforms at different stages before TGE:

• Early Stage (≈6 weeks before TGE): Prioritize depth-focused platforms. Publish detailed litepapers, Medium articles, or technical yellow papers to articulate your project’s vision—use long-form content to build trust with early seed users.

• Mid Stage (3–4 weeks before TGE): Strengthen social media efforts. Post daily updates on Twitter to spark discussions, and actively manage Telegram/Discord communities to welcome new members, answer questions, and solidify community loyalty.

• Pre-TGE Sprint (1–2 weeks before TGE): Maximize exposure and engagement. Partner with crypto YouTube channels for project introductions or interviews, post AMAs or announcements in crypto subreddits, and mobilize KOLs to share your content across platforms.

This phased approach balances "broad promotion" (media coverage, KOL reposts) with "deep engagement" (owned communities, live interactions), driving community activity and market attention to peak just before token launch.

Real-World Example

Sui’s pre-launch success largely stemmed from its meticulous multi-platform strategy:

• It 深耕 (deepened) content via YouTube Tech Talks and Discord developer conferences.

• Maintained high-frequency preview interactions on Twitter.

By launch day, users across all channels were already highly anticipating Sui—translating into tangible actions like node participation and token purchases, creating a "unified response" effect.

Other successful projects like LayerZero and Blast also owe their achievements to refined multi-platform synergy:

• The Sui team consistently updated development progress on official Twitter, addressed community questions on Discord and Telegram, and shared technical insights via blogs and podcasts.

• It even introduced a creative community lottery system for token subscription allocations (instead of simple airdrops) to incentivize genuine supporter participation.

This multi-faceted strategy built massive pre-token anticipation, positioning Sui as the "next blockchain star" in the eyes of global users.

4. Conclusion

Successfully building hype in the pre-TGE phase—without a token—gives your project a critical head start. It not only drives short-term subscription and attention but also lays a solid community and brand foundation for long-term growth. Importantly, we should pursue sustained early community momentum, not fleeting hype. As industry analysts note: "Viral trends fade quickly, but a well-designed marketing funnel delivers long-term cumulative results. The most successful crypto brands don’t rely on hype cycles—they build genuine user loyalty by creating clear user engagement paths."

This reminds us that the ultimate goal of pre-TGE marketing is to retain early users through trust and anticipation, converting them into loyal advocates who even promote your project voluntarily.

Practical Recommendation

Develop a detailed 3–6 week marketing plan with phased milestones:

1. Week 1: Refine your brand story and foundational content; launch your official website and social media accounts.

2. Weeks 2–3: Launch KOL collaborations and community interactions; host your first AMA to gather user feedback.

3. Weeks 4–5: Increase exposure by announcing partnerships or product progress; launch preheating activities (e.g., testnet tasks, community challenges).

4. Week 6 (Pre-TGE): Release major announcements; activate your KOL network for full-channel traffic driving; ensure community discussion reaches its peak.

This plan ensures steady hype growth (avoiding sharp ups and downs). Simultaneously, continuously monitor channel data and adjust strategies based on market feedback.

Remember: TGE is just the beginning. The hype and trust accumulated pre-TGE will translate into resilience for your project to weather market volatility post-launch. Combine these strategies with influencer marketing and global media outreach for a holistic approach.

As the saying goes: "Preparation ensures success." May every Web3 project team leverage the pre-TGE window to pave their own path to growth.