Cue a scramble from investors to cash out cryptocurrencies at a time when there isn’t necessarily a bunch of buyers. Therein is the kicker: the more spooked crypto investors get, the more they pump those currencies into the market, leaving a surplus of supply with limited demand. Bad news for any company primed to stoke the belief among investors that cryptocurrencies would make them richer. This belief has been undoubtedly shaken and with it the view of crypto bosses.

The rapid growth, short-term mindset that guided many of them over the last two years, has contorted into a more conservative, survivalist one. Companies are cutting costs in a market that’s lost as much value as crypto. As ever, ad dollars are among the first to go.

“I can tell you the amount those companies spend has dropped on average around 70% in the last few months,” said Zachary Greene, founder and CEO of crypto-investing and finance website GreeneryFinancial.com. “Due to the loss in ad revenue and other revenue due to the downturn we’ve had to stop all of our ongoing marketing ourselves as well as temporarily lay off some team members and reduce hours of others in the last month.”

Life comes at crypto companies fast. It was only earlier this year they were forking out millions of dollars for ads during the Super Bowl. Now, they’re barely advertising at all. Digital ad spending for the 10 cryptocurrency advertisers is around 90% down since November, per data tracked by digital ad intelligence platform Pathmatics. Worse still, no one knows when those dollars will recover. Emphasis on the when — not if.

Of course, there are the true believers, the ideologue who believe these virtual currencies are here to stay. But they’re not the ones crypto advertisers ever really targeted. Instead, they were looking for new investors, drawn to the sector thanks to FOMO. That fear is a lot scarcer now than it’s ever been. And in its place is regret in getting involved as much as they did. The last thing crypto advertisers are thinking about is chasing new investors who are more conservative than ever.

“From what I have seen, sponsorships that are already live will be honored, but I am having a hard time seeing anything else come through, at least while the crypto winter lasts,” said Dion Guillaume, global head of PR and communication at cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io. “As with any sector, some difficult decisions must be made during difficult times.”

Pull advertising or push it. Shift messaging or dial it down. Stop acquiring new customers or focus on leaner acquisition models; marketers are trying to …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron