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
