Working the crowd. How to make the most of crowdfunding

by Startacus Admin

Working the crowd. How to make the most of crowdfunding...

Your Campaign Homepage:

Once a potential donor has landed on your page, you have just a few seconds to convince them to stay and read what your campaign is about.

• Briefly tell them who you are, what your product/service is and how you are connected to the business.
• It is of vital importance that you make the reader trust in your ability to make the business a success, so describe briefly your background and how it is is relevant to the venture.
• What are the unique aspects of your project and how does it deviate for the norm?
• Why will this originality make your business into a success?
• How much money are you looking for to complete the project and how are you going to spend this money?
• Give a summary of how you see the product/service developing if you secure the money and give a projected timeframe for bringing it to market.
• Many crowdfunding campaigns raise more money than expected, explain what you will do with any surplus funds.
• What rewards will you be offering to donors? Equity, discounts etc.
• How do you plan to keep donors up to date with the progress of the business?

The written portion of the campaign needs to be clear, concise and to the point, you may want to consider dividing it up under bold, striking subheadings to make the information more digestible and easy to follow. A few well placed images will also allow your audience to gain a distinct mental image of your product/service but be sure not to overcrowd the homepage and only select images which are relevant.

Your Video Pitch:

This is the part where you will win or lose a donor so it has to be good.

• Watch as many other video pitches as you can and analyse their effectiveness.
• Plan your video and practice it. The audience is not looking to invest in your video making skills but a sloppy, hastily put together piece will immediately lower their confidence in you and your business.
• Keep your video short and to the point, no more than 3 minutes.
• Begin with a bold, attention grabbing statement that clearly states what is special about your product/service
• Pick out the key messages from your written pitch and summarize each into an easy to understand point.
• Be relaxed and natural, if you look or sound nervous it will suggest lack of confidence in your business. But on the other hand don’t be cheesy or over confident, remember that you are selling yourself too so be warm, engaging and accessible.
• Make your video as visually engaging as possible, you don’t need stunning graphics but make sure that your video has plenty of colour and good clear visual demonstrations of your product

This is just a wee rundown of the things we have picked up in our own experience, we’re sure you can think of lots more things but hopefully we’ve given you a few handy tips! Best of luck with your crowdfunding campaign.

By Eoin O’Hara, from the Startacus crowd

 

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Published on: 29th September 2013