Crowdfunding Tips for Success

You may be new to online fundraising but we are not!   We have helped 10,000′s of people on PledgeSports in 47 countries around the world raise millions, so it’s fair to say at this stage that we are experts in this field.

There is nothing worse for us to see than an online fundraising sitting at zero, we want to help you in every way possible to be successful and raise as much money as possible.  To help you do this we have put together our top tips for success.

To start with let’s look at why some projects on PledgeSports succeed and some fail miserably.  The simplest explanation for the failures is Laziness.

When you see a campaign sitting at zero with no days left it’s because someone set the page up and didn’t do anything to promote it, maybe they though magic would happen and people would flock to it with a wallet open.  At the other end of the scale we see lot’s of incredible successes and these are the result of hard work.

The most successful crowdfunding campaigns in sport

Bottom line is that it takes work and remember each of the below steps require the same effort.

Here are things you SHOULD be doing if you want to achieve success:

1.  Get you’re page right

Building a good page is imperative and it’s so obvious when people don t make the effort.

Pictures / Video

Use good quality images or video, grainy or low resolution images don’t cut it and look bad so avoid!  And always show your face in the pictures, people like to be able to see who they’re supporting.

Story

People want to get to know you so make it personal. Where you’re from, your background, why you are raising money – all of this information makes you more familiar and allows others to see from your perspective.   Tell them exactly what you are planning on doing and more times than not, people will be engaged.

Date / Target

Always put an end date of your campaign of between 30-60 days as it’s important to create a sense of urgency.

Choosing the right target is one of the most important aspects in making a crowdfunding campaign successful.  So choose an appropriate target, our golden rule is choosing a target that you think you can raise..  not what you need.

In crowdfunding, people like to back winners and in our experience people are more likely to support if they feel they can help someone hit a target.  But if the person is very far from the target it can have the opposite effect.

Tips on getting commercial sponsorship

2. Use Social Media

Raising awareness on social media is a great way to get exposure, gain new followers and allowing people to engage with you.

Social media is the core to most successful crowdfunding campaigns, and without some kind of social media you are losing out big time. We recommend Facebook as #1, Linkedin #2, Twitter #3, Instagram #4.   But don’t look past the more traditional methods such as email!

Some tips for social media posts –

• Create posts that grab attention, with some much being thrown out on different social media platforms these days you need to outshine the dim!
• Posting good quality pictures, videos and inspirational content are a must and are great ways to engage followers. From there, people are more likely to share your content with their friends.
• Tag us!  We can then like, retweet etc, helping your post to reach more people

Here are some great examples of successful crowdfunding campaigns and the reasons why they were successful

3. Use your network

If you can create hype and awareness prior to launching your campaign you are already onto a winner.

Prepare a time and ask some friends to share when you launch it, then reach out to everyone in your network for support.  Between you, your family, friends, fans or followers you have a big network to reach out to..  This crowdfunding campaign is a great chance for you to make money so ask everyone you know to support and share your campaign.  Remember that you are on a time scale to raise the funds you need so create a sense of urgency if you can.

As in step 2, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Email (very important) are all useful social networking sites that will allow you to precisely and quickly interact with those following you. So, increase your posting frequency, stay consist and be likeable.

4.  Charity

Giving a percentage of funds raised to a charity can be a great way of widening your audience and has become very popular.  It can be a charity of your choice and might entice more people to give!

Hopefully the above will help you on your way to success and if we can help in any way, please get in touch.

Some more do’s and don’t’s of crowdfunding

PledgeSports is the global leader in crowdfunding & sponsorship for sport.

Are you or someone you know raising money for sport ? If so, get in touch with us via [email protected], or visit www.pledgesports.org and hit “Create A Campaign” to start raising money today!

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