Congrats! You’ve got a mind-blowing business idea, and now you’re ready to put it out there. Crowdfunding is a great way to see your idea validated and gain some extra cash to fund your dream—but where do you start? Well, the key to a successful campaign launch is to make sure that you actually have someone to launch to. And that’s exactly why we’re here to help!

We’ve put together this handy little checklist to help you find your audience so that when it comes time to launch, you’ll have loyal fans to back you—and your stellar idea—up.

Organize existing email contacts

Sort your existing email contacts by quality and type of relationship, and persona (family member, business contact, loyal fan, etc.)

Create a messaging template that corresponds with those factors

• Customize your content slightly to each persona, but keep overall message similar to reduce work for yourself

Capture new emails to grow your email list during campaign

Talk to everyone you know (friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, bar tenders), ask them for their email so they can stay up to date with your campaign

Create a landing page on your website to collect emails

Provide an incentive for people to give you their email

• Free shipping
• One-time 10% off code
• Downloadable resource

Why email?

While email may not have been your first choice for marketing, it’s one of the most effective methods. First off—unlike your social media platforms—you actually own your email list. You have zero control of your social media followers, many of which due to ever-changing algorithms won’t even see your posts. But when you send an email, it’s guaranteed to end up in every single person’s inbox.

Second, while people are scrolling endlessly through Instagram or Facebook, their mindset isn’t necessarily in the mode of purchasing or shopping. So asking them to click off of the social platform to go to your website may be less effective.

Third, email is the best way to serve your loyal fans! As a thank you for supporting you, you can give your fans content that adds value to their lives, whether it’s a free resource, a discount, or meaningful information that enhances their lives.

Integrate your campaign into your existing social media

Make every fifth Instagram post about the campaign

Post about milestones, like the launch, progress reports, and the end date

Integrate your campaign updates or behind-the-scenes into your stories/Facebook live

• This personalizes the campaign and gives people a chance to connect with you, not just your product
• It also gives you space to give more frequent updates and information about your campaign without overwhelming your fans and followers with posts

Create custom hashtags for your campaign

• This allows for those who are interested to focus on your campaign-related content without having to sift through the rest of your feed

Why not focus all my posts on my campaign?

No one likes to feel like they’re being sold to. So if your followers aren’t used to seeing content that’s on the promotional side, you don’t want to overwhelm them. If they like you (which they do, since they’re following you), they’ll most likely be interested in your business. But guaranteed their interest will disappear quickly if every post is promoting the exact same thing.

For visual platforms like Instagram, how your feed looks is just as important as the quality of an individual photo or caption. By making every fifth post about your campaign, you’ll maintain a balanced visual for your feed by making sure no campaign-related photos are touching.

Does crowdfunding seem like a good fit for you? If you want to learn more or start your own campaign, we’d be happy to help you out.​​​​​​​​​​