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HOW TO RAISE $1 MILLION

THROUGH CROWDFUNDING,
AS TOLD BY TOP CAMPAIGN CREATORS

BROUGHT TO YOU BY
TABLE OF CONTENTS

01 BRANDING 01

02 VIDEOS 02

03 PHOTOS 03

04 CAMPAIGN PAGES 03

05 DESIGN WORK 05

06 SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT 17

07 PUBLIC RELATIONS 18

08 GROWING YOUR COMMUNITY 18

Email Marketing 18

Project Updates 19

Stretch Goals 20
HOW TO RAISE $1 MILLION
THROUGH CROWDFUNDING,
AS TOLD BY TOP CAMPAIGN CREATORS
Running a successful crowdfunding campaign is more than just having a great idea. Sure, that
helps, but to make your campaign grow exponentially and hit that elusive $1M in funding, you’ll
need to carefully craft a comprehensive crowdfunding strategy for your project. We’ve spent
months talking to the top project creators around the world, learning the absolute best tips from
the people who have been in your shoes, made the right choices and transformed an idea into a
million dollar crowdfunding project.

As crowdfunding experts, over the years, we’ve learned that a number of factors go into
making a project successful. While speaking with Adrian Solgaard of Lifepack, Rahul Agarwal of
Polygons and Savannah Turk of the Purple Pillow crowdfunding campaign, we made sure to find
commonalities that we believe ultimately drove their success.

BRANDING

Branding is the common thread that weaves an entire crowdfunding campaign together, including messaging, design
work, photography, videography and more. Being true to your brand’s voice is invaluable and will create a lasting bond
between you and your backers.

For example, Purple Pillow has a witty, laidback writing style that is true to their brand and relatable to potential
backers. A great messaging point from their team is “No more lumpy foam, stabby feathers and melty memory foam.
Introducing the Purple Pillow, the first innovation in pillows since geese.” They don’t use technical jargon (and if they
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do, they make sure you know they’re using technical language); they use messaging that’s relatable and easy to
understand.

Their approach is always conversational, and it’s obvious they don’t take themselves too seriously. For example, we love
some of their jokes like this one: “Every time you share Purple on social media, the Sleepy Scientist will save a Wookie!
Support Purple (and Chewbacca) by taking 2 seconds to share the Purple Pillow with your friends!”

In contrast, Lifepack is relatively technical in all of their branding, which works perfectly for their product. However,
they keep it clear and direct so that everyone can easily understand the product.

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Adrian does a great job of keeping the clear, technical tone in all campaign materials including project updates,
campaign page copy and his crowdfunding video.

Polygons keeps their branding consistent by using bright, clean images in all of their content and incorporating design
aesthetics that appeal to the common individual. All in all, let your brand and your personality shine through. Don’t try
to be a brand that you’re not. Even more importantly, be consistent in the way you write, how you communicate with
your audience and in your typefaces, images and brand colors.

VIDEOS

As crowdfunding experts, we typically suggest to our clients that their campaign videos stay around the two or three-
minute mark. This length will ensure that you’re sharing the most important information without losing the backers’
attention.

Every campaign video will differ, but, as Purple Pillow has successfully demonstrated, it’s best to stick with your
brand’s unique style and personality. The Purple Pillow team put huge amounts of emphasis on the creative value
of everything they did and decided that “entertaining” was a priority for their video. Their team wanted to clearly
convey the difference between Purple Pillow and other pillows that consumers were used to sleeping with. Savannah
emphasizes that the video should show what people actually get out of this product (think: benefits). Don’t solely
focus on the features; focus on what people will really get out of it. Overall, Savannah attributes a huge part of Purple
Pillow’s overall success to their video.

For Rahul of Polygons, the most important video consideration was how to provide the most amount of information
in the shortest time possible. As Rahul said, “You have to value people’s time.” Their campaign video ended up being
only 36 seconds long and went viral with millions of views and interactions across Kickstarter and Facebook. If you feel
you need closer to two or three minutes to get your message across, then you may consider making a second cut of
your video that is almost a teaser. This shorter, 30-second version can then be leveraged across social media, like the
Polygons video, and also within the campaign page itself.

Adrian filmed his Lifepack campaign video himself, giving it a personal, yet informative, flare. Just like the other
campaigns, Adrian was able to highlight the important features of Lifepack and provide a few use case scenarios that
would be relatable to his target audience of backers. For example, almost all of us have been stranded with a dead
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smartphone or, unfortunately, been victims of theft. Lifepack’s video shows how it can help prevent such instances
from happening again.

The best campaign videos don’t fluff or overplay the product being sold either. Backers, especially those who have
supported past campaigns, can often sense when a project is a scam. Being honest, light-hearted and including a
strong call to action are all necessary for a great campaign video. As the Polygons campaign video proves, you don’t
need a long and extravagant video to persuade backers. Simply tell the backers what they need to know, why they
need the product and how it will benefit them in the long run.

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Finally, as Adrian of Lifepack pointed out, your campaign video is your first and best chance to make your backers
feel like an essential part of the project. Make sure to use your video to tell your backers that you can’t do this without
them. Everyone who watches the video needs to get on board in order to make the campaign a success!

PHOTOS

All of the campaign creators we interviewed for this study had campaigns with a large hero image that clearly shows
the product being offered. Both Lifepack and Polygons highlight the features that set their products apart. For
example, Lifepack has both the grey and stealth black backpacks showing the integrated lock and a phone being
charged. On the Polygons campaign, there are two images. One shows Polygons lying flat while the other shows how
Polygons easily folds. Given the unique product type, the Purple Pillow team opted for a clear hero image that shows
the design aspect of what makes their product different.

Throughout their campaign pages, each project creator displayed clear, professional images. There are a good variety
of lifestyle shots and product shots. Lifestyle shots are used to show backers how the product can help them and how
they’ll be able to use it. These photos really need to show off the “problem solving” feature in order to be effective. For
example, Lifepack’s lifestyle photos include individuals working on-the-go in coffee shops, offices and at the beach.
Adrian’s simple tip here was to “make sure you have AMAZING images.”

Polygons’ lifestyle shots showed how easily the utensil can collect ingredients (both solid and liquid), spread
and flatten ingredients and be cleaned in one swipe with soap and water. Rahul highly recommended hiring a
professional to take care of the photo and video shoot because “any and every marketing effort out there depends on
this.” Oftentimes, creators either lack the expertise needed to really knock the visual asset creation out of the park or
they are too close to the project to think creatively about how to photograph it.

For product shots, Purple Pillow did a fantastic job demonstrating how their pillow differed from others. Using a glass,
human-shaped head, the team was able to demonstrate how Purple Pillow can provide better neck and head support
for a good night’s sleep. Although the team took a more humorous angle to their campaign, it fit their brand and
appealed to their backers (especially veteran backers who supported the team’s first crowdfunding campaign).

CAMPAIGN PAGES
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Purple Pillow explains first and foremost why regular pillows can be bad for the consumer. Their team wastes no time,
quickly and clearly goes into how the product works and explains it in layman’s terms. Their copy and messaging is
conversational, fun and focuses on why you need their product. The Purple Pillow team also actually reversed that idea
and explained, through graphics, why you don’t want a regular pillow.

They really stress the importance of keeping the copy uplifting and fun throughout the entire page, even in the
technology and design section. As an example, in the specifications section, they write, “Warning: This pillow is not for
pillow fights! It weighs about 10 pounds, and that’s a good thing because weight equals quality.”

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The team compares Purple to other pillows to show how their product is better than the rest and can benefit the
backer in many ways. They did a great job of summarizing content with easy-to-read and easy-to-digest graphics. Their
graphics were visually appealing and stayed on brand. While not applicable to every project, they were able to discuss
their prior successful crowdfunding campaign to boost their credibility with potential backers.

True to their simple and clear branding, Lifepack immediately focused on the features of the backpack and
highlighted media outlets that they were featured in. Adrian combined lifestyle images with short text to convey
features and examples of how you would use them in real life. The Lifepack team also included GIFs throughout the
page so that backers got a sense of the product in motion without taking the time to watch the entire video - again,
staying true to the simplicity of the brand.

They provided a specifications graphic to give potential backers a glimpse of what they’ll be getting and where
they’ll store it or how it will fit into their lives. The team utilized easy-to-read graphics for a wide variety of information
including features, team members and the project timeline. Lifepack also discussed their former successful
crowdfunding campaign to increase their credibility.

Polygons, like their product, kept their campaign simple and straight to the point. Their campaign page is very image-
heavy and uses clean, bright images that are consistent with their brand.

Overall, it’s important to appeal to your niche audiences and convey what the product is and why it benefits your
target market. Make sure the page flows, stay consistent and stay on brand. Take the extra time to use high-quality,
professionally shot lifestyle images and product shots. If you have press coverage, proudly display it on the page.
Remember that people tend to skim pages, so use graphics and short text wherever possible.

Last, but not least, don’t forget to use project updates! Your backers invested in you, and they don’t want to be left in
the dark. Updates are a great way to keep them engaged and encourage them to share the campaign with their own
networks.

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DESIGN WORK

Crowdfunding campaign graphics are potentially the single most important part of building your page (next to
photos, of course). Professional graphics can make a campaign page great, and sloppy graphics can absolutely turn
potential backers away.

The Purple Pillow graphics are clean, easy to read and straight to the point. They stay on brand and remain consistent
by using the Purple brand colors.

Their stretch goal graphic, pictured above, clearly and concisely displayed what was in it for the backers if they helped
the campaign reach important funding milestones. And, their rewards graphic clearly displayed the price of the
product, what the backer would receive and a clear image of the product.

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The above graphic clearly displays why other pillows are not great for you, and it’s easy take in all of the information by
just skimming through the images and short text. Purple Pillow also used animated GIFs to show readers how their
pillow compares to competitors.

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The team graphic above is fun and different, yet remains consistent with the rest of the graphics on the page. Color
scheme is on brand, along with copy and text.

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Lifepack continues to stay true to their brand in their simple, clean graphics throughout their campaign page.

The above graphic used icons and short text with enough white space to quickly display the features of Lifepack
around a product shot. Sure, they could have written a paragraph about all of these features, but would anyone really
read it? By just skimming this design, you can quickly learn about all this backpack has to offer.

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Lifepack consistently used the same colors throughout their graphics on the campaign page and made the benefits of
the product incredibly easy to read and see using a good combo of text, graphics and lifestyle images. Their team also
used short GIFs throughout the page to show 360-degree views of the product so that potential backers who did not
watch the entire video could see the product in action.

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While the majority of graphics on the page were clean and relied on lots of white space, the stretch goal graphic used
one of the brighter Lifepack brand colors to draw attention to the added items. They clearly spelled out what they’d be
offering and at what specific milestone, and then updated the graphic with “unlocked” so that potential backers knew
there was a new product or add-on available.

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The team graphic above simply stated what each team member did in a way that is unique to Lifepack. Many project
creators will find a way to display their team in a way that fits them and lets their company’s personality shine through.

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Polygons stayed on brand with bright, easy-to-read graphics.

The graphic above displayed the evolution of the spoon in a clean way that was easy for potential backers to decipher
why Polygons should be the product of choice.

Remaining clean with lots of white space, the graphic above clearly and quickly displayed how the item works in a
visually appealing manner. Polygons also used GIFs throughout their campaign page so that readers, who may have
not watched the entire video, could see the product working. GIFs are turning out to be a trend in well-designed
crowdfunding pages. Using easy-to-read text overlay on the GIF, they made it clear to readers what message they were
trying to convey about the product.

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While a majority of the graphics on the page utilized white space, Polygons inverted the stretch goal graphic and
displayed white text over a dark background, which made it stand out from the rest of the page. The stretch goal
graphic clearly displayed the amount needed to reach the stretch goal and was updated once the stretch goal was
“unlocked” so potential backers could see that new options were available.

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Polygons used a good mix of images and text within the graphic above in a way that’s quick and easy to read. It also
quickly displayed the benefits of the product.

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The above graphic used a good combination of lifestyle images and icons. The icons and short text were easy to read
and utilized the rule of thirds to maintain balance within the graphic.

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Staying in line with the rest of the graphics on the page, the reward graphic utilized white space, the brand colors and
short text to quickly display what backers got and at what cost.

In conclusion, we’ve found that when it comes to graphics, simple is better and attention spans are getting shorter, so
make graphics easy to skim. GIFs are cool. People like them. Use them.

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SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT

Social media is a great way to keep your backers engaged, recruit more potential backers and keep your audience
updated on the progress of your campaign. How important social media is to your campaign depends on a few
factors. For example, if you have a large audience on Facebook or Twitter, it’s extremely important to keep them
engaged and direct them to your campaign page.

Lifepack was an interesting case because they gave absolutely no pre-launch effort to social media. During the
campaign, they posted a combination of product information, media coverage, relevant articles to the Lifepack brand
and videos. Videos with copy are especially great for Facebook because it’s easy for viewers to digest without turning
on sound or interrupting their “scroll.”

The Lifepack team made it a priority to have constant interaction with their fans on social media, often answering
questions daily. There were lots of posts from Adrian, which helped the brand and social account seem more relatable.
It also helped forge a bond between the followers and the brand.

On Instagram, all images stayed very on brand, and the team appeared to use similar filters to help this effect. The
Lifepack team recognized the importance of using different pictures than what they used on other social media
platforms. All pictures found on Instagram were more “visually appealing”...for Instagram. They also included a link to
the campaign page in the bio.

The Purple Pillow team also only focused on managing Facebook and Twitter during their campaign. They posted a
combination of product information, media coverage, relevant articles to the Purple brand and videos. Again, their
videos with copy were especially great for Facebook. Another common theme was the constant interaction with their
fans on social. This effort was of the utmost importance, and the team often answered questions daily. The team stayed
true to their lighthearted, funny brand and posted lots of graphics and memes. Like Lifepack, Purple Pillow was able to
piggyback off of what they did with the purple mattress, their first successful crowdfunding campaign.

The Polygons team was constantly active on social media and also posted a combination of product information,
media coverage, relevant articles to the Polygons brand and videos. The team prioritized weekly Twitter outreach and
communicated with a variety of chefs, TV personalities and popular food-based social media accounts. They also used
videos with copy so users could watch without disrupting their scroll.
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The team created shareable graphics weekly from “#TipTuesdays” to “#WisdomWednesdays” with cooking-related
quotes and tips. They kept their audience updated and posted graphics for every $100K milestone the campaign
reached ($200K, $500K, $1 million, etc.). Additionally, they posted graphics for a 24-hour countdown to create a sense
of urgency for fans to back the project. Their stellar social accounts didn’t go unnoticed, and Polygons received a ton of
Facebook coverage on popular Facebook pages such as Bored Panda, Cool Material and Brit + Co.

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PUBLIC RELATIONS

Press coverage can turn a mildly successful campaign into a million dollar campaign.

Adrian from Lifepack told us that a lot of effort was required to get new people to back his project. It’s important to
focus on two things: bringing new traffic in and converting it to backers. Lifepack also didn’t conduct any pre-launch
press outreach because Adrian believes you only have one shot to pitch your project, and it’s important to do it within
the first two days to keep building momentum.

The Lifepack team secured coverage in Digital Trends, Engadget, Slashgear, USA Today and more, while keeping their
media graphic updated on the campaign page.

Because Purple Pillow had such a successful previous crowdfunding campaign, they relied on their established brand
equity and did very little press outreach - they didn’t even utilize a media graphic on their campaign page.

Media coverage proved to be huge for the Polygons campaign and, as mentioned above, really was one of the reasons
it catapulted into a million dollar campaign. During the pre-launch phase, Polygons did a lot of outreach to journalists
starting about three weeks before launch day. Because of these efforts, the team received a lot of initial feedback
and interest. An embargo was used and, luckily, everyone honored it; the articles went live shortly after the campaign
launched. Embargoes are very useful, but it’s important to tread carefully because there is no concrete guarantee that
a journalist will honor the embargo.

Once the campaign launched, the team pitched that day and about one or two more times during the campaign, but
the majority of journalists who wrote about the campaign ended up coming to Polygons for coverage and covered it
on their own. Like a lot of very successful campaigns, it sort of pitched itself once the traction started.

Polygons kept a regularly updated media graphic on their campaign page to show the popularity and interest to
potential backers.

GROWING YOUR COMMUNITY

1 Once a crowdfunding campaign is live, the key to growing your backer community and keeping your momentum
going lies in community management. Basically, how are you communicating with your backers and what are you
offering them to keep them involved and invested in helping your campaign grow. For this piece, we have broken
the aspects of community management down into four parts: Updates, email marketing, stretch goals and backer
comments.

Email Marketing

Collecting a large amount of email addresses before your campaign launches is often touted as the most important
pre-launch activity you can focus on, and Purple Pillow’s Savannah echoes that sentiment.

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When asked “What is one tip you would give to a campaign creator during the pre-launch preparation phase?,” her
reply was to “build up that email list and start there!” We do not know exactly how many pre-launch emails the Purple
Pillow team began with, but we do know that they made sure to email all of the 320 backers of their previous Purple
Mattress campaign.

Adrian of Lifepack admits that he didn’t do a single bit of email collection before launching his Lifepack campaign,
instead focusing all of his energy on his live campaign. He did, however, send a message to all the backers of his
previous campaign alerting them that he was launching a new campaign soon. Lifepack’s strategy for email marketing
may not be a common best practice, but it does go to show that there are exceptions to the rule.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Rahul at Polygons had collected 28,786 emails before the launch of
the campaign. He sees this as absolutely critical to his success. His launch email list had a 37% open rate and resulted
in 1,954 backers funding $54,019 in fewer than 48 hours. Without this huge momentum at the start of his campaign
due to email marketing, it is possible that Polygons would have never seen the coveted million-dollar mark.

Once Polygons had launched, Rahul made sure to send several additional emails to his leads list in order to get
as many conversions from them as possible. Rahul approached his email marketing language much as he did his
updates by keeping them short and concise. He also centered his emails around easy-to-read graphics stating any
announcements such as stretch goals, shipping changes and an increase in prices. He was also sure to include a call to
action in each email, asking subscribers to back his campaign and share it with their friends.

Project Updates

Purple Pillow focused on keeping their update language casual and friendly. Savannah said they wanted to
address their backers in a friendly way that was endearing and made them feel as though the company cared about
and recognized them. To add to the fun, Purple Pillow also frequently used GIFs in their updates. In an uncommon
move, Purple Pillow made the decision to use “I” in their updates, instead of “we” coming from the company overall.
They believed that this perspective made the updates feel more personal. Finally, Purple Pillow made sure their
updates were visible to everyone (not private to backers only), which was consistent with the openness that they
strived for.

As of the end of February 2017, Purple Pillow has made 32 updates total. During the live campaign, they posted a
total of 12 updates, and they have posted 20 post-campaign updates so far. This frequent communication shows the
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importance of regularly updating your backers throughout the live campaign, but also after the campaign. During the
live campaign, their updates focused on campaign milestones, stretch goals, shipping updates, FAQs and more. Once
the campaign ended, their update content switched to backer surveys, shipping and manufacturing updates and
more FAQs.

When crafting updates for Lifepack, Adrian chose to be more straightforward in his messaging and less “personable.”
However, he still wanted to be friendly and offer help or answers. Adrian also focused on using his updates to address
any modifications made during the creation of the backpack. His goal was to build trust with his backers and make
sure they understood everything that was happening. Finally, Adrian also placed a lot of credit on the 48- and 24-hour
countdowns that he posted to backers about their last chance to share the campaign.

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As of the end of February 2017, Lifepack has made 30 updates total. During the live campaign, Adrian posted a
total of 11 updates, and he has posted 19 post-campaign updates so far. Just like Purple Pillow, this effort reiterates
the importance of regularly updating your backers. During the live campaign, their updates focused on campaign
milestones, stretch goals and more. Once the campaign ended, their update content was mainly about progress and
shipping.

Rahul from Polygons took a similar stance to Purple Pillow in his updates by putting an emphasis on letting his
personal voice shine through. The result was that all of the Polygons updates, which were put out every few days, were
written in a conversational language and even went so far as to include smiley faces and GIFs.

Unlike many other campaigns, Rahul chose to only post updates that provided value to backers, instead of making
an update just to check in. His update content varied from surveys for backers to vote on what colors they wanted
in upcoming stretch goals to several shipping cost updates during the live campaign and more. As the Polygons
campaign faced challenges in changing shipping costs and determining next colors to release, updates proved
invaluable for keeping backers involved in the process and learning about their opinions.

Stretch Goals

Here are the stretch goals that were offered for each of these successful campaigns:

Purple Pillow

 $1M - A few free squishies with each shippable pledge

 $2M - Rush order and a pillowcase with each pillow, which is made with bamboo blend

 $3M - Design and develop a Purple® Wrist bed that all the shippable pledges will receive prototypes of

Lifepack

 #1 $40,000 - Extra Charging Cable

 #2 $100,000 - Rfid Blocking Hidden Pockets

 #3 $200,000 - Waterproof Cover

 #4 $300,000 - Stealth Black Edition

 #5 $500,000 - Improved Solarbank Design and Specs


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Polygons

 $150,000 - Metric Sizes

 $200,000 - Hell’s Kitchen Color

 $500,000 - Kickstarter color

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Adrian strongly suggests having several stretch goals in mind prior to launching. This preparation helps you move
quickly and get them out in a timely manner, no matter how fast your campaign is funding. Adrian announced each
of his stretch goals via updates, and made sure to communicate with backers each feature of the goal so they knew
what they were getting and why it was “cool” or interesting.

Rahul’s experience seconds Adrian’s advice to have stretch goals prepared ahead of time. The Polygons campaign
funded so quickly once it launched that they did not have time to announce any stretch goals before the campaign
had already raised $150K and so on. He chose to announce each of his stretch goals via a campaign update, email
marketing and social media.

Overall, while the number one catalyst for a successful campaign is still a great product, there are a number of
factors that play into whether a campaign can hit the $1M mark, including backer engagement, public relations and
stellar photography. If you’re considering running a crowdfunding campaign, contact us at Enventys Partners to see
how we can make your idea a reality!

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