Today we’ll talk about the virtual identity rule, one of the 20 golden rules of crowdfunding. What do most of us do when we want to understand better the specs and reviews of a product on the internet? Easy: we do some research.
When we have the possibility to research a product or a service on the net with only a few clicks, we usually take it. Of course, this applies to crowdfunding too and any team behind a campaign must be completely aware of it when preparing to launch.
Without a virtual identity for your idea, you will not have the credibility needed for your crowdfunding campaign.
How to go about it? Let’s look at some easy steps we can take.
1. Creating a brand that will identify you online and offline
And by brand, I mean not only your name, logo, colours, typography, look and feel, etc. It goes way beyond all of that. What are your mission and vision? What are your brand values? What is the personality of your brand? Are you informal and amusing? Or serious and focussed on performance?
It’s really worth spending some time working on this. With a consistent brand across the internet and beyond, your potential backers will be able to start remembering what you’re about and you’ll have a much better chance to convert them once you launch your campaign.
2. Creating profiles of the team and the idea on social media
You need to make sure that both your team and idea has a social media presence. Go ahead and create an account in the most popular social networks. As of 2021, the most effective networks are Instagram, Twitter and the emerging TikTok. It’s also a good idea to create a more business-minded profile on LinkedIn. Follow best practices
It’s never too early to start building a following in all of the networks above, so we can tap into this initial community once we’re launching our pre-campaign. And remember, at any point, to embody the brand you’ve created with step one.
3. Creating a website for the idea
Although things are moving really fast, there’s still value in creating a web page for the idea of the product. This is your best way to bring to life the brand you’ve created in step one.
Tools like WordPress or even Shopify (if the idea is to continue selling the product after the campaign is over) make it super simple for people with limited coding experience to start a web page. Remember to buy your domain name – it would be a great disappointment to find out your preferred name.
Use that space to tell a story about the product, the team (have you worked on other projects before?), the campaign, etc. Some backers will want to understand all of that before opening their wallet.
How do we make sure we meet the virtual identity rule?
- Building a consistent brand online and offline.
- Building your social media presence, both for the team and the idea.
- Buying an internet domain and creating a website
Wrapping it up
Having a consistent presence offline and, more importantly online, is crucial to build the necessary credibility for your crowdfunding campaign.
If you have any queries about this or any other aspect of your crowdfunding campaign, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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