Crowdfunding Tips: How to Raise Money from Strangers

By Listaholic

To catch the eye of potential funders, you’re going to need to stand out, engage your community and close the sale. Here are 11 tips to help you secure funding.

  • Choose the right crowdfunding site

    Although there’s plenty of overlap in many of the crowdfunding sites out there, each caters to a specific audience. Are you a creative? Be sure to check out IndieGoGo or Kickstarter.

  • Know your target audience(s)

    Focusing on a passionate niche can help. Many of the successful projects on crowdfunding sites target a specific, narrow audience. The target audience might be focused in a geographic area, religious in nature or share a common background.

  • Plan ahead

    A Kickstarter project can go by really quickly. Have emails written specifically for the beginning, middle and end of a project to keep it active. FAQ-type emails that are pre-written help a lot too.

  • Passionately pitch your project

    Create a compelling name, description and an image as part of your project to help you stand out and make an impression. A video is critical, too.

  • Have a plan for spending their money

    No matter how cool your idea is, most people want to know that you’ve got a plan that will get you there. Ricebowlproject suggests that you “give a detailed explanation of how exactly you’ll be using their money and keep all costs transparent. This will build trust and credibility.”

  • Leverage your social networks

    You’ll need to use social media, email marketing and other communication tools to drive your community to your project at a crowdfunding site.

  • Break up bigger projects

    Your project has a better chance of reaching its funding goal if you break the project into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Smaller requests seem more attainable, and people want to feel like they’re on a “winning team.” People like to feel like their contribution is going to make a difference.

  • Create compelling rewards

    Kris White offered plenty of rewards for patrons of his graphic novel The 36. However, four patrons who were willing to pledge $1,000 each could get their name and likeness “immortalized” as a supporting character in the story.

  • Treat your crowdfunding like a campaign

    Pitching a project is the beginning, not the end, of your work. You need to continually drive people to your project page. Many crowdfunding sites use traffic and early success as indicators of which projects to feature.

  • Tell a great story… and ask for the sale

    As Jeanie Finlay says in Adventures in Crowd Funding, “when I launched the first campaign, I simply put up the trailer and we raised about 10 pence… I made a new trailer with me pitching the film… it made a world of difference. I believe that people invest in the filmmakers as much as the project.”

  • Promise—and give—credit where credit is due

    People love to be acknowledged. Whether it’s on the liner notes, film credits or etched into the wall in your retail space. Let people know how they’ll be credited and follow through. It gives you a great story to tell and builds your base for your next crowdfunded adventure.

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