Tips and Tricks for Cross Promoting Your Crowdfunding Campaign

Entrepreneurs often turn to crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to seek funding for their big idea. These projects come from a variety of industries and offer consumers one-of-a-kind products, services or ideas. Once campaigns start building momentum, our team suggests cross promoting with other projects.

“What is cross promoting, Sarah?” Good question.

Cross promoting is an easy (and free!) way to get your campaign in front of a new audience. You might be wondering how to actually get the ball rolling on cross promotions. Here are a few tips and tricks to consider when seeking cross-promotion opportunities:

First, let’s write a blurb.

What is your project and why should other backers care? Write a short description that includes the name of your project, what it is and what problem(s) it solves. This copy will be the content used in the actual cross promotion. Be sure to include a call to action such as “Click Here” or “Back It Now” at the end of your description that links to your campaign page. In addition to your blurb, choose one or two photos you would like other projects to use.

Tip: I recommend using lifestyle images that show the product actually being used.

Next, let’s choose potential cross promotion partners

There are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind when doing outreach for cross promotions. First, is the project you want to cross promote with too similar? For example, if your campaign is for a smart lock, it wouldn’t make sense for you to promote another smart lock. That’s promoting your competition. On the other hand, cross promoting with another smart home gadget, like NATEDE, will put your project in front of backers who are supporting a similar, but non-competitive project.

Second, when searching through projects, take into account any warning signs of a bad project. While it won’t necessarily hurt your campaign, it is ill-advised to promote a project that looks like a scam. Remember, your backers are trusting and investing in you and your big idea!

Lastly, look at the project’s numbers. You’re more likely to secure a cross promotion if both projects have a similar funding amount and a decent number of backers.

Tip: Go to Indiegogo or Kickstarter and search for projects under the same category as yours. It’s easier to weed out which campaigns are too similar and which ones may offer the best exposure for your project when cross promoting.

Now, let’s switch it up! Look at other crowdfunding platforms.

Did you know that you can cross promote with projects on other crowdfunding platforms? Just because your project is on Kickstarter doesn’t mean you can’t cross promote with a campaign on Indiegogo and vice versa. Once you research all the potential projects on your crowdfunding platform, go ahead and dive into projects on other sites. With crowdfunding, the limit does not exist.

Tip: Don’t be discouraged if campaigns turn you down. Instead, continue to reach out to as many projects as possible. Keep in mind that just because a project is ending soon doesn’t mean they won’t be transitioning over to Indiegogo’s InDemand service. You might be surprised who agrees to share your news!

Post that cross promotion update!

Congrats! You have a list of campaigns that are happy to cross promote with you. Now what? Be transparent and tell the project creator when you anticipate posting your next update. Be sure to include the cross promos at the end of your update. Include the project title, a photo, a blurb and a link for your backers to check it out. It’s always polite to follow up with the project creators and let them know once the update was posted.

Tip: I recommend including two or three cross promotions per update to avoid bombarding your backers. If you have multiple campaigns you’ve agreed to promote (with no deadline), list the campaigns that are ending the soonest.

Hopefully these tips will grant opportunities for you to gain exposure and collect a new set of backers. Remember first and foremost to always be open and honest with your backers. More often than not, they’ll appreciate seeing other projects that may be of interest to them as well.

Happy campaigning!