5 Crowdfunding Mistakes You Can Avoid

Here are the top 5 crowdfunding mistakes we see at Patronicity and how you can avoid them.

5 Crowdfunding Mistakes You Can Avoid

Across all crowdfunding platforms, it has been estimated that the overall success rate of campaigns is 22.4%. Those are projects that hit their crowdfunding goal. Even the most successful and popular platform of all time, Kickstarter, only has an average success rate of 39%. This is largely due to some popular misconceptions, false expectations, and improper preparation for what it takes to run a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Here are the top 5 crowdfunding mistakes we see at Patronicity and how you can avoid them.

1. Thinking If You Create A Campaign Page, Donors Will Somehow Find It On Their Own.

The majority of campaign creators in crowdfunding believe that if you create a campaign page and post on social media once or twice, then the donors will come rolling in. And so, the campaigns sit there unfunded until the end.

The truth is crowdfunding is exactly like traditional fundraising in its efforts. The time you put into crowdfunding should reflect what you would do in any fundraiser. That includes having a well organized team, asking for donations, getting friends and family involved, and hosting events to reach your campaign goal. It is a continual push to connect people to what you are doing and asking them to support your work.

2. Going It Alone.

A one man band is great, but to have a full sound it usually takes a few more hands. The same is true for crowdfunding. While you may have the clearest idea of what you want to do and be well organized and prepared, simply having more people to share in your marketing efforts can be very powerful. A team naturally expands your campaign’s audience beyond the who you know.

Crowdfunding requires leadership, assignments, and (sometimes uncomfortable) delegation to create a team that will bring their own networks in to help hit the goal. The more people you get committed to the campaign team means the more people you will have vested in supporting your project’s future, and the more people they will bring in to donate to do the same.

3. Unintentionally Limiting Your Reach.

Your crowd isn’t going to find your campaign unless they are connected to it. That leads me to another major misconception — that social media will connect people to your project.

You have to work on your social media. You need to have varying messages tagging and targeting different audiences throughout.

We often see campaigns post the same thing throughout, “Hey, we are doing this campaign, help us by donating here.” You have to think outside of the box to tell your story in multiple ways. What other organizations are doing this work that you can tag and highlight? Is there staff within your organization that should be highlighted and tagged? Is there a related fun fact you can share about your work? Is there something cool you are offering as an incentive to donate? These all make dynamic posts that, if tagged properly, can bring in networks outside your own.

4. Working the Campaign Online Only.

It isn’t all just online sharing and marketing. If you have a serious goal, you will likely need to do some on-the-ground work as well. Having events or finding platforms to speak about your work to a captive audience can be a huge boost in meeting your fundraising goals. This is generally accepted in traditional fundraising, but it still stands to be recognized in crowdfunding. Getting people to take time in their day and focus their attention on the good work you are doing will likely lead to donations if you make the ask.

5. Frontloading your efforts.

While you should work in the beginning to have a great launch and share the campaign as wide and far as possible, you will likely plateau after your first week or so. This is why you must continually push and promote your campaign throughout the limited timeframe of your campaign. You must think of this as a constant push for a set period of time to reach your goals.

Having a week-by-week breakdown of what social media, marketing, direct outreach, and on-the-ground work you want to be doing will set you up for a successful campaign and much wider support.

People also miss out on the natural urgency created at the end of a campaign. This is a great time to say, “This is your last chance to make this happen,” while capitalizing on and highlighting the existing success of your campaign.

We hope this list of mistakes will help you to run a stronger crowdfunding campaign! We’re here to help every step of the way on our crowdfunding platform, as we provide one-on-one project coaching to help you develop a crowdfunding strategy and campaign that works. Our personalized support has resulted in a 91% success rate for our campaigns, way above the average success rate.

We have worked to make our platform user-friendly so that rural towns of 300 people and thriving cities with 700,000 citizens can use our tools to build vibrant communities.

Crowdfunding remains a wonderful tool to get people connected to what you do, create a vested donor base for your organization’s future, and raise money for your work or cause.