NCFA Guest Post | February 28, 2018

Crowdfunding is a great new way to raise the funding that you need for your next venture, whether you are hoping to start a small business of your own or you are working on an artistic project like a new album of music with your band. But how can you go about crowdfunding to make sure that you are doing it right and that you are raising the highest amount of money possible? Keep reading to discover a few helpful tips that you can put to use right away.

Consider Getting Legal Protection First

When you set up a crowdfunding campaign, you will be putting your ideas out there in order to let people know about what you are planning on doing. But once you put those ideas out there in the open on the World Wide Web, they might be stolen. People might take your ideas and run with them so that they can then make profits on your ideas without your consent. So, one of the first things that you should do is seek advice from a lawyer who has attended a program like that offered by USD Law School. In this way, you can rest assured that you will be getting the best and latest information on how to protect your creative aspirations. You might be told that you should copyright your ideas or apply for some sort of patent, as a copy of examples. The goal here is to protect your intellectual property before you launch your crowdfunding campaign.

Get Your Friends and Family Involved

You will need to find creative ways to market your crowdfunding campaign once it is up and running. But the first people that you can turn to for help in spreading the word are your friends and your family. Do not hesitate to get them involved so that they can enthusiastically share the news about your upcoming venture and your need for financial assistance to get the ball rolling.

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Your existing network on social media is also a great way to spread the word, as they can encourage their friends and family to get involved as well. The more people that are talking about your campaign and sharing the link to it, the better your results will be right from the start.

Give Great Rewards

Make sure that you set up tiers for potential donations that people can give, such as $5, $10, $20, and so on. With every tier, provide some kind of perk or reward in exchange for the donation. In this way, people will be even more motivated to give their money to you because they will be getting something substantial in return. Just be sure that the rewards are really interesting, relevant to your project, and worthwhile to donors.

Stay Active and Keep People Updated

Finally, stay active on social media and keep updating your campaign page as you have news to release about its progress. Your donors will appreciate the fact that you’re keeping them in the loop, and the more you promote your campaign, the more donors you can find.

With these tips, you could launch a successful crowdfunding campaign for your next venture and reach your goals in no time.

Other links you may like:

• Hacking the Startup Fundraising Matrix
• 10 reasons the $1 million crowdfunding cap should be $20 million

The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a national non-profit actively engaged with social and investment crowdfunding, alternative finance, fintech, peer-to-peer (P2P), initial coin offerings (ICO), and online investing stakeholders across the country. NCFA Canada provides education, research, industry stewardship, networking opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, academia and eco-system partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and online financing industry in Canada.  For more information, please visit: ncfacanada.org