Crowdfunding Checklist
How to Create Your Campaign

Now you know what you want to do and why, have chosen your funding platform, decided on a launch date, garnered your support team, allocated enough time and got yourself really excited about the next few months and the potential of crowdfunding for your business, it’s time to get really focused and start creating your campaign.

What is your story?

One of the most important parts of your campaign is crafting a compelling, authentic and engaging story that really forges an emotional connection with your potential backers and encourages them to join you on your journey. It’s the heartbeat of your campaign.

Make it personal, share anecdotes, challenges faced and the lessons learned, not just the amazing product opportunity. Keep it clear and simple with words and phrases that are in line with your brand and values and which everyone can understand. Don’t overcomplicate it and don’t make it too long (no more than 700-1000 words) – people have short attention spans and you need to grab their attention! And remember to divide your story up into sections with sub-headings – this makes it easier for people to read.

Tell them exactly what you are wanting to do and why and share your personal story and experience to date – remember they are backing YOU! Clearly explain what you will use the money you raise to do – for example to buy a new piece of equipment, develop a new product or fund your new business. Show how them why this is a great campaign and you are the person to make this happen with their financial support.

For great storytelling, you need to: understand and connect with your audience; establish the key elements of your story; and structure your story for maximum impact. Consider using the three-act story arc – give them information, build momentum and excitement, and then move into the final act of what you want them to do – which is to support you! You can get more advice on storytelling here.

What is your campaign title and brief description?

Take time to develop a clear, punchy and memorable title – it makes all the difference to attracting attention. And summarise your campaign in approximately 100 words – this will draw people in to look at your campaign information in more detail. Look at what other people have done in the past to get inspiration if you are stuck.

What rewards should you offer?

Deciding on what rewards to offer can be the most exciting part of creating your campaign – but also the most difficult part! It very much depends on your business, who your customers are and how much you are looking to raise.

The key is to offer a range from £10 up to £100, or even £500 for a truly unique reward. You can offer the new product you are developing when it’s ready, discounts off your current product/services range, simple thank-you notes or unique behind-the-scenes experiences. It can be fun to make them bit unusual and quirky – look at what other people have done to get some inspiration. Have fun brainstorming ideas and really let your creative juices flow.

You can also limit the number of rewards in each category – this helps to encourage early supporters. And you can also have simple donations with no rewards – it’s surprising the number of people that will support you and don’t want anything in return except to help see you succeed (sometimes 30-50% of funds raised in a campaign are through donations).

A final note of caution on rewards – don’t spend too much time developing them, don’t spend too much money on them and don’t have too many of them! Go for a maximum of six rewards, spread across a range of prices – any more is too much for people to choose from. And don’t spend too much money creating rewards – use what you have as much as possible and at low cost – remember you are doing this to raise money, not spend it!

What target should you set?

The target is the amount of money you need to raise to deliver your campaign objectives. It can be £2,000 or £20,000 or much more! What is key here is to understand how much you need to raise to cover all your costs (including any marketing costs, rewards costs and post and packaging), pay your crowdfunding platform fees, your transaction fees, VAT if appropriate AND have enough left to properly fund the next stage of your product development or business growth.

For example, to pay for a £10,000 piece of equipment and not be out of pocket, when you factor in all the additional costs, you might need to raise a total of £15,000, not £10,000.

Now you can go back and spend a bit more time using our Crowdfunding Calculator to work out your target to raise – which should stretch you a bit but also be realistically achievable. Often you can also set a larger “stretch target” if you like. Put the amounts into your campaign page.

If you are VAT registered you will need to pay VAT on all the money you raise (except donations, VAT is not charged on donations). You can find out more about VAT here and there are lots more articles online related to VAT and crowdfunding.

What visuals and video do you need?

Now you need to start putting visual content into your campaign page. Use interesting photographs about you, your team, your business, your product – this is where you can really show off your personality so have some fun with it. And you can also highlight some key points about your campaign by using infographics, or even use testimonials from people who have used your products or supported you before (remember to get their permission first though). Think about where to place these visuals alongside your content for maximum impact and to ensure people understand your campaign.

Next you will need a video – no more than two to three minutes long – which summarises your campaign and a call to action for people to support you with their donations. If you are unsure about what to say, write out a script and practice it before you record it. And make sure you record it in a quiet place where you can be heard properly.

It can sometimes feel uncomfortable to ask people for money, so as you do this, keep in mind your goal – you need financial help to start or grow your business. If you don’t ask, you won’t get it…but if you do ask, you might! And remember that people like to be asked for help and that other women really like crowdfunding. It’s a simple and effective way for them to help other women in business, especially if you are developing a product that they as women really understand. And to encourage you even more, know that women-led campaigns are 32% more successful than those that are male-led and the average donation/pledge is 5% more!

You don’t have to spend money getting professionals to take photographs and videos at this early stage – the more personal and engaging the better to let your personality shine through – although clearly if you stumble and make some mistakes, record it again until you are happy with it.

Do you include social media links and my website?

Yes! Include links to everything that you developed earlier and have started populating with some content and building up your followers in advance (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, your website). Check to make sure that the all the links work properly.

How long should you run your campaign for?

The ideal time to run a campaign is four to six weeks. Any shorter doesn’t give you enough time to maximise the opportunity, any longer and you and the supporters can all get a bit tired and fed up!

Remember to choose a time to launch that works for you and your potential customers and clear the decks as other commitments as much as possible – you will need time and a clear head to focus on your campaign.

Look out for the “Sticky Middle” – the middle part of your campaign when the initial excitement has waned, you are not getting as much support and donations and it all feels like a bit of a slog. Don’t worry though if it happens – it’s quite normal. But this is when you need to dig deep and draw on all your resilience and determination to keep going. Get

support from peers as well, especially if you are crowdfunding as part of a group of people doing it at the same time.

Should you get your campaign looked over by someone else?

It’s great if you can get someone to check over your campaign page before you launch it. Sometimes you can get too close to something because you have been so involved in creating it. A friendly fresh pair of eyes will help make sure your campaign is clear and understandable, looks great and doesn’t have any spelling mistakes or broken links in it!

And then step away from all your work on the campaign page for a few days – take a bit of breathing space. When you get back to it you might see some changes you want to make. Check again that you understand how the crowdfunding platform works and ask for help if you are unsure.

Then stop! You need to lock your campaign page and get on with the other work to make sure that when you do launch, everything runs smoothly and to plan.

What else should you prepare before launch?

You can also draft a range of other items you will use, such as personalised email messages, Mailchimp email campaign messages, press releases, social media posts and campaign updates. These won’t be in final format, but if you can get 80% of these done in advance, you are giving yourself a good head start for launch. You can find out more about preparing press releases and approaching journalists here.