We are into week 2 of our 7 week series on how to build your crowdfunding project. Following on from our introduction on How a Crowdfunding Project Works – How to Crowdfund …. This week we are going to talk about Step 1 – Building Your Team.
So let’s recap on How Crowdfunding Works:
- Create your project on Crowdfunder
- Share your idea with the crowd, they pledge cash for rewards
- Your idea gets funded!
In our previous blog we discussed:
- How to Crowdfund: 6 Steps to Success
Have you started building your crowdfunding team, crowd, and project?
Most of the actual exposure and building of a movement around the project should happen outside the crowdfunding platform before the project is launched. Be prepared to invest a minimum of twice the duration of your campaign in campaign pre-planning.
Research other projects that are crowdfunding for similar projects. Find out what they did right and apply it to your own project. It’s important to research both successful and failed projects, so you can identify what they got right and see if they could’ve done better and learn from those mistakes.
How long before pre-launch should you allow to get everything in order?
Begin researching, strategizing and building up your target audience at least three to four months before launching your actual project, because it makes up the foundation upon which all later elements of your campaign will rest. If you take shortcuts or skip steps, you’ll find you will have to work harder than you should have to. Being efficient, organized and disciplined will make a huge difference in the outcome.
The planning begins…
Organise your Videos, Photos and Logos – Be a little thoughtful when planning these. You need someone to write a script & get someone to take the video (even if it’s on a phone). Plan where, when & how you are going to take them. Decide what theme you want, but make it engaging with the person taking the video, because your audience is behind that camera. When taking photos, make them relevant, but not just the product itself. If you have an old outdated logo, now might be the time to get it updated. Make sure that you have the raw size images, so they can be resized.
Leadership, drive & vision – If you want your campaign to succeed, be prepared to work hard and very long hours to make it happen. Learn from your mistakes. If something isn’t working, figure out why. Measure your results. If users don’t react positively to something, change it.
Subject & market knowledge – Browse successfully funded projects, and look for projects that are similar to yours, and then compare. If a project fails, compare it’s characteristics to yours. What kind of social networks and strategies did they use? Find out whatever you can about these projects’ backers, including age, occupation, location, and which demographics pledged the most money.
Networking – Build your networks before launching & go to relevant events. Build up a social following and promote that your project is coming soon. Let your supporters meet the people behind your project, so they can connect with the person behind the product, and they can believe you’re trying to make the world better with your idea.
Someone to shout about it! – Make sure you have a core team of people promoting the campaign for you and have them reach out to organizations and workplaces. Get them to start the conversation on social networks & keep it going. To have the greatest chance of success, start using this a month before your project starts. This way, people are aware and eager to be involved, when you do release the project officially.
Start the ball rolling!
Engage potential funders and get them interested in your project before launching. This can significantly improve your chance of success. Projects that ‘cold start’ and don’t do any planning before the first day of launch often struggle to reach their target.
(This blog is part of a series of blogs I wrote for a crowdfunding company)