Building early momentum from the day your pitch launches on Crowdcube is vital to its success, so it’s important you make the most of your first 48 hours on the site.
Here are our top tips for building early momentum:
Plan ahead
It may seem obvious, but don’t leave it until the day you launch to plan how you’re going to promote your pitch. Preparation is key. Running a crowdfunding campaign is fast-paced, so make sure you have your pitch promotion activity planned and prepped so it's ready to go before you launch.
Convert your lead investment
If you’ve secured any lead investment, it’s important to ensure this investment goes through within the first 48 hours of your pitch going live. This demonstrates traction and interest in your pitch, which in turn, will drive interest from the wider crowd.
Warm up your network
Warm up your network of customers, colleagues, friends, family and potential cornerstone investors by letting them know you’re crowdfunding, and that they can invest and become a shareholder in your business. Most businesses choose to warm up their network through emails but if you find other channels, such as your social networks or website, are more effective for you, use the channels you know work best.
Don’t forget, your network may know about your business from a consumer’s point of view but not from an investor’s perspective, so you will need to sell your business rather than just promoting your product.
To ensure you cover all the key points, we suggest you include a brief summary of:
- The business proposition, aim and why you’re raising finance
- Examples of traction such as revenue, partnerships and contract wins
- Future potential and market opportunity
- What crowdfunding is and how to invest
To help keep potential investors engaged and up to speed with your campaign, we also suggest sending a series of targeted follow-up emails. For example, a launch announcement on the day your pitch goes live on Crowdcube, at important milestones throughout your raise (for example when you reach 50%, 75%, 100% etc.) and a ‘last chance to invest’ email at least 24 hours before the pitch closes to investment.
Promote the raise on your website
Converting customers to investors can deliver long-term benefits to your business, so it’s well worth engaging them as part of your crowdfunding campaign. Referral traffic from your website plays a vital part in promoting your raise and can help turn your customers and advocates into investors.
Make it clear to everyone who lands on your website that you’re crowdfunding on Crowdcube and that they now have the opportunity to invest and own a stake in the business. Whether you do this through a banner, a link in your navigation or even a pop-up, it’s up to you. Just make sure a clear message is visible on your site, and that people can access your pitch on Crowdcube with just a click or two to find out more.
Get the team involved
If you’ve warmed up your crowd effectively you should receive forum questions and requests to access your Restricted Documents from day one, so delegate tasks to members of your team. This way you can effectively communicate with interested investors on your pitch page, whilst making sure you’re still driving interest and awareness of your raise through your marketing activity.
You can find more information on how to effectively promote your pitch, here.
