In the recent webinar hosted by the Founder Institute, “How to Raise a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign”, Adeo Ressi discussed the tips and tricks of crowdfunding with 3 Founder Institute Graduates--Darma,Emberlight, and Vibease.
Despite the abundance of stories of how startups far exceeded their crowdfunding goals, there are far more tales of campaigns that failed to match even the smallest target. Even worse, too little attention is given to just how much effort and tactical prowess is required when launching a successful crowdfunding campaign.
Luckily, Ben Bateman, the Associate Director, Design & Technology Categories at Indiegogo, is here to lay out some helpful tips for devise an effective crowdfunding campaign strategy.
The blog post, "Indiegogo’s Ben Bateman Shares Crowdfunding Campaign and Video Success Makers," written by Lauren Reiterman originally appeared on Focus Product Design's blog and has been republished with permission below:
Speaking to a crowd of seasoned and green entrepreneurs at a recent Focus Product Design crowdfunding meetup, Indiegogo's own Ben Bateman revealed how to prep, market and launch a successful campaign with appropriate goal setting, social proofing and video strategy. The evenings best practices are summarized here.
Ben is the Associate Director, Design & Technology Categories at Indiegogo.
1. Set Safe Margins By Understanding Production Requirements
First off, setting too high or too low a goal is the #1 mistake of campaigners. Start by asking the minimum needed to take the product forward, such as a minimum order quantity. Crowdfunding can work as a market validation and fundraising strategy for the entrepreneur.New campaigners should allow enough time to educate themselves on the development, manufacturing, packaging and shipping costs required by a product. If you’re lucky enough to have investment, but lack a user base, set a low goal and repurpose your campaign for PR and market validation.
2. Build your circle of trust before you launch, with 30% funds lined up for blast off.
A strong start will validate your product in the eyes of your friends, family and future backers. Calculate your target number with Ben’s simple equation. Take your email contacts __ X .05% __ then X product price. This is your launch day target.
3. Show Real Life Use Cases
Viewers are bombarded all day long with messaging, instructions and things that require, well, thought. So, make it easy on me to like you. With a background in Journalism, Ben knows about telling great stories. “Show, don’t tell“ He advises when building your campaign. It’s critical to show scenes with people actually using your product as they would in real life.
4. Talk is cheap!
Really cheap, especially when most first-time visitors only skim the text of your page. Video footage and images of everyday scenes encourage viewers to imagine themselves living with your product, be it an activity tracker, kitchen appliance or car key.
Ben’s “Show, don’t tell” rule is the secret of a great video.
Ben shared his feedback on a few past and upcoming campaigns, including PantryChic™ Store and Dispense System™, launching this November 18th on Indiegogo. Watching the PantryChic™ video taught us many great lessons about storytelling for crowdfunding purposes, highlighting the importance of including product benefits, and use cases for your viewership.
Appealing to your target on such a large platform can be a challenge, but connecting to different users in your video with a variety of use cases gives everyone a chance to participate in your campaign.
5. Ben’s Video Pointers
- Keep it 2-3 minutes long. Most of us don’t even make it to 3. Skip the epic motivational section.
- Show your product in the first 5 or 10 seconds. That’s why I came, right?
- Include the team. Teams raise 94% more money than individuals. Unless you’re superman, I don’t trust one person to handle all the upcoming challenges of product development and manufacturing.
6. Get Feedback Before Taking it Public
Go for it, host a focus group. Testing the PantryChic™ product on the crowd provided useful insight into pricing strategy. We learned that consumers were willing to pay well above the current unit price for for the PantryChic™ system and canisters. For more info, check out this useful Indiegogo help.
For more information on Focus Product Design, visit their official website.
