Crowdfunding campaign updates build your relationships and increase your following.
Plus, you know, more funds don’t hurt.
Whether you rocked your own or took from our suggested guidelines, your campaign story is one tiny piece of what will hopefully become a wild success ride. We expect you will one day jump from Crowdfundr’s nest and fly away to continue your adventure as we wave goodbye with proud tears in our eyes. But updates will help launch you further along that journey.
What are updates and why are they important?
Updates are continuations of your story that you post to your campaign activity feed. When you update your campaign, a notification is sent to everyone who contributed and/or subscribed. With one click they are back on your campaign.
They help with two main things:
- Providing shareable material
- Building strong, positive relationships
Providing shareable material
Successful crowdfunding involves building your brand. A well-known marketing guideline called ‘the rule of seven’ suggests a person has to interact with a brand at least 7 times before they take action on it (i.e. purchase a product, interact with a service, etc.). It’s an old rule, and now it’s suggested that the number should be closer to ten, but the principle still applies.
You want to build your creator brand. I’m not saying this specific campaign needs to be shared over seven times before anyone will contribute – what I want you to take from this is that updates are powerful tools to help you build that brand with the crowd you currently have.
You know you’ll have to share your campaign A LOT. However, sharing the campaign over and over and over again isn’t conducive to recognizing and acting on your advertisement if it’s the same content every time. Then it becomes part of the scrolling background, and you will see a low click rate.
“Oh, right, that campaign. Yeah, I saw that before.” This isn’t the thought you want people to have. You want them to think, “Oh yeah! I saw that campaign, looks like there’s something new. I wonder what I’m missing?”
Updates provide NEW content for you and your supporters to share. And since crowdfunding is different from traditional brand marketing (for one, we’re asking for funds in advance of a product being created, meaning trust is a bigger factor), it’s more helpful to share different and engaging content. Which also helps with the next point.
Building strong, positive relationships.
I’ve written this multiple times across blog articles and toolkits: if you want to crowdfund successfully, and particularly if you plan on creating more than one campaign over your career, your audience needs to trust you.
During your campaign, many things could go awry and derail your project plans. A fire could burst out at your printing facility. A family emergency could take your attention away. A pandemic could start and delay shipping over the globe. I know, that last one seems so funny and unlikely when you write it like that…
The point is stuff happens, and you can’t always avoid it. Updates give you the unique opportunity to communicate directly and immediately to your customers, so they can learn about any hiccups almost as they happen. They then feel respected and develop a sense of trust in you and your brand. Which you will be grateful for when your next campaign starts.
I once contributed to a crowdfunding campaign and didn’t receive my product until one year later. Was I disappointed? Yes, of course. It was a kayak, and I wanted to use it that summer. Was I angry? Nope. Not even a little.
Every supporter received multiple updates throughout the year that left us with zero questions (other than ‘when am I going to get the dang thing?’). The year was 2020. Manufacturing and fulfillment centres were closed. No one knew anything. But the creators shared every tiny thing they possibly could to stay in communication with their supporters, so we knew exactly what they were working on. Five-star customer service.
Unfortunately, I was a couch potato during the pandemic, and I think I only used the kayak twice that first year.
What should updates be?
Updates aren’t regulated to knee-jerk reactions to roadblocks. They can be almost anything as long as the content is new, relevant, and engaging.
- Background stories about the project
- New variation announcements
- Pictures/video of boxing or unboxing product
- Shipping updates
- Stretch goals and/or other promo announcements
- Insight into the creation process
- Survey questions
- Digital free gifts (this campaign gave digital Valentine’s Day cards!)
- Anecdotes of how you got to where you are
- Funny pictures of your dog
- A random thought you had
There is not much an update can’t be. In fact, there is only one thing I would argue that an update shouldn’t be: an ask for more support.
It’s fine to celebrate a milestone – say when you reach 50% of your goal. That’s certainly something to call out to your supporters (especially if it happened quicker than you anticipated!), but unless you are providing new rewards for them to claim, asking them to help you further by contributing more isn’t going to leave a great taste in their mouths. There are many more natural ways to increase support through storytelling that you should check out first.
How many updates should a campaign have?
I’m going to tell you a secret: this is a bit easier to answer for the cause-related projects we see on our FundRazr platform. When someone is contributing to this type of campaign, they’re expecting the owner to deliver what was promised to someone else in need, and the demand for transparency is stronger. As projects run, I coach how imperative it is to constantly communicate project progress (one or two updates a week, ideally).
With creative-project crowdfunding, there is less of a ‘rule’ I can provide. With all-or-nothing campaigns, you’re running for sixty days maximum, and you need to hit that goal, or you’ll receive no funding at all. Because of this, I still recommend one or two updates a week, primarily for the shareable content and especially if you need to grow your crowd.
If you have a strong following and a keep-it-all campaign, you might be able to get away with less. An update every couple of weeks, for example.
Some updates can be planned! Of course, you can’t predict shipping delays or exactly how your campaign will do, but if you already have some content to share, then go ahead and plan for it. And you can set a specific time and date for them to go live, so if you have some time to craft and schedule them all in one go, you’ll save future-you some work.
Now, onward to updates!
If you need ideas or advice, browse Crowdfundr’s campaigns or ask me and my team. We’re weirdos who truly enjoy questions and helping out when your creative brain is just a little too burned out for another task.
Good luck!
Yours in success,
Shan
