How to Utilize NFTs for Your Small Business

As a small business owner, you will always be looking for a way to expand your reach within your chosen sector. This entails finding a number of creative opportunities to grow your business.

It might be through advertising and promotion, expanding your business, or evolving when an opportunity arises. Small businesses need to do anything to survive in this challenging world. Business survival rates have always been lower than many entrepreneurs would hope. An estimated 45% of businesses fail within five years. That figure is likely much higher during the pandemic.

Forbes explains that half of the companies affected by the recent pandemic will not see revenue return to that experienced in 2019. As a result, some will fold, some will adapt, and others will find creative ways to stay afloat.

While 2020 (and to a degree 2021) were terrible for many small business owners, some industries thrived. One of those was that of non-fungible tokens, known colloquially as NFTs. The NFT industry boomed throughout 2021, with several huge sales of high-profile items grabbing significant headlines. For example, the CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, sold the first-ever tweet for $2.9m in March, while on the same day, a tweet from Elon Musk sold for $1.1m. These are NFTs; digital items backed by blockchain, which confirms ownership despite not being a physical item.

NFTs have made news throughout the year, which is also exemplified in the sports industry. Socios fan tokens are NFTs sold to fans of a particular sports team, giving them tangible, real-life benefits. For instance, holders of a Barcelona fan token were recently polled on what message their captain’s armband should be. The fan token is not just an influence; it can be bought and sold as a commodity, and the value can rise or fall depending on a team’s fortunes. Chiliz, the crypto that backs fan tokens, grew faster than the broader crypto market last year, another digital industry thriving.

This is great, but how can it help you as a small business? In what way can you leverage this booming industry to suit your requirements as a smaller business? We’ve already suggested the use of blockchain will increase in our article’ 5 Technologies Which Help Businesses to Thrive in 2021′, but what will that look like in real terms?

Promotional Tools

There are a lot of promotional strategies that you have to take advantage of. If you’re a small store selling products, you may occasionally issue a coupon or promotion to loyal customers. However, this is an area that can experience counterfeiting, especially if you’re keeping print costs low. Technically, your ten percent off coupon could be copied and used multiple times, which may put you off issuing such promotions. NFTs can help here, as blockchain codes serve as authentic, tamper-proof discount assets. Issued as an NFT, each token could only be used once without fear of you being ripped off.

Loyalty Program

All the top stores have a loyalty program, but how could you implement one outside of a card and stamp? The answer (of course) is NFTs. You can create a digital NFT loyalty card, allowing customers to sign up and download it to their mobile devices. It’s completely safe and secure, each one is unique, and you can even offer rewards through blockchain-based upon certain thresholds. More prominent companies, such as Clinique, already have these NFTs n place, but some resources make them accessible to all.

Fundraising

NFTs are a great way of fundraising. Think back to the fan tokens we mentioned earlier; supporters pay a fee to obtain the token, split between the provider and the team. If you flip that to your model, you could similarly see tokens, maybe offering discounts and loyalty schemes mentioned in the last section but receiving a fee in the meantime. That could raise capital for an expansion or a new product line. Think of it as a form of a Kickstarter project, only it is scam proof, and if you ever go big, those NFTs could be worth significant sums.