While there are many different crowdfunding platforms to choose from these days, creating an effective and organized marketing strategy will increase your chances of success with your crowdfunding campaign. Here is a roadmap to get you started on your crowdfunding journey:
Map out a crowdfunding plan and timeline for at least three months in advance.
Avoid having your campaign launch close to any major holiday, since your marketing can get lost in the midst of holiday campaigns. Be sure to include all aspects of marketing that you plan to implement, which can include:
- Crowdfunding campaign landing page – This should be housed on its own website, in addition to the crowdfunding platform of your choice. Have all updates, social media handles, videos, photos, etc. on this landing page so fans and backers have one hub to visit.
- Social media – Choose up to three networks to focus your efforts on and create those accounts early on.
- Email marketing – Select an email marketing provider and set up the opt-in forms; don’t forget to include family and friends with their permission
- Livestreams – When are the broadcasts going to be? Which platform will you use?
- Blogging – If your product or service is a new invention/innovative, prepare content to share about different aspects of your product/service that will wow your audience.
- Videos and photos – Who will you hire on to do the videos and photos? Will you DIY or hire out? How long of a video do you want?
- Paid social – Do you plan to advertise on Facebook or Twitter? Decide how much money you want to set aside for advertising your campaign.
Build buzz early on social media.
Get the conversation started around your crowdfunding campaign (without being too salesy) and start building your community on the three social media platforms of choice. Research hashtags to see who is talking about the type of product/service you will be crowdfunding for. Overall, be genuine with your interactions in the community; don’t start off selling or else you will turn off your audience.
When your campaign goes live, be sure to maintain the buzz on social media by interacting with social media users when they ask you questions, and updating your audience about the campaign progress.
Create a memorable campaign hashtag.
Social media will drive a lot of the traffic to your campaign, so create a memorable hashtag that investors/backers/fans can use to share on their social media accounts. Not sure what kind of hashtag would work for your campaign? Remember our TEMPS formula when brainstorming with your team.
Make your rewards fun.
In addition to having your product or service being the rewards, make sure you include other unique and fun rewards for backers. How are the rewards related to your product or service that you’re raising money for? Oftentimes, we see the smallest rewards for crowdfunding campaigns being thank-you notes, and the largest ones can sometimes include flights to meet the founders of the company.
Your rewards should be easy and realistic for you to deliver within your budget and timeframe. Remember to provide yourself a realistic timeline for delivering the rewards after the campaign is completed. Keep in mind that you may require more time to deliver the rewards than expected (especially if you’re creating a product that requires a lot of manufacturing).
Create a compelling content strategy.
When creating your videos, photos, blog posts, and copywriting for your campaign page, remember: what’s in it for your audience? Why is your product/service innovative/helpful/needed in the marketplace?
Write out outlines for each blog post and video you hope to create and keep in mind the main goals you want to achieve for each piece of content. Especially with videos, remember to tell a good story in a short amount of time.
Keep your investors up to date on your crowdfunding progress.
As your campaign progresses, keep your investors and fans up-to-date through all channels: social media, email marketing, blog post, video (livestream), etc. As backers for previous crowdfunding campaigns, we cannot emphasize enough this ongoing communication piece. When crowdfunding campaign managers keep their audience up to date, they will continue to cultivate trust with that audience (which could encourage these backers/fans to invest in future projects).
Do you plan to start a crowdfunding campaign? Let us know in the comments.
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