Raise money for your cause or project just by posting a simple web page campaign? Sounds great! With our crowdfunding marketing tips you’ll be able to spread your message far and wide.
The crowdfunding industry is expected to grow at 14.7% annual CAGR through 2023. The transaction values (the money that a company/platform like KickStarter makes) will be $12 billion. (See Statista’s compiled information from the World Bank, the EU, and other global financial resources.)
Fundly published that crowdfunding raised $34 billion across the globe in 2017. While most goes to entrepreneurial start ups and peer-peer lending, charities garnered $5.5 billion in donations.
With more and more campaigns being posted by the minute, the competition to meet a fundraising goal is stiff, however. If Statista’s published forecast becomes reality, there will be 12 million campaigns by 2023.
You can easily be one of the 40-50 percent of campaigns that succeeds in meeting all of its goals, as long as you put the right energy into your campaign and take advantage of particular tools available to you to blast out your message and attract enough donors. (Read more about crowdfunding.)
Here are 7 no or low cost crowdfunding marketing tools and resources, designed primarily for the business world, that you can apply to your nonprofit cause or other charitable group as well to boost your success:
1. Add Additional Perks Throughout your Crowdfunding Campaign
Perks really boost campaigns. When you set up your campaign, make sure you give perks or giveaways for donations that are appealing to your fan base. They can be something as simple as free membership for a year, a free visit to your museum, or a thank you themed gift sent to them in the mail upon completion of your campaign.
For a great example of perks a charity can give, take a look at the “Hearing Dogs for Deaf People” campaign in the UK.
According to Indiegogo analysis of successful campaigns, campaigns that have perks raise 143% more. Indiegogo recommends new perks after launch. Every week you might add a new giveaway, prize, or other incentive to give and publicize that addition to your network.
Also read: How to Write a Press Release for an Event
2. Guest Post on Blogs
This is even easier for nonprofits or social campaigns! All you have to do is contact your partners – the school you work with, your local library, etc. – and ask them to post an article or blog about your campaign. Doing so will place you in new outlets for promotion, new traffic, and new gifts – for free.
3. Send Press Releases to the Right Outlets
Continually send press releases about your campaign and its status to your media contacts and local papers, TV channels, and radio stations. You can tap into professional help as well with new resources specific to crowdfunding campaigns.
4. Post a Free or Low-Cost Video
When a campaign includes a video, it is twice as likely of being successful. A third of campaigns without videos are funded. Two thirds of videos with videos are funded.
You can pay for a video from a number of sources, but, if you are like most nonprofits or fundraising volunteers, a video budget line did not make the cut in your funds allocation.
One resource to try is Powtoon – it will create an animated video for you from a good idea and a script to explain your social impact, program, or service! They claim a video can be made in as few as 20 minutes.
5. Take Advantage of LinkedIn Features
LinkedIn might be one of the most underused resources for crowdfunding marketing. Try using the ‘advanced search’ feature to specifically target people that match keywords related to your cause.
6. Expand Your Pinterest Presence
You should definitely promote your campaign on your Facebook and Twitter pages, but don’t forget about Pinterest which often doesn’t get considered when it comes to promoting charitable causes.
When you promote your crowdfunding campaign on Pinterest, it can get re-pinned by like-minded individuals, expanding your reach continuously because pins – especially if they’re visually impactful – can have a very long life on Pinterest.
One strategy is to join group boards (or create your own for future campaigns) with a topic related to your cause. When you’re ready to start your campaign you can pin to the group boards for all the subscribers of these boards to see!
Pinterest also has a very simple to use advertising program with still sensible pricing depending on topic and niche. (Visit our Pinterest page!)
Also read: Use a Media Alert to Announce Your Event
7. Hire a Public Relations Service
Since the crowdfunding boom began, hundreds of marketers and public relations pros started firms to fill the market niche of helping people and organizations like you succeed at crowdfunding.
If you can afford it, it might be a good idea to spend a few hundred dollars (maybe less, maybe more depending on your budget and where you live) to hire a professional consultant, or at least consult with one to see where your marketing dollars might be best spent.
Crowdfunding can be a great way to raise funding for your project or nonprofit, especially if you apply successful business tactics for marketing, exposure, and engagement to your campaign with low and no-cost resources.
There is a list on Wikipedia of the highest-funded crowdfunding projects.