Home Articles Stand out of the crowd with crowd funding. Ironic huh?

Stand out of the crowd with crowd funding. Ironic huh?

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Are you are a struggling start-up or, do you just desire to give your business that extra oomph with a huge injection of cash? Crowd funding could be the magic wand you need right now.

So what the heck is crowd funding? Basically, this is how crowd funding goes. People come together, usually via the internet, pool their cash and inject it all together into an initiative by another person or organisation.

Why do people back crowd funding projects?

The reasons are plenty! One, some just want to show their friends some love. Others are supporting people they have admired for long. Many are just inspired by a new idea and want to get their hands on what is on offer. 

Plus, most projects often offer a perk in exchange for funding. This perk could take the form of a product, service, discount or even a membership. As long it is something of value, it will work. In fact, crowd funding is booming so much right now it could very easily reach the $500 billion mark within the next 10 years.

Where do these crowd funding backers come from?

Most of the time, your initial funds will come from friends, family, fans and social media connections related to the person launching the project.

However, PR has a long term effect on the success of the project. If your first backers like it, they’ll spread the word to their friends, and so on until your project becomes the Gangnam Style of crowd funding. This is where the press, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and crowd funding sites such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter and Pozible come in.

So how best do you go about crowd funding?

You must have guessed already that a huge crowd of Australians are flocking to crowd funding. This is mainly because getting cash from banks is becoming trickier by the day. Sign here, sign there, bring this, bring that…

So, if you’re going to do this you will have to do it the right way.

1. Watch the rest, learn from the best. Don’t just jump into the game, first go do your home work. Do very thorough research and learn everything you can using the various discussions taking place all over the web. You will be amazed how much insight you can get to kick start your project.

2. Set your goals before you attempt to score. You need to know where exactly you want to go before you start walking or, else you could easily lose your way. You should have a clear picture of exactly what you want to achieve. Don’t forget to keep your goals realistic and achievable

3. Sell your story. Produce a video that will grab anyone’s attention. Set yourself apart from the crowd. This is not the place to be shy. Express yourself as best as you can. The better you do this, the more interest you will receive.

4. Be active online. Crowd sourcing and social media go together like Lindsay Lohan and paparazzi. So jump on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and make sure as many people as possible know about your project. Of course it goes without saying that you should ask your close friends to help with sharing the project.

5. Remember to say thank you. Once you have made it, don’t just lean back and gloat. Acknowledge your supporters, in person if possible. The words, “Thank you” go a long way, plus you never know when you will next need their help again.