How to make your crowdfunding campaign fail

Failing is easy. I usually talk about how to do things right, but today we will take it on another note. Here’s a guideline on how to make your crowdfunding campaign fail.

Why? Because I see it over and over again.

The same mistakes being made by unprepared creators who hit the LIVE button way before their campaigns are ready.

And although some GREAT products have still gotten fully funded although their campaign pages weren’t ready or perfect, this is not the case for most campaigns. You should be prepared and you should be trying to avoid the following mistakes at all costs if you want to avoid a crowdfunding campaign fail.

There are a lot of things that can go right when it comes to Crowdfunding. Conversely, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Here are some of the biggest mistakes people make and how you can avoid them so that you can go out and crush your crowdfunding campaign.

1. Making Things Too Complicated

Many people make crowdfunding way too complicated when, in actuality, it’s quite simple. Let’s talk about just how simple it really is.

K.I.S.S. — Keep It Simple Stupid

Although very straightforward at the outset, a lot of entrepreneurs have trouble making sure this actually happens. Try to avoid over-explaining the nitty details of your product on the campaign video.

Use the immediate spaces like the first campaign video seconds, and first lines of the campaign page text to grab people’s attention and explain in simple words what your product will do for them.

The 4-Step Sequence

Follow this 4 step sequence and you’ll be sure to set yourself up for success:

• Have a good product
• Find your audience
• Collect their emails
• Push the audience to your campaign page via email

2. Not Having A Defined Audience

Who wants your product? Who loves your product? Who will be willing to pay? We can’t stress enough how important it is to find your audience.

Too many creators are spending too much money on ads for an undefined audience. If you’re spending 100$ a day for a “18–65 years old, USA, men and women” audience, you’re probably not going to reach the people you need to reach.

The Importance of a Niche

The issue of saying this is for “everyone.” A board game, a special kitchen knife, or a specialized pair of socks are not for everyone. There are people who will need/like your product more than the rest of the world. And this is the people you want around.

Your niche will tell you a lot about the audience for you. If you’re launching a board game for grown-ups, then you can find many board game aficionados Facebook groups, and learn from their conversations about who they are and what they’re looking for.

Spend your money and time in a smart way. Define your audience and target them and only them.

3. Setting Unrealistic Funding Goals

Sure you want to make the big bucks but — (1) Do you really need them? And (2) Are you setting yourself up to actually make them?

Saying “my goal is to raise as much money as I can” is neither realistic nor functional. You need goals to set up the pace of your campaign. These goals can be defined by the funding goal, or not.

You can have internal and external goals. Also, to learn more about the type of goal for you, head here.

4.Having Unattractive Rewards

Backers want something valuable in return for spending their time and money to help you bring your project to life. Let’s talk about the impact planning good rewards can have and how to do it right.

Start by doing your market research. What are your competitors offering? What’s the price? The features? You want to put out there something that really competes with the current offers in the market. It cannot be something less interesting or with fewer features.

Talk to your people. In the pre-launch, while you’re creating those organic relationships with potential backers and other creators in your niche, listen to what they have to say. What problem are people looking to solve? How? Here is the key for you to create attractive rewards that speak out to people.

Final thoughts

Honestly, one might think that these are basics and no one would get any of these parts wrong, but you would be surprised.

Sometimes we work so close and so hard with our own projects that we overlook some steps.

But the best way to be prepared is to research, read, and engage with people in the crowdfunding sphere to learn from them.

Now you know what you should do if you want a crowdfunding campaign fail.

Originally published at https://crushcrowdfunding.com/