Let’s talk about the video 120 rule, one of the 20 golden rules of crowdfunding. Let’s see why having a good video is so critical and how to go about it to produce a great one.
Without a great video, it’s much more difficult to get to your crowdfunding campaign fundraising objective. Specifically, a good campaign video increases the chances to reach your fundraising objective by 120%.
That means that without a campaign video the chances of success are less than half. And, on the other hand, having a campaign video increases by 2.2 the potential of the campaign.
How can you produce a good video for a crowdfunding campaign?
1. Putting story telling at the centre
When running a crowdfunding campaign you need to be aware you’re not merely “selling”. Your potential backers will be much more motivated to support you if they understand the reasons behind the campaign, your personal story that brought you to innovate and the challenges (past, present and future) of bringing the idea to life.
The backers will become really involved in your journey and will want to know what they can do to help and be part of it.
2. Showing you’re approachable and giving details fo the project
A formal approach tends to work less well than a more personal one. Showing your excitement about the idea, showing a prototype, sharing the experience with your team (that also should appear in the video)… the main role of the video is to bring the project closer to the potential backers.
The campaign video is a window for potential backers to get closer to the team that came up with the idea, the motivations and the challenges. That’s why we need to find exciting ways to get them engaged and motivated to back the project.
3. Guaranteeing a minimum standard of the footage
As a startup, you probably won’t have a massive budget to produce the next blockbuster. But we need to guarantee a minimum standard of image, sound and edition so the video is ‘watchable’. There are plenty of examples of great videos produced by the team behind the idea and many more that have used an external agency to produce it. Personally, I think it’s a great idea to find a good, affordable agency because they will produce at a good standard and also will bring additional creativity to the project. But if you have the skills in your team, by all means, use them!
4. Highlighting some of the rewards and the key points of the campaign
Take this opportunity to show the prototype of the product and describe some of the rewards, so the potential backers understand what they will be getting if they decide to support you.
If your target audience is not familiar with crowdfunding, you might need to explain the basic mechanism and why you’ve chosen this funding method to bring your project to life. Other details that might be interesting to share are what happens if you exceed your funding target.
How do we make sure we meet the video 120 rule?
- Telling the story behind the project and the key points of the campaign
- Sending a personal message to your potential backers
- Guaranteeing a minimum standard and sharing the video
Wrapping it up
The crowdfunding campaign video is probably your most effective tool to get to your funding objective. If you have any queries about how to maximise this opportunity or any other aspect of your crowdfunding campaign, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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