How to become a crowdfunding success

Is it easy? No.

Is it possible? Yes.

How to crowdfunding successfully is oftentimes like a formula. When you follow the formula, you get the right reaction- A fully funded campaign! Let’s break down the 3 simple factors that will create a solid foundation and let you become a crowdfunding success.

A Good Product

Think of what’s on Indiegogo and Kickstarter. Are they physical products or digital? Most of the time, they’re tangible items. Keep this in mind when you’re developing your product idea. You never want to start your crowdfunding journey with a product that doesn’t fit the crowdfunding model!

Most customers like something they can touch, feel, and get at the end of the 30–60 days of the campaign.

This is not to say that products that don’t have physical aspects don’t work on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. They do sometimes! But just know that the most successful crowdfunding campaigns are usually products that can literally be shipped in the email.

Secondly, getting trapped in your own little world is easy as an innovator!

It’s hard to share your precious idea, but if you create a product without the insight and feedback of others your idea could be fatally flawed! Don’t make the mistake of creating a product away from others. You should validate your idea BEFORE before the crowdfunding campaign to know that people actually like what you’ve made.

This is done in a lot of different ways. Product surveys, focus groups, conversations with a product specialist, and more. Just because you have an idea doesn’t mean that will be successful. Learn to validate it here!

An Audience

Finding your audience is VITAL to your crowdfunding success.

Finding your audience is VITAL to your crowdfunding success.

Finding your audience is VITAL to your crowdfunding success.

That wasn’t a typo. It’s just so important that it must be repeated.

An audience that not only absolutely loves your product, but also wants to spend money on it even before it becomes available!

Start simple. Answer the who, what, why, and where. Then go into more and more detail. Never limit yourself to the common questions about your audience! Here are some starter questions:

How old are they?

Where do they work?

Do they have a family? Or are they single?

How do they spend their money?

How do they spend their free time?

WHY do they want your product?

What problem are you fixing for them?

Once you’ve created some characters using these questions (and many more), reach and out and try to find people who match your ideal avatars. Go in with honest, authentic interest and conversation. You never want to sell to them! You just want to see if your idea and their troubles match up.

There are 5 great places to start finding your audience online, including social media and forums. Consistent, heartfelt communication will help you generate a group of loyal fans who will be excited about your product and campaign.

A Marketing Plan

The right attention. The right time. The right people.

That’s online marketing in a nutshell. Once you have an audience, the next step is creating a marketing plan that will entice new potential customers, and keep your old fans engaged until the end of your campaign!

• Create an amazing landing page for pre-launch, that will give proof to the awesomeness of your product and create a sense of FOMO if they don’t get on board.
• Create traffic to that landing page… A lot harder than you might think- but totally worth it!
• Create a converting project page! Your products home on Kickstarter or Indigogo, and an ever-evolving page that answers questions, posts updates, and boasts killer rewards.
• Create traffic for the project page. Campaigns are 30–60 days long and you’re in charge of making sure you always have visitors because visitors turn into backers! You can pay for visitors with ads, paid promotions, paid placements, etc. Or you can try to find free traffic by being a guest on podcasts, finding a journalist to write about the project, searching for cross-promotions, etc.
• Keep your backers invested! Send out frequent updates (weekly is best) via email. Or take it up a notch and get them involved in a referral program.

When you want to become a crowdfunding success having a plan the best way to guarantee success! Start with the first of these 3 crowdfunding success factors to start your crowdfunding journey.

Then join the Fully Funded Facebook group to see what the Crush Crowdfunding community thinks of your idea!

Originally published at https://crushcrowdfunding.com/