What You Need to Know About Crowdfunding: Tips and Advices from AMA hosts
So you’ve decided to crowdfund your business. Or yourself. Or anything, really. You’re not alone. Crowdfunding has skyrocketed in popularity and for good reason - there has never been a better time to crowdfund. In the last few years, Kickstarter and its competition have ushered in the era of crowdfunding, proving that great ideas can get backing, even without the support of banks or those rich relatives the key to a great crowdfunding campaign is building momentum quickly and attracting pledges as soon as you start fundraising. But how you actually achieve that?
Buzzwords and catchphrases evolve when there is some cool opportunity for success (it’s a fact), so in today's blog, we'll start from scratch.
What is "crowdfunding?"
If you’re unfamiliar with crowdfunding, it goes like this: you have an idea for a project, you post it on a platform and people (backers) give money to it in exchange for perks and rewards. Sounds Easy? Well, it's not. Crowdfunding is not a walk in the park. Crowdfunding Is Work, Work, Work! Most failed campaigns have one thing in common – lack of effective pre-launch marketing. The fact is, most crowdfunding campaigns get the majority of their funding within the first week after the launch. After that, they may continue to get some funding, but whether or not they’ll succeed can be told fairly accurately in how they do within the first seven days.
Then, you should build a website or use a “crowdfunding platform” such as Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, (as well some of the new players catering specifically to writers like Pubslush and Authr) where people can contribute money towards your goal.
There’s really only one way to ensure that the first week of your campaign is successful—pre-launch marketing. You have to get people excited about your product or service. You have to convince them that they want to donate to your campaign. And you have to do it all before your campaign starts. So how can you do all that?
1. Tell your story.
At the very beginning, you have to know how to tell and sell your crowdfunding story. After all, your crowdfunding campaign pitch is your first point of contact with potential donors. You need to convince people to give you money for something that they won’t receive for months (and possibly longer).
A pitch needs to cover:
Who you are: Introduce yourself. It pays to be honest, authentic and transparent. Be yourself — and be natural and upbeat. You want people to believe in you, to be on your side, and to want your project to succeed.
What you are trying to raise money for: Why did you make this product? How is it better than the competition? Be specific and include your funding goal, and even a breakdown of where the money goes.
When your project will take place: When do you expect to ship your product? What are the stretch goals? Set a deadline, this creates a sense of urgency.
Where your project will take place: Where will the product be available? Talk about why crowdfunding will help you. Share the social media platforms you are using, and the value of sharing the campaign with others.
Why are you raising funds: Why did you make this product? Why is your project worth viewers’ hard-earned dollars? Show your passion, explain the impact of your campaign or tell us about the people who will benefit from it.
How people can get involved: How will you keep in touch with the community during development, and after the product is released? Beyond just donating money, what else can people do to help you? Outline any perks you have created.
2. Pick an image with impact or make compelling video content
A picture tells a thousand words, right? Populating your page with compelling images is one of the best ways to become a crowdfunding success story. Having eye-catching and informative promo image that tells a story can help boost your campaign sales and instantly develop understanding, spark compassion and inspire action. Make sure you include an engaging video on your crowdfunding page to lure in potential investors who prefer video over text.
3. Set a realistic target audience
Do your research and stalk your target audience. There’s no point in trying to convince a cat owner to purchase food for parrots, right? Think through exactly who your target market is for pledging upfront. Are they gamers? Developers? Tiny house fanatics? Stay at home moms? Find out who your project's audience and users will be and target them in advance via bloggers, social media, forums, etc. It doesn’t matter how awesome your crowdfunding campaign page is, or how compelling your campaign video is. If you don’t reach out directly to the people closest to you, they might never know that you need their help. And that's certainly not something you want.
4. Get social!
“Hey, Brother, Can You Spare A Re-Tweet?” Please, just don’t. You can have the best campaign in the world, meant to support the best project in the world, but if you don’t know how to spread the word, it won’t matter. One of the key strengths of crowdfunding as a fundraising vehicle is its ability to leverage the power of social media to build widespread support for a project. Sharing your page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. is a great way to get started with social media. Still, that does not mean that you have to be on all of the social media platforms that exist. Pick the right platforms for you according to:
- Where your audience is;
- What you can reasonably handle in your daily life
5. Public Relations
Reach out to bloggers and the right influencers in your space that could help generate traffic and “buzz” around your product. The “buzz” that comes from someone with an already established network is done well, it can soar your campaign towards success. Also, finding contact info for relevant journalists is homework every campaign creator has to do before launching their campaign. Look for publications that focus on topics closely related to your fundraiser, contact relevant journalists, highlight the human aspect of the story and include clear reasons as to why you think your project is relevant for their readers. For example, if you're crowdfunding to cover medical expenses, look into health magazines or blogs.
6. Updates, updates, updates!
Updating your donors during a crowdfunding campaign can be crucial to your success. No matter what type of project you have, without updates, your donors and future supporters don't know what the status of your fundraiser is or how you're coming along with your goals. Inspire your supporters to interact with and give them answers to frequently asked questions, stretch goals and links to new articles. It’s really important to share updated news on a regular basis by giving them an insight into your progress, struggles, and achievements along the way
7. Don’t forget to say: “Thanks!”
Throughout your crowdfunding journey, you will develop a list of donors. Don’t underestimate the power of a simple thank you – they deserved it. Thanking your supporters is a must, but surprising them with a personal donation thank you letter is even better.
An AMA is a great way to connect with a targeted audience, answer their questions about your crowdfunding campaign and promote your campaign that not only generate awareness but contribute real value to the online community. As you know, a lot of well-designed crowdfunding campaigns were promoted through our AMA feed, just for that reason.
The Crowdfunding Tips for artists from our AMA Host
Self-taught artist, Greg Mason Burns was a host of our AMA Event where he shared important tips on how to get funding for art projects and residencies. His project focuses on the gap between the media's message and the audience's understanding of the truth. What is most interesting about this event is that Greg is the first and only person dealing with supporting artists dedicated to increasing critical thinking of the media, expanding transparency, and encouraging dialogues between parties with contrasting ideas.
Thanks to this AMA Event, our community could learn everything about various crowdfunding platforms such as one of the most popular crowdfunding sites —Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe, etc.
Have you ever wondered what it looks like when you run the same campaign on two different platforms, specifically via Kickstarter and Indiegogo? Is it good for your campaign? Here's the first-hand answer to this question from Greg:
“It just is not good. And here's why: if you have the same project on Kickstarter and Indiegogo at the same time, then you're just confusing your friends by telling them they can go to either site. And if you split them up, you're less likely to reach your goal. So why would you want to go to two different platforms with the same project if it will just increase the risk that you'll not reach your goal, thus costing you money in the end? Instead, create a certain time interval between starting the campaign. For example, start your project on Kickstarter in January and the same project on Indiegogo in November, if you're still fundraising.”
According to Greg, here's another thing to think about:
“If your project requires that you raise $10,000, and you're not sure you can get $10,000 from your family and friends, then slice out $2,500 from that $10,000 an fundraise for that $2,500. You're much more likely to get the money and succeed than you are at the higher amount.”
“Kickstarter is definitely the most well-known and your supporters are probably more likely to trust it than some of the other less-known sites. Others like this are Indiegogo, GoFundMe, etc.
There are also organizations such as Fractured Atlas that support artists in a different way. These are Fiscal Sponsors, and they are non-profits that allow artists to apply for grants that are only given to organizations. It also makes donations to these artists tax-deductible. You can read more about fiscal sponsors here: Fiscal Sponsorship.
And then there are sites like Patreon. Unlike Kickstarter, which is about one-time projects, Patreon allows for long-term relationship building. The artist simply develops over time and the supporters are along for the ride (they get rewards, too).”
Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding for Filmmakers from our AMA Events
Working as a young filmmaker with a small name and big dreams, our Twenty-year-old AMA host Tariq Keblaoui who made two short films that were both extremely challenging for the budget and available resources. Since both films were financed thanks to Crowdfunding, we decided to share with you everything that Tariq taught us and his AMA.
“Look up projects on Kickstarter that convince you to promote them whether or not you were willing to put money in. See what they did about the page that convinces you, and think about how you could replicate that to promote your own project on Kickstarter. What I found that seems to work best, quite frankly, is to make a good, short and attractive video that explains your content thoroughly while sticking to the identity of you and your project/product. Make sure you have a nicely written page with as many graphics as you can that give additional layers of information of your product: behind the scenes work, infographics, special photos of your production, or whatever cool idea you can come up with showing.”
If you have been wondering what marketing strategy is best to run in the film industry, Tariq has a great advice for you!
- Make a platform for your work that is well constructed, aesthetically organized and accessible.
- Post as much interesting content from your film as you can, which includes behind the scenes, trailers, promotional content.
- Only post what matters and don't over-post! That can be annoying to audiences on social media.
- Try to build a community feel and rhetoric with every post. Your crew is your family and the audience is your supporter.
LET’S ALL HUG AMA Event And Top Crowdfunding Tips for Entrepreneurs
There are more than 600 crowdfunding platforms around the world, with fundraising reaching billions of dollars annually, according to the research firm.
Cuddlings.WORLD, made by passionate entrepreneurs and believers for people with nature's passion and care, started the campaign on Kickstarter not only to make their own success - but make a dream come true for many out there.
- Have at least a small network of enthusiastic friends and family willing to help get the ball rolling by giving and urging others to give.
- If you're giving out perks in return for money, make sure the perks are cool.
- Present a serious business plan and an explanation of why the money will take your enterprise to the next level.
- Demonstrate that you have your own skin in the game because of the personal funds you have already poured into the business.
- Include a video pitch and keep it short and concise, with a call to action.
- Be prepared to essentially live online, staying active on social media sites, until the crowdfunding campaign is complete.
Written by our genius blogger Tina based on advice from our great Hosts in www.CrowdfundingAMA.com and originally published on www.AMAfeed.com
