How to use video for crowdfunding

Crowdfunding has become a very viable option for many entrepreneurs. In this article, I’ll go over how you can use video to generate more money for your cause or idea with video.

First —

Why use crowdfunding?

Here are some insightful statistics on crowdfunding from Fundera:

• Crowdfunding generates ~$17 billion in North America.
• Funds raised grew by 34 percent year-over-year as of 2020.
• Overall crowdfunding projects have 47 backers, while successful projects have an average of 300 backers.
• In general, the average pledge for fully funded projects is $96, while all crowdfunding projects is only $88.
• Successful crowdfunding projects received $28,656 on average.
• The average amount raised by all crowdfunding projects in 2019 was $824.

As you can see, the difference between an average campaign and a successful one is staggering. You could lose thousands of dollars if you don’t have a compelling project or idea. Or you don’t have the right messaging in your crowdfunding project.

This is why you need to have solid ad copy and design for your crowdfunding webpage. Finally, you need to top it all off with the right video assets, in particular you need to produce high quality branding videos. Either produce it yourself or hire a professional team.

Why video is needed in your crowdfunding campaign

In this article, I highlight just a sliver of the extensive research (available out there) on the use of video by content creators, marketers and business owners.

In short, video is 👑 king when it comes to marketing. 

With the right messaging, video can get complete strangers to take out their credit cards and spend it on your products, services and/or ideas!

People connect with video because it is the closest form to human communication available to marketers. There’s only so much text and photo can convey.

With video, you can have the founder discuss passionately about their idea and why they will be successful. This down-to-earth message can resonate with someone who doesn’t know you and what you’re all about.

According to Kickstarter, projects boost their success rate to 50 percent with video. Campaigns with no video generally have a 30 percent success rate.

As I mentioned previously, a successful campaign generates about $30,000 in pledges. It’s imperative you do what is necessary to increase your chances of launching a successful crowdfunding project.

How to use video in your crowdfunding project

Here are the various steps you can use to produce compelling branding videos for your crowdfunding project.

Produce a short video

First, understand most people who view your project don’t know you. Moreover, there are likely other projects competing for the attention of your target audience.

So you only have a short window to impress and convince cold traffic to pledge to your cause.

This means you should design a 1-2 minute video about what you’re all about. If you have a more verbose message and have a lot to say (which makes sense as a passionate founder), you can always direct them to your website, where you can host the longer form version of your video.

Have a proper video structure

But for cold traffic (who are visiting your crowdfunding page for the first time), create a short 2-minute video about what you’re all about. It should answer succinctly the following:

• Who are you?
• Why are you passionate about this project?
• What are you trying to achieve?
• How can someone contribute to your cause?

Since this is cold traffic, it’s only prudent to state your name. It seems simple but think about it…

When you first meet someone, what’s the first thing you do?

You exchange names. Remember this is a personal message. So you can’t be more personal than introducing your name and answering the most basic question – who are you?

Next comes a discussion about your project. More specifically discuss why your passionate about your project. This is when you show your passion and really connect with that person who is meeting you for the first time.

This should be the meat of your video because you’re using emotional appeal. The key ingredient to successful sales is the appeal to emotions. 

Potential customers almost always make decisions with the heart and not the head.

Hence, the “why” portion of your video should be the “meat” of your message.

Once you’ve hooked the viewer with emotional appeal, answer what you’re trying to achieve. Let’s say you want to save the planet from climate change.

What are you going to do about it?

Perhaps, you want to make watches made out of recycled wood. Or you want to design a maritime vessel to clean up the garbage patch in the Pacific.

Whatever it is — explain what you’re going to do to solve the question at hand.

Finally, the how section of the video. This is your call-to-action (CTA). This is how a potential visitor can contribute to your efforts. 

The CTA is the second most important factor in a successful video.

Without a CTA, you are potentially leaving it to chance that the viewer will remember to contribute to your cause. By having a clear CTA, you are directly telling your viewer (who has at this point invested his or her time to watch your entire video) for money for your cause.

You can’t get a sale without asking for the sale!

Tell a story

The Bible is the most successful book ever published. The various texts that make it up brought the world 3 major religions. 

Do you know the secret?

It’s their use of storytelling. Time after time – the various teachings are followed by a story or a metaphor, like the shepherd leading the flock to the greener pastures.

The clever use of storytelling and metaphors helped make the Bible a powerful piece. It’s why millions today connect with the stories and the teachings.

People love stories. 

Whether it’s the Bible or a cool movie on Netflix, we give our attention to a piece of work if it has a cool story.

This is why your videos should rely on using stories. It should follow this basic formula:

• State the dilemma or question.
• Provide a solution.
• Tell a story to drive home the point.

For example, you are in the personal finance niche. Your video is about how to find financial freedom in your ‘30s. Your solution is to start a business.

To make your message even more powerful, you should tell a story (ideally your personal journey) about entrepreneurship. If you talk about your struggles working in a 9-5 job in your 20’s, then you finally make that leap into entrepreneurship…

People can connect to that story. Nobody likes getting lectured on and just receiving facts. You can get these anywhere on the Internet. There’s no shortage of blogs and videos talking about entrepreneurship.

To differentiate yourself and connect with your viewers, tell a personal story or compelling metaphor to back up your point.

You’ll get better engagement and start to develop a personal connection with your viewers.

Use proper video SEO

If you’re not familiar with the term, SEO stands for search engine optimization. By following basic SEO guidelines, you can make your crowdfunding page more friendly to Google’s AI. Thereby, increasing your chances of being found on the Internet by your target audience.

You can follow basic video SEO by targeting keywords related to your niche. Let’s say your crowdfunding project is about raising money to build an ocean sweeper to clean the Pacific garbage patch.

Research what people are searching on the Internet about cleaning the Pacific garbage patch. What exact words are they typing? Can those words be framed into a question? What’s the most popular question they’re trying to answer?

Then you create a video that talks about their concerns. Include the video in your title. Provide a keyword rich description for the video.

By following basic video SEO, you make your crowdfunding page more friendly to the Google AI bot. This will increase organic visits, which will increase your chances of a successful crowdfunding project.

Final Word

Remember what’s at stake:

Successful crowdfunding projects receive an average of $28,000+, while the average of ALL crowdfunding projects in 2019 was just $824. 

There’s a significant gap (when it comes to money received) between successful and not-so-successful crowdfunding campaigns.

You must do everything to increase the chances of success for your crowdfunding projects. You can do this with proper web page design and ad copy. 

Finally, you ought to know how to use video for crowdfunding. It’s this final piece that will make your crowdfunding campaign stand out.