If you’re looking for anything more than $10,000 for your crowdfunding project, then there is a really good chance you’re going to need the help of strangers.

Which means they need to hear about your project.

While there is a portion of crowdfunding money that comes from people who regularly browse platforms like Kickstarter, it’s a very low proportion. The key to getting your project funded is always in how you go about your promotion.

 

A note on strategy and timing

If you’ve been reading this series of articles, then you know that there is a wider strategy to promoting your crowdfunding project.

I would not recommend going out with a wide press release like this before your project has hit 30% of its target through other means.

This is because you are more likely to gain media attention if your project is a successful one. At 30%, then you have momentum. Your project will appear far more successful – and therefore a more exciting story – than a project that has only raised 5%.

I’ve written this blog on sending crowdfunding emails to help you raise this initial momentum.

 

Your Angle

When it comes to writing and distributing your press release, you need to know that crowdfunding is not a news story.

The fact that you need money is not something anyone is ever going to write about. You need to go deeper and find your angle. You get to choose the angle that you think people will be interested in.

Consider the bigger picture. Ask yourself these questions:

• Why are you doing this?
• Why would someone want to give me money for this project?
• Who is your ideal backer?
• What is the bigger goal – how does this change the world?
• How will you achieve it?
• What are the positive outcomes when this project is successfully funded?

These questions will not only influence the angle of your press release, but also who you send the release to.

Focusing on the intended audience and a positive message will give you the best possible chances of getting media attention.

 

Not all press is equal

A fishing magazine probably isn’t the right place to get promotion for your baby product.

That’s an extreme example, but the biggest mistake people make when gaining press coverage is that they approach the wrong journalists.

While many publications will only take submissions through a central submissions email (e.g. [email protected]), larger national papers and networks allow you to approach individual journalists.

This is where you need to spend the bulk of your time: coming up with a list of journalists and publications with a higher-than-average chance of picking you up.

To do this, you need to spend some time finding them. You need to become familiar with the type of story they are interested in, and the audience of their publication.

Download the press release bundle and open up the Press List Template spreadsheet.

 

Your press list is going to take time to put together. I recommend a full 8 hour day of research. This is not a quick and simple process. Especially if you are starting from scratch.

This is also the reason many people choose to hire a PR professional. PR professionals are paid for their connections. They already know who likes to cover what stories. They can coordinate and make pitches for you. If you’re not willing to spend the time on this step, then find someone who you can pay to do it for you.

This template is a research tool. It will help you keep track of journalists and publications as you find them.

Publication/Network: You do not need to bombard every journalist in an office to get a story, so try to limit yourself to an absolute maximum of 3 contacts per publication or network. This will help you to choose the right contacts.

Journalist Name: You won’t always be contacting individual journalists, but when you are, you should absolutely be addressing them by their first name.

Contact email: Sometimes you will have to hunt around for this. Sometimes you will need to make an educated guess. Most media outlets use the same email format for their employees, e.g. [email protected]. If you can work out what the format is, you might be able to make direct contact.

Contact Twitter: The biggest trick in landing a story – especially a big story – is to develop a relationship with someone. Without a doubt, Twitter is the easiest way to do this. If you can find a Twitter account, record it.

Notes: This is where you can post links to previous stories, or other knowledge about the individual you will be contacting. This will help you tailor your contact email to get the highest possible impact.

Do your research

You need to start with what you know. From there, you’re able to follow leads.

Time to mind-map

Take a piece of paper. You’ll need a couple of hours of quiet time to do this exercise.

Start thinking about the person who you think will back you. Who are they? What kind of media do they read, listen to, or watch?

Make a list of every specific channel or publication you can think of. Make sure you cover off as many of the media types in the list below as you can.

You may find it helpful to Google for more. Use search terms such as “gadget news” or “film website uk” to find the sites and communities that fly under the radar.

Traditional Media

Newspapers – local and national
Magazines
TV – news, lifestyle shows, local, national, international
Radio

New Media

Blogs
Online news outlets
Lifestyle websites
YouTube channels
Podcasts

Find your contacts

Go to each outlet and fill in the information in the Press List Template.

Find the appropriate contact for each, and how that outlet prefers to be contacted. Some outlets prefer that you submit via an online form. Others are happy for you to email directly. It’s important that you follow their submission guidelines if you want to be covered.

Submission guidelines are not there to make your life harder, they are there to make the business run smoothly for the media outlet. If you can’t be bothered to follow them, they will simply choose to ignore your request.

Which is to say, try to play the game by their rules: it will get you further.

Some outlets (especially blogs) will only have one contact person. Others, such as major networks have multiple journalists.

In these cases, spend some time reading the stories and work of each journalist and find the one who will be most interested in your story, and who appeals to the people who will back you.

Get your Google on

Your list is incomplete. You don’t know everything. Go and find some example projects.

More than anything, you are looking for example projects who have a similar proposition and target audience as you.

Download an image from the campaign and try a reverse Google Image Search. This will help you identify where other creators have found their media – as well as who covered them, and what pitches worked.

Repeat the process above and add the media outlets you have found to your Press List.

Writing a press release

Very early on in my career as a crowdfunding coach, a friend of mine who works in PR showed me how to write a simple press release. It’s a formula that has landed some great stories.

The strategy is simple: capture attention quickly, provide additional details, make the research process easy.

And this is where it comes down to knowing what your pitch is, and who it is directed at.

Download the press release bundle and open up the Press Release Template PDF. Use it as a guide for your press release.

 

The template is a simple press release format designed to give enough detail to peak interest or write a quick story.

There are some key things to remember when you fill in the template:

• Have someone proofread your press release before you send it out.
• The entire press release should fit on one page.
• Less is more. Allow the reader to get the gist quickly. They can get in touch for more detail.
• Speak in the third person e.g. “Judith invented The Awesomer to make everything more awesome.”
• Use a font like Times New Roman or Arial to ensure the release can be read.
• Do not try to write the story. Provide enough information so the reader can decide if you are a fit for their audience.
• Include a link to your press kit (more information on developing a press kit can be found here).

Save the press release as a PDF.

Name your file something clear and specific. For example “TheAwesomer_PressRelease_Dec2014”.

How to send a press release

I used to live with two journalists. I was new to sending press releases so I asked them a LOT of questions about what they liked when they received one.

To be honest, they didn’t agree on much, but they did agree on one thing:

Do NOT send one email and BCC (or worse, CC) in all the journalists on the list.

You need to send individual emails to each person on your list. There are no shortcuts here – uploading that list to email services like MailChimp are strictly prohibited.

This is where all that information you gathered in your research stage will come in useful. It’s also where actually having a personal connection with the journalist comes in handy.

Use the press release email template to email your press release

 

Email each address you have found individually using the email template.

Remember to attach your press release!!

Offering exclusives

Exclusives are a great way to get a really good story. This is how you get a magazine-style piece on national TV.

The trick with exclusives is to approach someone you have a relationship with before you launch with your project. If they are interested, you commit to not giving the story to anyone else until after the first story has run.

You should think long and hard about offering exclusives. Firstly, you NEED to have a story worth having an exclusive on.

Secondly, the relationship you have with the reporter, producer or network is important. Exclusives take time to develop and agree on. When it comes to offering exclusives:

• Ensure you know when the story will run. An exclusive that runs on the last day of your campaign is not going to do you much good.
• Take time to develop relationships. Either through mutual friends, professional relationships, or via Twitter.
• You have the right to refuse an exclusive. Make sure you are doing what is best for your project.

 

Getting press takes time. And even the best press release won’t peak the interest of every reporter. Make sure you have Twitter and Google Alerts set up and use the press you do get to generate more buzz amongst your existing backers.