How to Leverage a Marketing Event to Create Buzz for Your Crowdfund
Crowdfunding campaigns that utilize (or create) marketing events encourage more pledges and see a marked increase in success rate.
Here are three examples of buzzworthy events to use as marketing tools for your campaign:
Holidays and Seasons
Do you have a consumer-facing product that would make the perfect holiday gift? Whether it’s Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or Easter, use your product’s appeal to funnel backers through your
crowdfunding campaign.
The easiest way to do this is through product reviews by media outlets. Often, outlets need dozens of products to include in a gift guide. Research journalists that put together gift guides and send a pitch offering a sample of your product.
If you choose to utilize a holiday as a marketing event, be sure to plan ahead and time your crowdfunding campaign to ensure enough time to send samples, get reviews, and manufacture/ship rewards in time for the holiday. Reviews can take up to a month to be posted, so you’ll want to give yourself plenty of time to get your product packaged and mailed out.
Major Life Events
If your crowdfunding campaign offers rewards that would be perfect for high school or college graduation, aim to end your campaign in May or June so that backers can place pre-orders to be received by graduation parties. Likewise, if your crowdfunding campaign offers rewards that brides everywhere would love, time your campaign to end near June – the month that boasts the highest number of weddings each year.
Marketing around major life events like graduation or weddings allows you to create a story for niche publications that will focus on your target audience. These include student newspapers, bridal magazines, or any other outlet that sees a significant amount of pick up around major life events.
Industry Events and Trade Shows
Will your industry hold a huge trade show during your crowdfunding campaign? Could you potentially speak or demonstrate your product at this trade show?
Utilize this opportunity to let others know about your company and product and provide a laptop (or three) near your presentation for excited audience members to immediately back your campaign. The more pumped up you can get the crowd, the more pledges you can earn for your crowdfund!