The success of a crowdfunding campaign isn’t just reliant upon how much money was raised within a certain time period. It also matters how many investors a startup company can attract to pool financial resources for the company.

Creating a crowdfunding campaign takes a lot of planning. “Your crowdfunding campaign is often the first time your customer base will encounter your product or service, so making a good impression is crucial.”

It’s good to have a breakdown of important rules to consider when creating such an important strategy.

1. Be Specific

   Knowing who you are trying to reach with your campaign requires researching the problems and desires of a specific audience. This requires a specific point that you must get across that will get a specific audience to care about what the startup can potentially offer. This is all about utilizing marketing techniques to get the public to want to know more about the company.

2. Be Wise

   As the saying goes, “a wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” Don’t just go shooting in the dark and hope something sticks. Always be open to gaining knowledge from people who’ve done what you’re attempting to do before. “There are countless successful and failed campaign examples out there, and you can generally access the information you need directly from your chosen crowdfunding platform,” (startupnation). Gain insight from experts in the crowdfunding industry. Read interviews, watch forums, or consider reaching out to them personally.

3. Gain an Audience

   When organizing your marketing efforts for your crowdfunding campaign make sure you focus on obtaining and growing an audience. “You can use channels such as questionnaires, surveys, newsletters, social media, pre-launch pages, and both online and real-world events to spread your message and get people on board,” (startupnation). Creating targeted content is essential to getting people to care about your startup goals and keeping their attention until the crowdfunding process begins.

4. Know What Your Goals Are

   As a startup company, there must be a clear goal that is agreed upon by the founder(s). “Ideally speaking, you want to have a 30% commitment to your crowdfunding campaign before you even have your profile up and running,” (startupnation). Once you have a signal that people are interested in what the startup could offer, then you have to choose what type of crowdfunding campaign you will execute.

   Will you have an equity-based, donation-based, rewards-based, royalty-based, or debt-based campaign? Once that is decided, the number of funds that should be raised and for how long will be much clearer to investors and the startup’s founder(s).

5. Utilize Video-Based Content

   A quick and simple video about what your crowdfunding campaign is about and how it will benefit potential investors is a great way to introduce the company to a new audience. The more people know about the campaign, the better. “Focus on making the first 20 seconds as eye-catching and engaging as possible.

   Additionally, try recruiting members of your community or influencers to speak on your behalf, as it can also help expand your community as they share it,” (startupnation).

6. Know Who’s Who and Who Does What

   Create a team that will oversee different aspects of the crowdfunding campaign. Maybe hire someone to run the marketing side of your campaign. Then have someone else be on the public relations side of things.

   Add a role for another person to handle communicating with investors when they have inquiries about the startup company and how the crowdfunding campaign is being handled. It’s always good to have someone fulfill a specific lane so that nobody has to feel like they have to take on too many roles at once.

7. Impress the Press

   Don’t just rely on social media and word-of-mouth for your crowdfunding campaign. “While social media is invaluable, media coverage is the best way to break out of that internet bubble,” (startupnation). It doesn’t hurt to have a public relations specialist on staff to cultivate goodwill with the media, write press releases, and created a specialized media directory.

   The outside reputation of the startup company is just as important as its investors. If people don’t trust you, they won’t be willing to take a risk and financially support your company.

8. Keep the Momentum Going

   “Most campaigns will experience a midway slump where momentum trails off and things go a little quiet,” (startupnation). Think about how you will keep investors and casual followers of the crowdfunding campaign interesting in what’s going on. Try being consistent on updates of the product/service that your startup has promised to offer.

   Have watch parties that keep track of financial goals. When those goals are met, then celebrate. Having these activities helps investors feel better about their financial resources being used the right way, and casual followers will feel like they are a part of a journey that will manifest in a big way.

9. Be Accountable

   The most important tip is to be accountable. Being forthcoming about how things are coming along will grow the trust between the investor and the founder(s). Even if some things don’t go according to plan, being accountable for goals that were not reached allows investors to assist when needed to fill in the gaps. Remember, you can’t get help if you don’t tell anyone that you need it.

10. Plan For the Immediate Future

    “Running a successful crowdfunding campaign will take at least three to six months of planning, coordinating and execution,” (startupnation). A crowdfunding campaign isn’t something that you can throw together at the last minute and think that you will be successful. Utilize the tips in this piece to create a plan of action for your startup company.

Final Thought

Having these tips to help a startup company start a viable crowdfunding campaign is essential for up-and-coming founders that might be new to the crowdfunding space. Establishing relationships with investors, the media, and casual followers makes your small business something to root for. Having a group of people that want you and your company to win puts your crowdfunding campaign in a good place to be successful.