For entrepreneurs and bootstrappers the world over, crowdfunding sounds like a dream.

You can secure funding for your business without taking on debt or even giving up equity (in some cases.) Engaged, passionate backers contribute to your new venture, and you raise the capital necessary to bring your product to market or scale the business. It’s all upside, right?

Crowdfunding is undeniably a huge development for small business funding. As much as $9.5 billion was raised in North America alone last year – a 146% increase over the prior year. In fact, the World Bank Crowdfunding Report estimates that the global industry will hit $93 billion by 2025.

So why isn’t everyone and their brother crowdfunding a startup? It isn’t right for every type of business, but the biggest detractor is that it takes a good amount time and effort to pull off a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign. And if there’s one thing that tends to get in the way of success, it’s hard work.

To help offset that time and effort investment, we put together this handy dandy guide to the ins and outs of launching a crowdfunding campaign that crushes its funding goals.

What the Most Successful Campaigns Get Right

The easiest way to cut down any learning curve is to pour over the experience of others who’ve gone before you. We’re big proponents of learning from our predecessors, so we’ll start by taking a look at what the most successful Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indiegogo campaigns do really well.

Product/Market Fit

Crowdfunding can seem like a good way to test market validation. If people invest in your business, that means there’s a pool of customers out there waiting, right?

In reality, a crowdfunding campaign isn’t the venue for testing this. In order to attract backers, you need to already know that:

1. people will buy your product and

2. who they are.

Approach your campaign just like marketing the actual product because *that’s what you’re doing. *If you’re out there trying to find out who to target while your campaign sits vacant at $0, the outlook isn’t great. Most campaigns bring in a large chunk of funding in the first 3 days, so it should be fully fleshed out and ready to hit the ground running before you launch.

Build Your Own Audience

Most of the big crowdfunding websites have their own audience – legions of followers who are interested in investing and helping bring new products to market. These followers are super engaged with the crowdfunding community... but that doesn’t always work out in your favor.

For one, there’s no guarantee they’ll be interested in your project. And in addition, avid backers have a lot options and limited capital to give – competition for their dollars is stiff.

That’s why it’s absolutely vital to bring your own audience to the table. Just like marketing a product, you have to build a loyal following. Find the early adopters – people who are as crazy about your idea as you are – and engage with them. Then make the ask. Don’t rely on Kickstarter to find those people for you.

Tell a Story

We’re bordering on marketing cliché here, but it’s as true today as the day someone first muttered "What if we build a story around our product?"

Crowdfunding backers aren’t that different from your average consumer – they’re still looking for a compelling reason to cough up some cash. Building a story around your product, your customers, and their pain-point(s) helps establish an urgent need for what you’re offering.

And just like traditional investors, backers aren’t just buying into your product – you need them to buy into you, the entrepreneur, too. That’s why taking a two-pronged approach to storytelling for your campaign can help you tell your own personal journey and explain how you came to be where you are.

Choosing the Right Platform

Now that you have an idea of what goes into a successful crowdfunding campaign, let’s look at the options you have for which platform to use. There are a ton of crowdfunding websites out there now – the most popular being Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe – but they’re far from one-size-fits-all.

Here are a few things to consider before you settle on a platform:

• Project type. What are you trying to fund? Artistic projects tend to perform better with Indiegogo’s audience, whereas tech products fare well on Kickstarter. Do some research on the types of projects that find success on each platform and choose your adventure.

• Campaign structure. Some platforms use what’s called an all-or-nothing model where you have to reach 100% of your funding goal in order to actually see any of the money. There are both pros and cons to all-or-nothing models (you can decide what’s best for your campaign) but it’s important to consider nonetheless.

• Rewards. Will backers get equity in your company in exchange for their investment? Are they essentially pre-ordering your product? Rewards aren’t vital, but many successful projects provide something in exchange for backers’ dollars, and expectations can vary from one platform to another.

• Fees. An inevitability when it comes to digital money – there are always fees. Most crowdfunding platforms charge similar percentages of your funding (around 2-3% usually), but the structure varies so keep these in mind.

Setting Up the Campaign

The back-end mechanics of setting up a campaign will vary from website to website, but the content and information you’ll need are the same.

The first, and possibly most important, thing is to set your funding target. How much money are you hoping to raise? A lot goes into this decision.

• The first question you should answer is, well, how much do you need? What are you planning to do with the funds you raise and how much will that cost?

• Another consideration is the rewards you plan to offer. If every backer gets one of your product, how many products do you have to "sell" to reach your goal? Can you handle that level of production? Will cost of goods sold undercut your new funding?

• The final thing to keep in mind is whether you’ve elected for the all-or-nothing model. If so, it usually makes sense to go with a more modest funding goal that you’re confident you can hit. You can always run additional campaigns should you need more capital down the line.

Content for Your Crowdfunding Campaign

Think of creating content for your campaign just as you would building your website. You have a limited share of potential backers’ attention and screen space, so it’s important that every letter and image packs a punch.

• Copy: Copy on your campaign page should be compelling and brief – it should speak directly to the target audience you’ve already identified for your campaign and in a language that reflects them.

• Images: If you’re fundraising for a physical product, photos are a must. Professional photos help backers get a feel for your product and can help add an element of branding to your campaign. They should be high-quality and emphasize the attributes that differentiate you from any existing competitors in the space. If you don’t have a quality camera (better than a smartphone), it might be worthwhile to invest in a professional shoot.

• Video: When it comes to telling your story and adding a personal touch, nothing does it like video. Create a brief, 1-2 minute video explaining who you are and who your business is. This is your pitch, so aim to make it both personal and professional.

Selling It

If you’ve already launched your business, you know that having the right stuff is only half the battle – you need people to hear about it, too. In the same way, promoting your campaign is a huge part of finding success with crowdfunding.

Here are a few ways to rock the promotion side of things:

• The most obvious way to get the word out about a crowdfunding campaign is to share it on social. Share it from your business accounts, your personal accounts, and ask friends & family to share, too. If your funding goal is rather lofty, it can be worth the investment in paid social ads on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… wherever best fits your project and its audience. Hint: Your video is a great way to get people talking on social.

• Once you’ve tapped your social following, outreach is the way to go. You may even want to begin outreach well before your campaign begins – build a network and email list that you can ping when you launch the campaign. A word of caution: don’t let outreach turn into spamming hundreds of people via email. Conduct outreach in a targeted way and you’ll find more valuable and engaged connections.

• If you’re a regular on our blog, you know we’re big fans of the referral program. That’s because it’s an easy way to tap into the otherworldly power of word of mouth – and it’s not just for product marketing. You can also use referrals and incentives to help spread the word about your crowdfunding campaign.

Hit Your Crowdfunding Goal

Crowdfunding is far from a hands-off way to gather funding for your business, but it can be incredibly powerful. With the right insights and a little elbow grease, you can turn a crowdfunding campaign into the next step for your business – and even learn a little more about marketing along the way.

P.S. If you’re still feeling lost, Foundr Mag has a super in-depth guide on the step-by-step process of launching a crowdfunding campaign.