By Pan Lorattawut, CEO of VUCA Digital, behind the CROWN Token Project
From Hong Kong’s hub for finance-focused crypto projects and Indonesia’s thriving DeFi ecosystem to the flourishing domestic Web3 talent venturing beyond China’s bans, the Asia Pacific (APAC) market has proven to be one of the fastest-growing regions for Web3.
Web3 companies trying to tap into the APAC region to reimagine the intersection between blockchain and, for instance, the finance, entertainment or technology industries should find their primary community in the region. Attracting initial users and partners is going to be challenging and you’ll ultimately need to overcome this hurdle by creating a sense of trust in Web3 by ensuring investor safety and becoming more than a service provider.
It’s Give and Take: Help Your APAC Partners Strategize
The first step is finding good partners in the APAC region. As a Web3 company starting from scratch, you’ll benefit from having a strong stakeholder in the region to help you grow your connections and meet relevant companies that have a similar vision. While this kind of backing smoothes out this transitional period, you can alternatively, lean on the support of venture capitalist firms or start with your internal network of past supervisors and mentors who believe in you, can vouch for you and be your reference.
Consider partners that could bring synergy to the products and services you are already offering. For example, your non-negotiables could be added value for your users, an additional revenue stream and a near-perfect fit with your business model. Users are looking for better experiences and investments with high potential in the APAC region, so ask yourself, “What experiences does your audience actually want that you are not currently providing?”
Partners in the region are looking for assistance with both the technical and commercial side of things and want to leverage your existing business and community strength. Beyond creating educational content and guiding your partners step-by-step through, for instance, identity verification processes or the risks that come with entering the blockchain space, help them craft a Web3 strategy. Act as their advisor and create a roadmap with category-specific ecosystems and chains. Take lessons from Web3 platforms native to Asia, like Alibaba’s AntChain Bridge and BitKeep, which are increasingly gravitating toward multi-chain setups, and start with a product or platform design that allows flexibility for these kinds of partnership add-ons later on.
In the same breath, look to Web3 platforms that offer a hybrid on- and off-chain model. It will not only make your potential partners' lives easier but also smooth out user interfaces and simplify the customer journey. The fewer the steps to onboarding, the better. Let businesses leverage their existing technology stacks and off-chain data. Most importantly, show how the risks decrease with off-chain code bases and hold more steadily with the shifting regulatory clarity in China, Korea, Japan and elsewhere.
Connect With the APAC Region’s Existing Likes
APAC has always been a hotbed for entertainment and art, so Web3 is a natural next step for the region. Find ways to connect with communities' tastes through, for example, Korea, Japan, China and Thailand’s love for anime. By turning anime into a series, movie, game or digital asset, for instance, you would be able to appeal to Asia’s young population, where 60% of the world's youth is located along with crypto-natives.
It’s not only about the craft but also cultural appreciation, so make sure that your project is representative of a combination of cultures. In other words, you cannot divorce connecting with this generation without considering, for example, the K-pop business model, the explosion of streaming platforms, and APAC accounting for more than half of the world’s 3 billion video gamers. It also means teaming up with local developers to craft a culturally appealing design, living up to the high standard of digital-first experiences, and solidifying business relationships.
Each region in Asia has its own big festivals like the Chinese New Year, the Thai Water Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival, which are celebrated with pride. For instance, Halloween and Valentine's Day are also much-anticipated days in the calendar and there will be other festivals in countries to honor their specific heritage, traditions and customs. These calendar events are an opportunity to acknowledge and connect with different cultures. So, if you have five target countries in your community, look to the majority, and do something that fits that culture.
Don’t Just Sell, Understand, and Enhance the Web3 Creator Community
One key use of blockchain and projects in the Web3 space is in the upliftment of the creator economy. Help artists co-create with other, more well-known professional artists and bring talented individuals together so that younger creators can feed off the lessons and experiences of seasoned artists. You can make a greater impact by collaborating with partners who want to support the same campaigns and movements as you. For instance, you could collaborate with companies that offer physical exhibition spaces while you provide a digital platform to showcase creators' work. And together, you could contribute to creators’ projects financially.
If you’d like to do a community event in Thailand, for instance, find local partners there that will help you navigate the region's community and break down any language barriers. This can be a tedious process of research, narrowing down the list of potentials and listening to business propositions to find the perfect fit. It definitely makes it easier if your team has a personal connection with someone in the locale. Also, don’t limit yourself to one. Expand your network for every aspect of your project that you don’t have local expertise in.
Creators are not battling a single pain point, which means there’s a lot Web3 can do if we listen. In other words, your product or service will only be as good as your community support and feedback loop. During your initial launch stages, monitor if we are gaining traction with a persona tracking system on your website to find out who your ideal customer is. Often, users are more interested in collecting digital assets as opposed to pure investing. Collecting this kind of data will take time before you can make sense of who your loyal users are.
Be it your potential partners, users or clients, be in the know about how your communities feel about your product or service and your brand ethos. Listen to how they talk about your offerings. When running campaigns, ensure that you have a keyword or hashtag to reference and have your communications team read each one to see people's reactions and responsiveness. X (formerly known as Twitter), Discord and Telegram remain the primary hotspots for chatter around your events and engagement efforts.
Be Respectful but Fun
There’s a perception that you need to be super formal in order to be respectful, but that’s a stereotype. Informal is best. With any first meeting paying respect through the way that you talk is what counts when making a good first impression. Meeting in person at networking events helps with this, and it makes keeping in touch easier.
Bowing is a nice touch, but it’s not a prerequisite. Being genuinely respectful to potential clients, partners and users – in their eyes – is about providing them with reliable and great services. In the end, it’s about the trust and quality of your services and products.
Keep the community alive and engaged online and offline by acknowledging the input from your first users. Lean into focus groups, first with your fans who have been with you for quite some time. They can help you understand why they’ve remained loyal. For example, find out what they liked about the launch and what they want to see more of. You could also host community-specific events. Hosting games and challenges is a fun way for the crypto community to engage, especially when you include special rewards and benefits. Meetup events are also a nice touch.
Have an Open Mind, Boundaries Are Being Crossed
Put aside the stereotypical conventions you think you may know about the APAC region. The only genuine way to tap into this market is to pay great attention to the communities you’re engaging with and look to collaborate with partners who share your core values and know more about the region than you. The key has never been just monetization; it’s always been utility fulfillment.
About the author:
Pan Lorattawut, CFA, is CEO of VUCA Digital, the company behind the CROWN Token Project and ADOT marketplace, which brings digital assets like NFTs and tokens to the entertainment industry. Pan joined T&B Media Global in 2019 as Chief Business Development Officer and now oversees VUCA Digital’s digitalized assets and consulting business and T&B’s investments, fintech, digital assets, strategy, and business development. Prior to VUCA Digital, she was Senior Vice President at Meketa Investment Group, a full-service investment consulting and advisory firm with $1.4 trillion-plus in assets under advisement in the United States. She has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.