6 Tips to Launch a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign in 2018

Let's pump up your Crowdfunding!

Hey Steemit!

I'm sure most of you are aware of crowdfunding and probably have contributed to a crowdfunding campaign within the past five years. For those of you still unsure what the term means, simply put - it is the process of requesting and receiving money over the internet from many different people with the hopes to fund a project, charity, or business. In itself, crowdfunding has been around for over a decade but really took off in 2008 after the financial crisis and the many challenges that early staged businesses faced when trying to build marketing traction and funding. A ton has changed in the crowdfunding space within that ten-year span, including the rise of job creation and innovation in industries across the globe.

Business owners and creators alike have near endless opportunity when it comes to promoting their products in the space of crowdfunding as a variety of projects from movie production, to new gaming consoles. This isn't to say that every project will do well. Bad outcomes can stem from indefinite/pushed back release dates, not raising the goal intended, and some creators have even failed to deliver what they promised on. These are all pitfalls that can be avoided by researching and establishing a market and only promising on what you can deliver.

To make sure your crowdfunding is a success in 2018, follow these key steps:

1. DO YOUR RESEARCH

Don't even think about launching a campaign until you've done your homework. I'm sure you have a deep understanding of your own product and mission. By research, this means studying and understanding the ins and outs of crowdfunding to help build a more structured launch and a campaign that is designed to succeed. This may involve you taking the time to learn the regulations and laws surrounding this industry.

Also, it helps to study past successful crowdfunding campaigns, especially in your industry. Watch their videos, study the perks they offered, learn from their success and apply the strategies to your own campaigns. Another option is to read up on unsuccessful crowdfunding campaigns to see where past funding projects have gone wrong.

Was their campaign explained in a difficult to understand manner?
Were their perks and rewards of poor quality?

Even take a moment to take a look at these brand's social media profiles to see what level of marketing they did for their crowdfunding campaign. If it was a failure, it was likely that little to no marketing effort was put in.

Which brings me to the next step...

2. MASTER YOUR MARKETING

Spreading the word and driving monetized traffic to your campaign is an essential part of every successful crowdfunding campaign. Learn how to market your brand and product and you'll be one step closer to building the desired attention and outcome you are aiming for. Don't exclude friends and family from the people you want to reach, as they can act as another source to promote your product and message.

Get the word out on your social media profiles, blogs, and any forums you're active in. Even consider hosting a live event for an interactive way to promote your campaign. Without a 100% commitment from you, your campaign has a high chance of failure.

An innovative approach to promotion is to generate hype leading up to your campaign launch date so that all of your followers are excited and ready to donate once the time comes. At HyperFundIt, we have a built-in tool that utilizes the power of influencer marketing to leverage the time before your initial campaign launch as a “Hype Phase” to spread your message and promote your campaign to a larger audience. This is a tool completely at your disposal, that will boost your marketing even before the initial 30-day campaign run.

Remember this, a wider reach = a better chance for a stellar outcome.

3. MAKE GREAT VIDEOS

An honest and high-quality video for your crowdfunding campaign will surely enhance your chance of success. Along with watching videos of other great video content published for successful crowdfunding campaigns, learn about video production yourself. You definitely don’t need to hire a professional or have a huge budget to create awesome videos. In fact, we wrote an article on how to produce awesome video content here.

Learning the fundamentals of what it takes to make a highly shareable piece of content is extremely beneficial when it comes to promoting your campaign, as not everyone is doing it and if you play your cards right, it will generate massive exposure.

4. SET GOALS

In the beginning, it's imperative that you know how much money will be needed to get your project up and running, and around how many people will actually pledge. By setting a realistic and applicable goal, and explaining what the money will be used for, will guarantee you more supporters as people will be able to see that the funding is being used for a realistic and achievable purpose.

Timeline goals are also an important part of this process, as they will help you stay on track. As will documenting your production-goals so that you have a good overview of what will be needed to keep your project moving forward. It’s also a great idea to provide the timeline to your supporters as they will surely help keep you accountable.

5. BE TRANSPARENT WITH YOUR SUPPORTERS

Feedback at times can be frustrating, we get it. That being said, any form of feedback is valuable and it's important when your goal is to make progress. This is especially the case when building a project.

Communicate openly with your community throughout the campaign process. This builds trust and an honest image. One way you can do this is to update your supporters throughout the processing of your project. Without sharing regular updates, you may find it difficult to hold people's interests and fail to meet your funding goal. Communicating with your community will allow you to receive more feedback as well, which will bring your campaign’s pain points to light quicker. Having an early understanding of your problems will give you the necessary time needed to improve upon the project so it is its best version once completed.

Lastly, remember to follow through on any and all promises that were made during the campaign. Doing so will build your credibility and help any future projects you may launch. Your supporters are of utmost importance and when you show them you care, it will do wonders for your funding and reputation.

6. OFFER GREAT REWARDS

You have to bring more than just an idea to the table. Of course, people will back your project if it seems worthwhile and valuable, but it's worth presenting awards or perks to your supporters in return for their support. This is a time where you can use these perks and rewards to breathe life and fun into your campaign. While the idea is to make the rewards exciting and valuable to your supporters, the costs for these rewards should be incorporated into your budget.

The type of rewards you can give out should also be researched to ensure that you aren't breaking any campaign guidelines or regulations. At HyperFundIt, we have a defined overview of our reward structure and campaign guidelines - which you can read more about here.

Moving ahead into 2018, the opportunities within the crowdfunding face continues to grow. We hope you share our excitement for the launch of @HyperFundIt's first campaign and the game-changing role we intend to take within the mission to create a positive, and more diversely interactive community.

Always looking forward,

@Ken.Wayne, Content Strategist
Slide over to HyperFundIt and become a part of the positive disruption in your community: https://www.hyperfundit.com/members/kenwayne/