How to launch an NFT collection

01. Know your project

It may seem obvious, but before you begin you need to know your aims and what your project is. Lui tells me: "I think the first thing to do is to identify why you're releasing your NFT. Is it a digital art NFT?

It's worth considering a theme that's both on-trend and timeless. Think about what's hot in the art world right now, and then choose something completely different. Just kidding, sort of. While it's important to consider current trends when launching your NFT art collection, it's also vital to choose a theme that has some staying power. This way, your NFT collection will still be relevant and valuable long after the hype dies down.

Lui says ask yourself, "Is art the real utility or is your NFT meant to serve some other fundamental purpose? Like is it a ticket or is it something for gaming?"

02. Don't be shy

"If you are a pure artist, the thing to really think about is how do you build community and how do you get people to follow you? This is a multi pronged strategy," says Lui, who advises not to be shy but get out there and promote yourself. "First, get your work out there. Just like when you're trying to build any type of audience it's about getting seen and not being too shy. Put work out consistently and show you're in NFTs for the long term."

Launching an NFT art collection requires some serious marketing skills. Think about who your target audience is and how you can reach them. Use social media, email marketing, and other tactics to get the word out. As Lui tells me, "There's an art to selling art, so to speak".

03. Build your community

As an NFT artist you need to be a part of the community to get noticed, and two key channels need to be used, says Lui: "Get on Twitter and Discord, these are channels that NFT collectors and artists use. Make sure you have a Twitter [account] and make sure you have a Discord [account] for your team members."

Launching an NFT art collection takes time, effort, and patience. Don't get discouraged if things don't take off right away. Keep creating, keep talking, and keep refining your approach. Eventually, your hard work will pay off, and even if it doesn't you'll have made new friends and been inspired to create.

Fundamentally, Lui advises: "Start engaging; engaging with other artists and see if they want to create collaborative works or if they want to showcase their art next to yours; participate in the community."

04. Support other artists

Don't exist in a bubble but be a participant of the NFT world, says Lui. "One great way to get started is to take a little bit of money and just support other artists and buy some of their artworks. Be seen as a collector and an artist. You don't have to spend a lot but be seen that you're committed to the space and supporting the overall state, and then you're likely to get back more than what you put out." 

This can also help you in setting realistic prices. It can be tempting to set your NFT prices sky-high, but keep in mind that there's a lot of competition out there. Supporting other artists also enables you to see what similar NFTs are selling for, how you felt about those prices, and price yours accordingly.

05. Meet people and get involved

Lui explains some collectors can enhance your credibility: "There are some celebrity collectors out there. If they collect your work, then that's the stamp of approval. if you get that, then all of a sudden, your words are valued much more highly by everyone else. I think it's important to do a little bit of one-on-one interaction, whether that's online, or visit NFT galleries or conferences; get to know the important people in the space."

But this all comes back to how the NFT supports new artists: "One thing that's quite unique about the NFT community right now is how everyone's quite supportive. A lot of these top collectors and influencers are trying to grow the space and trying to help everyone out and they're willing to spend their money to support creators. So it's really a golden opportunity."

06. Think creatively about your NFT collection

"I think people are definitely rewarding both creative art as well as potentially creative mechanics," says Lui. "So you need to take a little bit of ownership of saying, "hey, how do I think about everything holistically and not just what are the visuals?" We've seen some interesting mechanics where artists are producing multiple pieces of art but to get this new collection you need to already be holding something in their previous collection."

Lui explains some further examples: "You could actually need to burn an NFT, almost like sacrificing it, for the right to get an upgraded, new artwork. There's even some like gamification for pure artists to get their community excited through the health of the NFT; collectors care about art, but they also care about whether what they're purchasing will appreciate or depreciate, so if you create the right environment for that, you can increase demand for your work over time." 

07. Don't give up, see the bigger picture

Launching an NFT art collection takes time, effort, and patience. Don't get discouraged if things don't take off right away. Keep creating, keep marketing, and keep refining your approach. Lui explains how seeing the bigger picture of where this is going will help when things feel daunting. 

"Just don't give up. It's still so early right now, but overall the NFT market is going to grow 1,000 times bigger in the next five to 10 years. So if you're early right now, and you're trying to stand out."

Lui adds a little perspective: "There aren't millions of NFT artists. Today, there are a few 1,000 good ones, and so fight to be with those 1,000, and then as the overall market grows in the next few years – it can be a very, very powerful movement – the number of people that will care about you, will know about you, and will want to collect your art NFTs will grow. And of course, that brings the financial benefits as well."