This is the tenth post in our 30 Day Ask Clay Crowdfunding Q&A.
I’m answering a new question every day in June.
Submit your question by going to CrowdfundingHacks.com/AskClay, where you can see all of the questions and all of my answers.
Full Transcript
Hey everyone…this is Clay Hebert from CrowdfundingHacks.com…and today’s question is…
What are the characteristics of a successful crowdfunding campaign?
I’ve helped almost 150 crowdfunding campaigns and while each one is different, there are seven key characteristics that I see across most successful campaigns.
I’ll explain each below.
1. A new and interesting creative project
Crowdfunding is the coolest store on the internet. It’s not the place for moving old inventory or selling accounting services. When marketed correctly, new and innovative projects do well. This isn’t Amazon. Backers are willing to wait for months for early access or one of the first units of a cool, new thing.
2. A well-defined customer avatar and market
If you think your product is for everybody, it’s for nobody. Start over and define your ideal customer. If you only had one unit of your product, who would be the perfect person on earth to buy it? That person is your ideal backer. Start there.
3. Permission to talk to them
Lee Miller, the creator of Kittyo started with zero emails and built a list of 13,000 cat lovers in six months. When he launched, he was instantly funded, 200% funded on the first day and ended up raising over $270,000…all because he put in the work before he launched to find and gain permission to market to the right people.
4. A solid marketing plan
Good crowdfunding is good marketing. You probably need less than 1,000 backers to completely fund your project, but you need to develop a marketing plan to reach those people before you launch. Don’t launch and then scramble around trying to find them. That’s how most projects fail.
5. A great video that tells your interesting story
A great video is your chance to tell your story to the world. Big companies spend billions of dollars to try to get us to watch a 30-second soap commercial or 8 seconds of pre-roll on YouTube. But if you can get someone to click on your campaign link and play your video, you can have 2-3 minutes of their attention. That’s priceless. Don’t waste it.
6. Great rewards at below market prices
As we explained in the last lesson, you should price your reward levels “below MSRP”.
7. Early and frequent communication and support
As we discussed earlier in this series, backers are taking an early risk on you, so early and frequent communication is key to keep the in the loop on your team’s progress.
So to recap…
The seven elements of a successful crowdfunding campaign are:
- A new and interesting creative project
- A well-defined customer avatar and market
- Permission to talk to them
- A solid marketing plan
- A great video
- Great rewards at below market prices
- Early and frequent communication and support
As always, you can submit your question or see all of the crowdfunding questions and my answers at http://crowdfundinghacks.com/AskClay
