Get a little help from your friends

Crowdfunding can be a wonderful thing for accomplishing your startup goals. Whether you’re looking to jumpstart your efforts, expand your customer base, or reach out to friends and family for funding, crowdfunding provides a platform to rally support around you. Having seen a lot of creative people get the funding for projects that would have never got off the ground, it's fascinating to see the kindness of strangers in action. I've looked into some of the key things that really can get your crowdfunding off the ground

Tell your story
A campaign with a good story is always a bonus, so you should not be afraid to tell it. Tell people about why you're doing this. Did you have an unfiliflled dream? Obstacle in your path? Major life event? Let people connect with you, let people see the heart of your vision and how your product will help benefit people. Keep everything personal and people will care for your project.

Provide value
Crowdfunding campaigns hinge on reciprocity. If your startup offers fantastic products, rewards or opportunities, you’ve created a huge incentive for backers to pledge to your campaign. When choosing your reward tiers, reflect on whether the incentives would appeal to you if you were the consumer; ask friends and  family members if they would be happy with them, after all these are the potential people that you need to get things going.

Create an event 
People love to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. Try to build a feeling of excitement and rally others around your crowdfunding campaign by tying the launch to a large, well known event. You can connect your product to a holiday, sporting event, or season to increase the momentum surrounding your launch. This is especially useful for connecting with backers through social media, and trending topics and popular hashtags to get more eyes on your fundraise!

Highlight your backers
Show how cool your startup is by letting everyone see influential advocates joining in. Do you have someone notable as an adviser, backer or endorser of your startup? Share your list of partners and patrons to give confidence to new backers and let them know that they won’t be the only one at your party.

Credibility
Show your backers what they’ll be supporting in detail—how it works, how you came up with the idea, and even pictures or videos if you have a prototype. Remember that you will likely never meet your backers, so the more proof you can provide that your startup is legitimate the better.

Interact
Don’t leave your backers in the dark for weeks after they’ve supported your project. Interact with your audience through frequent updates, thank-you emails or social media and responses to their questions and feedback.You can build anticipation and increase engagement in many ways. When interacting with your backers, always encourage an open dialogue. In general, people would rather talk than listen. Treat your updates and outreach as a conversation rather than a one-sided message

After seeing how you can start. You can check out some crowdfunding campaigns for yourself on theses sites:

Indiegogo | http://www.indiegogo.com/
Kickstarter | http://www.kickstarter.com/
Crowdfunder | http://www.crowdfunder.com/
RocketHub | http://www.rockethub.com/

'Til the next time, James x