3 Tips For Succeeding In Crowdfunding

3 Tips For Succeeding In Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a great way of making your business idea a reality. It is a reasonable alternative to VC funding or borrowing. However, crowdfunding does not come without its own challenges. And the better prepared you are to meet them the more likely you are to succeed.

Crowdfunding is the practice of raising money for a business venture or other project from a large number of people through the worldwide web. Although this method of funding start-ups has become popular over the last couple of years, the actual success rate is still low. Only 44% of Kickstarter campaigns have met their goal. And for Indiegogo, which is the other major crowdfunding engine, the success rate is even lower.

To beat the odds you should approach your project with the proper circumspection. Inc. Magazine has an article which describes three things that you must do to make your crowdfunding gambit a success.

They include:

• Planning ahead
• Constantly engaging the audience
• Gaining national exposure

Of the three, the first two really struck me as being especially important. The author of the article tells the story of how a women?s fashion brand in San Francisco reached its goal of $20,000 in less than five hours. How did they do it?

It [the women?s fashion brand] planned the campaign six months in advance, constantly engaging their mailing list of over 30,000 women who knew about the silk blouse the company would be rolling out. In fact, the fans even helped choose the print and decide on design features. Popbasic’s audience was emotionally invested in this Kickstarter long before the page ever went up!

The organizers worked hard to keep up the momentum of the campaign and to keep their target audience engaged and enthused. The rest of the advice offered in the article can be read here.

I?ve never run a crowdfunding campaign myself, but I?ve seen them in action. A good friend of mine did crowdfunding to finance the initial costs of her band?s music tour. She pushed on all the various social media fronts and gave updates each day for people to look at and comment on. She met and exceeded her money goal, and the band went on to get so much exposure that it now finances itself through ticket revenues.

Doing crowdfunding for a business is a little different, but the fundamentals remain the same. Raising money on the web is a good option. Just make sure you have a plan in place to make the most of it.