Samantha of Pip and Lola's crowdfunded on Honeycomb Credit to open up their third retail location! Learn more on our Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding
So you’ve decided to make the decision to crowdfund some of the capital you need to grow your business. Now, how are you going to let people know about your crowdfunding campaign?
Check out these tips below for some winning strategies that’ll help you find more people to invest in your crowdfunding campaign so you can cross the finish line with a successful raise!
The Honeycomb Difference is Real
While all these tips that follow will be applicable to any kind of crowdfunding campaign, Honeycomb truly does have the secret sauce when it comes to promoting your campaign.
While most crowdfunders let you design your campaign and promote all on your own, Honeycomb dedicates a crowdfunding coach to your case to help you reach your fullest potential! We equip you with templates, messaging, and expert advice to help you reach your goals. This is why Honeycomb has an 83% success rate - compared to a 22% industry average.
Ready to learn more about what makes a Honeycomb crowdfunding campaign stand out from the rest? Fill out the form below for more information.
Watch: How to Promote a Crowdfunding Campaign
Tell your customers about your campaign
You’ve got this great opportunity for your customers, you don’t want to hide it under a bushel! This is where you can do a bit of shameless self-promotion. Post it on your social media, create some collateral to pass out (we’ll get into why this is especially beneficial in a bit), shout from the rooftops that you’ve got an amazing opportunity for folks to be a part of your growth.
If you’re no marketing guru and a lot of this seems a bit overwhelming, never fear! Honeycomb’s crowdfunding experts have templates and messaging that can help you along the way.
Promote in online communities
You aren’t beholden to just your own followers when advertising your crowdfunding campaign! If you’re a part of any online communities such as Facebook Groups or Reddit forums, you could use those to your advantage in promoting your campaign.
Obviously, you want to choose a community that’s relevant to your industry or your location. Neighborhood groups are an excellent place to start, or groups for other business owners like you. Or, if you’re a part of a group for fans of your business - such as if you’re a brewery owner and you’re in a craft beer enthusiast group - that’s another option!
Reaching out to these communities can get your investment opportunity in front of many more eyeballs, and if you’re strategic about where you post, you can possibly find investors who’re interested in you who you’d otherwise never find!
Leverage your email marketing list
Social media isn’t your only option when it comes to promoting your crowdfunding campaign. If email marketing is already part of your marketing strategy, you can use your list to directly communicate with your customers about your crowdfunding project!
This is a place where you can really communicate with your customers about why you’re running this crowdfunding campaign and what its success will mean for your business. It’s a great means of forming a direct connection about the campaign with your customers, and could certainly be more fruitful for early communication about the campaign before heading to social media. You can give your campaign an element of exclusivity by going to your email list first announcing your campaign raise!
Put some marketing collateral in your store
Especially now that stores and restaurants are opening up again and customers are excited to return to in-person interactions, why not make your crowdfunding promotions in-person as well?
This can be as simple as a sign somewhere in your space, or it could be flyers and cards that you can distribute at each dining table or at your checkout counter. If you’ve got a physical space, use it to your advantage!
This is a really great way to reach customers who might not yet follow you on social media or aren’t on your email list. Imagine walking into a restaurant and being offered an investment opportunity right at your table!
Having physical collateral that customers can take with them is also helpful because it can give them more touch points. They might see the flyer in your space and take it with them, but they’re not ready to invest right then and there from their phone! However, taking it with them means they’ll be reminded about your campaign and have another opportunity to consider investing in you.
Promote at local events
This is another great use of that marketing collateral you got printed out. If there’s a local event you’ve been invited to, this could be a great opportunity to reach the public with news of your campaign.
We’re talking about fundraisers, farmer’s markets, holiday craft festivals, that sort of thing. This is an excellent opportunity for you to talk about your campaign and raise awareness about it, because you get to form that face-to-face connection with people you might raise money from, and directly tell them your story.
If you do choose to promote your crowdfunding campaign at an in-person, local event, make sure you’ve got collateral that directly links to your campaign page - a QR code is a great way to do this! You can simply put up a sign, or also have cards people can take with them, so they can make a decision on their own time.
Host a pitch event
Another way of promoting your crowdfunding campaign is by hosting a pitch event! You can do this virtually or in-person if you’d like, the whole purpose of it is to invite people to take a look at your business and decide if they would like to invest in it.
To host a pitch event, you first need to decide on the platform you want to host it on (or where you want to do it). Then, you invite people. You can make it public, strategically invite people in your community you think would be interested in it, or open it up to an exclusive audience, like your email marketing list. Now, it’s time to organize your thoughts and how you want to run the event.
This is your chance to really get into detail about your business and how you’re planning to grow it with your crowdfunding campaign. If your business has a product, maybe spin up some samples for people to try out, so they can have a tangible idea of what they’re investing in. It’s also a great opportunity for investors to ask questions and for you to answer them, leading to building trust and a relationship with them, which may lead to investment!
Don’t. Give. Up.
This is the most important piece of advice we can give you when promoting your campaign. You might feel a bit weird about continuously asking your audience to invest in your campaign, and you feel like your campaign is losing momentum. Don’t let this phase you!
First of all, when it seems like you’re bugging your audience with promoting your campaign, trust us, you’re not. It just seems like that to you because you’re the one crafting your message and sending out each post about your campaign. We can promise you that your audience won’t see every single post you throw out there, which is why it’s important to persist and post a lot!
Also, you’re not bothering your audience and pestering them to give you money for nothing. Instead, you’re offering them an opportunity to invest and make money! This is especially important to emphasize, as this is a concept that’s not as familiar to folks as other forms of crowdfunding.
It usually takes several reminders and multiple different touch points to get people to invest in your campaign, so every message you send out matters!
Give your business some buzz.
Now you’ve got the tools you need to get the word out about your crowdfunding campaign under your belt, it’s time to get started on your journey! When you’re ready, we’re here with our winning combination of expert crowdfunding coaching, marketing support, and access to our incredible network of investors.
Get started today by filling out the form below!
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