Back to the Basics| Growth Hacking Crowdfunding Fundamentals
Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it can definitely grow through the use of internet campaigns. With the rise of crowdfunding sites, such as gofundme.com, kickstarter.com, and indiegogo.com, the question of how to maximize these platforms logically arises. Founder of Growth.ly, a growth marketing agency, Justin Wu enumerated the basics of crowdfunding in his talk at the 2017 Miami Growth Hacking Summit.
In terms of his own ventures, Wu raised a stunning $2.5 million in 30 days and $1 million within the first week of posting his project to Kickstarter. Wu’s project took the form of a tablet-like device that mirrors what is currently present on your phone screen; the device did not include an operating system. After the success of this initial campaign, Wu believes that “crowdfunding growth is applicable to all entrepreneurs and marketers,” and that “every company should think and act like a Kickstarter.”
The Basics
Here are some of Wu’s key tips for those looking to use crowdfunding as an effective fundraising method
— Start with a growth mindset: Think like a crowd-funder.
Give yourself deadlines and push yourself to the limits in order to use high growth practices every day. Before his project gained real tractions, he generated 40,000 emails for publicity.
— Plan
According to Wu, “If you don’t plan, you’re planning to fail.”
— Before launching consider: What’s the best platform (FB, Instagram, etc)?
Try to get to number one on one platform to increase traffic. Being ranked #1 overall and in tech on Kickstarter for 2 weeks is what made all the difference for Wu. His campaign is was ranked the top 40 Kickstarter of all time.
As stated by Justin himself, “Kickstarters are the most condensed form of marketing,” so use that to your advantage.
As always we hope you continue to learn, act and build with the LAB Miami.
