Who’s invited to your crowdfunding party?

November 2015

This is a guest post by Amy Morse

Crowdfunding is not free money, it’s an exchange. You are making a commitment to a customer by offering them something in return for their belief in you and your project. If you want people to invest in it you need to be irresistible to them.

If you want to be irresistible you need to know what really makes your target customers tick and if you want to successfully complete a crowdfund you need a whole crowd of them.

I’ve successfully completed two crowdfunds with Fundsurfer. You can shout about your crowdfund at the top of your voice, shout it from the roof tops, create a media storm, go viral online but if you don’t offer something that your target audience want in your pitch, they’ll invest their hard earned cash in something that does appeal to them.

This goes further than thinking carefully about what rewards to offer and for how much; you need to inspire them. You need to be doing something that solves a problem they have or tugs at their heart strings, and you’ll only do that if you get to know them.

Ask yourself who your ideal customer is. If your project was a party, who would the guests be?

Be realistic - eccentric millionaires who throw cash willy-nilly at crowdfund projects are hard to come by!

You can’t possibly appeal to everyone and if you try to please everyone your project will end up being nothing more than a featureless, vacant personality of grey dull disappointment.

It would be the most boring party ever with no one having anything in common, bland food and bland music.

Build something people will get excited about by homing in on one type of person then making everything you do about them.

Here are my top questions to answer when profiling your biggest fan. The one person who’ll want to bring all their mates to your party:

Are they male or female?
What’s their style? What are they in to? How do they dress and present themselves?
What are their aspirations? How do they see themselves – now and in the future?
How old are they and what stage are they at in their lifecycle? I.e.: Married? Kids? Single? Student? Homeowner? Etc.
Where and how do they live? Ie: Rural? Urban? Suburbia? Flat? House? Rented? Homeowner? Etc.
Do they work? What do they do? Why do they do it?
Where do they hang out? How do they spend their time? Why?
What are they really passionate about?
What brands and products appeal to them?
How do they consume information i.e.: which websites, blogs etc. Which social media channels do they use?
Why would they invest in your project? What is it about you that captures their imagination?