It is a truth universally acknowledged that a creator in possession of a crowdfunding campaign, is bound to feel sleazy while promoting it
It’s hard work to promote your crowdfunding campaign. Unless you have a device which everyone is desperate to get their hands on, or a huge inbuilt fanbase, you are going to have to work to fund your project.
You’re going to have to talk to family members and friends you haven’t seen in years. You’re going to have to contact everyone you know, and pull favours in every direction.
You’re going to be posting the same link to your Twitter feed and Facebook pages over and over again. And you’re going to have to ask everyone for money.
In short, you’re going to feel like a sleazebag.
It’s something that I’ve experienced myself, and it’s something that many, many creators have talked with me about
So how do you promote your project in a way that doesn’t make people hate you, and which makes you feel a little bit better about it?
Well, there’s a bit of an art to it.
1. Talk about what your project is, not the fact you need money
This goes for any press or blog coverage you attempt to gain as well. It should always be about what you’re trying to do, with the fact you need money almost a footnote.
Is not as effective as:
If you’re planning to create sharing buttons with pre-populated fields, you should definitely use this strategy.
2. Tell your backers what they’re going to get.
The concept of reciprocity is incredibly important in crowdfunding.
While there are a few humble souls who give out of the goodness of their heart, many people will want their rewards. You should use your rewards as a tool to help you promote your crowdfunding campaign.
So if you’re going to talk about the money, approach it from angle of what a person will get out of their donation. For example:
3. Let your video make the ask
Ideally, your crowdfunding video will make the ask with a call to action at the end.
This means that your promotion can focus on getting people to the page, as opposed to asking them to back you.
Asking for clicks is easier than asking for pledges. And people are more likely to follow through.
4. Milestones
That last example also showed you how you can use milestones.
It was a strategy I found worked really well during my own campaign. Highlighting my progress and advertising my milestones inevitably got me over that milestone pretty quickly.
People want to be able to say they helped you reach a certain mark.
5. Email
I am constantly amazed by how well email works as a promotional tool. Reaching people privately in a place where they already hang out seems to provoke action.
You want to send every person you know a maximum of three emails about your project: when you launch, half-way, and about 48 hours before your project ends (if they haven’t already pledged).
These emails, ideally, will be personalised.
Failing that, you should at least split your list into categories, and target your emails. For example, people you know really well should get a different email to acquaintances, or people you haven’t seen in a while.
6. Keep your regular voice
I know, it’s hard not to stress about the progress of your crowdfunding project. You just want to keep posting it.
And you want to retweet every tweet about it. And you want to post the link on Facebook 4 times a day just incase it’s not at the top of someone’s timeline anymore.
Stop. Yes, you should be posting your campaign regularly, but regular intervals (every 2-3 days on Facebook, once or twice a day on Twitter), are a better way to promote your crowdfunding than posting all the time.
And, your links will (hopefully) stay on the right side of the algorithms.
If you’re well known for your cat photos, keep posting your cat photos. If you like to Instagram your every meal, keep doing that! Your friends, fans and followers will keep following you if you pepper your self-promotion amongst the content they already love.
If you have the ability to mix your regular style with your project (for example, your Kickstarter URL spelled out in chocolate sauce over your morning pancakes), it won’t hurt.
For 30 days, your life will constantly revolve around your campaign, but that’s not true for the people around you.
If they can, or want to help, they will. In the meantime, be humble, and grateful.
Try to thank everyone individually for their pledge if you can.
If you’ve done it right, most of the promotion will happen before your campaign, in the first couple of days, and the last week.
Take a wee break in the middle of your campaign when things slow down to avoid fatigue. You’re going to get there, I promise.
How did you promote your crowdfunding campaign? How did you feel? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
