The 7 most important lessons learned from successful crowdfunding campaigns. Use these to succeed with your own campaign.

The lessons described here are compiled from the experiences of CrowdfundHQ, some of our competitors, established crowdfunding websites and other articles on the same topic.

(Are you a CrowdfundHQ customer? You can help your clients by publishing this article for free. See bottom for article for details.)

1. Have a Clear Goal

Have a simple, clear and realistic goal for your campaign. People will not contribute to your campaign unless they understand your goal and see your goal as realistic.

2. Tell a Good Story

Facts tell, stories sell. You are more likely to engage potential contributors if you have a good story. A good story can be personal, about your organization or your business. What is your vision? Which problem will your project solve? Who will your project help? Did you encounter particular problems while working on your project, did you overcome them and if so how? Who are the people involved, what are their backgrounds?

3. Use Pictures and Videos

Pictures and videos will give potential contributors a closer insight into the project and the people involved. Explain your project in a video. Show potential contributors where you work and live to give them a glimpse of your everyday life. Create demo videos of the products or services. Post pictures of the people, the products and the services. Let the contributors get closer to you.

4. Get To 20% Within The First Week

This might be your single most important success factor. CMF FMC reports that once a campaign raises over 20% of the initial funding goal, the project has an 80% chance of successfully reaching its total funding goal. Once a campaign hits 30% of its funding goal the success rate climbs to 90%. The faster the momentum is gained the better.

To get an initial boost, reach out to friends, family, relatives, co-workers, business contacts, acquaintances, investors, (yourself?) or anyone else you think might be interested in your project. Keep in mind that you can secure donations even before the project goes live, meaning your campaign never has to be at 0%.

5. Get The Word Out

The more exposure your campaign receives, the higher the chances of success. This has been confirmed by CMF FMC. Use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter to expose your campaign. Put your campaign videos on YouTube. Get your campaign promoted on the platform your campaign runs. Send e-mails to or call any media outlet (newspapers, websites, radio stations and so on) you think can be interested in your project.

It is a common misconception that because you're small, media wob't be interested in you. Media is always interested in a good story, no matter how small you might be.

6. Keep People Engaged

This might be your second most important success factor. Once your campaign is up and running, it is crucial to keep people engaged. According to WIRED, campaigns that post updates every one to five days raise 100 percent more money than those that don’t.

Below is a list of techniques you can use. Make sure you post all your updates to social media.

Updates

Post updates of your progress. Post videos and pictures to show people how your project is progressing. Don't be afraid to talk about setbacks or problems, everyone can relate to setbacks and problems, and telling your contributor about these issues makes your campaign more personal.

Helping others?

Is your project helping other people? Show what you achieve, show the faces of those you help and tell their stories.

Rewards

A reward is a service or an object the campaigner gives to the contributor. According to WIRED, offering 3 to 8 different rewards is ideal, too few doesn't excite, too many overwhelms. 92 percent of campaigns that reach their goal offered rewards. Rewards doesn't have to be expensive, they can be anything from something you have made, an early version of your product, the contributor's name on a plaque, a personal letter from a person you've helped or anything else you can think of.

Interact

Interact with your campaign contributors. Reply to their comments on the campaigns. Send personal e-mails to important contributors.

7. Don't Run The Campaign Too Long

The length of a campaign is a balancing act. Longer campaigns does not necessarily mean more money. The longer your campaign, the harder it is to keep contributors engaged and donations can stagnate. On the other hand, the longer your campaign, the more contributors can be reached. According to Knight Foundation, campaigns should only be about a month long, unless you have good reasons for running it shorter or longer. Remember you have the alternative of running multiple, consecutive campaigns.

Publish This Article on your CrowdfundHQ site

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How about linking to this article in your sign-up e-mails to help your clients create successful campaigns?