You drop another round of drinks down on the table. It’s a great fucking day. You’ve gathered your mates, it’s time to celebrate. Drinks are on you, literally, but you don’t give a damn. That’s what happens when cheers become too eager and glasses decide to spill their guts upon you.
One of your friends, the smartarse one (which to be fair is most of them), brings ‘It’s a boy!’ and ‘It’s a girl’ balloons because that project, that idea is YOUR baby. And it’s just been given birth to.
Now you’re all singing – “We are the Champions!” – as you do.
You throw back another beer, slam the glass mug onto the table and grin stupidly from beneath your beer foam moustache, and remember how it was not that long ago you were sitting around just shooting the shit as you always do on a late friday afternoon after work, throwing around ideas and dreaming about that ‘oh wouldn’t it be cool’ project. The kind of thing that rarely makes it past the drunken nights shit talk, other than those times you find it loitering in the back of your mind like some seedy guy at a train station.
Or maybe it was that brilliant idea you’d love to do as a business, but with everything else going on you place it on the backburner, and consider it something you would love to do, if you had the time and funds. The truth is, it will probably stay there until someone else has that same great idea and capitalises on it, making you want to punch yourself in the face for not doing it sooner.
Well thank fuck for Crowd Funding huh?
In some ways it’s that drunken ideas saviour. That thing that can help those who are perpetually coming up with ideas but never able to (or willing to depends on the debate) implement them.
It allows for a fair fight. It gives ideas and innovative projects and personal passions a chance of survival.
And that in itself is pretty damn cool.
Now I’m going to assume that you have heard of Crowd Funding and if not I hope you’ve been living in a submarine for the last however many years because that will be the only excuse I will accept. (Oh and it better be yellow because I don’t want that Beatle’s song to have started playing in my head for nothing.)
Anyway, I’m assuming you do. That you get the general gist of it. That you understand that once an idea germinates and has become one of the chosen few, you chuck it up on your Crowd Funding site of choice (making sure it fits the criteria so it is accepted), list a bunch of prizes as incentives to donate and set a time limit and a goal amount to reach for your little project.
And then maybe you wait like it’s New Year’s as that clock ticks down to midnight, the money rolls in like some telethon counter (or not), and you wait to see if you’ve won.
Well, you’d do that if you weren’t smart.
But I trust you know it takes more than that.
So let’s look at this like a game, because there is an element of win or lose to the whole affair, but you’re going to do what you can to come out the victor, right?
THE GAME
It doesn’t matter what your idea is, it doesn’t matter if it’s small or large, or something slightly or insanely crazy (have you seen some of the most successful campaigns? Potato salad anyone?) it is worth getting it out there.
Even if you’re not looking to make a million dollars straight away or you just want to ‘cut your teeth’ on a smaller more personal project, Crowd Funding is a great way to gain some momentum. And have a dream come true. You have to be in it to win it.
Now if your project isn’t planning on making you millions (or even if it is) there are some things you still need to know to give this a fighting chance. There is some level of organic growth that may take place, but you can’t rely on just that. Just putting it up on the site and ‘seeing how it goes’ really is the chump’s way of doing a Crowd Funding Campaign.
Crowd Funding is an engagement project, just as much as it is a marketing one.
You’ve got to play the game just right.
PRIZES
Now who doesn’t love to win shit?
*crickets*
I thought so.
This is one of the best parts of the ‘Crowd Funding’ game. The rewards.
Each campaign has the opportunity to be a Win/Win situation. The campaigners – that could be you (I mean should be you, at some point) – can come out with their project about to be realised and the pledgers, of course, can walk away with some very nice little prizes.
Beats dropping balls in clowns mouths now doesn’t it?
It’s also time to get creative here. Have prizes that are inclusive of those who have pledged. People immerse themselves in games because they want to be part of it. So consider making them part of it. It’s like one giant thankyou for their support.
Plus, without them, without the ‘players’ your idea would never make it out there alive.
THE PLAYERS.
‘You can get by with a little help from your friends.’
No really.
It’s time to recruit.
There is no game without players right? These are the people that can make your dreams a reality. These are the people that believe in you and your idea. Treat them accordingly. Bring them into your world.
Crowd Funding is about engaging people, it’s about bringing together your people. Think of it like a playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons or gathering your niche, clients and prospects around you. It’s all about building your army.
Basically, it’s a call out to get people to jump aboard your bandwagon!
Better yet, if these are the people that are going to stick around long term and potentially do more stuff with you, and can help spread the word!
PARTICIPATION
If there is one thing that we can learn from playschool (an iconic Australian show for children for those not in the know) it’s that people love a good story – as well as clocks and rocket ships, and bears maybe too.
Okay, off track.
If you have a story to tell, and I’m sure you do, then it’s time to bring this out during your campaign. Let them be part of the narrative. Think about how they can come along for the ride, know more about the project, know more about you. And also consider having them be part of the prizes as well. Allow people to be part of something.
Imagine if part of the story meant that you could decimate zombies while sabotaging the efforts of your team mates, as you go all AWOL on the contracted mission, inside a medical facility in lockdown.
It’s happened before.
So, are you ready to play?
But wait! There’s more!
Let’s look ‘beyond the game.’
INNOVATION
This is where you can get all cutting edge. This is where all those hairbrain schemes you come up with can enjoy the light of day. Even if only for a moment.
We all know (don’t we?) that innovative ideas are the way of the future – now that we’ve realised hover-boards aren’t likely anytime soon – although…hmm…has someone created a campaign for that?
We all know that those things that shake us out of our daydream, that provide us with an escape, are what people seek. Maybe your idea does just that! Or maybe you can really begin to think outside the box…(what box is that exactly?)
Now if what you have isn’t innovative (or if you really don’t think it is) but it is an idea or project that you feel passionately about, why not see if it has legs? Why not see if there are others out there that feel the same?
I mean, really, why the fuck not?
You never know where things can lead. Even the most crazy inventions and ideas have gone on to ‘do great things.’ What if some annoying customer hadn’t complained about the fries being too soggy in George Crum’s New York restaurant? What if George hadn’t ingeniously (with a touch of smartarse) cut the potatoes fine, deep fried and salted the hell out of them and served them back to the customer? I tell you what, we would not have potato chips, and that, ladies and gentlemen, would be a damn shame!
The fact that it was ‘accidental’ makes no difference. The point is, if you come up with a great, or crazy, or smartarse idea, you could just turn it into something that, for all intents and purposes, changes the world.
So, give ideas and innovation a chance man!!!
BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD
I’m not going all bumper sticker on you now, but what I want you to consider is that to make change you have to make good with the change.
The smallest things sometimes really do make the biggest differences. Pocket change for some may mean someone’s dream is realised. Don’t you want to be a part of that? Wouldn’t you like someone to do that for you?
Consider –
Just how many great ideas are hidden within someone who couldn’t get their project over the line? How many ideas never make it out there alive because people of fear? Fear of failing or rejection or having to follow through. And consider that for the small amount of people who decide to put their ‘balls on the chopping block’, what it is they’re actually doing.
They’re giving it a shot. And in my books that’s pretty admirable.
Sometimes you just have to make your own opportunities.
Supporting artists and innovators and entrepreneurs, those willing to put it all out there, should be rewarded. So why not throw down some money, it need only be the coinage you find down the back of your couch, it could be the difference between an artist or start up feeding their family. (Probably not really but are you picking up what I’m putting down?)
Maybe one day someone will do that for YOU!
BOASTING RIGHTS
You got the mug. You got the shirt. It took just a few dollars and a little bit of time. But your contribution now means that someone’s dream has been realised. You’ve made a difference in someone’s day. You can now sit at the pub with your mug full of whatever is your poison and boast to your friends how YOU, yes that’s right YOU, helped bring something to life. Helped create something magical. Helped deliver someone’s ‘baby.’
(Nevermind the pregnant friend sitting in the corner, sipping on their glass of cold water between contractions.)
I mean, after all, who doesn’t like to put one over your friends? Who doesn’t like to be the one who has the ‘one upmanship’ crown? Who doesn’t like not having to buy this round of drinks?
Better still.
What if it is YOUR project? What if that crazy drunken idea you had that you all joked over but you actually had the guts to do something about becomes a fucking reality?
How much boasting could you do then? It could be your shirt you’re wearing! Your mug you drink out of! Your face on the cover of (insert whatever magazine or newspaper you would like to be on the front cover of here.)
Someone else buying the drinks.
AFTERMATH
It’s going to go one of two ways. Either you’ll win (Fuck Yeah) or you won’t (I was going to say lose but that’s kind of harsh and I’ve just had some coffee so I’m feeling nice today).
So what happens if you don’t get it over the line? Does this mean you need to give up on your idea? Hell no!
You need to re evaluate just what might have gone wrong. Go back to the good old drawing board and see where you could’ve changed things. Did you market yourself? Did you engage? Did you tell a story? Did you take people on a journey with you, or were you faceless, was your project lacking personality?
Were the prizes in line with your project, and were they things people would want? Did you have too many or too few? Was your idea fully fleshed out? Or much too vague? Did the campaign run long enough and was your target reasonable? Did you use visuals wisely and did you let people know just how you would spend their money?
Did you build trust?
Whatever way you choose to look at it, there are lessons to be learnt from your campaign, whether or not your project is ‘just an idea’ or if it is part of your business. Or something else entirely!
Whatever it is and whatever the reason, you want to win this game don’t you? You want that ‘we can go down in history because we have this brilliant idea that WILL change the world! ‘ idea to actually work, right? That ‘cool factor’ that goes with being legendary.
I’m pretty sure you do, don’t you?
So do yourself a favour and get it right from the get go.
Your time is now.