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\f0\fs24 \cf0 so here we are, you've got your dreams, and you're ready to take it public
and take it to the next level, but you need some money. And your parents aren't rich,
so you have to turn to crowdfunding.\ That's where I come in handy. \
About a year ago I did my own kickstarter campaign, or crowdfunding campaign for my
documentary film NAILgasm: The Nail Art Documentary.\ And I learned a lot, and ever since then people
always ask me do you have any tips for a successful crowdfunding campaign?\
And actually, yes I do. And I'm making this video for you guys. Here are my five secrets
to successful crowdfunding campaigns. \ Here we go.\
The most important rule: number one, the more crowd pleasing your project is or your campaign
is the more crowd funding you are likely to get. In other words, your project needs to
benefit people other than yourself. Like that's just the fact of the matter. \
The most successful crowdfunding campaigns I've seen are successful because they benefit
other people. \ So we'll use an example of, let's say you're
a my little pony fan.\ So if you want to raise money to expand your
my little pony collection people aren't really going to gravitate towards that. because it's
not helping anybody.\ But if you say, "I want to raise money to
build a my little pony museum, then the my little pony community is going to be like
hell yeah here's all of my money, let's do this!\
So the more crowd pleasing your crowdfunding campaign is the more crowd funding you are
likely to get. So remember, your project needs to benefit other people plain and simple.
\ That's where the money is.\
Secret number 2, and this is like a universal rule no matter where you are in the world.\
People love cool prizes, they just do. By prizes I mean incentives.\
So make sure you put a lot of thought into having good incentives. And you want to have
incentives spread out.\ You want to have something for people who
don't have a ton of money, and you want to have cool stuff people who do have a ton of
money to donate. \ Using NAILgasm as an example, the most popular
incentive was the twenty five dollar one, which meant that you got your name in the
credits. How cool is that?\ How many people can say that their name is
in film credits?\ Not a ton. Well, because of crowdfunding,
there's probably a lot more now. But yeah, make sure you put a lot of thought into these
incentives.\ And make them fun. Would you donate if you
saw certain incentives? Like, you're the market. So really put a lot of thought into it and
have good prizes for people. Because what?\ Secret number two, people love cool prizes
and incentives.\ secret number three to successful crowdfunding:
failing to plan is planning to fail. \ You gotta have a plan. It's not good enough
to say, "oh well I have this great amazing product everybody's gonna jump at and come
find me on the internet.\ You really have to have a strategy and push
it out there to every outlet humanly possible. \
Let's use NAILgasm as an example. NAILgasm is about nail art so I had to find where are
the nail art communities?\ The nail art community is on instagram. They're
on pinterest. They're on tumblr. They're on reddit. So those are the places I personally
went out and just started reaching out to bloggers and different people and getting
them to get on board and help me promote this, because at the end of the day, NAILgasm was
about benefiting the nail art community. \ So it was pretty easy to get people to get
excited about it. That's what you should do for your project. \
Whatever the subject is, find out where that audience is and just talk to people and tell
them this is going to benefit the community.\ You're going to make some cool new friends
like I did. I made a bunch of new friends through kickstarter, or whatever crowdfunding
platform you use.\ So remember, failing to plan is planning to
fail. \ Have your promotion strategy for your campaign
ready to go. And execute.\ Rule number four: friends and family first.
That is definitely where you start.\ I don't believe in mass emails so if your
family lives near you, talk to them one on one, sit them down, scare them.\
Say "mom, I have something I have to tell you." And freak them out. And they'll be really
excited when they find out you're not pregnant, you just want money for your project.\
That's what I did!\ Start with your friends and family unless
you are a *** bag and nobody likes you. \
You know your friends and your family want to see you succeed. So if you really explain
to them like "hey this is my dream, but I need your help, all you gotta do is donate
ten dollars or whatever it is."\ Start with them, because if you can get them
to donate, they can tell their friends, and they can tell their friends\
So for me, that was the number one way I got the ball rolling was starting with my friends
and family.\ My mom would tell her coworkers. And the word
kind of spread that way. \ My uncle's ex-wife donated. I don't even think
I met her but I thought that was really cool, somebody I don't even know like that donated
because I started with my friends and family.\ So that is secret number four, start with
your friends and family, people you actually know, and care about you.\
Because they're going to be there for you regardless, unless you're a *** bag.\
Here we go, the final secret, secret number five: people don't buy what you do they buy
why you do it. \ You need to make it crystal clear why anybody
in their right mind should give you money. \
Like let's keep it real, you're essentially asking for strangers across the world to donate
to your dream, your passion. So you really need to make people understand, like "you're
bout that life", you're "you're with the function", you're ready to make it happen but you just
need a little help, because nobody gets anywhere great in life without help, and you need their
help, so again, using NAILgasm as an example:\ Why would anybody in their right mind do a
documentary about nail art? I'll tell you why. Because I saw what a huge inspiration
these women are.\ They kind of were going against the grain
and taking up and just following their passion, really, that's what it was for me.\
You know, being a nail artist is not the most respected job in the world. They don't get
the respect doctors and lawyers get. And they don't get paid as much. But to see so many
women like "I don't care about social norms, I'm going to do this, I'm going to follow
my passion and do nails." Like, that was so inspiring to me. So I let people know, these
women are my heroes. That's why I want to do it and I want to share their story. \
So make sure you really understand "why are you doing this?" Why are you following your
dreams and how that relates to other people? \
I think that's what the really cool thing about crowdfunding is, like, we get to help
each other. \ I get to sit back and say "I helped so and
so achieve their dream" and like, that's very rewarding at the end of the day.\
And so, yeah "people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" secret number five.\
So I think that concludes my five secrets to successful crowdfunding campaigns. If you
have any questions, let me know. There is a link to my ask.fm on my youtube page, so
click that and ask me a question.\ Or you can go to my tumblr, whoisbrass dot
com and click the ask button at the top of the page or you can tweet me.\
I'm not listing my email because I get enough emails as it is so just go on there and ask
and I will answer as best as I can.\ I hope you all achieve your dreams. I hope
you all take this advice and I hope it helps you. \
Let me know when you post your campaign. Let me know, I would love to see it and support
you in whatever way that I can. \ So again, peace and goodwill. \
I hope you all have kick *** crowdfunding campaigns. \
Yeah, that's it. Peace. \ \
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