Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo provide founders with a booming outlet to launch their businesses. However, not all campaigns are successful. We hear about the big winners, but the reality is that between 69 and 89 percent of crowdfunding campaigns fail.
What Makes a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign?
There are many factors that may play a role in differentiating the successful campaigns from the not-so-successful ones, but the one we want to focus on is video. Intuitively, it makes sense that video would boost your fundraising efforts. On a platform like Kickstarter or Indiegogo, users often spend just a few minutes—if not seconds—learning about your brand before they decide whether they’re interested in backing you.
When it’s important to make a great first impression with precious little time, video almost always helps. It’s more engaging than written content, and it allows you to give viewers more information in less time. In video form, viewers get to see your product on display in a dynamic setting, and you can use strategic on-screen text to highlight the features or details that are most important.
If you also feature someone influential from your brand, you have the added benefit of helping consumers to feel the human touch involved in crowdfunding. You’re putting a face behind your brand, and you’re accomplishing all of these moments in seconds—much shorter than it would typically take someone to read your full crowdfunding page.
If you still need convincing, here’s a statistic that highlights the impact of video for crowdfunding: Crowdfunding campaigns with videos raise 105% more money than those without.
To see what video can do for crowdfunding, check out this video we made for Gillette’s launch of a heated razor.
Best Practices for Crowdfunding Video Content
With all the above benefits in mind, here’s your game plan for incorporating video into your launch strategy.
1. Do Your Research
First, do your research. When you begin preparing for your launch, start by looking at other campaigns. Focus especially on brands that are similar to your own, and note what your competitors do well and what they could have improved.
When you’re developing your own content—video and otherwise—use these findings as a guide. Make sure to include the elements that you enjoyed on other fundraising pages, and don’t make the mistakes that stood out as negative.
2. Plan Your Video
When you’re preparing the video itself, one of the most important things to get right is the flow of your story. It’s crucial that within the first few seconds, your audience is engaged and ready to hear more. Make sure your intro isn’t too generic, and don’t waste those valuable seconds at the beginning on fluff.
Once your audience is listening, you can get to the meat of your pitch. We’d recommend always including the following classic components: the why, the what, and the how. In this case, “the why” refers to why you started your company in the first place. What is your mission or vision? How did the company come to be? This adds the element of humanity that we mentioned earlier, and it can be one of the most compelling parts of your story.
“The what” refers to the problem that your product is solving. What need did you identify in the market before your product came to be? What inspired the product and its features? Knowing your audience gives you an edge here, as you can exactly describe the pain points that you already know your prospective customers are experiencing. This sets you up for our next point, which is “the how.”
“The how” allows you to introduce your product as the solution. How does your offering solve the problem you just mentioned in a desirable way? What are you doing differently than your competitors, and how does your product do a better job than alternatives?
No matter how you choose to set up your video, make sure that you include these elements.
3. Include a Clear CTA
This step is arguably the most important—you have to get the call-to-action right. In your video itself and throughout the rest of your crowdfunding page, make sure it’s abundantly clear what you’re asking your audience to do.
Given that you’re launching a crowdfunding campaign, it’s pretty much a given that your primary CTA will be asking your audience to donate funds. But, consider whether you want to include a secondary CTA as well. You may find success with a secondary CTA that asks viewers to subscribe to your newsletter or follow you on social media.
We’d caution you not to include more than two distinct CTAs, as you run the risk of confusing your audience if you provide too many conflicting options. But, it’s essential that you have at least one clear ask and a well-defined action for viewers.
4. Capture Additional Content
Finally, when you’re actually filming your video content, plan to capture additional assets as well. It’s often relatively simple to bundle high-quality product photos (which can also be used to put together a 3D model for AR content), shorter video clips, or even gifs with your main video. Since you’ll already have the equipment and set up to show off your products, don’t miss out on the opportunity to maximize the impact of your content.
And, while you’re at it, don’t limit yourself to distributing your assets on just your crowdfunding page, either. The same content that you create for your campaign can also be put on your website, social media channels, email newsletters, and anywhere else you can connect with your audience.
Follow these tips and we have no doubt that you’ll be well on your way to a fully funded launch. And if you need a partner to execute the video production itself, we’re always available.
