Crowdfunding is engagement that builds a sense of community. Community engagement is as important as the money.

Your communications planning is the heart of that engagement.

Don’t underestimate the time commitment. A one-month campaign involves three months of work.

Pre-campaign promotion and commitments are essential to success

Average contribution is $50. Thus, if you want to raise $20,000, divide by 50 to see how many donors you need – 400 in this case.

Economics: of the money raised: 57% net revenue. You need to bring in $16,000 to clear $10,000

Personal asks by the artist are essential. We are coordinating the artist’s campaign. The artist is not just the face by the leader of the campaign. People want to support the artist, not the publicist.

Have a private opening two days before public campaign

Build a content timeline and plan the number of touches

Have at least one song completed before starting.

Think big. Upsell. Don’t underprice perks.

Track and cross check data from email lists, social media, donors, web store customers

Continue to incentivize throughout campaign, keep offering more perks

Use the lowest goal that works.

            High goal does not mean more money; it is the % of the goal that is most important

            Get 30% of the goal lined up before the campaign goes live. This comes from the inner layer of your community.

Pitch

            Answer who, what, why

            Tell the story in two minutes: 30 seconds to grab attention and 90 seconds for the meat

            Close with a strong call to action and expression of gratitude

            Break up text

Video

            Hand held, up close and personal works best

            Show what is going on behind the scenes

            Spend your money on promoting the campaign – not on video production

            Remember that people have short attention spans 2 to 3 minutes

            Show who you are

            Be energetic and to the point

Perks

            Do not use t-shirts

Promotion

            This is where to spend money

            Maintain  constant, stable tone across all platforms

            #1platform is email

            #2 is social media

            #3 is advertising