After working with over 5,000 crowdfunding campaigns, I've learned that it’s your pre-launch marketing plan that can truly make or break your project. This is because the pre-launch strategy helps build an audience for your campaign even before you actually launch. In turn, it creates an extra boost within the first 48 hours after launch. Based on experience, we know that campaigns that reach around 50% of their goal within the first 48 hours are more likely to succeed than others. However, to get that amount of attention, you need to have an audience to back you up.
But how exactly do you build your audience before you launch? Here are some ways to draw the attention of a crowdfunding audience pre-launch.
Create a dedicated landing page for sign-ups.
By using services like Indiegogo Pre-Launch Pages or website-building platforms like Wix, you can quickly create a pre-launch landing page for your campaign. The purpose of creating them is to get more email sign-ups from people who are interested in your project before you launch your campaign. Those who sign up are interested in hearing more information about your project, such as when you’re launching, and that curiosity alone turns them into valuable leads. Not only can you send them any information related to the campaign but also industry-related news and blog posts, but you also can offer them exclusive campaign giveaways and pledge rewards. Once you’ve launched, you can simply email them and direct them to your campaign page.
Send newsletters at regular intervals.
Newsletters can be an ideal way to drive more attention to your upcoming project. They can include exclusive deals or simply more details about your project. The primary focus here should be to enhance your credibility by helping your contacts understand your dedication to the project. This will build their trust for your campaign, thus leading to more lead conversion once you launch.
Have a consistent social media presence.
This will actually help you build a better bond with your potential backers and followers and will lead them to your campaign as soon as you launch. Make sure you’re consistent in the number of times you post on social media each day as well as the timing of when you choose to post. At first, you can simply set a specific number by yourself depending on the time you can actually devote to creating and scheduling content on social media. Then, you can go back to your social media profiles after a week or so and check analytics to see the timing of your most popular posts. Based on those results, you can adjust your scheduling times and continue to check analytics for more feedback.
Based on your page's popularity and audience, the channels you may want to concentrate on are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These channels are very different in the way they operate, and by having a presence on each of them, you’ll get to grab the attention of their versatile user bases at once. On Instagram, you can use the Live and Stories features to connect with your audience. On Facebook, you can instantly answer any questions your followers may have. You also can use tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule posts and keep them consistent. To get maximum exposure, aim to publish at least one Facebook post, three to five Tweets and one Instagram post per day.
Participate in crowdfunding forums and chats.
Crowdfunding forums like Kickstarter Forum are great places to communicate with like-minded individuals who are also into crowdfunding. You can easily communicate with these people to get answers to your queries quickly as well as find out more information about how to plan your project. Another benefit of participating in forum discussions is making yourself visible in the industry. That way, you’ll get additional attention from industry experts once you launch.
Use Facebook Messenger bots.
Other than the news feed, there's another way to reach your audience on Facebook: Messenger bots. Using a service such as Chatfuel or ManyChat, you can create Messenger bots that will help you get Messenger subscribers. Messenger bots are automated sequences that interact with subscribers and respond to a variety of questions with answers you determine in advance. As a result, you can target your audience via Facebook Messenger. You also can set up a customized sequence of messages that will be sent to users as soon as they take a specific action on your Facebook page. For example, if they send you a message or comment on a post, it can initiate the Messenger bot.
When you're promoting a crowdfunding campaign via a Messenger bot, make sure not to sound like spam. Likewise, make sure you don’t overload your subscribers with the same links to your campaign again and again. Your sequences should be customized in such a way that they generate different messages for different actions. So, for example, if someone sends you a message for the first time, you can welcome them with a GIF and talk to them about your campaign and why you decided to opt for crowdfunding. The idea is to generate a conversation about your campaign without sounding robotic.
The pre-launch phase can be crucial for any crowdfunding campaign. If you do it right and manage to generate buzz beforehand, you can easily convert leads into backers within the first 48 hours after launching.
