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7 things to avoid that will RUIN your chances of crowdfunding success

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There are some people who think that crowdfunding is as easy as asking for people’s money and sitting back and watching your supporters grow.

SPOILER ALERT: it’s not.

There are a number of things that a Project Creator needs to take into consideration as they embark on their crowdfunding journey, but we thought we’d compile a list of all the things we absolutely recommend you NOT to do, to make it abundantly clear. These are the things to be wary of when creating or running your own campaign.

It can be pretty overwhelming when planning and launching your own crowdfunding campaign, with many tasks and distractions to make you lose focus. We’re here to help, with a heap of great resources and knowledge to make sure you have the best possible chance of achieving your goals.

The easiest way to fail in anything that you do is to not have a plan in place to achieve your goals. This is true for crowdfunding; you can’t expect people to flock to your brand new campaign when you haven’t put in any work to build a list of engaged people, taken the time to tell a story and offered something of value to these potential supporters.

But make no mistake, a catchy name or a compelling image is not enough. Your story and brand image need to be backed up by a network of users that care enough about your idea to share it with their own networks. You need to invest in yourself and the campaign before you can expect any supporters to do the same. Plan a promotional strategy that will help you attract the right people to your campaign, don’t expect anything to come easy.

Make sure you understand your audience and who you actually want to be attracting as well. This will affect the language you use, the types of rewards you offer and even the images you display. Do your homework and be sure of the main demographic you want to support your campaign; speak to them.

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“I’d really love a spare $500,000 to build my next project!”

Wouldn’t we all… Sometimes we have to cut the dreaming out and get down to brass tacks: what amount can I feasibly achieve that will allow me to realise the first stage of my project? By looking at your current followers, subscriber lists and core supporters you will be able to gauge a rough idea of how many people you can expect to support your project.

A great formula we have worked out here at Pozible is to take your number of core supporters and multiply that by $50 (our most popular pledge), and if that number equals around 30% of your minimum target then it is realistic.

Number of Core Supporters X $50 = 30% of Minimum Target

Ultimately, you will need to sit down to work out the minimum amount needed to get the project off the ground and make it viable. Remember we have a game-changing feature called Stretch Targets that allows you to set an achievable minimum goal, and then stretch the target higher once you hit it.

Photo by Scott Rodgerson

Put out good vibes into the world, and the world will give back.

Uh-uh. That’s not why you get out of bed every day, passionate about this project of yours. You don’t want to leave anything up to chance, or give yourself any reason to regret your decisions later. By having a regular and consistent promotional strategy you are not only strengthening your voice and brand, but also making it clear to everyone about what’s going on right now and how they can support.

Educate your followers and wider audiences and never assume that they will “just know” how to support you or where to click to do this. Make it as easy as possible for your potential supporters to access your page and make a pledge.

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Is this it?

The worst thing you can do is bring people to your campaign page via a social post, email or another credible source, only to have your visitors be underwhelmed when they get there. I’m talking boring visuals, no video, plain text headings and uninspired story. That’s a fast-track for me to Command-W my way outta there real quick!

You need to capture the attention of your visitors quickly, and then give them a reason to stay and learn more about your campaign. Video is a great way to engage your audience, but also think about the images you use, headings with keywords that will instantly be recognised and any other assets that will give your campaign the ‘WOW factor’.

But what’s in it for me?

One of the best things about rewards-based crowdfunding is that you literally get to reward your supporters for their contribution. This is a crucial part of your campaign, and as such you should take the time to craft and offer some amazing and unique rewards that your audience is going to love!

This can be literally anything. (well, almost.)

Use any hidden skills or niche services you may have at your disposal to create memorable rewards that will genuinely interest and appeal to those you want them to. What does that mean? If you’re creating an album but you’re also an amazing chef, you could create a reward offering a five-course home-cooked meal for you supporters. There’s no rules saying your rewards need to be specifically related to the topic of your project, so get creative and use any additional skills that you may have outside of your main area of expertise.

What were we talking about again?

Oh yeah, don’t assume sh*t when it comes to your campaign. To be successful and to continue the conversation about your project, you need to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds. To do this you’ll need to have a carefully planned schedule of different updates and new information to share about your campaign and some closely-related topics as well.

This doesn’t mean becoming a broken record of regurgitated content and reposts of the exact same message. Treat your audience with respect and integrity, create different posts using various mediums and platforms to remind people why that should be supporting you and also how long they have until this offer will no longer be available!

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“Asking all my contacts and relatives is a bit embarrassing, I’ll just assume complete strangers will give me money instead.”

Read that sentence again. Yeah, when you put it like that it’s clear that the easiest and most engaged people for your crowdfunding campaign will be the people that know you best and have followed your journey up until now.

To really succeed and maximise the success of your crowdfunding campaign, you have to be willing to push yourself and your idea firmly into the centre of the stage. And turn all spotlights on. And keep them trained to you, while you complete your main attraction.

If you are shy or reserved about putting yourself out there, think of ways to use other vehicles to promote the campaign. This could be getting someone external to run the campaign, giving them all your information and tasking them with posting consistently about you. Or you could use a company name to speak as, but keep in mind that crowdfunding is all about transparency and the best campaigns showcase the people behind the scenes.

Source: https://blog.pozible.com/7-things-to-avoid-that-will-ruin-your-chances-of-crowdfunding-success-ed549a6af2d5?source=rss—-ae0d23b22248—4

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