SolidBlock is an end-to-end platform that helps real estate developers and fund managers raise funds offering digital securities. Backed with years of experience as a financial strategist, speaker, advisor, and mentor, Yael Tamar, CMO and Partner at SolidBlock, answered our questions about the idea for SolidBlock, naming, and the importance of having an online presence.

When and how was the idea for SolidBlock born?

Solidblock was born from our own frustrations as founders and amateur real estate investors. We were unable to access the best projects as well as investment opportunities which required us to be accredited investors; plus we did not have the significant capital required to invest in real estate or have access to great projects. We decided to help simplify and democratize access to this popular asset class, and our knowledge and experience in blockchain space helped us to come up with a way to use this technology to create a more efficient, transparent and liquid real estate market in which everybody would have access to quality property investments either by investing at the initial stage (security issuance) or throughout the growth stages of the project or when it becomes a yielding asset, i.e. securities trading. 

When did you start thinking about your brand name and how did you settle on SolidBlock?

My partner Yuval came up with the name before I joined. At the time, as he positioned the company as an issuer of real estate-backed digital securities, he was approached by one of the partners responsible for fundraising for the St. Regis Aspen hotel to develop the tech platform for tokenizing the property. SolidBlock name consists of two parts “solid” and “block,”. Solid in times of uncertainty. Block for blockchain and a physical block of real estate. Also, the word block could represent a fractional piece of something. 

What were your considerations when picking up a domain name for your brand?

The domain name was easy – SolidBlock.co.

Have you considered upgrading your domain name to SolidBlock.com?

We are considering buying it. 

With cryptocurrencies security is often a concern for all parties involved, how do you address that?  

Our Platform is blockchain-powered; however, cryptocurrency security does not directly affect us. SolidBlock issues digital securities on a blockchain that are fully compliant with the appropriate regulations.
There is a fundamental difference between cryptocurrency and security tokens. Security tokens are basically digital and tradable versions of paper securities. 

Who is your target customer and how did you reach your first clients? How has your approach to marketing changed over time?

We are a marketplace – so our target customers are property companies and investors. The initial customers reached us. We made one of the most successful and early websites in the industry with great SEO. In particular, the page on real estate tokenization is featured in the google search. We are also getting great PR being invited to events and conferences to speak about our experience in tokenization and security token compliance.

With the pandemic now we have seen an increase in phishing and other types of fraudulent activities. What steps do you take in order to secure your brand image and subsequently – your customers – online?

We search our name frequently on the net to see if anything comes up; so far I have not seen phishing or fraudulent activities associated with our name.  

Would you do something differently with regards to your overall brand strategy if you could go back in time?

We did a really good job with our brand strategy. Our brand strategy is based on the following three brand types: 

Outlaw – 30%

Hero – 45%

Sage – 25%

Outlaw because we are changing the norms and revolutionizing our industry. Hero because we are solving the real problem that people have and providing them with the chance to grow wealth, which is a universal right. Sage because we are secure and wise, and we are creating a better and more inclusive growth for everyone.

What would you advise entrepreneurs on naming, branding, and online presence?

Name should definitely be something memorable and it shouldn’t matter whether a dot com website is available for your brand. In terms of branding, I recommend a great resource that is called ‘brand archetypes’ and here is the link.

I think it’s helpful in finding and picking your voice.

Online presence one hundred percent you. You are not only the founder; you are really the brand of your startup and you need to work on your image first and foremost as someone with deep levels of knowledge and expertise, the one needs to consult in your industry.

Once you establish yourself as a brand, you need to increase your online presence by experimenting with various PR opportunities such as conferences, podcasts, webinars, etc.

It’s extremely important to make sure you release videos in the form of webinars or podcasts or other ways to share your knowledge on video.

It is no longer about how you share the content and no longer about the views that you get; it is all about whether you are sharing your content in places where your customers are likely to see it. So if a podcast that you appear on is listened by only 200 people, and these people are overwhelmingly within your customer base, then I would say it is definitely worth spending an hour being interviewed by this podcast. Sometimes it’s worth it to have this video just as a content piece that you can embed in your blog. It’s no longer about numbers of likes on facebooks nor number of retweets – all of these things are no longer relevant (unless you are a big consumer-focused brand) – the one thing that is relevant for a small startup is which articles and images and videos pop up when your name or your brand name is googled and how many pages come up.

What is next for SolidBlock?

At SolidBlock, our goal is making tokenization mainstream, and the way we do that is by creating high-quality projects, by always being out there, by being authentic and approachable, by forming industry alliances, by promoting what we do on webinars, podcasts, etc., by creating meaningful partnerships and by participating in government and regulator lobby efforts. 

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Find out more about SolidBlock

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