Behind the Scenes at THE RELEVANCE HOUSE

At THE RELEVANCE HOUSE, we don’t often talk about ourselves — we prefer to focus on the industry and our clients, and generally get on with doing what we do. However, sometimes it’s good to lift the curtain and show what’s going on backstage to help the magic happen.

Before getting into the hows, let’s take a look at the whys. A lot of it comes down to THE RELEVANCE HOUSE co-founder German Ramirez, who’s been in the crypto/blockchain game for a long time — think “cofounded the first bitcoin ATM company in Switzerland” and “lost a fortune in BTC in Mt. Gox” sort of timeframe. In industry terms, that’s an eternity — and to put it bluntly, he’s seen some shit.

It’s not his time in crypto that drove German to do something about it, but rather his time before crypto. While a few years in the industry is good, it’s not a substitute for decades of experience — and that’s what’s been missing in blockchain. Drawing on this and his more than two decades as a marketer under his belt, he teamed up with operational director Anna-Lena Stach to found THE RELEVANCE HOUSE, and with it establish a new standard for blockchain marketing agencies.

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No more cowboys

‍The ICO boom of 2017 spawned a horde of support agencies willing to do whatever it took to get some of those sweet, sweet millions. A few of these have gone on to become stable, professional players — but most have shut up shop or still exist in the cowboy fringes, promoting dubious projects through unethical means. Let’s take a look at the main types of cryptocowboys:

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Pumpndumpers.

‍Professional enthusiasts masquerading as marketers, the pumpndumpers thrive on FOMO, misinformation, paid celebrity shills and a social media strategy incorporating more bots than a Russian disinformation campaign.

While the pumpndumpers may not all be operating illegally, they are certainly working unethically. By focusing on hype by any means, and not caring about who gets burned, they contribute to the success of scams and shitcoins which take millions of dollars from a trusting public.

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Payforplayers.

‍If pumpndumpers are the shady Wolves of Cryptostreet exploiting the buying public, then the payforplayers are the parasites who live on their droppings. Often erroneously called “journalists” or “publications”, they provide an illusion of credibility to the promotions that the pumpndumpers are pushing.

Anyone who’s worked in PR around the crypto scene knows how pervasive this is, and how many times otherwise respectable outlets have put price tags on coverage. Breakermag did an expose in 2018 reporting that more than 50% of crypto publications took money for coverage — it’s been our experience that this number is much, much higher.

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Eventenators.

‍Unlike the previous types, eventenators not quite as malicious or unethical. Instead, they tend more to being a mix of extreme idealists and rampant incompetents. An eventenator wants to hold a crypto event — usually the biggest, coolest and most useful EVAR! The problem is, as anyone who’s gone to one of these events quickly realises, is that they don’t know how.

From spending so much on the show that they forget the content, to hosting investor events with no investors, eventenator events are usually hyped up and infinitely disappointing — but they do bring in money for the organisers. A good event takes planning and care — not just lots of spaces to display sponsor logos.

A particularly egregious subset of the eventenators are the doubledippers — event organizers who charge all sides to attend. At a doubledipper event, nobody is attending on merit — everyone has paid for placement. While fantastic for the doubledipper’s bottom line, doing this removes any basis for credibility and turns the event into little more than a big hype session — one that is often not declaring its financial interests.

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Making things relevant

‍THE RELEVANCE HOUSE is none of these things, because we know that they are ultimately not the best way of promoting sustainable success. Our team includes senior professionals with decades of experience, covering every discipline we work in from PR to design. Blockchain might be new, but the principles of building a brand, establishing market positioning, or creating compelling content aren’t — and we’ve spent years mastering them.

So how do we do it? The old way, the hard way, the good way. When we take on a client, we do deep KYC to reassure ourselves about the project’s good faith and viability. If we don’t believe in their potential for success, we can’t market it properly.

We build brands and position them using proprietary techniques built upon decades of practical experience, bringing the lessons learned throughout the growth of the digital economy to bear on the challenges of decentralisation and Web 3.0.

Our content producers have decades of editorial experience going back to the days of print, and have worked with innovative companies since the dawn of the digital revolution. From informative articles to compelling op-eds and ghostwritten speeches, we know how to produce the most relevant content.

We use social media like a scalpel, not a shotgun, building on German’s foundational experience and our expert team to target and grow our audiences organically — building strong engagement by making sure that we reach the right people with the right message, every time.

All our PR is done through establishing relationships with publications and journalists, pitching the story, and following up. We don’t pay for coverage, and we don’t work with outlets that expect it. Again, it’s harder work, but the results are far more convincing when they’re earned, not bought.

Finally, when we book or attend events, we work with organizers who know how to craft a strong agenda, invite quality speakers, and don’t look at every space as an opportunity to upsell. A good event can be invaluable for forging connections and getting exposure — it shouldn’t just be a reason to buy advertising space.

By focusing on building a sustainable future, THE RELEVANCE HOUSE has its sights set not only on success for itself and its clients, but on being a frontrunner in the professionalization of the industry. We have good reason to care about its success, because we keep skin in the game. We’re invested in every project we work on — which gives us the best reasons to do things right!

Ultimately, the pumpndumpers, payforplayers, eventenators and doubledippers have to go — they aren’t good for the industry or anyone but themselves. They may make for amusing stories to be told in the future, when PR and marketing specialists can meet with real journalists at well-managed, relevant events and laugh about the way things used to be.

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Photo credits:

Photo by Tim Toomey on Unsplash
‍Image by pressfoto on Freepik