Did you know that your crowdfunding campaign is 20% more likely to be funded if you have a video?
If a picture says a thousand words, a video says a million, but it’s not enough to have any old video. Watching your crowdfunding video is the first thing most backers do. If it’s too long, boring, or unclear then they’ll close the page, never to be seen again. Even if you have the best idea in the world, if you fail to communicate with your backers, you’ll fail full stop.
Here are three things you should always do when making a crowdfunding video.
1. Introduce yourself
It’s critical that your backers know you. Crowdfunding is personal. Away from computer screens, we rarely give money to people we’ve never actually met. Even giving a homeless man your spare change usually involves at least a little eye contact.
That doesn’t change just because you’re on Kickstarter. You’re asking people to trust that you’re going to do what you said you would with their money. You’re asking them to trust that you will deliver their reward. You need them to trust you. The fastest way to do that is to look straight into the camera lense, smile, and say “hi, my name is…”.
2. Plan
Write a script and storyboard it.
A script will help you to keep it sharp, snappy, and short. It’s easy enough to make a clear crowdfunding video if you plan what you’re going to say. Say it out loud and time it to see how long it’s going to be as a finished video. Aim for 2-3 minutes. Get some friends to read it. Ask them if it makes sense.
Storyboarding will make your filming and editing so much easier.
Storyboarding is when you sketch out each shot on paper first. Match each shot to a section of your script, and add a simple drawing to show what it will look like. This will help you plan your shoot. You’ll be able to get all your closeups at the same time, followed by all your wide shots etc. Rather than just filming in order, you can save yourself some time in setting up each bit separately, then editing it together later.
3. Ask for the money
If you’re spending all this time making an amazing crowdfunding video, remember to ask for the money.
Providing direction to an action is critical to getting people to actually do something on the internet. Especially if this is your backer’s first time on a crowdfunding website. Ask them to give you money (nicely), and tell them how to do it.
Liked these tips? Check out all the other great resources in the Video category
