What makes a crowdfunding campaign worth backing?

Entrepreneurs talk about how a good story gets funders interested and involved

“Make your funding partners a part of the journey and experience. Provide them with the opportunity to share and contribute in the design & development process and find a common cause that you can all get on board with. When there are hundreds of thousands of opportunities, you need to stick out and offer more than the norm.” — Ashif Mawji, president of Trust Science — trustscience.com

“The funder has the luxury of choice when it comes to backing campaigns, so it can all come down to a personal decision. Many may use social media as a guide, as well as factor in the popularity of the campaign, the strength in rate of growth as well as if it is local or not.” — Henry Maisonneuve, project officer City of Edmonton — edmonton.ca

“People back things that are truly life changing, exciting and inspiring.” — Kenya Kondo, founder of The Sharing Marketplace — GetNeighbor.com

“The product has to be consumer facing, not selling to business. The platform chosen should have accomplished success in similar companies, indicating the investors are a fit. Then, the company itself needs to create the demand.” — Don Pare, chairman of RvC. Inc and Vice Chairman of the Clean Scene — rvcapital.ca

“Just as with a new product or service, a crowdfunding campaign should solve a problem for someone. Having an interesting or thought-provoking reward for sponsoring the campaign is a cherry on top of the sundae.” — Kevin MacDonald, business consultant at L6S Business Consulting Inc — l6sbc.ca

“To make your idea visible and successful you need to come up with a good pitch and story behind it. Focus on the problem you solve and have a good social media coverage. Sometimes even a bit of luck makes a difference.” — Yuliya Cruikshank, founder of Epic Experiences — twitter.com/@EpicXPs

“Effective crowdfunding campaigns are built strategically. If the purpose of the campaign resonates with your target group, the question is how to get them to commit to the project. Some key aspects include telling your story and marketing your project so that they want to become involved, having a quality website and press materials and keeping your funders apprised of your progress by providing regular updates.” — Debbie Engel, owner of Debbie L. Engel Professional Corporation — depc.ca

P H OTO S U P P L I E D BY: L I SA PAT R I C K Lisa Patrick, founder of CBT and CBT Continuing Education (conventionbusinesstravel.com), believes that it is important to add a human element to a crowdfunding pitch. “Many entrepreneurs succeed because they know how to tell their story in a way that pulls their crowdfunding audience in and plays off of their emotions. We tend to feel first and think second. Your ability to leverage the power of a persuasive story in relation to your business, which will resonate with your audience and be extremely effective for support for your crowdfunding initiative. Simply put, humans are wired to love stories, the more compelling the story, the more likely you will be remembered, repeated and supported.”