Principles of success

1. People

Rallying your community to fund your project is one of the most socially affirming things you can do. Here are four tips for connecting with people. 

• Build a team. Running a successful crowdfunding campaign requires a bunch of skills. But here’s the good news. You don’t have to do it all by yourself. Think about the skills in your circle. Who can you ask to help?  
• Understand your crowd. Who’s your art for? Who are you speaking to? Who does your work resonate with most? Once you know this, it becomes a whole heap easier to track down your tribe and ask them for money. More in mapping your crowd. 
• Give your people gold. Once you know who you’re speaking too, give them quality content that they’ll be proud as punch to share. Crowdfunding campaigns are only as successful as the hype created around them. If no one knows about your campaign, then it can’t succeed. 
• Celebrate your supporters. Boosted doesn’t do rewards, but your campaign can be a reward in itself; a celebration of your community of fans and supporters. And never underestimate the power of a thank you note. Your gran knew a thing or two. 

2. Planning

Preparation and planning are crucial to crowdfunding success. 
Depending on the scale of your project, you’re looking at around one-to-three months of preparation, followed by a 30-40-day intensive campaign. The bigger your target, the more you need to plan. 

During your planning phase you will:

• Register with Boosted and set up your campaign page.
• Arrange a project consultation with your Boosted mentor (all part of the service). 
• Muster your campaign team.
• Map your community and create your email database of potential givers.
• Plan your campaign.
• Prepare your campaign messaging.
• Prepare images and graphics.
• Prepare your crowdfunding video (optional, but heavily recommended).
• Plan events (optional).
• Pitch your story to media (optional).
• Find seed donors.
• Secure match donors (optional).
• Prepare content for your campaign.

It’s a lot. But don’t be daunted. Get organised and do it step by step, and you’ll nail it. This guide will walk you through everything you need to do to succeed. 

3. Persistence

All things worth having, take effort. 
To be successful in crowdfunding you need confidence in your project and the self-belief to ask people for money. You’ll need energy to see you through an intense campaign, and the grit to keep going when it gets tough. If you’ve got persistence like this, you’ve got what it takes to make crowdfunding work for you.