Top 5 Crowdfunding Press Release Mistakes

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• published: 29 Sep 2015
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Don't make these most common crowdfunding press release mistakes: Let’s face it, promoting a crowdfunding campaign has become a lot harder over the past couple of years. The leading rewards based crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo launch close to 500 new campaigns each and every day. Currently around 20,000 projects fight for the attention of backers and media. With more and more companies looking to crowdfunding as a marketing vehicle more than simply a way to raise money, the industry is growing up quick and there’s little hope for campaigns with a zero dollar budget to break through the noise. Yes, Potato Salad raised $55k as a joke but that’s not a sound business model follow. Only about 2% of all rewards crowdfunding campaigns raise more than $100k and the majority of success stories have a marketing team, a budget and a plan that is executed with the precision of a Swiss watch. The myth of simply launching a campaign so that strangers “can start giving” to your project or cause is quickly replaced by the shocking reality: It doesn’t work like that. Journalists get flooded with requests to write about the next big crowdfunded gadget, film or game so if you want their attention, your campaign needs to be on it’s A-game and look like a shining success in the making. Certain things are absolute no-goes and have made this incomplete list of deadly crowdfunding PR mistakes: Deadly Crowdfunding PR Mistake #1: Shoot too soon If you want to make sure your pitch gets ignored, simply send out a press release and email your media list while your campaign has no or very little contributions. Nothing turns off a journalist quicker than a campaign that looks like a flop. Remember, journalists don’t write about campaigns because they want them to go viral. Journalists write about campaigns they think are going viral so they can attach their name to your success story. The truth is nobody likes to bet on a losing horse, so never ever send a press release unless you have at least 30% of your goal already funded. If you’re not at 30% yet, don’t waste your bullets and wait until you’re ready. Deadly Crowdfunding PR Mistake #2: Send a poorly written Press Release Journalists are busy bees and if you don’t make it easy for them they won’t bother with your project. Google how to write a press release if you have never written a press release before or get professional help. Websites like Fiverr or UpWork feature countless providers of press release writing services that you can tap into for help. The importance of a professional and well structured press release cannot be overstated, with the goal being to make it as easy as possible for the journalist to understand what exactly your project is about and to access all relevant information. Make sure to include images, videos and links to your campaign page, website and social media accounts in addition to your name and a contact phone number. Deadly Crowdfunding PR Mistake #3: Don’t use a Press Release distribution service Let’s start by looking at what kinds of press release distribution services there are. There are newswire services like PRNewswire or PRWeb who submit PR through the so called “newswire”, usually powered by the Associated Press. These kinds of news releases cost between $249 and $499 and are good for publicity and search engine exposure but offer the same value as more moderately priced services like Krowdster PR Distribution where similar services cost just $49 and is additionally pushed on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Deadly Crowdfunding PR Mistake #4: Don’t use Media Lists Submitting a press release is really just one part of a successful PR strategy. Mind you that the majority of journalists don’t get their news off the wire anymore, they use search engines and social media like all of us do which is why a PR distribution service that also offers social media promotion is preferable. While your PR distribution serves as a blanket approach to reaching as many people as possible, using Media Lists will allow you to identify and personally contact high value journalists who write about topics around your campaign. Most major press coverage that you see about other crowdfunding projects comes from taking the time to personally reaching out to journalists and sharing your PR with them. Deadly Crowdfunding PR Mistake #5: Don’t run a Press Release Regardless of how much harder it may be to get media coverage these days, the worst thing you can do is nothing. By avoiding the 4 mistakes from above you’re already way ahead of most crowdfunders who didn’t do their homework. Don’t launch your press release too soon, write a quality press release, get a good distribution service and highly targeted crowdfunding media lists so you can get the kind of results you want and deserve.