We all know that relationships matter in life and business, but many of us struggle in this area. While we know it can have a positive impact on our endeavours, humans sometimes have a natural reluctance to build new connections with people, which has arguably gotten worse as we rely more and more on technology to facilitate our interactions.
In truth, the art of relationship-building is one of the most important tools for growing your idea into a fully-backed and anticipated crowdfunding project.
Relationships and Not Sales
We can all send out thousands of emails each week as part of a campaign, but this is not relationship building. Neither is posting self-promotion on your social media channels. While you might be able to drive awareness of your brand through high volume marketing tactics, crowdfunding marketing campaigns really call for a more personal and intimate approach, closer to good old fashioned face-to-face relationship building.
This is because so much relies on people seeing you as a genuine, likeable and interesting person for them to back you and become part of your community. Your legacy will ultimately be defined by how you leverage technologies and tools like your crowdfunding video to establish real relationships with people at scale.
This is also an area where one powerful relationship with the right person can do much more than several loose connections with multiple people.
Four Strategies for Building Better Relationships
1. Make Time
Trying to be too efficient can often lead us to spend too little time on the things that will have a greater impact on our lives. Ironically, this can be incredibly inefficient when you realise down the line that your time was wasted on menial tasks or low-impact outreach activities.
Obviously, you should still be strategic in how you spend your time, but make sure you allow enough capacity in your schedule to build stronger relationships. This could mean direct calling a few potential backers and telling them more about your vision, running a virtual Q&A session for your community, or simply reading your social media comments and replying to them personally.
People can tell if you’re rushing things and if instead, you give someone the time of day and develop a personal connection with them, you’ll be able to create a stronger foundation for your project, built on people who are more invested in you and what you’re trying to achieve.
2. Don’t Forget About Your Friends
We all take for granted the people in our lives to some extent. And in the world of crowdfunding, it’s easy to get carried away with searching for new backers, rather than nurturing the relationship we already have. However, when you’re trying to build a strong community of followers and backers, it’s risky to neglect those who have already pledged support.
Rather than having people drop off, it’s best to find new ways to bring your most loyal and long-term backers and partners into the fold more closely. The ultimate goal should be for individuals to become ambassadors for your brand, and keeping them involved can lead to new opportunities for brand awareness and community building.
3. Don’t Automate too Much
Even if you’re trying to make the most of your time, this doesn’t mean that generic communications and marketing automation should make their way into your strategy. People require personal contact and interaction for relationships to truly grow and you won’t be doing anyone a favour with non-personalised marketing or comms.
4. Be Present
Even when you don’t think you really have anything interesting to say to people, it’s important to let them know you’re there. Regular communication with your community or individual backers can help them to feel included in what you’re doing, helping you to build a stronger connection with them.
Looking for More Tips?
Let us know if you’re looking for more tips and advice to improve your crowdfunding marketing campaigns. As well as experience producing engaging crowdfunding videos for our clients, our team at Wow Your Crowd has a wealth of expertise about promoting your campaign to the right people, we’d be happy to share this with you.
