CREATE A CAMPAIGN
In order to raise capital for your business, you will need to create your own online campaign.
Your campaign will include, but not be limited to information about the business, your team, your financial situation and the use of funds that you are seeking. Securing a third-party valuation from a reputable and recognizable source is invaluable for your funders regardless of whether they be individuals, institutions or syndicates.
Generating momentum, building and engaging with your community are very important initiatives. All funders, regardless of their level of expertise and experience with funding businesses will want to see that you can generate interest and momentum behind your unique business proposition and funding opportunity. If at all possible your goal should be to confirm at least 30% of the capital you are seeking by the time you go live with your CFIC platform campaign. Generating this first group of funders is what gets you on the dance floor of funding. It will go a long way to drive new eyeballs to your proposition, and therefore new potential funders to your campaign.
Creating a comprehensive marketing, public relations and social media campaign and launching as long in advance as possible, at least 30 days, and ultimately 90 days before going live with your campaign, is essential. The more you are able to drive your extended networks, members of their communities, bloggers and key influencers as well as new funders to back your campaign, the better. Reach out to everyone you know, and as many that you don’t know as possible to enlist their support for your campaign, to share with their groups and communities and encourage all of those to share, as well as committing their own capital to your campaign is a great way to kick start your campaign.
Successful campaigners have done all of the following, either with in-house teams, or by engaging professional services, or a combination of both.
• Email the URL to your campaign to friends, family, colleagues, customers, suppliers, acquaintances and pretty much everyone else in their contacts asking them to check out the campaign for their consideration as funders, as well as to share your campaign amongst all of their friends, family, colleagues, customers, suppliers, acquaintances and pretty much everyone else in their contacts asking them to check out the campaign for their consideration as funders, as well as to share your campaign amongst all of their communities. And so on, and so on, and so on.
• Attend as many networking events as possible, speak at and sit on panels to talk about your industry, your business in particular, and anything else that will help you to spread the word about your campaign. Get cards printed and put your campaign URL in your signature line, in all of your social media and share with everyone you can, also asking them to share as well.
• Conduct a PR campaign in tandem with your online campaign. Reach out to bloggers, publications, associations, journalists, local news stations, and any other place you can think of to drive interest in the business and what you are doing to the end of writing about you, your business and your campaign.
• Leverage social media with a sustained and wide reaching effort to make people aware of and excited about your campaign. Use all channels, and use them consistently.
• Secure initial investors before going live with your campaign. These could be angels to help you anchor your campaign and kick off your funding. This could be a group, who make a commitment prior to your campaign going live, and come on board in the first 3-5 days. This will show interest and momentum.
• Create a Video Pitch. While doing a video is optional, it is nearly impossible to fund without one. You have the ability to put up two short videos if you so choose. One can be to describe the business, your sector, your competition, your unique value proposition and the space you are in. Help your community understand what the business is. The other could be of your CEO or company spokesperson, this type of video is great for the community to get to know the people behind the business, as well as to manage expectations on the finance side of the company, and how your funders participation works. Is this an equity offering, or a debt instrument, what is the rate of return, how do we get our money back, is there a note attached, describe it all here, and help to manage the expectations of your funders. Be transparent, open and honest. We suggest that you do not begin creating the video until approval has been received on the written information as it is best to use only approved information in your video to avoid having to remake it.
Just as with the written information you provide, your video will be vetted by an independent third party to approve what is said in the video and substantiation for same.
• Once your campaign is live, update, update, update, communicate, communicate, communicate. Update all the time. Minimum twice a week is recommended. Communicate through your marketing channels daily. Research is that active campaigns are more successful. Treat the updates as a blog and add photos, videos, comments and project progression to your page. Write articles and submit to appropriate publications, reach out to bloggers to review your business. Blog daily. Be creative. Make announcements about reaching milestones, new customers, new partners, breaking through funding goals, any business activity that is pertinent and material to your business. Thank your funders on the way. 62% of successful campaigns have repeat funders.
The more you do, the more the word spreads and the more you drive people to your campaign to participate in funding your business.
For the most likely possibility of success in crowd funding, it is best to do all of the above, be fully committed to your campaign and work it as hard as you can from the inception of your campaign, to going live, to fully funding and beyond to communicate your success.
In order to raise capital for your business, you will need to create your own online campaign.
Your campaign will include, but not be limited to information about the business, your team, your financial situation and the use of funds that you are seeking. Securing a third-party valuation from a reputable and recognizable source is invaluable for your funders regardless of whether they be individuals, institutions or syndicates.
Generating momentum, building and engaging with your community are very important initiatives. All funders, regardless of their level of expertise and experience with funding businesses will want to see that you can generate interest and momentum behind your unique business proposition and funding opportunity. If at all possible your goal should be to confirm at least 30% of the capital you are seeking by the time you go live with your CFIC platform campaign. Generating this first group of funders is what gets you on the dance floor of funding. It will go a long way to drive new eyeballs to your proposition, and therefore new potential funders to your campaign.
Creating a comprehensive marketing, public relations and social media campaign and launching as long in advance as possible, at least 30 days, and ultimately 90 days before going live with your campaign, is essential. The more you are able to drive your extended networks, members of their communities, bloggers and key influencers as well as new funders to back your campaign, the better. Reach out to everyone you know, and as many that you don’t know as possible to enlist their support for your campaign, to share with their groups and communities and encourage all of those to share, as well as committing their own capital to your campaign is a great way to kick start your campaign.
Successful campaigners have done all of the following, either with in-house teams, or by engaging professional services, or a combination of both.
• Email the URL to your campaign to friends, family, colleagues, customers, suppliers, acquaintances and pretty much everyone else in their contacts asking them to check out the campaign for their consideration as funders, as well as to share your campaign amongst all of their friends, family, colleagues, customers, suppliers, acquaintances and pretty much everyone else in their contacts asking them to check out the campaign for their consideration as funders, as well as to share your campaign amongst all of their communities. And so on, and so on, and so on.
• Attend as many networking events as possible, speak at and sit on panels to talk about your industry, your business in particular, and anything else that will help you to spread the word about your campaign. Get cards printed and put your campaign URL in your signature line, in all of your social media and share with everyone you can, also asking them to share as well.
• Conduct a PR campaign in tandem with your online campaign. Reach out to bloggers, publications, associations, journalists, local news stations, and any other place you can think of to drive interest in the business and what you are doing to the end of writing about you, your business and your campaign.
• Leverage social media with a sustained and wide reaching effort to make people aware of and excited about your campaign. Use all channels, and use them consistently.
• Secure initial investors before going live with your campaign. These could be angels to help you anchor your campaign and kick off your funding. This could be a group, who make a commitment prior to your campaign going live, and come on board in the first 3-5 days. This will show interest and momentum.
• Create a Video Pitch. While doing a video is optional, it is nearly impossible to fund without one. You have the ability to put up two short videos if you so choose. One can be to describe the business, your sector, your competition, your unique value proposition and the space you are in. Help your community understand what the business is. The other could be of your CEO or company spokesperson, this type of video is great for the community to get to know the people behind the business, as well as to manage expectations on the finance side of the company, and how your funders participation works. Is this an equity offering, or a debt instrument, what is the rate of return, how do we get our money back, is there a note attached, describe it all here, and help to manage the expectations of your funders. Be transparent, open and honest. We suggest that you do not begin creating the video until approval has been received on the written information as it is best to use only approved information in your video to avoid having to remake it.
Just as with the written information you provide, your video will be vetted by an independent third party to approve what is said in the video and substantiation for same.
• Once your campaign is live, update, update, update, communicate, communicate, communicate. Update all the time. Minimum twice a week is recommended. Communicate through your marketing channels daily. Research is that active campaigns are more successful. Treat the updates as a blog and add photos, videos, comments and project progression to your page. Write articles and submit to appropriate publications, reach out to bloggers to review your business. Blog daily. Be creative. Make announcements about reaching milestones, new customers, new partners, breaking through funding goals, any business activity that is pertinent and material to your business. Thank your funders on the way. 62% of successful campaigns have repeat funders.
The more you do, the more the word spreads and the more you drive people to your campaign to participate in funding your business.
For the most likely possibility of success in crowd funding, it is best to do all of the above, be fully committed to your campaign and work it as hard as you can from the inception of your campaign, to going live, to fully funding and beyond to communicate your success.