How should you launch your Crowdfunder project?
by Crowdfunder | Jun 20, 2018 | Learn
Launching your Crowdfunder project is a big deal – but what is the best way to go about doing it? Senior Crowdfunder Coach, Bertie, gives the lowdown.
I am a firm believer that the strength of a good campaign is all in the preparation and, inevitably, the start and the finish are very important and require some thought!
To convince others to take notice of your Crowdfunder project, it’s very important not to send out your project to everyone on zero but to spend time creating a strong impression of success to convince others to get involved.
There are a few different ways to set yourself up for success, and here are my three favourites.
1. Launch event
I have heard from many projects that this was an excellent way to not only celebrate the start of their Crowdfunder campaign, but to also get some early supporters involved on day 1. The scale of this event is completely up to you, but it is a fantastic way to secure pledges onto your project page and get people excited and involved from an early stage.
Adria from Crumbs Brewery who crowdfunded recently told me that inviting everyone to the brewery for the launch was the best thing he could have done for his campaign! Everyone got their free beer on arrival and a second one from the bar once they had made a pledge.
A launch is also a great time to show everyone your video, to have some fun and to tell them all about your what you’re crowdfunding for. Getting people involved early on will make them feel part of the experience and therefore more likely to share your page with their network later on.
2. Soft launch
We always recommend that you lock down between 10-20% of your target prior to going live. That way you know exactly where the money is going to come from and you can guarantee enough activity on your page on day 1 to create a positive impression.
One of the ways you can do this is by targeting your core audience first, before going out to your wider network. By switching your project to go live and calling those who are most likely to pledge, you’ll be able to get some numbers on the page before you make the crowdfunding campaign more public. By the time people start to visit the page from outside your network, they’ll be able to see that there is a healthy percentage of funds raised and will therefore feel more comfortable pledging themselves.
3. Starting with a bang
In the month up to your launch date you’ll be mapping out all of the potential groups of supporters who might share an interest in your crowdfunding campaign (see network mapping exercise in the planning guide). One of the key parts of this process is to make a clear list of those individuals or businesses who might be able to pledge larger figures onto the campaign. If you can start these conversations early and line up the pledges to appear on your launch date, then you can start with a bang.
In tandem to locking down these larger chunks of funding, you can also cue up some key influencers and press to announce the launch of your campaign and amplify the buzz further.
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