MARKETING

Crowdfunding Marketing Plan [A Free Strategy

Handbook]
by posted on
Harris Roberts February 27, 2017 (February 27, 2017)

I think we can all agree launching a successful crowdfunding campaign is a ton of work
and requires a kick-butt marketing strategy.

In this post, I have created the ultimate crowdfunding marketing plan that you can use
for your Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign.

It’s chock-full of helpful tips and tricks to make sure you reach your funding goal. If
you are interested in me creating a follow-along workbook, please drop a comment at the
bottom of the article.
Pro Tip: The rst half is focused on strategy and planning. The second half is on
promotion.

The second half is on promotion. If you are ready to launch or if you have already
launched I recommend skipping to the second half of this article that focuses on
promotion.

This high-level guide will help you de ne your crowdfunding marketing strategy in a clear
and easy to understand action plan.

When you are nished with this guide you will have:

A step-by-step marketing plan

An understanding of your priorities
The most important metrics to track
How long you should budget for each task
An action plan to reach your project funding goals

CROW D F U N D I N G MARKETING PL AN CHAPTERS:

1. Why You Don’t Need An Executive Summary

2. How To De ne Target Customers
3. Complete a Competitor Analysis
4. WTF is a SWOT
5. Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
6. How to get More Backers by Setting Project Goals
7. The 80/20 Rule for Crowdfunding
8. Pricing & Positioning
9. Create a Memorable Brand
10. Create Content that Gets Noticed
11. New ways to Promote Your Campaign
12. Critical Action Items & Project Managment

Executive Summary
Okay, we’re going to kick-o with a rough start. You don’t need an executive summary. It’s
something you would expect to see in every classic “marketing plan“.

The issue is, who is this report for? Is it for you or a boss at a major boring corporate.
I’d rather spend time helping you develop a strong, actionable plan than a sti and boring
executive summary.

Instead of the executive summary, I want to work on a positioning statement. 

A positioning statement will help condense your campaign into an understandable

statement.

When you talk to people about your campaigns, it’s a great way to explain what the heck
you are doing.

There are a bunch of great positioning statement templates you can use. Today we are
going to use my favorite from Geo rey Moore’s landmark book Crossing the Chasm.

Don’t worry if you get stuck on a section. I will show you how to develop this in more detail
below.

Crowdfunding Positioning Statement Template

Our Company __________ (company name)

Is for ____________ (target customer)

who ____________ (statement of the need or opportunity)

our (product/service name) is ____________ (product category)

that (statement of bene t) ____________ .

Sample Example for Crowdfunding

Here is an example I created if I had a Kickstarter that was selling a new pair of
headphones that never became tangled.

Our company NoTangle, (bad name I know)

is for hip young urbanites,
who are frustrated their headphones are always being tangled,
our product is a set of noise canceling headphones,
that use rare earth magnets to keep your headphone wires from tangling.
Wow look at that, it’s clear and easy to understand what you are doing. If you struggled
with any of those parts, we will go into more detail below. Speci cally, how to name your
project, de ne your target customer, what problem you are solving, and your unique value
proposition.

Let’s jump right in with de ning your target customer!

Target Customers
Okay, time to gure out who your target backer its. Often when I worked at a marketing
agency and we asked our clients, “who is your target customer.”

They would sit there, conveniently take a sip of their co ee to stall time and then say,

“Men and Women between the ages of 18-64 with an income between 20k and 100k who
live in the United States.”

Wait, what? You just listed basically everyone.

The point of de ning a target customer group is to specify exactly who is your target
audience. 

This allows you to design your campaign in a way that it appeals to a very speci c person.

One of my favorite faculty members who taught at Harvard used to say,

“You can not be everything to everybody – if you do this you will be stuck in the middle.”

Without a clear message that is targeted to a speci c group your message will get lost in
the onslaught of media.

A Political Example

Think about messages that candidates give. They appeal to multiple groups but are
focused on one speci c set of people with shared needs, wants, frustrations, and
aspirations.
They wouldn’t be successful if they tried to get every vote. They have to choose a position
and advocate that group that they are the best choice.

This also pisses a lot of people o . But it’s okay to also tell your supporters who you are not
for. This just re-enforces to your supporters that they are in the right place.

Here are a few examples of statements that clearly say who they are for (and not
for):

We’re a smart watch company for teens, this isn’t your grandpa’s calculator watch
Our sunglasses are for people with wide heads – if you have a skinny head go grow a
brain
This folk music festival features artists that only play acoustic music – if you like to sing
along this probably isn’t the place for you

I know those are a little silly but notice how they clearly say who they are for, and then use
who they are not for to reinforce that.

The point is, focus on very speci c groups. This will make it a thousand times easier when
it comes time to create your video, write your Kickstarter page copy, create a press release,

Now let’s get to actually de ning  your target Market

Easy Steps to De ne Your Target Market [crowdfunding edition]

Competitor Analysis
Take a look at past campaigns that are similar and see what they did successfully and
poorly. Look to improve and learn from their mistakes.

First, make a list of campaigns on all platforms that are similar to yours. Look at the
following elements of their campaign and take notes:

Video
Rewards Levels
Press
Copy on the Page
Website
You might even want to reach out to them and ask for advice. The crowdfunding space is a
friendly arena and people are willing to answer a quick question.

You can get a bit of data about who is sharing on social using this cool hack. It’s also worth
putting the title of the campaign into a tool like Buzzsumo to see who wrote press articles
about the campaign.

USP = Unique Selling Proposition

What is a unique selling proposition (USP)? A USP is the foundation of your crowdfunding
marketing plan. It is what makes your campaign unique and valuable to your target market.
This is critical if you want to launch a successful campaign.  Once you have your USP it’s
important you continue to communicate it. It’s not enough to mention it once. Remember
that visitors are coming to your project with almost no prior knowledge. It is your job to
educate them. If you want to teach a concept the key to success is repetition. It is what
makes your campaign unique and valuable to your target market. This is critical if you want
to launch a successful campaign. Here is step-by-step how to create a killer USP.

Here is step-by-step how to create a killer USP.

1. Find your biggest distinctive bene t. Map out what your competitors do on the X
access of a graph. On the Y access rate each competitor on a scale of 1-5. Then rank
yourself for these criteria. It should become clear where your strengths are. You want to
look for areas where your competition ranks low and you rank high. For the example
graph below I pretended I was starting a smoothie food truck.Pro Tip: Take price out of
the equation. Your USP shouldn’t be that you are cheaper. It’s not a good strategy for
getting attention.
2. Answer this question: “We are the best ________”. If you know what you are the best at
then you can focus on this attribute and build it into all your marketing. This very well
could be your USP.
3. Understand the problem you are solving. Look back to our positioning statement
exercise above and see what the biggest problem you are solving. Your bene t should
address this problem directly and often is your USP.
4. Have more than one USP? Test them to see what matters most to backers. I’m a huge
fan of running pre-launch surveys. If you have 2 or 3 USP ideas then send a survey and
ask what is most important. Don’t be afraid to test early and iterate often.
5. Leverage your USP for more backers. Once you have your USP put it everywhere. It
should be part of the rst heading on your website. In the rst 15 seconds of your
Kickstarter video. At the top of your press releases.
Set Project Goals & KPIs
If you want to be successful in life (or crowdfunding) you are going to need goals.

And I’m not talking about setting a funding goal. You need to set clear goals and KPIs (key
performance indicators) to get there. Without goals, you don’t know what is important. And
if you don’t know what is important you don’t know where to focus your time.

80/20 Rule For Crowdfunding

The Pareto principle is often known as the 80/20 rule. It says that 80% of the e ects come
from only 20% of the causes. If we take this to be true you can quickly see the importance
of prioritizing (see setting goals section above).

I’d love to hear in the comments section what the most useful and lease useful uses of your
time is as a project founder.

Pricing & Positioning

Pricing strategy is focused on maximizing the amount of pro t that you get from the sale.
In crowdfunding, you may need to determine the retail price of your project if you are
creating a physical product.

If you are raising money for an event or movie you will be pricing your rewards. Pricing is
intertwined with the positioning of your campaign.

In business, the goal of pricing is to maximize the amount of pro t that you get for your
product or service. In a crowdfunding campaign, your goal may be to o er your project to
as many people as possible. Either way, di erent prices lets you target di erent groups.

When pricing you need to look at the value of what you are o ering. A common mistake
in pricing is to take the cost and then add a percentage that you will take as the pro t. This
is wrong.

The right way to price something on the amount that someone will pay for it. Figure out
how much someone will pay and then price it. If you are unsure you can look at
competitors or run surveys.

Another tactic is to create scarcity with lower prices for early backers. This means there are
only 20 rewards at a super discounted price. After that, the price goes up. If you don’t
pledge during the campaign the cost will go up again. Creating scarcity through this
method will incentivize potential backers to support you.

There are some great articles online about the best way to price your product (or rewards).

Pricing Your Product – Sequia Capital

Perk Pricing Practices – Indiegogo
Building rewards – Kickstarter

Create Brand
You need to look like you have your shit together. Think about your campaign like a job
interview. You wouldn’t go wearing an old t-shirt and ripped jeans with paint all over them.
Unless you were applying for a job where that was the required dress code.

Long story short, look the part. Creating a brand is easy if you know your USP and
positioning statement. You can easily start creating a brand by rst de ning intangible
values. Then you can create tangible assets.

Intangible Brand Values

Look and Feel
Tone and Voice
Emotions Evoked

Tangible Brand Assets

Logo
Typography (fonts)
Colors (color palette)
Copy (writing)
Images
Video & Music

Create Your Campaign Content

Crowdfunding Video
The video is arguably the most important part of your campaign. It is what people will
watch rst, what they will share, and if you are lucky – what will go viral.

There is no perfect formula for creating a crowdfunding video but there are a few
frameworks that have been proven time over time to help structure your ideas.
Below I list out three of my favorite video concepts.

Format One – Classic Overview

 PLAY

Format Two – Testimonial

 PLAY
Format Three – Live Demo

 PLAY

If you want to see more videos check out our post with the top ten best crowdfunding
videos.

You will also need to decide if you want to hire a company to create your Kickstarter video
or do it yourself. If you want to create your own crowdfunding video check out our
complete guide here.

When creating your video you are going to want to follow best practices. Here are a few
tips that will ensure your video is a hit.

Crowdfunding Video Best Practices

Create a script or outline

Start with a hook
Explain the who, what, when, where, why
Show don’t tell – use video to your advantage
End with a call to action
Keep your video around 1-4 minutes

You can read all our tips and tricks for creating a Kickstarter Video here.

A Working Prototype
It doesn’t matter what your campaign is, the closer it can be to “ nished” the more likely
people are to donate. This means you want a working prototype. If you are launching a
product this should be easy. If you are launching an album you need to get a bit more
creative. Show that you have already written the songs and just need the money to book a
recording studio.

Backers don’t want to fund your research and development. They want to help you get
over the nal hump and reach a succesful project. The closer you can get to the nish line
the better. Don’t be afraid to show a working prototype in all your media.

A Press Kit (And What Goes Inside)

I will brie y touch on what to put in a press kit as we have written a full article here.

A Press Release – Some would argue you don’t need a press release anymore. But if you
are planning on being successful it’s a good idea to create one. We wrote a full article on
how to write a press release for crowdfunding.

If you need some inspiration make sure to check out our collection of Kickstarter press
releases that helped campaigns raise over 70 million dollars collectively.

High-Quality Images – The internet is a visual place. After your video images will be most
important. Images are especially important for the media as some may not embed your
video. Make sure you have high-quality photos. Ask around and see if you have a
photographer friend who can help take them. Remember you are asking people on the
internet to give you money. Many of these people you have never met before. You want to
look professional. High-quality images help build trust.

Quick Fact Sheet – A fact sheet is not necessary but helpful if you are creating a press kit.
It makes it easy for a reporter to write a story about you. If you have the time create a quick
one-page fact sheet. Cover who, what, where, how, when, and why.

Crowdfunding Promotion
Promotion is tough. Ideally, it starts before you launch your campaign. If you have yet to
start promoting your campaign but already launched it’s time to get to work. We have put
together a great resource of tips for getting more press. That should get you started.

Thank You!
So that’s a wrap! Let us know in the comments section if we missed anything. I’m working
on a workbook that breaks down these activities in an easy to follow step-by-step
manner. If this sounds interesting to you drop a comment below!

Harris Roberts

Harris Roberts is an award-winning entrepreneur, journalist, and investor. He is a columnist for

FundBeam where he writes about tech, art, and design. He previously worked as Director of
Accounts at Figmints a boutique creative agency. He lives in Providence RI.

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 3 COMMENTS

rebecca
1 year ago

This was extremely helpful, thank you!

Harris Roberts
1 year ago

Thanks, Rebecca! Let me know if you have any more questions!

Jonnathan Snaider
1 year ago

Best article out there! Thanks for the inspiration