Most projects won’t get it right.

They think PR is a launch button, that it guarantees visibility, traction, investor buzz. They think content marketing is something you do when there’s no “real” news. A blog post here, a tweet thread there… Basically filler until the next announcement drops.

But if you’ve spent any real time helping projects grow in this space, you know better.

You know that good PR can open a door, but it won’t hold it open. You know that content marketing isn’t backup, it’s the strategy that keeps people listening.

And you know that timing, message clarity and audience targeting matter more than hype.

We work with founders, protocols and platforms at every stage. Some are prepping their first fundraiser, others are publicly traded. Most come in asking for coverage. What they leave with is perspective and a roadmap for building long-term credibility.

Here’s how we explain the difference between PR and content marketing, and how to make both actually work.

PR Gets You Noticed. Content Makes You Matter.

PR is about visibility. It’s what you use when something happens that demands attention: a funding round, a new chain, a partnership, a product going live. The goal is to reach people who don’t know you yet, through platforms they already trust.

If you’re navigating your first announcement or just want to sharpen your strategy, check out our Web3 PR 101 Playbook, the quick guide to turning attention into real traction.

When done right, good PR earns you that trust by proximity: the Forbes piece, the CoinDesk headline, the Blockquote mention. It says: we’re here, and we’re real.

But PR is short-lived. If you’re not already thinking about what happens after the announcement, you’re playing catch-up.

That’s where content marketing comes in.

Content is about substance. It’s where you go beyond the headline to explain the context, show the thinking and claim space in the bigger conversation.

Content says: we’re not just building something. Here’s why it matters. Here’s how we think about the space.

Founders Want Headlines. Builders Need a System.

We get it, every founder wants the headline. The story in Fortune. The retweets. The inbound interest.

But if you’ve never pitched a journalist, never shaped a message for multiple audiences, never been told by an editor “this isn’t news”, then you might be missing the bigger picture. If you want to understand what it really takes to build connection in Web3, our latest post breaks it down.

The best projects think in systems, not moments. They know that the right media ladder, starting with crypto-native outlets and building toward the mainstream, takes consistency. They understand that thought leadership isn’t self-promotion, it’s contribution.

When we describe it as a marathon and not a shill sprint, we mean it.

You Can’t Fake a Good Story, And You Shouldn’t Try

One of the biggest mistakes we see? Announcements with no product behind them. Fluffy partnerships. Promises with no clear roadmap.

This industry has been burned too many times to fall for that again.

Want a story that gets picked up? Build something real. Then make it clear, honest and valuable to your audience.

The best media outcomes we’ve driven came from projects that already had traction: users, growth, results. Our job wasn’t to invent a narrative. It was to shape it, simplify it and serve it to the right people at the right time.

Projects like DWF Labs and Falcon Finance have seen success not by chasing headlines alone, but by building consistent multi-channel narratives. From executive commentary on industry shifts to well-timed announcements, they’ve kept their stories alive long after the press cycle ends.

No one owes you coverage, but they’ll give you attention if you’ve earned it.

Content Is Not a Newsletter. It’s Your Voice.

If PR is what gets someone in the door, content is what makes them stay.

That means educational pieces, tactical X threads, founders explaining complex ideas in human language, and yes — thought leadership that actually says something.

We often advise clients to start with 3 core content themes: what you believe, what you’re building, and where you’re going. From there, we build.

Some of our best-performing pieces weren’t announcements at all, they were takes. They were honest breakdowns of what’s broken in the industry and how a project is trying to solve it.

That’s the stuff people share. That’s what earns you trust over time.

So How Do You Know What You Need?

It depends where you are.

• Just launched? You probably need PR to build presence, and content to explain yourself.
• Raising funds? You need credibility with both journalists and VCs.
• Scaling an ecosystem? You need a story that evolves, and content your community can rally behind.

We help projects map this out. Some months are PR-heavy, others are pure narrative-building. The best results come when both speak to each other.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not about PR or content. It’s about the clarity of your message, the strength of your vision, and your ability to make people care, again and again.