Many companies launching a crowdfunding
campaign believe that signing up on a crowdfunding platform will bring
supporters flocking to their project. Simply post, and they will come. But the
reality is that only 2% of funds raised come from outside
of a company’s own network. This was the experience of Diana Mitchell, Founder and Designer at DDCC,
a fashion company in San Francisco. As a client and a friend,
Diana graciously agreed to meet with me to discuss the promotion of her
successful Kickstarter campaign, where
she exceeded her $17,000 goal for funding the manufacture of her spring line.
She shared with me her ideas for activating and expanding one’s network in
order to get project backers. As Diana found, the majority of her
supporters were friends and friends of friends, showing that word of mouth is
still the most effective method of advertising for crowdfunding.
Our talk led me to develop a list of three
necessary networking steps for any crowdfunding campaign. These three steps
should happen months BEFORE the campaign launch.
Step One: Prepare Your Network
- Talk
with Everyone, Early On
Diana is one to err on the side of building
trust with her customers through brand familiarity. Two months before she
launched her campaign, she made an effort to discuss her plans with her
friends, family, networks, and just about anyone at any event she attended. She
didn’t want to appear to be just asking for money all of a sudden, and felt
that putting the campaign on people’s radar ahead of time would encourage them
to support her project and spread the word.
- Ask
People for the Right Connections
Looking back on this time period, she wished
she had also considered asking people point blank if they knew anyone with
extended reach in the media, or held prominence in communities associated with
her fitness products. After her campaign was over, people told her they knew
so-and-so at this specific media outlet with so much reach. She says people
don’t always just think of it, and you should be brave enough to ask.
Step Two: Identify Your Numbers
- The 10%
Rule
It is said that in sales one out of ten people
you approach will buy. In the online world, you probably need more than ten
impressions to gain one sale. Based on her backer rewards list and financial
goal, Diana realized she would need to have a minimum of 250 backers. She
decided that she must try to reach 10,000 people, and set about finding ways to
meet that number of potential backers. She looked at the membership numbers of
organizations she was involved with, and also looked at the follower numbers of
organizations, blogs, and businesses likely to want to support her product and
its values.
Step Three: Extend Your Network
- Be
Active in Your Own Communities
You should already have established your own
social media platforms and developed your own audiences long before you
launch. From there, ask your supporters to spread the word for you. Diana did
these things and also extended her reach by recruiting her loyal customers to
be the stars of her pitch video, and asked them to promote her campaign, too.
- Join and
Be Active in Your Targeted Communities
Based on her goal of reaching 10,000 people,
Diana did research on the top 20 blogs associated with her product and her
brand values. She emphasized that it is important to become a member of any
online community before you ask them to support your project, otherwise, why
would they care? When I asked her about her positioning in each of her online
and personal event outreach efforts, she said to be authentic, but speak to the
audience at hand. Think about what your product and your brand values have in
common with the audience on any given platform and engage on those topics.
- Gather
Emails
Email marketing is still cited as being the
number one online sales tool. Build your list whenever you can. Diana used
online sign-ups for events, in-person sign-ups at trunk shows, industry events,
etc. to build her list. Other ways to grow your list can be found here on Hootsuite’s blog. When
approaching friends, family, or loyal customers, always make your email appeals
personal. Always offer something of value when you send your emails, and people
will keep opening them.
Running a crowdfunding campaign means
reaching, interesting, and activating a crowd of people. The most successful
way to do this is to build your network ahead of time, and keep building
throughout your campaign cycle. No one said it would be easy, but the right
type of prep work will make it run more smoothly for you and help you reach the
backers you need.
You can reach Dawn Weathersbee at her site here.
Best regards,
Hall T.
