11 Things Every Successful Crowdfunding Campaign does

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Many steps/measures need to be taken to ensure that your crowdfunding campaign is successful. Although you are an established entrepreneur or a start-up, you can use Crowdfunding as a powerful tool to reach your envisioned objective. Here are a few strategies of how you can approach Crowdfunding sensibly.

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1) PLAN YOUR BUDGET

It is vital to have a budget planned right from the beginning so that you can include it in your campaign. Understandably, predicting an exact budget required for a campaign is something impossible to do. However, it is always a great idea to have a rough target set. Most crowdfunding websites set a minimum funding limit to all projects, so you must reach the minimum target or stand to lose all investments pledged by your investors. 

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2) A GREAT STORY

Nothing sells better than a great story. When you add your information to your campaign, you help create an appealing proposal to help you take your campaign/project to the next level. A great story never fails to absorb the investor. Your story should connect well to both your intended objective as well as with your intended audience.

Also, always speak at a personal level. Connecting personally via speech forges an intimate bond between the speaker and the audience subliminally, which can relate to the speaker's story.

It is always great to back your ideas with relevant supporting images. A great video works miracles in nurturing the trust of the audience in your proposed product. If you have created a website with details about your product or offer, that can go a long way in producing sincere interest in your campaign. 

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3) VALUE

A crowdfunding campaign maintains a give and take relationship between the entrepreneur and the investors. You are, as an entrepreneur, eligible for funding opportunities from your investors. Your investors are also permitted to receive perks and incentives in return from you. It is a best practice to develop incentives that are practicable and appealing to the investors. You would do well to empathize with your investors' requirements before you chart out a reward plan.

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4) MAKE IT PERSONAL

It is almost always the "limited edition" product that sells like hotcakes in any company's product portfolio. Your product or offer will do so, too, if you bring some scarcity or exclusivity to your product and the perks offered to investors. Because shortage increases demand, when you limit your investors' most prolific rewards to a little number, you are without fail, generating a lot more interest among your investors to pledge loyalty to your campaign and grab the rewards. Making the rewards personal will mean that you have raised, the most generous of your investors, to a higher personal level.

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5) TRUST 

You might have heard the popular axiom, "Seeing is believing." In order to establish your reliability in the eyes of your investors, your campaign has to be genuine. You can corroborate your campaign's legitimacy by backing it up with elaborate details about the core motive behind the project. You can make use of slide shows and video presentations to make your point.

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6) SOCIAL SIGNALS 

When you start building up a support base for your campaign, it is always best to target specific individuals or groups with high credibility in their fields – they can be experts, analysts, advisers, or well-known investors. Once you have such vital entities in your fold, you will be able to emphasize their contributions towards your campaign. Highlighting essential people or groups as part of your campaign /project will attract more investors into the loop. It is good to understand that many individuals join a cause because people they know or have heard of have done so.

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7) COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY 

It is fundamental to continue communication with your audience at every step of your project. You cannot afford to ignore your investors out of your campaign. You should engage your investors at each stage of the decision-making procedure. You should send regular updates to your audience on the progress made and what plans you have for future action. Another vital aspect of this communication is that it should be two-sided. The audience should also be encouraged to develop their ideas and inputs to keep them engaged.

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8. LOW FUNDING GOAL

You can only collect your funds if you surpass the goal sum of your project on Kickstarter. Do some research before launching your project to avoid wasting your backers' time and energy. Create a realistic, bare-minimum budget for what it will cost to deliver the end product, and then set out to make nothing more. If all is well, you will reach your goal and walk away with a bounty of excess funds that you get to keep!

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9. TAKE YOUR TIME

Promoting your project and alluring your fans to financially back it takes time. So give yourself enough time ahead to make sure you aren't racing against the clock to drive pledges. Make sure you allocate enough time to deliver the album on its proposed delivery date, as well as honor any commitments you've made to your backers.

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10. ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE & ADVERTISE 

Just like in any other endeavor in your music career, you've to hustle to make people care and make people aware. Do you try to get new content posted on blogs and featured on other sites? Do you make flyers for your shows and post-tour dates online? Do you do everything possible to get your music on the shelves of your local record stores? Well then, your Kickstarter campaign is no exception. Indorse it rigorously online and lobby your most loyal fans to follow suit.

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11. AWESOME VIDEO 

Video is conceivably the most decisive and instantly engaging advertising tool in the viral landscape. Make an excellent video to run as a homepage trailer on your Kickstarter project page. Next, post it on YouTube and Facebook and tweet it as much as possible without annoying your followers. This process is harder to follow if you don't make a great video, so get creative there as well.