Useful Tips to Create a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
Crowdfunding has become particularly popular in the last decade. More and more individuals, companies and organizations have been turning to it as a means to raise the necessary funds to fuel their projects, ideas, and dreams. So let us have a look at Crowdfunding and everything about it.
What exactly is Crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is the process of funding your idea, project and your dreams even, by inspiring other people to make financial contributions towards your project. Thus, a successful crowdfunding campaign is the one supported by numerous contributors (and backed up by some powerful and generous too) who find a project purposeful enough to donate a certain amount of money to it.
There are many online platforms which are built to facilitate Crowdfunding and to support amazing projects. Namely:
With these platforms in mind let us now take a closer look at the process itself.
The Essential Steps to a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
Crowdfunding is a very demanding and challenging process. It requires careful planning and meticulous research so that one can succeed in a highly competitive environment. It is anything but easy so here are the steps which one should follow to create a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign. Starting with the most integral part of the process.
- Perform a Thorough Research
Research not only does it map out the road towards a proper strategy but it also helps candidates become fully aware of what lies ahead. It does not only apply to one’s initial idea, project or product but it also means that one will put under scrutiny everything related to it (industry, niche, business plan, cost, audience, pain points, and problems). However, research is not limited to that. It also includes locating the right Crowdfunding platform to use. Checking out case studies or guides on how to build a Successful Crowdfunding campaign on a specific platform. Carefully examining the rules to which your campaign must comply and start finding the ways you will develop the campaign itself.
- Finding the Right Audience
This is once again where research comes handy. Once you have your idea in your mind and before you embark on anything else you must get to understand who your ideal audience is. This again is not something that can be figured out easily. Read Case studies, talk to people, learn as much as you can about your audience so that you will be well aware of what motivates them, inspires them and worries them too. Be as detailed as possible in the description of the right audience for your campaign. Create the ideal persona based on extensive research and back up the insights with data which you will find. Based on that persona start brainstorming on the ways, channels and the material which you will use to get them to financially contribute to your project.
- Promote your campaign
Use all your strengths and channels to promote your campaign. To make a Successful Crowdfunding campaign you need to get it in front of the people who will believe in it enough to contribute. This means that you need to conduct thorough research regarding the right audience, the ideal persona to whom your campaign should be presented. Then you need to find the right channels (TV, media, newspapers, radio, newsletters, blogs) the right social media networks and platforms ( Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit) and the right material through which you will bring your campaign closer to the right audience. The promotion of your campaign on Social Media should ideally start a few weeks before the launching of the actual Crowdfunding Campaign. This is to give you time to iterate and finetune the way you promote your Campaign and to create the right amount of anticipation to your audience. You must create a Social Media Campaign, one that is carefully planned out and strategized towards achieving virality. After the initial Research Step, this is the Second very important one. The way you will present your idea and your campaign to the world. And the way you will attract the audience to the Crowdfunding platform to support you.
- Share Your Story not just an idea
Be as thorough and descriptive as possible. Provide background information and insight and provide your thoughts and aspirations too. Describe how you came about your idea, what you wish to achieve, how are you going to use the funding of your idea to help people and make a positive impact. Do not be afraid to make it emotional (but not too dramatic) and also make it as transparent and honest as it can be.
- Offer Rewards
Providing the supporters of your idea with amazing rewards is a great plus. Especially to those supporters who decide to contribute greatly to your campaign. This does not mean that you have to go out of your way to impress them. But you should have a well-thought-out reward plan resonating with your campaign and your idea. A thank you note is a great start for small contributions but it falls short when the contribution is generous. This is why you should consider creating a range of rewards and roles your supporters may be taking up depending on the amount of money they contribute.
- Set a Funding Goal
After you have mapped out your project’s business plan and you have estimated the cost then you should set a Funding Goal which would be your ceiling. You need to set the bar so that your pledgers know the exact amount of money you need and so that the campaign will have clear goals.
- Keep the interest of your supporters high
As your campaign is running and you get more and more pledgers do not forget to update them on what is happening with the campaign. Post insights about the campaign, updating the numbers as needed and keep maintaining a sense of urgency while being transparent and thankful too.
- Pay attention to feedback
A successful crowdfunding campaign needs to be open to iterations. Do not get frustrated when you receive negative feedback. Be open to it and kind enough to thank the person who offers advice or opinion. Take it into serious consideration and finetune your project, your idea, and your campaign. Use every negative feedback as a way to improve and as an opportunity to getting closer to success.
Tips:
- You need a team of experts to help you prepare accordingly. A Successful Crowdfunding Campaign is better orchestrated by a group of people sharing the same passion and working hard towards a common goal.
- In Crowdfunding, you need to bring your own crowd. This means that first, you need a basic network of people who will provide their help. Whether that is contributing financially or offering their knowledge or simply resharing the campaign on Social Media. Start off with a basic network and make sure you socialize (offline and online) engage with the right audience to bring more people on the Campaign long before the official launching begins. In other words, create a powerful communication base. A network which strongly believes in your idea and does not refrain from supporting it in public.
Word to the Wise: The fact that a project/idea or aspiration is funded through a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign does not necessarily grant the project itself future success and growth. A Successful Crowdfunding Campaign means that you get to accomplish the first goal which is raising the necessary funds to lift your idea off the ground. What happens once that goal is achieved and the way you will pave the road to your business’s success and growth is not something that should be taken lightly.
Can a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign Support Education?
Did you know that you can use Crowdfunding Campaigns to raise funds for you to get access to a better education? You can get people to fund your dreams for a better future not only in terms of funding your product or business idea but in terms of assisting you in studying and creating a better future for yourself and your community. Provided that you build a well-mapped-out and carefully-figured out the campaign you can reach to supporters to help you opt for better education and a scholarship too.
