Crowdfunding as the name suggests is a collective effort of a group of individuals. In this process a group of people come together and pool in their resources for a public cause, a for profit endeavor, or for any creative project. Crowdfunding should not be confused with crowdsourcing although they are both community based activities. In crowdfunding you raise money from people to fund a particular project or idea while in crowdsourcing you actually pay people money for work done or for ideas or for anything that is tangible. In case you are looking to crowdfunding as an option here are some important tips.
- Keep all your plans regarding budget, goals, strategy, and available resources ready.
- Delegate some part of the workload. You cannot do everything. It is better to have a team organized before you begin a project. Line up all your initial funders and make a list of people that will help you during the course of the project.
- Use all forms of media to engage with people. Your content has to be positioned in such a way that it attracts lots of people and makes a successful pitch. SEO, videos, pictures, articles, blogs, emails, etc have to be used extensively.
- The narrative of your story has to sell the project. People like to be part of success stories. Your future investors or funders have to clearly understand your goals and the challenges.
- Your pitch should be passionate so as to convey your trustworthiness. Funders need to be convinced that they are backing a just cause.
- Don’t keep the timeline for raising funds open ended. When you keep a tight timeline people that are convinced, but are still sitting on the fence, are prompted to jump in and invest.
- Keep your Plan B ready. Although you are mighty convinced about your plan there is chance that people are still not convinced. If this happens keep a Plan B ready. You need to be flexible and ready to change.
- Focus and connect with your target audience. You don’t have to factor in those that won’t fund your project. Keep your focus on your target and create a sense of urgency. This can be done by using the social media and other forms of media.
- While running the campaign to raise funds there might be times when you will need to alter your strategy and this will need money. Keep enough resources at hand so that you can fund your plan changes.
- The last but not the least your integrity has to be above board. If you deliver what you promise then your future projects will be easier to fund via crowdfunding.