Scale through strategic placement and partnerships

You've proven people want your product in Phase 1. Now it's time to put it where more people can find it and build relationships that drive growth. This is Phase 2 of our 4-part TON marketing series, focused on scalable discovery and user acquisition.

Distribution: Get Listed Where Users Browse

Think of distribution platforms like real estate: location matters. You want to be where your users already browse for apps.

Telegram App Center (@tapps)

Telegram is the primary discovery platform for TON Mini Apps. Getting listed here is like being in the App Store, only for Telegram.

How to get listed: Apply on TON Builders Portal

The upgrade opportunity, TApps Featuring, can get you:

• Promotional banners and placement in featured sections in the catalogue

• Features in the Trending Apps channel (6M followers)

• AMAs and campaigns on X

This platform can provide steady, ongoing discovery for well-positioned apps.

Wallet Integrations

Most teams overlook this, but wallet dApp sections can be valuable sources of users. Well-positioned apps can benefit from long-term exposure, with some wallets reporting up to 2M active users and a 3%+ conversation rate from clicks to on-chain actions over a year.

Major TON wallets to target:

• Tonkeeper Pro iOS | iOS | Android

• MyTonWallet iOS | Android

Multi-chain options: Browse all options including HOT Wallet, Bitget Wallet, SafePal

Third-party Catalogues

TON-native directories:

• Ton.app

• Tonscan Explorer

Multi-chain platforms:

• DappRadar: Apply through their developers dashboard. The DappRadar team reviews applications and notifies you via email. TON Foundation can help facilitate listing when possible.

GameFi-specific:

• Play Deck: A Telegram mini app showcasing top Web3 games

Quest and Incentive Platforms

Quests work because they gamify your onboarding while introducing users to crypto concepts gradually. They're particularly effective for user education.

Popular platforms:

• TBook (@tbook_incentive_bot): TON-native, great for SBT campaigns

• Galxe: Multi-chain platform with large reach

• Questhub (@questhub): Telegram-native, formerly BroContests

• GemsWall (@GleamRewardsBot): Simple Telegram quests

Quest design that works:

• Start with simple social tasks (follow, join)

• Progress to product-specific tasks (complete tutorial, use main feature)

• End with meaningful tasks that bridge users toward your core on-chain functionality (wallet connection, first transaction)

• Always include sharing/referral components

Remember to budget for quest rewards and expect that not all participants will become long-term users.

Strategic Partnerships: Often Overlooked, High Impact

Successful TON teams know this secret: Your first few partnerships often bring more users than your first advertising campaigns.

Finding the Right Partners

Look for teams building complementary products for similar audiences:

TON Nest: Meet teams at your stage
TON Fam Chat: Connect with TON OG founders
TON Hubs: Regional teams who know local markets

Partnership Approaches That Work

• Cross-app quests: "Complete action in Partner App X to get reward in your app Y"

• Shared campaigns: Pool resources for bigger giveaways, split the user acquisition

• Content collaborations: Joint AMAs, X Spaces, blog posts

• User swap arrangements: You promote them to your users, they promote you to theirs

Partnership success factors:

• Similar development stage: Roughly equivalent user bases

• Aligned audiences: Their users should naturally want your product

• Complementary value: You solve different problems for the same people

• Clear mutual benefit: Both parties should gain something valuable

Important: Not all partnerships work out. Expect some to fizzle, others to exceed expectations. The key is trying multiple approaches with different partners.

Growth Phase Success Signals

• You're getting steady discovery through distribution platforms

• At least one strategic partnership is driving meaningful users

• Quest campaigns are converting participants to active users

• You have clear data on which channels work best for your product

What's Next?

Once you've established reliable growth channels, you'll be ready for Phase 3: Scale through influencers, paid advertising, and viral mechanics. In our next article, we'll cover KOL marketing, paid advertising strategies, and how to engineer viral growth within TON's ecosystem.

The growth phase is about finding scalable, repeatable ways to reach your target audience. Take time to optimize each channel before adding new ones — scattered efforts rarely succed.

This is Part 2 of our 4-part TON Marketing Series. For more ecosystem support and resources, visit https://builders.ton.org.