Although some projects will take off on crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, others require more effort and strategic marketing. Some of these tools have been helpful to me personally and creators who have become a part of our community.
1. Buffer or Hootsuite
Buffer and Hootsuite are social media scheduling softwares that will allow you to set up the messages that will go out on your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other account over an extended duration of time. The service will also give you analytics on your social media posts, including how many people clicked on the links, re-shared them, and upvoted or liked them.
I love and use Buffer, though many people I have spoken with prefer Hootsuite. Learn more about how to increase engagement on your social media posts here.
2. Mailchimp or Aweber
MailChimp and Aweber are both software tools that you can use to send out newsletters to a large number of recipients. You can also create auto-responder sequences leading up to an event, like a product launch, and make them begin when someone opts in to your newsletter. For example, we use an auto-responder sequence to deliver our free Crowdfunding 101 course.
There are a lot of other email providers out there (like these). Some are free up until a certain number of subscribers and others are paid services right out of the gate.
3. PRWeb, CrowdfundingPR, or PRNewswire
Press releases are one way of getting the media’s attention about a particular news event. Keep in mind, that we highly recommend combining press releases with direct outreach for the best results. The websites above (one is ours!) have a varying level of outreach and cost.
Even though press releases can result in news stories that send traffic and pledges, no one marketing strategy should be thought of as a “silver bullet.” For some campaigns, PR outreach may be better suited than for others.
4. Sniply
When potential backers come to your website, you want to make it as easy as possible for them to connect with your mailing list and your new project. Sniply is one way to do this. You can check out a sample of what it looks like here.
You can also use tools like HelloBar and OptinMonster (if you have a wordpress-based website) to draw attention to a mailing list.
5. Pablo
Pablo is Buffer’s newest free tool for designing images with text for social media. It’s very easy to use and can drive more engagement to your social media accounts, as followers love interesting and inspiring quotes.
I’d also recommend looking into Canva, which is another software tool to create images for social media or blog posts.
6. BuySellAds, Facebook Ads, and Google Adwords
Depending on your product’s target audience and how traffic has converted already, you may be interested in paid advertising. I’ve already put together a very in-depth advertising guide, so I’ll just add to this that you should always be aware of how users will be interacting with your ads.
For example, Facebook users will discover your ads among a stream of other funny and inspiring videos in their newsfeed. Google users will be searching for something specific when they come across your advertisement. On BuySellAds, the users will discover your advertisement on a website that they frequent.
As a side note, CrowdCrux uses BuySellAds to manage ads. If you’d like to advertise with the blog, you can check out the listing here.
7. Rafflecopter
Finally, Rafflecopter is a great software tool that you can use to create a giveaway leading up to, during, or after your crowdfunding campaign. People can enter your giveaway by liking a page, tweeting a message, answering a question, or subscribing to a mailing list.
