Crowdfunding is a lot like throwing a party
You send invitations, prepare the dip, buy the beer, set up the playlist, and blow up the balloons.
On the given time and date, people start turning up. They drink the beer, dance to the music, and (hopefully) have a great time.
If you don’t invite people, they won’t show up
Most people don’t throw a party in the hopes that some strangers will walk in off the street and come have a good time with them.
You want your friends there, and your family, and the people who think you throw kick-ass parties. A good crowd brings a good vibe – and that’s exactly what you want for your crowdfunding project on Day 1.
To achieve this, you should start thinking about where crowds come from as early as possible in your planning.
How many of people could you invite right now?
You already know people, and you already have a crowd. It might be a small crowd, but you have one.
But the more money your project is looking for, the more people you need to show up to the party. That means you’re going to need to do some promotion.
Think about the crowds you already have access to. These can be online (Facebook profiles, pages, and groups; Twitter profiles; blogs; websites; LinkedIn; forums etc) or offline (hobby or support groups; family; friends; local organisations; newsletters; workplaces etc).
Consider the numbers. If you needed to reach the largest possible number of people right now, using the resources and connections you already have – how many can you reach?
How many people make a party?
The host and her cat eating a giant bowl of guacamole alone in a room plastered in balloons and streamers is any party planner’s worst nightmare.
In crowdfunding, it’s important to consider how many people need to show up before you hit your funding goal.
As a very, very general and rough guide, you’ll need around 60 backers for every $5,000 you plan to raise (this figure is very rough and the average of many campaigns over various platforms).
Not everyone will be able to come to your party
And they won’t RSVP to tell you whether they’re coming or not. If you’ve never crowdfunded before (meaning your list isn’t “pre-qualified” with people who are more than likely to back you), a good figure to work with is about 20% of people you contact will contribute to your campaign.
Using that figure, and the one above, it means that for every $5,000 you are looking to raise, you need to be able to reach and contact 300 people.
Start making up the shortfall now!
Hopefully, you are reading this post before you have begun your planning.
Now is the time to start expanding your circles of influence. Concentrate on talking to people face-to-face, building your email list, and making connections with influencers (people who have access to large audiences online).
The more time you spend building your crowd before you launch, the better your party is going to be.
