Welcome to the first issue of Market Mix, a newsletter focussed on marketing trends across the crypto and broader fintech industry.

My name’s Brad Michelson. I’m a digital marketer with a background working with some of the top brands in crypto. I started this newsletter to create the content I always wanted to see. I’ll be writing about marketing strategies, data-based organic research, and my thoughts about marketing in the consumer financial tech industry.

If you have any thoughts or feedback, feel free to @ or DM me on Twitter.

And, of course, if you like what you’re reading, please share with your friends.

The bitcoin market is officially in a new bull run. Q4 ended as one of the most successful periods for customer acquisition across the crypto space.

But where are brands finding these new users?

Organic traffic.

My last Twitter thread on Bitcoin SEO from November took off and is still being shared around today. Now that we’re into fresh 2021, I think it's time for another Bitcoin SEO update.

What's new in BTC SEO?

First let's take a look at Google Trends. Trends to put a finger to the wind on search traffic trends. We can see that traffic has been increasing for terms like "bitcoin", "buy bitcoin", "ethereum", and "buy ethereum".

This trend took off in the last two weeks of December, right as bitcoin was closing in on the $30,000 record.

Moving over to our SEO tool SEMrush, the top-level numbers haven't really shifted much. But, when you dig in further, you can find some interesting shifts in “bitcoin” keyword search trends...

The key thing that has changed between November '20 and January '21 is the top bitcoin search phrases. Since Q4 we've seen a shift in intent in some of these major keyword categories, particularly in questions and keyword variations.

The Top 10 Most Searched Bitcoin Phrases by Volume

Some key takeaways here:

1. Top 3 keywords has stayed the same

2. "Bitcoin news" volume has dropped

3. "Buy bitcoin" dropped to 42nd by volume

4. Malicious marketers are pumping traffic to spam phrases

The Top 10 Most Searched Bitcoin Questions by Volume

Some more key takeaways:

1. Top question is now "how to invest in bitcoin" (prev “what is bitcoin”)

2. 2nd term is now "how does bitcoin work" (up from 5th)

3. Clear shifts of intent trends from Nov '20 toward buying/investing

Changes in Geographic Trends

One thing I was surprised to see is, according to SEMrush, total volume on bitcoin related terms is actually down.

November 2020: 8.9 million searches

January 2021: 8.8 million searches

We can also see shifts in geographic volume trends, too, with traffic increasing in Brazil and a slow down in France.

My goal is to send this newsletter bi-weekly. The first week of every month will include data-based deep-dives into industry trends. The middle issues should focus on other topics like campaign breakdowns and industry round-ups. I’d also like to dedicate space in each newsletter to highlight some open marketing jobs.

Thanks for reading.