How to Create Content for your Crowdfunding Campaign
Tell your story and stay at the forefront of your supporter’s minds with a well-planned content strategy for your crowdfunding campaign.
Feeling overwhelmed with where to get started for your next campaign? We’ve got you covered. Check out our latest guide on the different types of content needed for your campaign to maximise supporter outreach and spread the word about your next crowdfunding project.
Firstly, let's break it down a little bit. Your crowdfunding content will slightly alter depending on what information is needed. However, it is always important to clearly state the ‘who, what, when, where, how and why’ of your campaign in the first paragraph.
- Who are you?
- What is your campaign about? What factors are driving this project? What pre-existing information is there about your service, organisation or product?
- When does the crowdfunding campaign launch? When does it end?
- Where are you located? Where is the project/organisation/service you are crowdfunding located?
- How is this being promoted? How can your community help and vice versa?
- Why are you doing this? Why should your community get behind this?
This information should also be consistently carried across your campaign page, as well as your social platforms so your community is thoroughly informed.
Campaign page
Pitch video
A pitch video is great for quickly capturing the essence of your campaign. As they can summarise complex ideas in period (think 1–3 minutes).
They are also great for reposting across social media. Smartphones have made videos accessible on demand. This means you now have the ability to film all your content solely on your phone and upload it not only straight to your campaign but across all your social media platforms.
Check out Finders Distillery for a killer pitch video that is the perfect balance of informative and easy on the eyes. Also, feel free to read on here about Pozible’s 101 for achieving a stellar pitch video.
Header image and campaign image
Although we might be stating the obvious here- a header and campaign image is a must-have to quickly inform your audience what the project is about, as well as provide a sense of legitimacy. This also gives you the perfect opportunity to make a good first impression on your supporters. Take the campaign- ‘All is Well | A Short Film’. They mirrored the same colour palette and graphics across the header and campaign image. Not only is it visually engaging, but it is easy to read.
Reward visuals
Give the people what they want! Having reward visuals that show the product or service you are offering within your campaign is great to create a sense of transparency and trust for your supporters, so they are not left wondering what exactly they have purchased. Even if you don’t have a finalised version of the product or service, just acknowledging a rough draft image or design will set you apart from the crowd. To learn more about what makes a great reward- head here.
An example of this is Sam Buckingham’s most recent pre-order campaign- ‘Help Me Release & Share DEAR JOHN’. This campaign was to launch her latest CD. Here she curated a series of rewards that demonstrated exactly what was included in each of her merchandise combo packs.
Campaign Description (copy + content)
This is the part where you are going to plan, plan, and plan. Ideally, you want your content to be consistent and easy to read. As previously mentioned- this is where you want to capture everything about the project in the first paragraph of your campaign (stating the who, what, when, where, why and how).
But to break it down a little further:
Title: What is the name of the project?
Tagline: How does the project make you feel?
Mission Statement: What is the essence of the project and what will be achieved by the success of this campaign. This is also where you can build on what was mentioned in the tagline.
Campaign Description: This is the part where you can go to town to provide as much detail as possible with your campaign overview. Ideally, in the first paragraph, you should mention all the essentials- think, why and how you are doing this campaign.
It is also important to include a bit about yourself or your organisation's origins here as well. Just to familiarise yourself with your audience. Please see the Bob Brown Foundation’s — takayna campaign - for a great example of capturing all the campaign information without it feeling like a year 10 English essay 🙃.
Budget
Easily one of the most common questions we get asked is “What should my target goal be?” Every single campaign is different, just as every creator has different networks and skills. There is no wrong answer when it comes to setting a target for your campaign, but it does require some planning and an honest assessment of your reach and audience engagement levels- which you can further read about here.
Because ‘All-or-Nothing’ campaigns need to reach the designated target goal to capture their supporter’s pledges and receive the funds for their project it is important to list where the funds will go and how your community can help achieve this goal.
Generally, we suggest incorporating a visual pie graph for your supporters to clearly understand how each dollar counts. Along with a tiered structure discussing each section of the chart in more detail.
Check out Remnant-A Horror Feature Film— for a stellar example of this in effect.
Visuals
Now for the fun part. How to make your campaign reach that wow factor!
A great campaign has lots of visuals (see how the Ikuntji Textile — The Book campaign does it here). People are visual creatures and are more likely to stay engaged if you break up your content a little with meaningful images of your campaign origins and goals. This includes everything from images, product photos, to designs and mockups.
Images: All the images used should complement the campaign description copy. Ask yourself these questions before selecting your photos:
- Who is running the campaign? is this a team effort or a solo endeavour?- Include a photo of yourself or the team to enhance the storytelling of the campaign.
- Do you have any action shots of the intended project? This is particularly great for musicians organising gigs, art exhibitions or even charity organisations campaigning about a particular social justice issue or world event.
Product photos and design mockups: As mentioned before, it is essential to include photos of your product or event to create a sense of transparency. Each reward should include a photo of the merchandise on offer (even if it is a mock-up). In addition to carefully curated photos that show off the product, event or service you are campaigning.
Promotional content
This is where you can cross-promote your campaign from the campaign page directly to your social platforms, to attract not only your pre-existing supporters but also new ones. Check out our blog- ‘why social media is crucial to crowdfunding’ for cross-promo guidance.
Announcement post
Let your campaign start with a bang! Spread the word that your campaign is launching a week or two leading up to the starting date — this way you can engage not only with your pre-existing audience, but also gives you an opportunity to attract new and like-minded individuals. The more buzz across all your social platforms, the better the results, see Hayley Marsten’s campaign to get the big picture.
Educational & Background info
Extending upon what we discussed earlier- it is important to storytell. The more crucial information you share with audience the more they will be willing to support your campaign. The audience want to learn about the project or product you are offering and why it is important to share with your community. As well as the history that lead to launching the campaign, such as your past work and experience that has help shape the campaign. An example of this in action is the LoveOzYA charity who summarised in their campaign header, content and socials the heart of the campaign.
Project progress
Give a little, get a little. Showing off a teaser trailer or snippet of a new song can truly reel people in.
A classic example is The Kids on Murphy Street campaign. Their teaser trailer set the the tone of the whole campaign. As it introduced enough information about the project’s short film to make the audience want more and secured funds beyond their target goal. This trailer was also successful in not only the aesthetic components, but also keeping it short and sweet. As it was around the 60 seconds mark, which, as mentioned before- is the perfect timeframe for your introductory pitch video of the campaign.
Campaign traction and countdown to end
Highlighting where your campaign funds are sitting throughout the campaign can create a sense of momentum, especially when you hit a plateau period.
Generally, the first and last week of the campaign is going to bring in the highest amounts of pledging. This is due to the initial anticipation that stems when first launching a campaign. Whereas, the last week’s pledges are for those last-minute hurrahs from your distant relatives to get you over the line. Or those who have a FOMO complex.
It is not uncommon to experience a plateau at some point in campaigning. However, if this does occur, it is usually smack-bang in the middle of the campaign duration. This may happen when promotional content is a bit more radio silent. So, it is crucial to highlight your campaign traction consistently through out the campaign period. This can be achieved with simple update posts when you hit the 30%, 50% and 80% of the target goal funds. As well as announcing when the minimum target has been reached and stretch targets are in place.
Highlight any team members or people involved in the project/campaign
Creating featured posts across your social media platforms can add a touch of personalisation and connect the community to the core essence of the campaign. This can be achieved through tools such as highlights, story/ reels, tagged people and even pinned posts/comments via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Check out — the Stuffed short film campaign’s for some sort after inspiration. As these guys aced it with consistently cross-promoting the production team across their campaign page and social handles.
Behind the scenes access for your community
Including behind the scenes footage or reels of production, a blooper, a day in the life on set, or even doing a campaign-related task is a great way to include your community in the fun. By making them feel like they are directly apart of the production they are more likely to pledge to the project. Due to a sense of familiarity.
Current trends and media coverage
Keeping up with appearances- it is important to stay ahead of the curb, by employing any relevant media coverage, or banter for your community to enjoy. Memes and hashtags are a fun way to stay trending and engaging to your audience.
Jayda Jean’s campaign for her Debut EP is a fine example of how the use of incoporating media coverage can really help secure funds that exceed your target goals, as her original target goal of $2500, almost doubled.
Whereas, media coverage or responding to relevant news creates a more serious dialogue between your campaign and the world around you, and allows your community a space to discuss pressing topics.
Bob Brown are veterans when it comes to this, always protesting the latest news on issues such as climate change, deforestation and so much more.
If you’re feeling inspired and ready to launch your next campaign, you can start your own draft here! 📚
