Building High-Performing Web3 Marketing Teams - Part I
Here are my five secrets to creating stellar blockchain marketing teams
When I first started working as a Web3 marketooor, I was a marketing team of one. The volume of work was quickly increasing and I hadn’t figured out how to clone myself. I had to start building my own blockchain marketing team.
In this series of articles, I will share what I learned building the marketing team at Ambire Wallet.
I’ll start with the five rules I follow when hiring for a Web3 marketing role.
Hire for mindset, not for particular skills
You can teach people particular skills but you can’t teach them how to be ambitious, driven and ethical. A person either has these qualities, or doesn't.
When hiring people, I have always assessed a few main things:
How smart they are: Can that person think fast on their feet; are they able to see both the big picture and the small details; can they extrapolate data and link complex concepts together, etc.
How driven they are: Motivation comes from within, and it’s hard to force it onto someone. You can amplify motivation but if a person doesn’t have internal drive, they are likely to be just decent and nothing more than that.
How curious they are: In a young industry like ours, curiosity is paramount. There are new tools, products, tech developments, etc. every day. High-performers are always on the top of the wave, led by curiosity.
How flexible they are: In a fast-paced environment, you need people who are flexible; people who have no aversion to various roles, tasks and assignments. The best performers are those who can wear many hats, and quickly switch between them.
How loyal and ethical they are: It is always best to surround yourself with people who have a strong work ethic, and who are loyal to the bone. This is rare and hard to get. You also need to remember that loyalty is a two-way street.
How cool they are as people: We spend a huge amount of time with our coworkers. When adding new hires to the team, I always ask myself “How much will I and the rest of the team enjoy working with that person?”. You don’t need to become besties with your teammates but you need to have fun working with them.
Skills are great but culture fit is priceless.
Trust your gut
Can you truly evaluate one’s mindset in a short job interview? Absolutely not. I often use small talk as an opportunity to get a feel of who’s the person I’m talking to. Think of interviews more like a vibe check than an exam or an interrogation.
You don’t always click with people immediately. Often it takes some time to connect to someone, and you need to make a deliberate effort to achieve this.
Sometimes a candidate has perfect credentials and seems like an ideal hire on paper. But they rub you the wrong way. In our desire to close a job vacancy efficiently, we often try to find justification for the red flags we see.
I’ve learned this from experience: always trust your gut and don’t ignore red flags. Ask additional questions. Check references. DYOR ffs.
There is no way to avoid bad hires 100% of the time. The more people you hire, the better you get at sizing them up.
Define the roles you’re hiring for
Web3 marketing is still in its infancy and roles are often fluid. Before opening a position, I always sit down and answer the following questions for myself:
What would that candidate’s main role be?
What results will I expect them to deliver in the short and long term? How will we measure these results?
What background and experience will help them perform in this role?
Once I answer these, I have a clear idea of what types of professionals I need. This then lets me create clear and honest job ads and job descriptions.
When crafting your job ad, consider the following:
Is it going to cut through the noise? For example, there are hundreds of job postings for social media managers. The last time I was hiring for this role, I named the position “Resident Shitposter”. Not only did this title make my job ad stand out, but it even got TikToks made about it.
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Does the job ad showcase the company culture and values? If you want to get the best people, you need to convince them you’re the best company. Even if you’re not.
Is the job ad short and sweet? Information architecture is key. Make sure to include important details only, and to structure every bit of information according to its importance. Avoid unnecessary information and boilerplate bullshit. We know you’re an “innovative company that offers cutting-edge products” and that you are “revolutionizing the world”, now get to the point.
If you want to reach the right people for the job, you need to put in the work.
Find your communication channels
When hiring, we usually think of job boards first. There are multiple crypto-specific job boards that you can use and many strong candidates come from them. However, you shouldn’t overlook alternative channels as well.
Personally, I like to talk to my network and community of Web3 marketers before going to job boards. I ask for recommendations and I am often introduced to extraordinary professionals.
I also use social media - for the last job ad I posted, we got more than 600 applications from job boards. Not more than 50 of them were actually qualified, and only about 10 people were shortlisted for interviews.
At the same time, we also got 5 applicants from Lens and Twitter. All 5 of them were spot on.
Quality over quantity, always.
Be prepared to see hundreds of irrelevant resumes
A job in Web3 is a lucrative goal. Many people are looking to get into that industry. This means that for every job ad you post, you will likely get hundreds of resumes from people who are not qualified but are looking to get in.
Remember those 600+ applicants I mentioned a few paragraphs above? That’s what I’m talking about.
You’ll need patience and perseverance to go through these and find your gems in the dust.
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In one of the articles in this series, I will share a cheat sheet for job applicants. It will help them get under the skin of hiring managers and land their dream job in Web3. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it!