Promoting My Project
It is imperative that you don’t just rely on the ‘crowd’ associated with your chosen crowdfunding site. Most of the sites act as a platform for you to get your project exposure, but at the end of the day it’s all down to you-the project owner. Everyone, without exception, underestimates how much work goes in to running a successful campaign.
During his crowdfunding campaign for a documentary (in which he raised $12,519 and then got a match from a non profit that was following the project online), Nathaniel Hansen spent on average 4 hours a day curating ‘The Elders’, tweaking the campaign as things panned out day to day.
“Every day feels like a month, especially when the stakes are high or you are impassioned about your work.”
After his first film project was successfully crowdfunded, Nathaniel (now a crowdfunding consultant for Kickstarter) developed a unique set of “must do’s” which has helped contribute to the success for 11 other projects totaling $313,059. Nathaniel's recent work has been supported entirely through crowdfunding and social media (of which I’ll come to later), however it is because of his constant ‘tweaking’ and time spent on promoting his project that has made his projects a success.
Friends & Family- (The ultimate starting block)
“No matter how good a project is, without a core network of 1st degree supporters, very few projects get off the ground.” Vladimir Vukicevic, Rockethub.com
Your friends and family (aka ‘1st degree supporters’) are the people who really care for you and if they’re not willing to support your project then I very much doubt that others will. People are often afraid to ask their friends for money, especially with the infestation of JustGiving requests. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to remember that you and your project are giving something back in the form of pledge rewards (at least I hope you are).
Your friends and family should be your immediate first point of call; not only because they are perhaps your easiest targets but it will also help get your project rolling and will enhance its credibility. A project that appears to already have a following with numerous backers will help resonate a degree of credibility and will encourage people to trust your project and entice them to back it.
Get Networking
Once you’ve exhausted all your close friends and relatives, it is now time to hone in your target audience and get the word out there. You need to reach out to your target audience in any way possible, as well as any possible organisations, bloggers or any other potential followers that might help promote your project.
Social media is one of the best ways to reach an audience, with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter playing a massive role in crowdfunding. These sites are an easy way to connect with large amounts of people and ultimately promote your project. It is also a great way of keeping people up to date with your progress and how your project is getting on. If you haven’t already created a Facebook page for your project or created a Twitter account, then do so.
It’s these websites where you can expand your pleas - but be careful not to sound desperate. Any incline of desperation will taint a campaign with such a stench that no one will come anywhere near it! In other words, don’t just talk about money, money, money. Tell people about your project, about you and keep them up to date with your progress. If people want to help back your idea, they will- your job is to just make sure people know about you. It’s important therefore to network like you’ve never networked before. Don’t rely on people finding you on Twitter for example- find related tweets and posts by other people and re-tweet them on your account. This way you come off as recommending high value opportunities and thoughtful ideas to your fans and the original poster will (hopefully) then re-tweet or re-post something of yours in appreciation. As a result, you will be reaching their fans and ultimately increasing your audience.
There are always ways of reaching a bigger audience. One way is to use the ‘crowds’ of others. For example, don’t be afraid to use other crowdfunding sites to promote your project. I’m not suggesting uploading your project to another site, but rather making use of their followers. Tap into their Facebook and Twitter accounts and give yourself a little shout out with a link to your project.
It’s a marathon not a sprint
There will be a dip in activity in any project and this is more often than not somewhere in the middle stages of your timeline. The vast bulk of backers seem to happen at the very beginning and very end of a project; it’s exciting when it’s new and it’s exciting when it’s down to the wire. It’s imperative to therefore have a strategy and have ways of promoting your project by keeping it active and alive for its entire lifespan. It’s all about retaining some excitement in your project during the middle period.
Regular updates are imperative- don’t let your project go quiet. This is a simple way of keeping your followers in the loop. It’s also a good idea though to have a few tricks up your sleeve. Competitions relevant to your project outline can be a way of keeping your follower’s interest alight. It offers something different and allows for you to interact and engage with them on another level (as well as promoting your project).
With any project, a large amount of promotion will be done online as most crowdfunding platforms heavily rely on online communities. Fortunately the crowdfunding community is also well supplied with fans doing word-of-mouth advertising, but your project needs you to promote it first for this to happen. It’s not rocket science; you’re literally just letting people know about you and your project (and in any way possible). This can be as simple as adding a link to your email signature, to all of the methods previously touched upon.
Comments