Are you considering running a Crowdfunding campaign? If so, you will need to know the best practices that separate the campaigns that get 5 – 10 backers from the ones that surpass their funding goal.
One of the biggest advantages is conducting a pre-launch campaign. This may be one of the biggest factors that play into your Crowdfunding campaign. Many people decide to go out on a limb and simply post their Crowdfunding campaign on a platform, and expect the platform to generate all of the donations for them. This does not work! Most of the donations that you receive are from your own marketing.
The process
Now that you understand you will not receive free donations by adding your campaign to the platform of your choice. Instead, you want to generate all of your own backers and let the platform give you additional backers in the process. Where do you find potential backers? This age old question is the key to a successful Crowdfunding campaign. You need to conduct research into your potential backer and target those who are most likely to donate to the campaign.
Next, is when you will decide to market to the potential backer. This starts before you actually launch your Crowdfunding campaign. That is why it is called a pre-launch campaign. You need to offer something to the ones that will potentially donate to your campaign before it launches. Many companies decide to host a contest online, or another form of marketing campaign. However you decide to market the campaign, you need to keep in mind the end goal. Furthermore, the end goal is to gain access to a potential backer, this can be in the form of gathering email addresses, or likes on facebook, etc. You need to find the identities of those who may be interested in donating to the campaign.
Once you gain that access to your target market, you need to keep their interest. So if you have created a facebook page, or gathered email addresses, you need to send them periodic updates about the launch of your Crowdfunding campaign.
Advantages of the pre-launch campaign
The pre-launch campaign will be your biggest asset. The whole idea is to generate the initial donations for your campaign. Keeping this in mind, you will also have to utilize your existing social circle including friends and family that may want to help with the campaign. These first backers will be the backbone of your campaign, as it will reassure others that your campaign is actually legitimate!
People are more apt to donate to something that other people have donated to. Would you donate to a campaign that has only 2 backers? Probably not. If you see that 30 others have donated their money to a campaign, you would likely think that it this may actually be something of interest. This is the entire focus of the pre-launch campaign. It will make others want to donate. This is a HUGE consideration for people when they are giving their money to a complete stranger.
Another major asset that the pre-launch campaign will provide, is getting your campaign noticed on your Crowdfunding platform. If you create a campaign on Kickstarter, and you receive a large percent of your fundraising goal within the first week, you get featured on the site, and this is what separates the good campaigns from the great campaigns. If you are featured on the front page of Kickstarter or any other major Crowdfunding platform, you can guarantee that all eyes are on your campaign. This is how campaigns surpass their funding goals. Being featured on the homepage is a major advantage, as other media sites may write articles about your campaign, giving it more coverage on the net.
How to start
After reading this article, you need to make the first step and define your potential backer. This means you need to find all of the similar successful Crowdfunding campaigns to yours and deploy similar marketing campaigns. As simple as this process sounds, you may be in the research phase for several months before you decide to launch your pre-launch campaign. The most important step in the whole process is your research. The rest is straightforward. In a nutshell, you can begin your pre-launch campaign and deploy your specific marketing strategy. Once you have launched, your backers will be ready to donate, and start your campaign off on the right foot.