Crowdfunding: The Real Deal

…or what I learned for the next campaign!

Crowdfunding isn’t what you expect it to be. You’ve got an event you want to host, a new product you are bringing to market or a cause you believe in and now you want the public around the world to back you.

Here’s the real deal of what will happen.

For your fundraising efforts to succeed, you really need to plan this campaign out, step by step, with every detail, graphic and who’s going to be doing what.

Green Dream - International Children's Earth Day Exhibition in Jersey City 2014

I recently ran a pretty successful campaign and now that the event is over, I’d like to share some of my best tips:

  • Talk about the campaign long before you actually launch it. I blogged and posted about the issues and the gala reception event, way before I actually launched the campaign. The more I posted and emailed, the more people wrote back, donated and had come to see the show.
  • Make a list of past donators so it will be ready once the campaign is going to launch.
  • Make a list of local businesses who would like to gain more exposure by being connected as sponsors.
  • Connect with local groups and see if you can present to them. I spoke to two community groups and that had increased the awareness and brought people to see the show. They also became advocates and shared the event, and put up posters.
  • Be sure to bring in event partners, such as musicians, caterers, and printers. Once they are a part of the event/project, they post about it also, which expands the draw and reach.
  • Be sure you have at least 5 ambassadors posting and sharing, 2 were very good, but once 2 more people starting writing about it, the momentum really picked up and before long there were advocates writing too.
  • If you are going to have a crowdfunding partner, be sure that is going to help you. It takes a few extra days away till it’s approved.
  • Be sure you have selected the right category. I selected “art” because it was children’s art and because I was partnering with School of Visual Arts, but realize now, my category should have been “environment.”
  • Always remember the point of crowdfunding is to get the public behind your project, when in reality (depending on the project of course), your friends and followers may be donating.
  • Be sure you are emailing directly those who have been supporters of your past efforts, because they will most likely donate. (not group emails, but individually). I wrote to a products company that has donated in the past and asked her if she’d like to help. She became the corporate sponsor, which not only helped my campaign become successful, but it helped her too, because her logo appeared on everything.
  • Be sure to have your campaign end at least a month ahead of when you need the money.

Be sure that you do these very important details to the actual online campaign to make it successful:

    1. Create a 1:30-2:00 min video and explain clearly and get the public excited to be a part of it.
    2. Be sure to give all the details as well as a breakdown of the costs
    3. Think up cool perks that people will want, not what you think is cool to give away.
    4. Send updates as often as possible

 

Also, check out this crowdfunding webinar I hosted with expert Helene Berren, Marketing Coach, Small Business Strategist and Founder of AmpUrBiz

Crowd Funding Primer and 5 Tips For Success
 

Leave a Reply