Crowdfunding 101 - Part 4

5 - Have you mad a comprehensive list of blogs/online magazines in the areas of interest?

Now, as I previously stated I thought I was prepared with all the aspects of the campaign in the month that was preceding the campaign, but things pop up, suggestions come about and things happen during the campaign, that you simply don't anticipate. One of these things is gathering a list of all the outlets that you aim to target with the information, that will hopefully guide the audience to your campaign. After all, even if it is sitting on the internet it doesn't necessarily mean that people will find it or automatically go to it. The Crowdfunding sites, as stated before are simply hosting sites, they are not marketeers for you. They do highlight many projects on their front end, but I couldn't figure out their strategy on that, and it did seem random. Indiegogo also has a section called; "Final Countdown", but in my many visits to the front end, I found many (like when I just looked) have already met their target and really don't need the airing to get support.

Indiegogo are in this to make money. So their objective is to get as much out of their 4% fee as possible. Whilst I feel grabbing a 9% cut, from what they see as no-hope campaigns.

So, what I recommend is this. As part of the month long preparation period, list (use something like Excel) all the sites by name, URL and email contact on a form. Categorise them into the fields of interest as well. Like my campaign, it has a lot to do with several subjects, such as art, pets, animals and charities. So, in that respect there are many areas of interest that can play a key factor in the delivery of the information. Try hard to do an extensive search of blogs and online magazines. One way you can do this is to Google search 'top blogs in Art' for example. Also, you will find on Facebook, when you 'like' a page related to the subject, you now get a panel appearing underneath suggesting simpler ones. Take some time to explore these and see if they can too be added to the lists.

Now, I will discuss this later, but there is a good way and a bad way to use a strategy on these assets. The best thing I would suggest is to understand (especially the online magazines) is they tend to take time to deliver the content. One magazine worked with me getting an article together, including a URL to the campaign, only to have it published the month after the campaign ended. So, during your month of setting up, take a application like TextEdit (or equivalent Windows version) and scribe out several press releases, so that they are directed to individual demographics. Not a standard one that will fit all. Many people who 'OK' press releases, seek some personalisation in the content, related to their subject matter. So, making several for the different blogs and online magazines is essential.

6 - Have you prepared the internet field for the campaign?

Now only yesterday I came across a service called Wildfire (part of Google, but now discontinued), that could be of great help to the campaign. But it is too late to use now, but I will look into it's viability for the next campaign. So, one thing is for sure, setting up a list of the most valuable tools and outlets (apart from what was stated above) is a key factor in the delivery of the information, and the conversion of users into contributors. One of the main purposes of developing this use of available resources on the net is to save time and effort. For instance Social Media Examiner, although not a direct way to get tools and connections for the project has in fact, delivered many pieces of advise about tools and directions to look into. One of which was Swayy! A very clever, and useful tool to help spread content into many directions.

Now, as these posts grow longer I want to spread them so as to not dilute the important parts of the content. This section could get diluted by the amount of tools that I have discovered and used later on in the campaign, as I didn't actually find them at the start and then realised how useful they could be.
So the next post will be an annexe to this section, and a starting of a tool list that can help in the campaign. I will say at this point however, that social media is a necessary evil, when it comes to getting as much "free" marketing as possible. If you are a small outfit, or an individual like me, working on a zero budget, then many of these tools I have discovered can help, and have proved to be helpful during the slow moments in the campaign. One thing that you will notice however, is that (like on these blogs) I have listed a series of sites that can have user generated content. Now, many of the sites have been created later in the day of the campaign, but have slowly become more popular. Not due to my project necessarily, but as the internet generates trends and so people tend to follow those trends. Instagram is a good example,and so I decided to set one up, and am slowly adding images of the artists and pets when I can find time. How this can work well, is the use of the hashtag and ampersand elements. This will be discussed more in following blogs.

It should be made clear however, that believing one social media outlet, such as Facebook, is all that is needed is a wrong and misguided aspect to correct marketing for the campaign. Some people (yes, believe it) are not on Facebook, and these could be the people who matter the most toward the campaign. So consider where you may discover the audience you require. In an additional note for the previous section. Making evidence of your presence can also be an effective way to convince people to contribute to you. I was amazed when asking one person, "why would you consider giving money to these people, and not my campaign?" And believing that the answer would be about the fact it was a gadget or trendy or professional looking, the answer cam out as a little bit of a shock. He replied "I would be more likely to give money because it has a lot of well-known names associated with it."

Now, one thing I didn't do in the last campaign, is do what many great marketeers do, and get on the phone. Now, sending out emails can be good, but they can be ignored, end up in the junk mail box, etc. So, I think over the next month, I will take time to contact some of the bigger names in the areas that will help me get featured. If I can then incorporate their names in a 'featured' section, then this will be great. It all helps!!

Next blog, I will begin to list many of the tools I have discovered, or already use to help in the campaign strategy.

Originally posted on my blog on 4th April 2014