60% of crowdfunding campaigns don’t achieve their financial goals. Depending on how that campaign is structured, that could mean a business is left with $0 after all is said and done. Instead of having all of that work go to waste, these proven methods of attracting more investors can help your next crowdfunding campaign have a better chance to experience success.
1. Know Your Audience Before You Launch Your Campaign.
Although most crowdfunding campaigns are about ideas, they still need to be treated as if it was an actual product being introduced to the market. You need to know what your targeted market segments want to see before you start campaigning to them. Family and friends will only take you so far toward a crowdfunding goal. You need interested people.
How do you get to know your audience? You ask them questions. You see what problems your idea could solve. Then you begin promoting the value proposition that comes from your ability to solve problems. When your audience can see that you can save them time, save them money, or make their lives easier in some way, they’ll get involved with your crowdfunding efforts.
2. Appeal To The Emotions Of Your Targeted Audience.
Emotions are how people connect with one another. It’s the cornerstone of any relationship. That means emotions must be part of a crowdfunding campaign. You must make an appeal through an emotional message because this is how investors will begin to form a relationship with you. When that emotional bond is strong enough, there will be an amplified level of trust that goes along with it.
Part of this experience must include a place where you rally your audience to take action. The emotional appeal must contain a level of scarcity to it. Otherwise your call to action is nothing more than empty words on an electronic screen.
3. Develop a Supportive Community.
The only thing that encourages people to interact more than a personal relationship is a relationship with multiple people at the same time. How you distribute your content matters just as much as the content itself. People need to feel connected to others who feel the same way they do. That connection prevents people in your targeted audience from feeling like they’re on a desert island.
A supportive community also helps the entrepreneur. These are the people who are going to be putting ideas into action and providing feedback from the experience. By taking this feedback seriously and putting it into the ideas that are being promoted, an intrinsic reward is experienced by those who offered their opinion. They feel like they are now part of the project and this draws them even closer to you.
4. Encourage The Brand Ambassadors.
Some people love an idea so much that they constantly talk about it. Nearly half of all crowdfunding pledges come because brand ambassadors are spreading the value proposition of an idea without any prompting or compensation. You’ve got to harness the power of a brand ambassador by encouraging more of them to come out and say something.
You can do this by encouraging community discussions. Ask for feedback. Take people seriously when they have something to say. Fix problems quickly. When you treat people the right way, they will naturally promote you and become a brand ambassador without even realizing it.
5. It’s Not About The Money.
If you’re focusing on the money more than the people who provide the money, then you’re going to send a message about your priorities that isn’t very positive. When you make sure that your investors are comfortable with your ideas and are willing to promote them, then the money will take care of itself. It’s easy to get stuck in a money trap where a desperation for cash to meet a goal close to a deadline takes place.
Avoid the trap by focusing on relationship building and even if you are one of the 3 out of 5 campaigns that fails initially, you might find other investors ready to step up and help you out.
Entrepreneurs need to have people behind them that believe in the idea and how that idea will be implemented. To obtain that belief, investors need to have open and honest lines of communication that can be accessed at any time. Build a network, create a community, and be willing to accept criticism when it comes. In doing so, you’ll find that more investors will be attracted to your next crowdfunding opportunity.
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