Centrifuge is a DeFi platform for the tokenization and financing of real-world assets (RWA). RWA are assets that exist outside the blockchain, such as invoices, mortgages, loans, or even music royalties. By tokenizing these assets and bringing them on-chain, Centrifuge opens up new possibilities for financing, investing, and trading in the DeFi ecosystem.
However, bringing RWA to DeFi is not an easy task. As with any new category being created, marketing involves defining a new market segment, positioning your product as the pioneer, and inspiring interest and demand in an uncharted territory. Moreover, it requires attracting and acquiring users from both the traditional finance and the crypto space. How does Centrifuge achieve this in a bear market?
Centrifuge’s Funnel Strategy
Centrifuge’s user acquisition strategy can be summarized in three words: educate, collaborate, and innovate.
1. Educate
One of the main goals of Centrifuge is to educate potential users about the benefits and opportunities of bringing RWAs to DeFi. By educating potential users, Centrifuge aims to raise awareness and interest in its RWA application, as well as build trust and credibility in its protocol.
2. Collaborate
Another key aspect of Centrifuge’s user acquisition strategy is to collaborate with other players in the DeFi space. By partnering with established protocols and platforms, Centrifuge can tap into their existing user bases and offer them new opportunities to access RWAs. Some examples of Centrifuge’s collaborations are Aave and MakerDAO.
3. Innovate
The third pillar of Centrifuge’s user acquisition strategy is to innovate and create new solutions for RWA in DeFi. By constantly developing and improving its protocol and products, Centrifuge can attract and retain users who are looking for cutting-edge and novel ways to improve the financial system. Some examples of Centrifuge’s innovations are Centrifuge Prime and their recently launched App.
Identifying your core business audience is the most important place to start with.
Centrifuge’s RWA application is designed to serve two main types of users: asset originators and investors. Asset originators are entities that own or originate RWAs, such as asset management companies, small businesses, freelancers, or artists. Investors are entities that provide liquidity to RWAs, such as institutional investors, crypto funds, or retail users. Centrifuge markets its RWA application to these two types of users differently, depending on their needs and preferences.
Furthermore, within the investor category, the strategy can be further broken down to TradFi and DeFi. Within TradFi, potential users care about the efficiencies and cost-savings realized through blockchain technology. Within DeFi, potential users care about access to yields and assets uncorrelated to crypto volatility.
By focusing on its core business, Centrifuge has been able to bring its TVL to $200M+ and cumulative originations of assets to $431M+ as per Dune Analytics on August 5th 2023. Centrifuge has the highest TVL and growth of any RWA protocol.
But How Do You Make a Big Impact Within Constraint?
Hire for breadth, not for depth of knowledge 🧠
At an early stage, or within small person teams, the first few hires should be generalists. Someone with versatility to handle a variety of initiatives, the ability to adapt and respond based on changing priorities and increased problem-solving ability stemming from a broader understanding of different aspects of the team and company.
Strive for both big and little wins 🥇
Strike a balance between ambitious projects (high effort, high impact) and small wins (low effort, high impact) to aim for significant breakthroughs while continuously achieving incremental successes.
Responsively reallocate based on results 🔬
Your plan shouldn’t be static; it should be agile and dynamically optimized based on performance and priorities. If something is not working, pause it. If there is a great new idea from someone, make it happen. If something is performing well and can run on its own, reallocate resources. This way, one can respond to the market changes and user feedback in a timely and effective manner.
Maximize the impact of every activation 🦾
Atomize the content your team works hard to create. Turn podcasts into blog posts, write tweet threads from event presentations and create on-demand webinars from event session recordings. Long-form content, especially video, has massive potential to fuel blogs, social, email, thought leadership and more.
Don’t be everything for everyone 🤯
Instead of trying to appeal to a broad audience, concentrate on a specific target that cares most about your company’s value prop. Focus all your energy on getting in front of these people with the right message, on the right channels, at the right time.
Make your anchor event your content bank 🎞️
The Centrifuge team is creating a one-of-a-kind event experience, with dense panel discussions, invite-only think tanks, live podcasting from the Boys Club, guided networking and many more unique and memorable activations. Centrifuge’s Real-World Asset Summit will bring together 250 senior execs from TradFi and DeFi and delivers high-value content and networking. After the event, singular content will be converted into various formats. Uploading the session recordings to YouTube, creating YouTube Shorts and compilations, packaging predictions and insights into mediapitches, writing blog posts and tweet threads, developing a white paper, repurposing video Q&A as testimonials, and sharing all content with partners to encourage virality. The content created from this event will fuel the content engine for the rest of the year. That’s how you extend the lifespan of an event.
By following the principles outlined above, Centrifuge has been able to create and lead the RWA category. The company has focused on its core business, which is to provide a platform for the tokenization and financing of real-world assets. Centrifuge has also been innovative in its approach, developing new products and services that meet the needs of its users. In addition, Centrifuge has been effective in marketing its platform to both traditional finance and crypto audiences. The company has used a variety of channels to reach its target audiences, including thought leadership, PR, social media, events, and partnerships.
As a result of its GTM strategy, Centrifuge has seen significant growth in its TVL and cumulative originations of assets. The company is well-positioned to continue to grow in the future, as the demand for real-world asset tokenization continues to increase.
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