10 Simple Tips to Make your Crowdfunding Video a Success!
The crowdfunding video is regarded as the most important marketing asset in a crowdfunding campaign. Your campaign will struggle to promote your offer and convince backers to support you if you get your video wrong. In this blog, we explain 10 simple tips that we use to create our client’s videos and you can use to create a better video and improve your campaign success.
Why are Crowdfunding Videos so effective?
A well made Crowdfunding video pitches your idea clearly and concisely, showcasing your offer in an appealing way. Turning viewers into backers.
Crowdfunding videos are:
- Short: They pack a powerful message in a short time. (We recommend no longer than 4minutes in length). Their format keeps you engaged and informed.
- Compelling: They are visually striking and appeal to your target audience. Videos work better than text because some audiences struggle to absorb information when delivered in long blocks of texts. A collection of stand out visuals and audio composed in an entertaining way is far more enjoyable to review and take in.
- Emotive: An effective video will engage the audience through their emotions. Seeing a person or product in action (rather than a still image) provides more context to a situation and allows you to pitch your story in a way people can emotionally connect with.
And now the real question...
How do you make your crowdfunding video a crowd-pleaser?
Ten simple steps to make a great video.
1. Writing a compelling script
The script is the main ingredient in the video. This is where you tell your brand’s story and make your sales pitch. For this, you need concise dialogue, clear plots, and engaging characters. With a good script, you can move people and push your message forward.
2. Getting Equipment
To get a professional video made you need to have the right equipment. You can either rent equipment to make videos yourself or hire a professional videographer to do the job for you.
In any case, you will need cameras, lights, sound equipment and more for a video that looks professional and delivers appealing visuals with great audio.
3. Hiring Actors
A crowdfunding video should appeal to your target audience so you are going to need people (and locations) in the video that look appealing. If you have a tight budget, your team can become the on-camera talent. But if you can stretch the purse strings, hire an actor. An actor will be eloquent, persuasive, and believable—getting you the views you need.
4. Lighting and Blocking
A professionally made video is well-lit. Without lighting, you can lose the on-screen talent to the shadows, and with it, your message. Lighting sets the tone of the video and provides clear images.
Blocking is a technique used to get accurate and consistent placements in the video. In a scene, an object or person needs to have a fixed, consistent position for continuity and to look good
5. Shooting the video
Before shooting, you will need to storyboard the entire script. The director and camera crew will then shoot all the scenes seamlessly according to a production schedule and plan. You can use many takes and multiple camera positions to shoot the video. This way you can make sure that you get the best looking take.
6. Adding a Voice-over
Voice-overs are effective tools for persuasion in crowdfunding video production. You can either hire a professional for the recording or do the voice-over yourself with rented sound equipment. In any case, the voice-over should be clear, engaging, and relay your message effectively.
7. Adding and picking Music
There’s no successful video without music. From a few simple trills to an upbeat song, music can uplift and engross the viewer immediately. Bubbly music can excite the audience while sad notes can spark pity and sympathy. Your music should add character to your narrative and make it better.
8. Smoothing over the Sound
Shooting a video can mean a lot of background noise gets in the way. A video shot outdoors can especially have a lot of unwanted sounds like the rustling of leaves, chirping of birds, and the noisy sounds of traffic.
How do you handle this? It’s simple: ideally, choose a location where you can control the noise. Alternatively, you can edit out the sounds with professional sound editing software. If you can afford it, get a high-quality microphone for video shoots to prevent unwanted sounds in the first place.
9. Editing the Video
Raw footage can’t be used as the video campaign. To create and tell an effective visual story, you need to craft and edit it. Choose between fast and slow cuts dependent on the style you want your story to deliver. Add graphics and animation to bring elements of your video alive. Colour grade and use sfx and audio design to add character to your story.
10. Delivery & Marketing the Video
The final step in video production is delivery. In this case its marketing your video to your audience across social media and on your landing/campaign page. When delivering your video for social media you’ll need to make sure you export a version of the video, which meets the correct format for the platform. For example, the dimensions, tone, and messaging of the video will need to adhere to the standards of the marketing platforms. An extremely long video, for example, can’t be shared on Instagram.
If you need help with your crowdfunding video, or would like to discuss your campaign idea then schedule a free crowdfunding strategy call with us here at Wow Your Crowd. We are crowdfunding video specialists and will love to help you make a stand out the video for your campaign and help you reach your funding goal. Speak soon.
3 Types of Crowdfunding Video To Successfully Fund Your Kickstarter Campaign
The crowdfunding video is your campaign’s most important marketing asset. Get it right and a successful campaign beckons, get it wrong and months of hard work could be ruined. Here at Wow Your Crowd, we are pitch video specialists and in this blog will explain the 3 different types of video you can make for your campaign.
Running a successful crowdfunding campaign comes down to 1 thing, getting your audience to buy your product. If you can’t convince your audience to support your project and buy your product then it's highly likely your campaign will fail. So everything you do should work towards the end goal of enticing your audience to support you. But how do you do this, how can you engage your audience and take them from one end of the buying spectrum, where they are hearing about you for the first time to the other end of the spectrum where they buy your product?
Well, your crowdfunding campaign should be built around a marketing funnel strategy, which creates multiple touchpoints with the audience, allowing you to pitch your key marketing message points to them. The most important touchpoint in your marketing funnel strategy is your crowdfunding video. Without a doubt, your crowdfunding video is your campaign’s most important asset as it is the key to convincing your audience to buy.
The crowdfunding video is what converts viewers to buyers and so it's vitally important you develop a standout video, which pitches your story and showcases the value of your product, convincing backers to support you.
Here at Wow Your Crowd we are pitch video specialists and have been solely making pitch videos for many years. We have developed our own unique P5 Pitch Video formula that we use when creating videos for our client’s projects.
We can let you into a little secret - there are three types of crowdfunding video that you can create for your campaign, which type you choose is up to you and your current situation.
One thing I implore you not to do when creating your video is to make a ‘promo video’. Time and time again I see campaigns who have created a ‘promo video’ instead of a ‘pitch video’, Creating a promo video will have a negative effect on the campaign, as it doesn’t provide the viewer with the correct information they need to make a buying decision, which usually results in campaign failure. So when seeking help with creating your campaign’s video be sure to hire an agency like Wow Your Crowd who understand how to create a pitch video and give your campaign the best chance of success.
The 3 Types of Video you can create for your campaign are:
- The Traditional Pitch Video
- The Product Demo Video
- The Promercial Pitch Video
The Traditional Pitch Video - is the classic style of video that features the campaign founder introducing their big idea and the backstory to the campaign. This type of video is great for building a relationship with the audience, as the audience is able to associate a face with the project and build a subconscious relationship with you. You want your audience to trust you, so by showing a face behind the project, you are allowing the viewer to get to know, like and trust you. This has a very positive effect in convincing a backer to support the project.
The problem with featuring in a video is when the person delivering the pitch isn’t very good at speaking on camera. They may be shy and feel awkward in front of the camera, which comes across in the delivery of their pitch. So, when deciding what video to make you need to first ask yourself, do I want to feature in the video and can I deliver a strong performance to the camera? If the answer is yes, then you should definitely make an appearance whether that is through the whole video or in 1 or two bits, as it will help to nurture a personal relationship with your crowd.
The Product Demo Video - does exactly what it says on the tin. It demonstrates your product, explaining the features and benefits to the user. A product demo video is usually narrated by a voice-over or set to a music track with on-screen text explaining the main marketing message points.
Product demo videos are good when you have a limited budget or you don’t want to feature in the video. The video consists of shots of the product in different scenarios/locations. For example on a white background in a studio and then in a lifestyle location like the kitchen or office. The video generally doesn't feature any people unless you see a hand appear to pick up or activate the device.
If shooting a product demo video it's better to keep the video short and to the point. This will help to keep the viewer engaged and excited about the product.
The Promercial Pitch Video - is a name we here at Wow Your crowd have created for a specific type of pitch video. The video is a cross between a product demo video and a commercial. The promercial video showcases the product being used by models or actors in lifestyle situations, selling a story of how the product will benefit the user in real life. The promercial can also feature the founder speaking to camera or be presented by an actor or narrated by a voice-over.
In recent years the promerical pitch video has pretty much overtaken the traditional pitch video as the main type of video for promoting Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaigns. Many of our clients prefer to go for the Promercial video over the traditional video as the footage created can easily be repurposed for future marketing videos.
One thing to bear in mind is that creating a promercial video is usually more expensive than a traditional style video or product demo video. This is because the productions are generally bigger, with more people involved, more time required to develop the creative and the additional cost of actors and locations etc.
Whatever video you chose to make for your crowdfunding campaign the secret is to make the video as engaging and entertaining as possible, hooking the audience quickly, whilst showcasing the value your product provides them.
For help and advice on how to make the best video for your campaign contact us at Wow Your Crowd and find out more about our award-winning crowdfunding video production services.
