By Hector Botero (President & CEO at iCrowdNewswire, LLC)
For most people their single-largest asset is their home and selling it is a carefully thought-out decision. It requires research. Planning. Seeking professional guidance, advice and support. Financial considerations. Selling your home is a major project and no one wants to make a mistake and fail. Crowdfunding should be managed in much the same way. And why not – what would make anyone think that getting other people’s trust, money and support is going to happen “just because”?
Unfortunately those of us in the industry see the “just because” approach daily, and not only once a day, but campaign after campaign that are poorly thought out, poorly planned, not researched, built on a dream rather than a foundation and with very little or no chance of success. That is why 60% of all campaigns fail to reach their crowdgoal (SM).
So why not consider taking advice from professionals? This is not the first time you have read a similar article. I am not the only one that sees this and writes about it, so take our free collective knowledge, experience and advice and give yourself the best possible opportunity to be successful. If it seems confusing and hard to figure out, why not follow the guidelines you would if you were selling your home?
The industry has matured, and tools and services to properly research and plan your campaign are easy to find and very affordable – take Krowdster.co. Never heard of the site? Take a quick look and be prepared to be amazed with its large menu of tools available for low monthly subscriptions. Krowdster claims to have analyzed data from more than 500,000 Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Tubestart, Pozible and Rockethub crowdfunding campaigns and have a database with more than 500,000 previous crowdfunding supporters that you can filter by category, location or keyword.
Look at Shopify. They note that Noah Dentzel of NOMAD has run two crowdfunding campaigns in two years on two different platforms. His, on Kickstarter, reached 322% of his funding goal. His second, on Indiegogo, reached even higher. Noah learned a lot the second time around. “It took one-tenth of the effort of our first campaign, in part because of the software that we used,” he said in an interview with Shopify.
Wrike.com offers a guide with 75 tools and resources for your crowdfunding campaign and advises that you be prepared for “a lot of hectic days and coffee-fueled nights ahead.”
So at the end of the day it is true, there are no free lunches. You have to plan and work for it, be prepared for the long haul and determined to do what it takes to win. But crowdfunding is as close as it gets. Most of the best-in-class tools for successful crowdfunding are extremely affordable and, depending on your eating habits, it may actually cost as close to a “free lunch” as it gets.