1. Picking the wrong platform
It’s important to understand the differences and the positives and negatives of each type of crowdfunding platform. If you’re uncomfortable with an all-or-nothing crowdfunding model, you may be happier going with Indiegogo over Kickstarter, because you can choose to raise money through flexible funding, where you will receive all funds raised even if you do not hit your fundraising goal.
In addition, if you feel as though you may need help setting up a campaign and that you will have a lot of questions about the process, it might be better to go with a niche crowdfunding platform rather than a global platform that does not have the capacity to respond to every inquiry.
Finally, certain types of projects work better on different platforms. If you are raising money for yourself or a cause, GoFundMe may be a more appropriate choice, as charity campaigns are against Kickstarter guidelines. If you are going to raise money for a mobile app, it would be more worthwhile to check out a platform like Appsplit or Appbackr.
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2. Not Doing Research
Research and preparation can make the difference between a successful crowdfunding project and a failed attempt at raising money online for a project, cause, or business.
Look at successful and unsuccessful projects in your category. What made them succeed? How many backers did they attract? Were they featured on any publications and at what times during their campaign? To see some of the more popular successes in the crowdfunding industry check out Top 10 Celebrity Crowdfunding Campaigns.
Read up on lessons learned from crowdfunding creators and blog articles written by creators. What advice do they impart for creators just starting out? How can you anticipate common experiences like the Kickstarter slump or a delayed approval time. For some high quality articles, see Top 21 Articles on Kickstarter, Preparation, Promotion, and Production.
How did other creators get the word out about their crowdfunding endeavor? Did they reach out to bloggers and journalists? Did they post on crowdfunding related groups? How much time did they take to build an audience before launching a crowdfunding campaign.
In my experience, you should begin building your social media profiles and preparing for your campaign 3-6 months before the launch of your crowdfunding campaign. The longer, the better.
3. Adopting the “build it and they will come” mentality
Do you remember at the beginning of the internet when it was rumored that you could just put an e-commerce website online and you would become a millionaire overnight?
Crowdfunding seems to be in the public spotlight as a method of securing funds for a project where magically people from around the world will pledge thousands of dollars to your campaign and you’ll have the seed money to launch your venture in no time.
If you believe that your value proposition is so compelling that you need no marketing, social media promotion, or PR whatsoever, then you are doomed to crowdfunding failure.
Expect to drive the majority of your traffic to your crowdfunding campaign and that 70% of your pledges will come from family, friends, or people that are your second or third degree connections that you convince to support you. Sure, I’ve seen campaigns that attract 70% of their pledges from strangers, but these are few and far in between. Don’t leave it up to chance that you will hit 50% of your fundraising goal. Plan for it. Generate a list of journalists and bloggers ahead of time that you can reach out to.
4. Asking for more than you need
I’ve seen it happen time and time again where a creator will work hard to raise money on an all-for-nothing platform like Kickstarter and end up losing all of their hard work because they set too high of a funding goal, when they could have really gotten by with less money and still made the project happen.
Should you meet your original fundraising goal, you can always raise more. Don’t ask for more money than you need.
Even if you are raising money on a platform that allows you to keep the funds raised if your campaign is not successful, it’s important to only ask for the minimum amount that you need.
Social proof matters and if people see that you were able to meet your fundraising goal early on, it can incentivize more backers to take a chance on your project because they see that other people have been willing to pledge their hard earned cash to see your dream become a reality.
5. Offering no value for pledges and not involving your backers.
Don’t be skimpy with your crowdfunding rewards. Offer real value in return for the support of your backers. If you offer pencils or stickers as a reward at a $30 reward tier, then you are being cheap or simply not putting enough effort into coming up with creative rewards.
The more you involve your backers in the creative process and the more you let them have a say in the finished project, the better chance you have of creating a community around your fundraising effort. You want your backers to feel like they have a say in the project and you want them to feel a sense of ownership.
Take a second to stop and put yourself in the mind of a backer. What perks would they find attractive? What rewards could you offer that they might want to show off to their friends?
If you need help brainstorming reward ideas, check out this post for Kickstarter reward ideas.
