I'm Arik Marmorstein, I founded and own a crowdfunding platform-mimoona.co.il (and mimoona.com), and I lecture/mentor about crowdfunding. I also run "weekly crowdfunding pearls" on RefreshBox.co, a "secret" newsletter in which I share my weekly best crowdfunding read (https://www.refreshbox.co/newsletterInfo/F6iXlrcUfAy?weekly=15). I also send my subscribers content I write (like this) before everyone else.
I know, you are excited, but don't share the link to your campaign on social media just yet. Make sure all your close friends and family support you. This process takes two or three days (I hope you made a list of the relevant people in this group before the campaign went live). It is crucial to do it under the radar because you don't want people who don't know you well to see a campaign with just a few supporters. Don’t be shy and use your phone
Here you target your second circle. Don't be boring in your posts (e.g. I launched a crowdfunding campaign, support me). Tell a story, the story of what made you launch this campaign, why are you so excited about your project, how it changed your life and will change others' lives as well. Enable people to feel your pain, your hopes. Add an image to the post and a link to your crowdfunding campaign.
You have an option to send updates through the crowdfunding platform to your supporters. The updates can be public to everyone who visits your campaign page. Your supporters will get this to their emails, so you need to be interesting every time you do that (once every 4 days is recommended). In this update you can tell them what you have been through in the first few days of the campaign. Remember, they can see how much you raised so far, so try to tell them things they don't know. Also, don't forget to ask them only one thing like sharing your campaign or update.
Update people on social media. This is a daily update so if you had a significant progress since yesterday, tell people and add an image of your status bar (where people can see how much money have been raised and from how many backers). If you haven't had significant progress you need to say something new. Here is an example: say you are raising money for a movie, you can tell people about the different characters in the movie. Don't forget to add an image.
Hopefully you managed to collect relevant emails before the campaign started. I think email is the strongest marketing method, it converts best, but you need to use it carefully. Don't spam, tell people something interesting and new they didn't know about the project you are raising money for.
Remember, something new.
Reddit is a website from which you can get a lot of traffic. It's like a collection of forums in different domains, all in one place. If you don't know Reddit, learn about them online before you use them (when to post and where). If you have a gadget, gaming or other tech related venture you are raising money for, you should try to get featured on ProductHunt. It's a voting website that can bring you a lot of traffic. You need to find someone who will hunt your campaign (I can do that so if you have a cool product feel free to subscribe to my newsletter and send me via the feedback a link to your product and contact details).
Here’s an idea: you can post some interesting images (and tell the story behind it) of you working on your venture (for example, if it's an album you are raising money for, you can share a picture of the first draft of your song). You can do this again with other images and stories in different daily updates.
It is time to start approaching relevant journalists. These days having a crowdfunding campaign isn't news. You need to come up with an interesting story and look for journalists that already wrote about this domain in the past, regardless if they wrote about crowdfunding. This phase might take time, so it's worth starting relatively early. I recommend not to put too much efforts and hopes into it though.
It is recommended to add new perks during a campaign, do that and you can use this as news for your daily social media update).
Remember? You can update your supporters via the crowdfunding platform you are using. Keep them in the loop but tell them something new (for example that you added a new perk today). You can upload images, video or text. At the end ask them to share in an original way or for original reason.
If you find it too hard to think about something new, don't think about something new in your fundraising project. Rather, think as if you are telling about the venture to which you are raising funds for. Thinks about it, it is easy to tell people about your new film, CD or business. You can probably talk about it for a month.
The 2nd third of a crowdfunding campaign is usually the hardest one. You think you have met your maximum reach, but the only thing that limits you is your thoughts (this isn't motivation BS), I saw many crowdfunding fundraisers who thought it’s over for a day, but decided to keep going and made it. For the "dry zone" you should be creative and most importantly, keep going. In the next 10 days I will give you several ideas for this "zone", but think of more ideas that fits the type of venture you are crowdfunding for. It’s harder now for most people, you are not alone.
Tell people you are about to go live on the 16th on an AMA (ask me anything) on Facebook or Reddit and that they can ask you anything about your venture or campaign. You can even create a Facebook event for this purpose and have people join (or send them a calendar invite).
Give people a short update about your campaign or venture. Tell them you are launching an AMA in a few days and ask them to join and share this. Share your feelings with them during the update.
Mention the AMA and send a link to your event (you can also send them a calendar invite).
Add a new perk and let people know about it on social media. Mention your upcoming AMA. Don’t forget to send a link to the event (or a calendar invite).
Time to update your supporters via the crowdfunding platform. Tell them about the progress, your upcoming AMA (link to the event), the new perk, and ask them to share (the AMA event).
Reach out to your supporters and ask them to take a short video of them saying why they supported your campaign. Of course you should get their permission to post it on social media. You can offer to the backer with the most liked video a very cool, free perk.
Share your upcoming AMA tomorrow on Social Media, via an email marketing campaign and via another update from the crowdfunding platform. Now, don't just say "I have an AMA tomorrow, join". Be interesting by telling people the kind of question they could ask you. For example, you can say: "Tomorrow on my AMA you can also ask me how my father responded when I told him I'm going to be a musician (and not a lawyer like him). Send them a calendar invite.
Start your AMA. Talk to a few people and make sure they ask you interesting questions. Invite people via email, social media and an update via the platform. Tell them your AMA started (after you have a few question to answer already), and give them an example to an interesting question you are about to answer.
Here a song to relax with
Time for a new, cool perk (+ update via social media and the crowdfunding platform)
In the last third of the campaign, you should start to communicate the upcoming deadline, especially if you are doing an "all or nothing campaign".
Tell people a story that will show them how important is your venture to you, talk to their right brain and tell them this is the last ten days of the campaign and you need their help for the final days.
It doesn't have to be a professional video, don't worry. Show people something about you and your campaign they haven't seen or heard. Tell them there are only 9 days left and ask them to share and support.
Whether you are raising money for a gadget, movie, album or a non-profit, you have a domain expertise. Share valuable content with people and "on the way" mention your crowdfunding campaign. Of course this is an excuse for updating on social media, email marketing and via the crowdfunding platform. The content could be a blog post, a collection of valuable links or even a time line like this. You can also spread it on Reddit and HackerNews (HN is mostly relevant if it's tech or innovation related).
Remember these relevant FB pages you collected before the campaign went live (you did, right?). Approach the admins with a massage and tell them why your campaign would be interesting for their community (you can also do it earlier, depending on the traction you have in your campaign)
Tell people via social media, email marketing and an update on the crowdfunding platform that you added a new perk and why (why is it a big deal?)
If you are close to your goal, just keep doing what you did until now (daily social media update, updates via the crowdfunding campaign and more), but focus on the urgency of it. However, if you did all you can until now (marketing wise) and you are not even close to your goal, I suggest you focus on two things in the next five days: 1. Try to get as much feedback from the people who backed your campaign, why did they do it, what massage was most effective and what can you improve next time (it is best to get such feedback from people who didn’t support you, but it’s harder). Ask them if you can contact them in the future, after you'll make the required adjustment and launch a second, improved campaign ("Coolest Cooler" campaign failed once and raised 14M in his second campaign). 2. Try to think of a company who can sponsor your campaign and bring you to your goal.
The most important things in life are free anyway. Work harder and feel free to ask for feedback next time.
This time-line was published first on my "weekly crowdfunding pearls" newsletter: http://www.refreshbox.co/newsletterInfo/F6iXlrcUfAy?weekly=21
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