The battle for web popularity is increasingly becoming competitive. You, therefore, need to play your cards well in a way that places you a step ahead in the campaign. Especially if yours is a massive platform that needs a huge investment, you have to exploit relevant strategies that will turn you into success.
You don't have to give a portion of your company to become a hit in the market. Very true! This post will cover critical crowdfunding tips basing on other wildly successful projects. Whether you're a starter just testing the waters or an existing business, no more worry as we got you covered.
1.Create a great video.
Video presentations provide a clearer picture of what your product entails. They serve way far better than just posting images that don't speak anything to your prospective clients. Again, you don't have to scamper an amateur-looking video because you'll definitely destroy your company's credibility. Best of all is to contract it to an expert to your specifications. Instruct them to come up with a video that is worth a customer's time. If you're lucky, some will even come up with a content you would even not have imagined. Furthermore, the ultimate thing you want is to drive more traffic to your company. But again, you don't need to be the next Steven Spielberg or have a massive budget to counter this. Watch other videos that have been used by other campaigns. It causes no harm, just abundant inspiration.
2.Be honest and authentic.
Shaping up your image so that everybody trusts you is an integral process for every business that foresees future success. Developing credibility in everything that you do is very fundamental. It's a new tip in crowdfunding and every business has to embrace it strongly. Be yourself and write the campaign from deep within you. Don't tolerate any thought of trying to blackmail your supporters and this will increase your chances of success by 250%. If you write from your personal perspective and draw your readers emotionally, it makes you seem authentic.
3.Market your crowdfunding campaign on social media.
For a keen observer, you'll definitely note that social media carries a hub of opportunities for a growing business. You can begin by determining where your potential clients are likely to be and storm the place with your cloud link. If you're too aggressive, the people will want to know what it is that you're insisting soo much. And that way you gain more supporters. Not necessarily that you should annoy people with your crowd link, posting it now and then but the wider you reach, the better. Most important, focus on channels that will offer the greatest impact. Consider the following questions: On which channel do you have many followers? Where do your target prospect converse? Which platform do you feel comfortable with? and lastly, Where can you find people with the greatest influence in the community? These questions will guide you ideally in choosing the right platform.
4.Begin by inviting your friends to join the campaign before going public.
In most cases, a crowdfunding campaign succeeds because of the money raised by people who are just a degree away. If your friends are interested in your project, then it will go viral. Almost a year now, Prevost spent every chance she got to enlighten friends and the community around her about the difficulties that parents face when bringing up their children. She took it to schools and conferences and when people finally got a glimpse of what she was talking about, they supported her, she is now a very successful lady.
5.Send your cloud link to all phones and emails in your email list.
This is a prior practice that you should do even before launching the campaign. This is about building your following. This is the core reason many crowdfunding campaigns fail from the start. An email list is a group of people who have developed an interest in your Indiegogo campaign. Make sure that your email list is primed so that you can send a message to all the emails when officially launching your crowdfunding campaign.
6.Maintain a good code of conduct.
Every owner of a business dedicates his or her 'whole self' and there are instances where they can display their challenges emotionally. This may become recurring and eventually become disruptive to anything that outlines expectations. It's beneficial that if such a problem outcrops, you should seek immediate assistance.If you're truly into crowdfunding, then none of your actions should piss your supporters. Your ethical principles at your workplace should be respectful to all.
7.Know your pricing margins.
Yes, I don't see the idea in overspending on promotion to an extent that you fail to deliver the terms you pledged to your backers. If your pricing margin is zero, better keep away from advertisement and try other crowdfunding tips that don't cost you a penny. You might be trying to build the roof while on the other end, you're destabilizing the foundation. Unless you've surpassed your crowdfunding goal, keep away from paid advertisements.
9.Pre-launch.
Before you embark on your campaign, first create a solid fanbase. From then, you can start off very well. Even If you are yet to build a community that can influence your product's image, work on developing some attention. Never know, you might get an influencer who gained interest in your product. A good example of a person who perfectly utilized this tip is Adam Baker. He leveraged the following on his Man vs Debt blog to assist his I am Fine, Thanks documentary rake in over 4000 backers.
10.Physical appearance before your existing fans.
This is the crowdfunding tip that earned Veronica Mars sitcom a straight shot to the market. She initially worked on building interest from her first-hand fans and supporters. These fans and supporters serve as the stepstone and the cornerstone to greater heights. It, therefore, goes without saying that your appearance should be appealing to the people around you. Also, appeal to everyone else. Even if you may lack the funds to give them at least a $1 dollar reward, Your can give them a chance to access your marketing strategies. For example, The Back To The Roots Aquafirm raised $248,873 higher than their expected goal of $100,000 just by giving small rewards of $1 and conducting resourceful marketing seminars for free.
11.The power of notable influencers.
There might be great people with a huge command who noticed your cool gadget or project and are closely monitoring your progress. You can reach to them and ask them to do some market penetration for you. If you're lucky, this should be the easiest way to establish your project in the market. They will impact the public positively thus creating more opportunities for you to succeed in your campaign. They are thought-leaders or rather the trusted voices in every conversation and so they can offer a huge help when utilized perfectly. Expand your audience and take your campaign to the next level.
12.Get the media to talk about your product.
This is a popular case with many crowdfunding projects. However, this tip works only if you've got a solid website where journalists can reference. Think of press releases and live presentations. The press will generate great pictures and advertisements that appeal to every viewer. Think of Star Citizen Video game, they made a whopping $14 million from funding and their campaign was enhanced by going live on TV. Also, bloggers can reach deeper in this new age of the internet. You better be thinking about it now. Right! The only hampering problem is getting in touch with these influential bloggers to write it for you. Their time is not cheap and so you should expect to cough out some money for them to serve you.
13.Door-to-door marketing.
Regardless of the means that you use to launch your campaign, success is directly proportional to the amount of effort you invest. The more hours you invest, the more you push your campaign towards your goal or even above. Crowdfunding campaigns have recorded exponential growth since 2011 where the market was at $1.2 billion dollars only to finish at $10 billion in 2010. This means that there are a lot of underlying opportunities for those seeking funds.
14.Keep your undertakings personal.
Introduce the team whom you've made an attachment with so that everyone knows them. I've seen people trying to conceal the identity of people who played critical roles behind their good performance. Most probably because they are inferior people who would otherwise not have been imagined or else a well-off company. The crowdfunding campaign is hilarious. Let me assume that you've heard of the 'House of Lions'. If no, this group was funded by Ignitiondeck when releasing their first album. They went ahead enlisting their funders on the tracklist and also included them in the surfing lessons.
15.Communicate regularly.
Whether it's some encouraging or disheartening news, don't hesitate to speak it out to followers. A real campaign has to involve regular updates so that everybody remains on track. "Real work unveils after the campaign so that everyone gets to deliver what they pledged" Piwik's Mathieu Aubry was quoted saying. Mathieu is proud to have introduced a new feature from the crowdfunding funds . Your folks need to be updated on your regular assessments. By doing so, your supporters feel that they are involved. In fact, I don't see anything that should hold them back from becoming active promoters of your campaign.
16.Avoid asking for money immediately.
Remember that your backers will give you money with a high expectation of getting something back. Start by establishing your enthusiasm for your ideas and people will definitely want to support you. Bclique gave a try on this tip and it worked marvellously. They had The Public Domain Review campaign which turned out very successful. Communicate the benefits and sole goals of your projects and if it sounds great, supporters will show up front to back you up.
17.Prepare abundantly.
Well, are you ready to go? Have you fully baked your idea? These are the questions that you should use to gauge the preparedness of your project. Your supporters are your investors so don't cheat yourself that they will invest on a project that doesn't seem like a worthy prospect. Ensure each and every aspect is handled fully before you can kickstart your crowdfunding campaign.
18.Pitching and story.
Remember that the context of a crowdfunding campaign is to raise money online. You're vying to get a person's attention on a platform where there are tons of other things to draw them away. For this reason, your messaging should be straightforward and be luring enough to grab their attention for a longer time. You can keep them engaged by telling about yourself, your company or about customers who've made a real impact in your development. If you're enticing enough, they will gradually develop the interest to read more of your stories.
19.Focus on what is in for your customers.
The next thing you want is to raise funds for your campaign. Make sure that you come up with intuitive terms and rewards for your supporters. The best thing here is to format your thinking into a backer's perspective and ask yourself, "Would I really want to be bound by these terms? If yes, then you already have the thumbs up. You can also check some of the compelling rewards that other renown multi-billion dollar campaigns used to fetch much money. Forbes is also a great place where you can get a wealth of this and much more.
20.Supporter engagement.
Having people around you who are ready to fund your campaign right from day one is very important. These are the people whom you should give the first level network. Many campaigns that manage to accrue a significant success rate are the ones that keep their firsthand supporters at the root of everything. Great sites like Crowdfunder.com have implemented this very well by having the name of every stakeholder displayed as the social proof on the credibility of the investment.
There is no way to guarantee success in crowdfunding. It depends on how you approach your target supporters. If you turn out brilliant, you won't believe it everybody bailing you up. On the contrary, if you act inappropriately, owe unto you. Nevertheless, crowdfunding is growing drastically and don't expect it to go down at any cost.
Written by: Bclique Staff Writer
We Connect Entrepreneurs With Partners to Start, Fund or Grow Your Business.
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