Start successfully
A good start is half the battle. Donors prefer supporting projects that have already mobilised several supporters. The financing bar is an important indicator for the success of the project. Demonstrate from the start that your project will be a success!
Announce the project in your immediate environment
Crowdfunding always starts with friends and family. Ask them in advance to support your project in the early stage of the funding phase (preferably on the first day!) Try to infect others with your enthusiasm and make clear how important the project is to you. The best way to do this are personal conversations and telephone calls. As a reminder send them an e-mail with the link to your project. If you only want to send e-mails, make sure to create the messages in a personal way. Address the interests and values of the recipient.
Trigger a snowball effect. Ask your immediate environment to further spread the project. Agree precisely on who should do what and when for the dissemination of information about your project. In order to do so, it is best to send a predesigned text and picture material/videos for e-mails/social media. Prepare a common e-mail distribution list that should be fed with new e-mail addresses by all contributors throughout the campaign.
Show who is supporting you. It is good to show that you are not following your goals all alone. Thus, make your fellow campaigners and cooperation partners public. On www.respekt.net you can add project actors that work on the project and experts, who bring know-how into the project, to your project. If only passive support should be shown, a click on the heart symbol is sufficient. This lets your supporters appear as fans in your project.
As soon as 30% are financed, you can start promoting your project in a wider network.
Put a link on your website
Put a link to your project on Respekt.net on your own website. Ideally, give the project a prominent spot on the cover page. In addition, ask partner organizations or websites of friends to link to your project as well.
Put together e-mail distribution lists
Depending on the purpose put together different e-mail distribution lists (donors, multipliers, project participants ...). Don't be shy - and approach your community regularly. Of course you should not overdo it, but one e-mail is normally not enough! Besides asking for support you should also communicate news and successes. Create the e-mails appropriately and in a personal tone. Do not forget to ask for further dissemination. For this purpose, attach predesigned text suggestions.
Donor groups and double donations groups
According to the motto “Achieving more together”, the donor group feature has been developed. Family, friends or other fans can start their own crowdfunding campaign for your project and commit themselves to raise part of your project’s budget. To do this they create a donor group for your project, choose an amount that they want to raise for the project, add all their friends and fellow fundraisers and they are ready to go. The donor group will have their own page and web address (URL). The group members send the link to their networks and can, thus, raise money directly for the donor group. The group’s fundraisers and the amount of money that has already been donated will be displayed in the group. This community effect is motivating! Just try it. Now you don’t have to raise money on your own anymore.
Double donations groups
The donation group feature offers you the opportunity to double the donations. Founders of donor groups can commit themselves to double each donation from the group by donating half of the target amount themselves. A donation of 10€ will then have the value of 20€. Double donation - double motivation!
Do you know committed companies in your area?
Ask them for a doubling donation! The argument: for every euro of the company’s donation, you will raise one euro from the crowd! This shows that many people are standing behind your project and will motivate the entrepreneur. Another advantage: The companies can upload their logo in the donor group and thus make their social commitment visible.
Increase your visibility on Respekt.net
Respekt.net has a community of over 12,000 users. A good placement of your project can help you reach more donators.
- Regular donations will get you on the front page.
- The achieved level of financing determines the ranking of projects.
- A high number of fans (heart symbol) increases the credibility of the project.
- A high financing level can get your project into the "final project spurt".
Use Social Media & Multipliers
Use multipliers
After you have addressed your contacts, you should try to spread your project outside of your networks. This works best with the right multipliers (e.g. NGOs, associations, umbrella organizations, bloggers, Facebook pages and groups, forums...). The multipliers should definitely suit the topic of your project and follow similar goals. This will ensure that the target group is the right one.
Ask your multipliers to disseminate your project: feature in their newsletter, post/share Facebook posts, mention in their blog, article in member journal, exhibition stand at events...
Break into new communities
Go through life with eyes open and make new contacts with potentially interested people. Tell your new acquaintances about your project. Attend events where you could find potential supporters and cooperation partners.
Use social media the right way
Regular updates on social media platforms are essential for crowdfunding! Here you can keep your supporters informed constantly. Here is how to do it:
- Social media live by personal communication: Give your project a face: talk about your personal motivation and score with credibility!
- Alternate the media type. Pictures, videos and audio recordings are good alternatives to plain text.
- Make sure not to spread repetitive contents. Reminders should be reformulated and complemented by new information.
- Try to answer messages, tweets or comments immediately. Especially when you are criticized, it is advisable to react quickly.
- Use twitter to get into contact with journalists (e.g. https://twitter.com/helpareporter) and bloggers that could be interested in your project and write about it.
Press
Journalists are always looking for new stories and ideas. An interesting crowdfunding project has good chances to get media coverage. If you have journalists in your network, you can ask them to write about your project or to recommend it to colleagues. Otherwise it is necessary to address the right journalists and media. It is important that the media is suitable for your project. Both the topic and the region need to fit. Moreover, you need to find out which journalist is covering which topic. In addition to widely disseminated press releases you can thus contact journalists directly via telephone and e-mail. Tip: Approach local newspapers from your region. These are particularly interested in local projects. Hence, the chance for coverage is very high.
Events
Some people are hard to reach online. Try to get in touch with them through events. Inform interested persons about the project at an informal get-together. At a party you can raise donations and thus, create a sense of community. Set up a computer or a box to make donations. Ask for a voluntary donations at the entrance or generate donations by selling drinks, food or fan items.
Keep your supporters posted
It is important to keep your supporters informed and to find new ways to motivate the community.
Send regular updates about the progress of the project through different channels (e-mail, news post on Respekt.net, Facebook/Twitter, ...) Share photos and videos about the project. Pay attention to feedback in order to determine the information needs of your contacts. Take time to reply to inquiries about your project.
Communicate success! It's always best to celebrate. Therefore, share your successes and milestones with your community. Give them the feeling to have contributed significantly to the success.
Say thank you!
Thank your supporters! If possible do it immediately and personally. You can find the names of all donators on your project page. Many have added an e-mail address to their profile. By posting a news update on Respekt.net you can reach all donators and fans at once.