Pre-Campaign Items you *MUST* do right

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Crowdfunding is both challenging and profitable.

Here are some of the things that were challenging for most of the crowdfunding campaigners during the Pre-Launch phase and also some tips on how to make this easier for you.

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1. Price your perks well:

This is usually a hard part as you don't want to offer too high or go too low. You must know how much it will cost for you to fulfill your perks. You want to overestimate the costs so you can afford the mistakes you’ll surely make. Use market-validation to find out exactly what's the best price for your product/service. 

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2. Build an audience:

This is hard to do because you don’t have a product yet. That’s ok. Make a website and send people to your webpage. Have an email capture tool on your site so visitors can sign up for more information. You can send them an email once your campaign is live.

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3. Get followers on Facebook and Twitter. Market-validation test can help you figure out exactly who your target audience is so you can target the right audience and generate the social buzz every successful campaign needs. 

4. Making a video. The video is the single most important part of your whole campaign. It’s not easy to come up with a script, find a director and edit a great video. It’s worth the effort though. A great video is the different between success and failure.

5. Setting up your banking information. Kickstarter needs to verify your details before your project can go live. Make it easy by preparing everything before you launch. You must make sure you have your bank account in order before you hit “launch.”

6. Come up with a “stretch goal”. A stretch goal is a feature, perk or benefit you’ll give to all backers if you reach a certain milestone for funding. Most people use this in the middle of the campaign. Make sure you prepare for one too. 

7. Deciding when to launch. It was hard to know the best day and time to launch your campaign but we recommend you launch on a Tuesday. Do not launch on a holiday or just after a holiday.

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HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR CAMPAIGN 

1. Get some PR Help. Hire a PR firm that specializes in PR for pre-seed tech companies.  

2. Social Advertising. Create an advertising campaign on Facebook. This is the best way to go about advertising since you can be very specific in who you target. Use images and videos in your ads.

3. Find Influencers. Use Buzzsumo to find social influencers in your niche. Engage them and see if they’re open to posting about your campaign.

4. Use social media tools. Use free tools like Tweetbuzz to manage your accounts and respond to mentions and comments.

5. Referral sites. You can use Indiegogo’s built in referral engine or submit your link to other affiliate websites.

6. Advertise on websites. Find websites that have the audience you want and advertise on their site.

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These are things you should NOT DO

1. Buy traffic. Indiegogo and Kickstarter use fraud detection to catch campaigns that use illegal and unethical means to drive traffic. This includes buying traffic from Fiverr.

2. Wait too long. You want to make a big push when you first launch your campaign. You want to get funds asap.

3. Spam other people. Don’t overload your social channels with too many posts. And don’t spam journalists and influencers. Be polite.

You need to do your part too. You need to actively promote the project on your social media, and engage with other people on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.