Winston Churchill famously once said, ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.’ His wise words are applicable to many areas of life, but none more so than to the world of crowdfunding.
You have a great idea and launch a crowdfunding campaign to help it become a reality. But, unfortunately, it does not reach its funding goal. But if your campaign is unsuccessful in this way, it does not necessarily mean that you have failed – in fact, it is the ideal opportunity to learn from your mistakes and improve for the next time.
Here’s how you can take stock following an unsuccessful campaign and turn it around into future crowdfunding success.
Go back to planning 
Having already completed a campaign, you may feel there’s no need to revisit the planning phase you’d worked on before it had even launched. However, taking the time to update your market research and plan a new strategy based on your findings could make or break your next campaign.
Start by checking that the project is still wanted and needed by your target audience, and that it potentially solves a problem for them. Invest in a good promotions and marketing plan that is broken down into pre-launch, launch and post-launch phases, budgeting time to ensure that you can manage your campaign efficiently throughout. Don’t forget to also make the most of social media and online networking, gathering leads and maintaining an active online presence.
Take another look at your funding goal
Since you didn’t hit the funding goal in your previous campaign, might this have been down to the goal itself? Re-do the maths you had used to come up with your last goal, and, realistically, ask yourself if you are able to lower it.
Whatever your final goal amount – even if it’s the same as last time – you should make sure that you are justifying it clearly in your campaign’s narrative. It’s also worth trying to raise some of the funds before the campaign has even launched, as backers are more likely to contribute if they can see that others have already put their faith – and funds – in your cause.
Update your narrative
The success of any crowdfunding campaign rides on how well it communicates its unique story to potential backers. Rewrite your original narrative to ensure that your story is clear, concise, and highlights why people should contribute.
As always, a picture tells a thousand words, so also take the time to create an engaging campaign video, if you don’t already have one, and invest in some high-quality images to accompany your text. Content is about quality more than quantity, in crowdfunding.
Create a community
Even if you didn’t hit your funding goal in your last campaign, it’s still likely you will have garnered the interest of some people in your target audience. Now is the time, before you launch your next attempt, to ask them for their feedback and continued support in order to improve.
Retain these valuable followers you already have, and create a growing community in support of your idea, by making sure to keep them constantly updated, without making promises you’re not able to keep.
Offer quality rewards 
Most crowdfunding campaigns are rewards-driven, so your rewards should be able to offer a real incentive to your backers to contribute.
For your supporters, your rewards programme should be clear in your campaign content, and offer unmissable quality, without causing confusion by offering too many.
For your sake, also make sure that the rewards are reasonably priced, within your means to deliver, and can be delivered to your backers in a timely manner.
The most important thing to remember for your next attempt is not to give up – get in touch with us for help and guidance on how to boost your chances of crowdfunding success.