4 Things to Keep in Mind when Choosing a Brand Ambassador
Brand ambassadors are a powerful tool for any company. They’re effective at cutting through the noise in crowded spaces, lending you some credibility and generally getting the word out there among the groups that can really make a difference.
However, when you’re engaged in a collaboration with a brand ambassador of some kind, whether they work with you on a formal or informal basis, you can’t work with simply anyone. As well as being closely related to your sector, and with a suitable audience, they need to share similar values and attitudes with you.
Poor alignment between a brand and an ambassador will only lead to a loss of credibility on both parts and potentially damage your reputation. Based on our experience as a creative crowdfunding video maker agency, we’ve seen how great ambassadors can really make campaigns come alive. We explore a few things that will help you choose the right person for the job.
Understand the Role of Brand Ambassador
A brand ambassador is a person who helps increase brand awareness for a specific product, service or organisation. Often receiving financial compensation for their efforts (but not always), they engage in promotional activities on behalf of the brand to spread awareness to their existing audiences.
This group of people are sometimes quite distinct from social media influencers as the relationship between the individual and brand is often more natural and organic. Also, ambassadors are often more closely connected with the brand itself with relationships that can be long-term, over the course of many months or even years, rather than just working on standalone campaigns.
For example, a campaigner for certain social issues or causes may take on an ambassadorship role for a brand that shares the same values. They may have even been a past customer and could be willing to work for free.
Having said this, there is certainly overlap with paid social influencers who will receive rewards of various kinds for featuring a product or service on their channels.
Many different types of brands use ambassadors for several reasons; such as humanising an organisation, exemplifying brand values and core identity; or building trust around a brand with niche target demographics, who would otherwise be hard to persuade.
How to Find Brand Ambassadors
The best way to find an ambassador is to know what you're looking for. While you may be able to work with a talent or influencer agency to connect you with the right person, there’s no reason you can’t find an ambassador yourself, through your own network.
For example, you could review your existing followers on your LinkedIn account and look for potential candidates for ambassadors, before reaching out to them directly. You might even be able to do some searches around your industry to see who is actively publishing content, and then get in touch with these people for “collaborative opportunities”.
A few things to keep in mind when evaluating potential ambassadors are:
Clear Values and Principles
The individual has strong and clear values on topics and issues related to your brand. They should honestly believe in their convictions and will be able to stand by them, even after your collaboration is over.
Have a think about what your brand stands for and look for ambassadors who could be a good representation of your brand and are passionate about the same things.
Do they already use your product or service? Will people be able to make the connection easily between your brand and the individual?
Trust and Influence
Your brand ambassador should be someone whom people trust. Far more than sheer follower numbers, trust and engagement with a specific audience is the most powerful tool that an ambassador should have. This can be thanks to their reputation for being honest, clear and unbiased, or perhaps due to their professional credibility.
Professionalism
While passion and enthusiasm are great, your brand ambassador needs to be highly professional too. You don’t want your relationship to come down to contracts and financials alone, but you must have a good foundation in place before you move forward together.
This includes set expectations about conduct and deliveries. If you expect them to show up to certain events or publish content on certain days, they should be able to stick to their promises.
Looking for Other Crowdfunding Marketing Tips?
As a passionate crowdfunding video maker agency, our team has a wealth of knowledge about many aspects of the crowdfunding promotion and marketing process. If there’s something you can’t find on our blog or if you have some specific questions about your upcoming campaign, get in touch!
Pre-launch Product Survey Advice for Crowdfunders
Gathering essential feedback before you launch a crowdfunding campaign is always helpful. The more you do, the closer to the target you'll hit. This will also help you plan your campaign and gather credible data that you can showcase to potential investors.
However, when your project is at such an early stage of development, you might not think that extensive product surveys are possible, or even necessary. Should you conduct product surveys at all before launching your crowdfunding campaign or should wait until you have something prototyped first?
While it’s true that pre-launch surveys are very different to post-launch or soft launch activities where customers can actually trial your products themselves, there are still many ways you can gather key feedback, opinions, advice, and general input before you set your crowdfunding campaign live.
Based on some of our experience offering marketing and crowdfunding video production in London, we’ve outlined our advice on the right approach and techniques for gaining maximum feedback.
Start Conversations on Social
Before you actually send out a survey to anyone, your own social platforms are good places to get a general idea about whether people would be interested in your future product. As long as you don't give away any secrets about your brand, you can probe people to let you know their thoughts and feelings on your new concept.
Obviously, you need to apply some strategy here regarding where you post, who you’re targeting and the way you phrase your questions. For instance, simply posting onto your Instagram account which only has a modest following won’t give you much data and the information you do get will be distorted by the fact that those reading your post will already be familiar with what you're trying to do.
What you want to do is reach completely new audiences on platforms that foster exploration and discussion. For example, the increasingly popular Clubhouse could be a great place to soundboard your idea within a designated room.
The clubhouse also has the benefit of potentially putting you in touch with people in your industry who may be able to offer industry-related advice or potential collaboration opportunities. At least in the earliest days, it was known as a platform heavily frequented by SEOs and company leaders.
Send Newsletters
If you're lucky enough to have a growing email list, whip up some newsletters to get people to take a product survey. Contacting your subscribers and asking for product feedback will not just help you get valuable data but will also add more credibility to your campaign, with more people recognising that you’re actively engaged in forwarding your project and taking on board the feedback of your audience.
Hopefully, your subscribers will understand your eagerness to design a fruitful campaign and potentially pass on the survey to someone else. However, you can increase the chance of this happening with simple incentives.
Look for Forums and Online Discussion Platforms
Reddit’s topic-based forums can be a good place to put the feelers out there. This is one of the top places for crowdfunding campaign creators to get insights into their customer's preferences as these spaces harbour large numbers of people who are keen to share ideas, critique and contribute to various topics with strong and valuable opinions. Obviously, it’s hard to discern the background of who is actually giving you feedback or what their motives are, so take any serious criticism or opinions with a pinch of salt.
Tips for Creating Survey Questions
Asking the right questions is just as important as finding the right people to ask. Below are some tips for squeezing out the right nuggets of information that can help inform your process going forward.
- Don’t ask leading questions - Try not to put your own opinion into the question prompt, otherwise you risk distorting your survey results. You want to get as true and genuine an opinion as possible.
- Define a clear goal - Set out clear, attainable goals so that your survey information will actually be actionable and practical. Do you want to understand why certain customers don’t love your product as much as others? Are you unsure about specific features?
- Focus on using closed-ended questions - For larger-scale survey campaigns, questions that use pre-populated answer choices for the respondent to choose from, such as multiple choice or checkbox questions, are easier for respondents to answer and much simpler to quantify when it comes to organising the data and analysing it.
Learn More
For more great tips and advice about smashing your next crowdfunding campaign, get in touch with us at Wow Your Crowd where we can help you with your crowdfunding video production in London or other aspects of your Kickstarter campaign!
Using Instagram for Crowdfunding? Don’t Forget to Do These 5 Things
Using Instagram to promote your crowdfunding campaign can be a smart move when trying to build awareness of your project and a strong community of followers. Despite this, many owners steer clear of using this channel and focus on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn only.
This may be because they are seen as more effective ways to deliver the nuance and complexity of your campaign to potential high-net-worth investors, through longer text-based posts. It might also be because when crowdfunding campaigns are in their earliest stages, you might have very few visual assets to support a robust Instagram presence.
While there's some truth in these assumptions, it’s clear that a strategic Instagram marketing plan can help you to engage with a huge number of users who could become integral to your community going forward. It does require more consideration of presentation and visual quality, but a few best practices and tips can help you achieve a lot on this platform in a relatively short space of time.
1. Set Up a Good Base
There are a few basic things every Instagram campaign needs to be effective, whether you’re crowdfunding or trying to make actual sales through your account
- A perfectly crafted bio – The short blurb about your campaign or product needs to be both concise and compelling. It’s also smart to include a suitable link to other pages or locations where people can keep learning about you and your mission. This could be a Facebook page, pre-launch website, crowdfunding page and video, or a link tree account where you can keep all your links in one place.
- Regular posts - When visitors land on your page, they’ll expect to see it populated with a decent collection of posts, with recent additions to show people that you’re currently active.
- Highlights that tell a story - Once you’ve uploaded a few great stories about your project, feature highlights on your account so that new users can quickly learn about your story and get involved. Ultimately, Instagram stories are just as important as standard posts today and making sure they are accessible for your users even after 24 hours is the best way to maximise impact.
As a crowdfunding video production company, we believe in the power of video. If you’re launching an Instagram campaign, we may be able to help you make the most of your video content for all your promotion activities.
2. A Diverse and Strategic Post Flow
In addition to seeing great posts from you, variation in your type and style is important too. People don’t want to see the same posts again and again. To vary posts, consider using a combination of the following to mix things up:
- Photos of your team with real quotes
- Photos of your products
- Candid behind the scenes action
- Videos as well as photos
- Collection of photos, not just single uploads
- A balanced visual presentation with consistent branding
3. Maximise the Power of Captions
Instagram is a visual-first platform, but it’s captions that will truly get people to commit to your cause. They’re a powerful stage in a typical user’s conversion journey, and having content that educates and engages with users is key to building on the initial engagement you receive.
Each caption should channel traffic to specific locations where you can continue to interact with your future customers. This requires smart calls to actions that request your followers to complete some sort of action after viewing your post, such as sharing, commenting, and liking, or visiting other pieces of the published content.
4. Engage with Users Directly
People will ask some great questions in comments and while replying to them can be time-consuming and tedious, it’s an amazing way to build trust with users. By engaging with people on your Instagram account, you can start to connect with them in a more direct way.
Some users may be on the fence about committing, and if you're able to answer comments in a quick and friendly manner, you can convert followers who simply need some reassurance before they make their pledge.
Don’t worry if you sometimes receive negative comments or feedback. Showing users that you are able to remain cordial, polite and helpful is what really matters. Everyone can view your comments and responses, so it’s best to address these issues directly and in a respectable way.
5. Create Great Instagram Stories
Creating great Instagram stories is a true art. Whether it’s short videos or photos, they give people a quick snapshot of what you’ve got going on, from your daily activities to snippets of your promotional video content.
When crowdfunding, so much relies on being genuine and establishing close connections with a community. Stories are a great way to invite people in to build trust between your brand and a future community who are invested in what you’re doing.
More Social Media Crowdfunding Tips
Get in touch with us to learn more about how you can maximise the impact of your crowdfunding campaign. We’re a crowdfunding video production company that can help you produce engaging, educational and attention-grabbing content, but we also draw from a deep well of marketing experience in helping our clients get the most from their campaigns.
How to Choose an Influencer for Your Crowdfunding Campaign
Influencer marketing is a powerful tool that can be used for getting your project and products in front of more people and establishing connections with a new audience.
However, the hardest part of any influencer marketing campaign is finding the right individuals to become ambassadors for your brand.
The Role of Influencer Marketing in Spreading Your Message
- Leverage the existing trust of influencers
- Get people to actually take notice of your product and spend time learning about your offerings
- Promote the lifestyle appeal of your product through content that features your product being used by your influencer
- Promote your brand across more channels
- Tap into niche demographics with specific interests
- Influencers may be able to support other initiatives like your crowdfunding corporate video production, used to attract new users on multiple channels
What Does a Good Influencer Look Like?
The best influencers are not merely one-time-only channels that you can use to send out promotional content to vast audiences. A good influencer for your project is someone who is willing to form a strategic partnership with you, based on shared values.
An influencer is someone who has the power to affect people’s purchasing decisions, but the reason they can do this is that they have the admiration and respect of their followers.
Simply choosing someone with the most amount of followers within your budget isn’t going to actually help you build a community, especially when this individual's personal branding doesn’t match up with your own, or if they currently publish large volumes of sponsored content on their platforms from other brands.
Ultimately, you must find people whose influence is related to your product. A few things you can consider when determining someone’s suitability for your brand include:
- Relevance - does their audience match with your target profile?
- Alignment - do their principles and core values align with your brands?
- Reach - does their reach offer you good potential returns?
- Resonance - how engaged is their audience and how likely are they to interact with their messaging?
Types of Influencer by Audience Size
When thinking about influencers, remember that bigger is not necessarily better. Large audiences with low engagement are pretty useless when you think about it. Many of us follow social media celebrities with huge audiences but don’t actually give them much notice when we see their sponsored or promotional posts pop up on our feeds.
There are four main types of influencers to consider:
- Mega influencers - These are people who are often celebrities of some kind, with followings of more than a million people. However, they tend to have lower engagement with their posts. They can also be very expensive to work with.
- Macro influencers - These influencers may have between 100,000 and 1 million followers and have usually built their popularity based on specific activities or themes, such as fitness, travel, food or other common interests.
- Micro-influencers - With between 10,000-100,000 followers, most influencers fall in this category, which is the most popular type for brands seeking partnerships and ambassadorships. One major reason for this is the audience size offers good amplification while engagement is still high. They tend to bring decent returns when carefully chosen for your project or brand.
- Nano influencers - There’s nothing wrong with an influencer with under 10,000 followers if they have strong engagement from their audience and interests that align with your brand values. They are more likely to be free agents and open to collaborations, as well as more selective in their promotion of certain brands. As such, they’ll have strong trust and loyalty from followers and can be the most impactful influencers to work with.
Tips for Finding Influencers
- Search social media platforms for relevant terms and hashtags to find people who are posting interesting content in your field and to communities that you want to target.
- Consider all platforms, including those you may not be that familiar with. Channels like TikTok may be able to offer you a lower entry cost with higher engagement, especially if you’re targeting younger demographics
- Grow your LinkedIn network in your field to discover people who are influential in your sector. You may find people already posting related content.
- Check the kind of influencers that competitors are using for a better idea about the content that performs well.
- Keep in mind that an influencer can also be a blog or news source dedicated to your field, rather than a person.
Need Help?
If you’re looking for ways to reach new audiences we might be able to help. We offer a range of crowdfunding marketing services, including crowdfunding corporate video production.
Storytelling - The Power of Narrative in Crowdfunding
Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can harness during your crowdfunding campaign.
There’s nothing quite like it when it comes to getting investors and future customers on board, connecting with them through compelling and captivating stories about your brand and what you hope to one day achieve.
Why Is Storytelling So Important?
- Helps people relate to you and connect on a more emotional level
- Taps into the values and passions of your crowd
- Allows people to visualise your journey as a business
- Illustrates the vision you hope to achieve in more detail
- Makes you appear more genuine and human
Understanding the Types of Stories Audiences Love
Telling your story in the right way is an art. And when you want people to back your concept, there are a few proven ways to make your story resonate with your audience. Below are a few archetypal story techniques that might help your Kickstarter.
Personal Stories
People need to trust you before they back you. They also need to understand that they’re dealing with a genuine human who is committed to specific values and goals. Without this, it can be incredibly hard for people to part with their money and actually invest in you emotionally.
By making your story personal, you can overcome this trust barrier and connect with people on a human level. Conveying who you are as a person with real character traits and flaws will give people a better understanding of who they’re dealing with and the risk they’re taking when they invest.
This can involve sharing with people the major drivers behind your motivation to build your business or project. Knowing that you’re in it for more than just the money will allow people to believe in what you’re doing.
Overcoming Adversity
Everyone loves a story of overcoming adversity. Whether the monster in your tale is an actual person or just a difficult circumstance, we all love to see characters fight against hardship and evil forces to eventually come outstanding.
You might not be comfortable portraying yourself as a hero in your own story, but this can be an indelible powerful tool in getting people to back you. Alternatively, you can create the sense that your project or even the investor or customer is the hero who is battling adversity.
Or perhaps you can combine everything and describe your project and all the people behind it as the hero who is taking on an industry or sector that ultimately evil or corrupt.
Fear vs Happiness
Two of the most powerful emotions to leverage during speeches, talks, crowdfunding videos and pitches are feelings of happiness and fear.
While happiness can inspire someone to feel good about your project and the chance of doing good through backing you, fear can be used to motivate people to get involved before it’s too late and they miss out.
One of these things might be more suited to your brand and personality, but understanding the role that emotions like these have in your storytelling is important.
Tragedy
Obviously, you don’t want to leverage the tragedy theme as a motivator unless there is actually a real tragedy to convey, to avoid the risk of losing integrity.
However, if you’re launching a project that aims to improve society or support damaged communities after a natural disaster, for example, tapping into genuine tragedy can be a key motivator that gets people on board.
Real-life stories from the people you are trying to support or case studies about how businesses or communities have suffered can help people to realise your project can help to alleviate some of the suffering and damage caused by a tragedy.
How to Tell Your Story
You might have a lot to say, so keeping things logical and concise can help you to make your crowdfunding story more compelling and digestible. Here are some basic best practices you can try to follow.
- Start with a personal introduction
- Explore the challenge and adversity you face
- Offer your solution and the potential benefits your project will have
- Provide specific examples to improve the emotional connection
- Keep your story short and concise
- End with a call-to-action
Always End with a Call to Action
Your story should end with a call to action so that you can actually achieve a tangible goal. This could simply be for people to invest or for them to subscribe to your social channels and share your content with as many people as possible.
Whatever it is, your narrative should conclude with you requesting that people do something that can contribute to the progression of your story.
Inspiring Crowdfunding Videos in London
If you’re looking to tell your story through inspiring crowdfunding videos in London, get in touch with us at Wow Your Crowd and we’ll be happy to explore your own narrative and how we might be able to present this to your crowd to create stronger connections with your audience and drive support.
How to Simplify Your Brand Story for Your Crowdfunding Video
If you want people to spread the word about your project and truly buy into your dream, you need to ensure your Kickstarter video and brand pitch are both simple and memorable.
We don’t mean you need to dumb things down so that you’re not conveying the nuance or unique nature of your project, but rather that you must do your best to condense all your key information and messages into something relatively short and sweet.
Most videos and Kickstarter pitches fall flat because they haven’t been thoughtfully distilled into something that is easily digestible. And this is a tragedy when you’ve actually got a great idea that people will love, underneath it all.
We’ve created a simple guide to help you make sure your crowdfunding video is short and memorable.
Why Does Simple Matter?
- You’ll make more money - simple means more memorable and easier to process, which translates to a wider dispersal of your messages to a greater number of potential investors and future customers.
- You’ll look better - videos that are too long and complicated make projects and founders look bad, even if their ideas are innovative and simple. If your first impression is “clunky” what kind of impression are strangers going to have of you?
- You’ll generate more loyalty - simplicity is a core component of all brand experiences, that extends far beyond the crowdfunding video you’re making. If you start off well here, people will be more likely to respond well to your brand experiences and products across multiple touchpoints, including your promotional social media output.
Focus on the First 10-Seconds
Most people have short attention spans these days, especially when it comes to digital content like videos. Most viewers aren’t going to sit through a 5 minute Kickstarter video to figure out if they want to back you or not. You’ll be lucky if they last 15 seconds so making the most of the start of your video is crucial.
Just try browsing several crowdfunding videos yourself from other brands and see how long it takes for you to feel that all too familiar content fatigue. Your first 10 seconds should be a concise introduction of who you are and why people should keep watching. Going straight into complex data or explanations will deter new users from staying tuned.
Establish Your “Face”
To be memorable, you must have a kind of brand “face” that makes it simple for people to establish a connection with you. This includes things like your company name, logo, colours and possibly a jingle or slogan. It can also include the actual faces of your founders, which will help people to develop a more personal connection with your project.
All of this will develop visual associations that will help users to recognise you in the future, and simplify their interactions with you. If you have a vague or confusing “face”, perhaps with inconsistent colour choices, shapes, icons, or other motifs, people will find it harder to remember you and your project.
Speak Directly to Your Audience
One effective tip is to avoid language that doesn’t speak directly to your audience. People will always respond better to messages that are addressed to them rather than statements or questions that are targeted at an abstract audience.
Assuming you already know who your core audience is, make sure you tap into their core motivations and shared context to speak directly to them. This will help you to simplify your crowdfunding video and increase overall engagement.
Make Your CTAs Clear and Obvious
What happens when your audience is completely on board after making their way through 50% of your video? To ensure that you don’t lose followers and investors during the second half, make sure you tell them clearly what you want them to do.
For example, are you looking for immediate contributions or to direct interested parties to more information about your brand. You’ll be surprised how many brands don’t do this and lose out because they didn’t create simple and effective CTAs.
Keep It Grounded
While long-term visions of how you are going to change the world are great, you must always ground your Kickstarter in the real world. This includes explaining how you are tangibly going to achieve your goals and the practical steps you have already taken to launching your brand.
If you want more tips on making your Kickstarter video simple and memorable, or want help with producing one of the most crucial assets of your entire crowdfunding campaign, get in touch with us at Wow Your Crowd.
Best Tips on How to Use Video for Social Media Marketing
You have created a marketing plan for your product launch campaign, but it’s not creating the results you desire?
Why is this? Are you missing something?
The main reason is genuinely due to the lack of content that engages your audience. Data shows that video is the best medium to attract and communicate with your audience online. If you have not already made significant investments in social media video content, then it's time to start investing.
It's not just video platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram that are more focused on video, for example with ‘stories’ and ‘IGTV’. Other platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn also provide video options, since this is the way users expect to digest content.
Different types of video for social media marketing
There are various types of video you can create to promote your product, business or personal brand. Here are a few ideas:
- Animations
- Brand Promo
- Commercial
- Sales video
- Educational How to
- Product Explainers
- F.A.Q. videos
- Expert Opinion videos
- Vlogs
- Live Stream videos
- Event highlights video.
So, what's the best? It depends on your specific goal, your budget and your level of experience with making videos. For a strong consistent social media campaign, we’d recommend making various videos from the above list, try them out and measure the response you get from your target audience. Then make more of the videos that work the best. Use the videos to build trust and nurture a relationship with your followers and customers.
The ideal video length
The ideal video length is a bit of a myth. It really depends on how engaging the video content is and what the video is used for. As a guideline, we’d recommend the following:
- Promotional video for your website - 1- 2 mins for brand content
- Facebook & Twitter - Up to 1-minute promotional brand content
- Instagram - from 15 - 30 seconds for promotional brand content
- Youtube - Up to 2mins for promotional content and up to 60mins for long long-form educational and entertainment content
Use different social media platforms effectively for your video marketing
YouTube
YouTube is the ‘social media video’ website. A place to learn and be entertained, which is different to posting messages on other social media platforms. Building a strong YouTube channel with great content relevant to your subject matter will allow you to attract subscribers and fans, which you can then turn into customers. Get good at YouTube and be great at video marketing.
Important points to keep in mind when posting videos on Youtube
- Use keywords relevant to your topic in the description and video title
- Post videos regularly (at least once a week)
- Use the YouTube Ads options like Pre-roll to sell and attract people to your business
- Always remind viewers to like your video and subscribe to your channel
Facebook is a perfect place to promote your product to your target market. You can upload videos easily, use them as advertisements to reach niches, or launch a Facebook Live stream and speak with your audience directly.
Important points to keep in mind
- Make sure the video is engaging, with the right style of content for your audience
- Upload your videos directly to Facebook; don’t link to them from other websites
- Include your videos into playlists, labelled for easier search
- Include a call to action at the end of your video
- Host live Facebook Q&A sessions, to forge a closer personal relationship with fans
- Re-share your Live streams for fans who may have missed the original live broadcast
Twitter is just as good as any other platform for sharing videos as part to your product launch and social media marketing. Creators will typically upload videos as tweets or pay for video ads. Both options are available.
Important points to keep in mind
For Twitter posts and advertisements, a common rule for posting is that shorter messages create better results. Twitter research reveals that advertisements that are less than 15 seconds work better and viewers retain the messages more often.
- Don't forget to use hashtags related to your niche and "join the talk," (as suggested by Twitter) in your posts.
- Add descriptions and keywords
Instagram is very popular and is promoting more video content based on its new functionality. In addition to video posts and advertising, a new live streaming option was started with Instagram Stories and IGTV, which functions similarly to YouTube.
Important points to keep in mind
- Create your videos with a clear topic, with related visual design
- Keep your captions short and include the right message in your video
- Instagram videos have a 60-second time limit so keep your video short
- Instagram ads are much like Facebook ads, so try it here if you have noticed things that work on Facebook
- Instagram Stories have a limited time length, such as 15 seconds, and disappear forever after 24 hours, similar to Snapchat
- IGTV operates like YouTube and is a great place for Vloggers to share their content
Snapchat
If your target audience is a younger market say 16 - 30 years old then your social media content marketing campaign should include Snap Chat, which allows for informal exchanges with your fans through Snapchat posts.
Important points to keep in mind
- Keep your Snapchat posts short and simple
- Use and create Snapchat filters and lenses to upgrade the look of your posts and advertisements.
Finally!
To enhance your product launch or crowdfunding campaign It is essential to implement a video marketing strategy on social media. Wow Your Crowd can help to produce what you need. So, when you need marketing help or a sleek, professional crowdfunding video that promotes your product, give us a call and in the meantime feel free to reach out and ask us any questions you may have. We’ll be happy to provide some insight and advice on how you can promote your products online.
10 Ways to Promote Your Crowdfunding Campaign and Build Your Crowd
You have been working on your crowdfunding campaign for months. You created your prototype, shot a film, written your pitch, and designed your website. Finally, the campaign goes live, and your friends and family back you immediately. But after a fast start, how do you continue the momentum and attract more backers to your campaign?
Here are ten ways to boost and promote your crowdfunding campaign.
Websites to Promote
There are hundreds of different sites across the internet that you can use to host and promote your crowdfunding campaign, making it compulsory but also difficult to choose which is the best for your specific campaign. When it comes to choosing a Crowdfunding platform, select a site that relates to your project and the type of person you are targeting. For example, launching a new tech product with a global audience - choose Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Raising funding for a local cause in the UK choose Crowdfunder, or for a global cause choose, Go Fund Me.
For additional reach and building awareness about your campaign, approach review and news sites to gain additional coverage and support.
| Platforms: | Promotion: |
| Kickstarter | Product Hunt |
| Indiegogo | Kicktraq |
| Crowdfunder | Gadget Flow |
| Go Fund Me | Geeky Gadgets |
| Fundly | Kickbooster |
| Crowdcube | Backerclub |
| Seeders | Backerland |
| Fundable |
Create a website or landing page
In order to build trust with backers, it's important to have a digital footprint online. The first place to start is with a website or landing page. To keep things quick and easy, populate your site with the same messaging and imagery/videos, which you use for your campaign page (on the crowdfunding platform). Be sure to add relevant keywords to your site, to help with SEO and people finding you via Internet search engines. Your only expense will be choosing a hosting package from a web host provider.
You need a strong social media strategy
This, of course, is a time-consuming task. But your social media plan determines whether your crowdfunding campaign will work or die. Many campaign owners believe their campaign will be found by people searching on a crowdfunding platform, but this rarely happens unless you are featured in a platform’s newsletter. You will need to find backers and attract them to your campaign. A well-planned marketing campaign is the best way to do this.
Build a team who can share your posts across their social media channels and build up more exposure for your campaign. Talk to people on Facebook and Twitter directly. And don’t worry about making the campaign go ‘viral’, just concentrate on what you and your team can manage. Be cooperative with your audience, and keep on updating your social content each day.
Use "Phrases,"
The Georgia Tech analysts took nine million sentences from 45,000 Kickstarter campaigns and found some of the most widely used sentences from fully-funded campaigns against more ineffective campaigns. Many successful campaigns used compelling sentences, as you possibly would expect. The following are some of the common phrases used: 'positive karma,' 'got you,' 'given a chance,' 'future is,' and, of course, 'cats.' Phrases that didn’t work so well, "Hope to have," "need one," "we have more.” A rule of thumb to follow is to be ‘personal and friendly’ and not ‘salesy’.
Keep it alive! Update regularly
Projects that post at least three updates to backers during their campaign raise 239 percent more funds than those who don't post updates, according to Indiegogo. Evidence suggests the more updates you give, the more funds you collect. Post updates related to your project every couple of days or at least once a week. Also, thank your contributors, tell them news about your product, share your milestones, and tell them if there is any change. Keep the audience involved and encourage them to tell their friends and contacts about the campaign as well.
Grow your email list
Your email list is probably the most important marketing strategy your crowdfunding campaign has. As the famous quotes state “the money is in the list”. It's not by coincidence that projects that have built a successful email list, full of leads who are interested in your offer, generate more donations to your cause. So focus on building an email list full of quality leads before launching your campaign by using a landing page with email capture. Launch an email nurturing campaign to your list of contact during your pre-launch phase and throughout the ‘live ‘ campaign enticing your list to back you.
Join relevant forums
You want to increase awareness about your crowdfunding campaign as soon as possible. Go ahead and join as many online communities related to your topic as you can! Do this months in advance of launching your campaign so you have time to build up relationships in the forums and become a known contributor.
There are also widely popular web platforms for crowdfunding projects. These interactive forums are great for discovering marketing initiatives, engaging with future fans, gaining tips, welcoming new team members, and more.
Use press
The use of media channels that your target audience use can be a perfect way to build awareness of your campaign and create trust with supporters. Creating a press release for your crowdfunding project and syndicating it across major news platform’s will be a critical part of the campaign's start, as it helps to spread the story about your cause and why you are seeking funding. Release additional press releases as and when you have more news to promote e.g. hitting your funding goal or various milestones.
Host live events
Do you know that a live event can be a perfect way to build interest in your project, as you can meet potential supporters face to face? Live events allow you to link to potential and current supporters quickly and directly. You can tell your story in your own words and connect on a personal level. Explaining what your idea entails and inspire them with personal experiences. You can answer questions and provide feedback and get a feel for the appreciation people have for your campaign.
A live event could be hosted locally to where you are based or online for example with a Facebook Live stream.
Video marketing for your campaign
Along with your main campaign video, additional videos are a great way to promote your campaign across social channels and build trust. Think about what additional content people will want to see in order to help them make a decision to back your campaign. For example testimonial videos, behind the scenes videos, product demo videos, meet the team videos are just some of the quick and easy ways to add validity to your project.
For help and advice with campaign marketing and Crowdfunding Videos London reach out to us here at Wow Your Crowd, we’d love to help you launch your big idea.
Crowdfunding 101 - What You Need To Know
In this article, we’ll explain the ins and outs of crowdfunding and what you need to know before you set up your first campaign. There are various types of crowdfunding and each type has particular methods that work better for that area of crowdfunding. However all types of crowdfunding generally follow a similar core process, which we will outline for you, so you can implement and kickstart your campaign successfully.
What is crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is raising a set amount of funding for a particular project. The funding is made up of small amounts of money from the ‘crowd’ - a large group of people, who share an interest in your project.
What types of crowdfunding are there?
Rewards - generally ‘pre-selling’ an innovative product or creative project.
Equity - raising investment in return for equity in your business.
Donation - raising funding for charity and social causes through donations.
Where does crowdfunding take place?
Most crowdfunding projects take place on the internet and are launched on a specific crowdfunding platform, which specialises in your chosen area of crowdfunding.
For example, if you are launching a campaign to pre-sell your innovative E-bike invention you would choose Kickstarter or Indiegogo, who are the leading platforms for ‘Rewards’ campaigns.
If you wanted to raise investment for your E-bike company you would launch your campaign on an equity crowdfunding platform like Crowdcube or Seedrs.
And if you wanted to raise money for your new charity idea then you would use a platform dedicated to donation campaigns like Crowdfunder or Go Fund Me.
There are many other platforms out there to choose from but they are smaller and less reputable compared to the big platforms. This may have an effect on people being willing to support you.
It’s important to consider where your audience will come from. If you want a global audience then pick a global platform or if you want a local audience to choose a platform based in your country.
Who can crowdfund?
There are no restrictions on who can launch a crowdfunding campaign. As long as you can access a crowdfunding platform and social media platforms for marketing the campaign then you are well placed to launch a campaign.
That being said campaigns that have a team behind the project generally outperform projects with a single founder. The reason is simple, a team can spread the workload and access a bigger network of contacts, which increases awareness and momentum for the campaign.
I’m not going to pull the wool over your eyes, crowdfunding involves a lot of work and will take up many hours and many days to bring your project to life. Having a team that can work together on your project, implementing their diverse set of skills, will make things a lot easier for you and set your campaign on the road to success.
When should you launch a crowdfunding campaign?
Launching a successful campaign takes time to implement and build momentum. The most successful campaigns spend many months perfecting their project, messaging and building buzz around their campaign.
At a minimum, you will need 3 months to get everything in order and launch your campaign. So if you plan to launch sooner, then stop and think clearly about what you need to do. The worst thing you can do is launch your campaign too soon and see it fail, just because you weren’t ready.
Before setting a launch date ask yourself these key questions.
- Do you have the time required to make the project work?
- Do you have a crowd to help fund 50% of your target on launch?
- Does your audience actually need or care about your idea?
- Does it make financial sense to crowdfund your idea?
Unless you can answer yes to all of these questions it’s best to postpone your campaign until you can.
Why should you crowdfund?
Many people think ‘money’ when crowdfunding, but crowdfunding provides you with so much more than just raising the money. The best and most useful benefit gained from crowdfunding is building a community of followers and fans. For a start-up or cause building a crowd provides huge benefits.
A community can help to shape your offer and develop your product by sharing their ideas and feedback. The community are likely to feel connected to your project and support you long term, as they now have a vested interest in your success.
Here are some of the main benefits of crowdfunding:
- Build a community
- Validate your idea
- Create brand awareness
- Increase your social media following
- Attract customers
- Raise funding and Investment
Crowdfunding can be transformational and really propel your business or cause to the next level. So don’t be deterred by the hard work that is required to launch a campaign. Embrace the challenge and go out and make your big idea a success. Remember a crowdfunding video is an integral part of your campaign, so be sure to enlist the help of an agency like Wow Your Crowd, who can support you with all areas of your campaign guide you on your crowdfunding journey.
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.
