Start a campaign
1. Build your project
2. Get feedback
3. Launch it to the world!
4. Track your progress
5. Funded!
6. Backer Communications
1. Build your project
Build your project
We presume that you’ve already built a crowdfunding campaign somewhere before. If you haven’t, we hope this will be helpful.
Anyone that meets our creator requirements is eligible to launch a project. Just head to our start page to begin building your project. Feel free to save your project as a draft and return to finish it up or submit it for review at a later date.
To create a project, you’re required to provide your location, age, national ID, banking and tax information, email, and mailing address. This information is necessary to prevent fraud, comply with the law, and — if your project is successful — to deliver funds. Please note: after launch, your ability to edit, hide, or delete a project is limited.
Things potential backers will want to know:
-Who are you? Your history in the given genre and your motivation behind the current project.
-What is the project? Where did the idea come from? What makes it fascinating for a potential backer?
-What is your plan? Lay out a potential schedule.
-What is your budget? Where is the money going to?
-Add product images and video. The product needs a face. Make it a captivating one.
-Reward tiers. If you have stretch goals, make them workable and give a wide range of choices, from the smallest hook to the Total Backer. Be aware, there are things that are prohibited here (use some common sense!) and you need to consider added shipping costs and fulfillment fees.
Start a campaign
2. Get feedback
Get feedback
We will review your campaign and contact you to get any needed clarifications.
Be aware that your funding goals need to be realistic. You’re going to need to give yourself a decent cushion for cost overruns, fees, shipping, materials, etc. Be realistic with this, as it happens often and can leave you on the hook for things you never considered.
Should you be wildly successful and find yourself in danger of having to fulfill the needs of far more backers than you anticipated, you can always cap your funding and end the campaign. You’ll need to contact us if you do this, of course.
Start a campaign
3. Launch it to the world!
Launch it to the world!
Together, we’ll set a start date and time for your campaign. Now is your time to beat the drum about it—tell your friends and family, notify the press, start advertising campaigns, etc.
The majority of initial funding usually comes from the fans and friends of each project. If they like it, they’ll spread the word to their friends, and so on.
Press, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and Grassfunder itself are also big sources of traffic and pledges.
Start a campaign
4. Track your progress
Track funding progress
Grassfunder’s all-or-nothing model allows you to choose a funding goal and a set number of days to reach that goal. This way, you don’t get stuck without enough funds to realize your project. It also gives backers incentive to pledge more to help you reach your goal.
Now is when the real work begins. You will be very busy in the first few days getting the word out on various platforms to your target backers. Social media, print, email, and Grassfunder itself. Check back day to day to see what works and what needs tweaking in order to reach the maximum possible audience. Never overlook word of mouth references as well! You can check your dashboard regularly to see what works.
Google Analytics opens up a whole new world of trusted, powerful tools, from custom reports and dashboards to the ability to track how many visits to the project page are converting into pledges. Its a good way to track what needs to be done, i.e.: adding stretch goals or capping your campaign to keep it manageable.
Don’t forget to publish regular updates on Grassfunder for your backers! Everyone likes to be kept in the loop.
Start a campaign
5. Funded!
Funded!
You’ve reached your target goal or blown past it with great success, and the campaign has reached it’s end date. What now?
Grassfunder sends you an automated alert when your project has ended. Assuming you have reached your funding goal, your next step is to contact us, and re-verify your banking and contact credentials, so we may send you your funding, minus credit card fees and our own 5% fee. Contacting us in a timely manner with correct info will speed things along and get you on the track of fulfilling your backer’s needs in terms of actual project completion and the disbursement of stretch goals.
Start a campaign
6. Backer Communications
Keep backers in the loop
Your backers and fans need to hear it when your campaign ends and the fun of project completion begins!
The analytics in the Dashboard give you the power to develop your backer mailing list. At project completion, you can (and should) get a list of backer email addresses to work with as your BackerBase. Keep them updated with project landmarks as you move to completion, and especially the work you do to fulfill their stretch goals. Everyone loves hearing updates, and it makes them feel like members of your team (which of course they are!). The more regular the updates, the better your backers feel about the campaign and the more likely they are to support your future campaigns wholeheartedly. This is where you create that all-important word of mouth buzz for your future work!