6 Things You Should Do after Reaching Your Crowdfunding Goal

First of all, congratulations! Reaching your crowdfunding goal is a HUGE achievement, one that doesn’t happen to as many campaigns as you may believe. Most products aren’t cut out for crowdfunding success and, if yours, is, why stop here?

Most campaigns come to a sudden halt immediately after reaching their goal. Of course, the organizers still send the products to the backers, but that’s about it. However, this a mistake. You can leverage your success a lot more; you just need to think outside the box.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what you can do after reaching your crowdfunding success:

1. Go InDemand on Indiegogo

If you managed to hack the GoGo factor and successfully fund your campaign, why stop at stretch goals? Go InDemand for a chance to accept contributions even after your campaign has ended. Everyone loves a success story, so you might be able to get even more contributions after reaching your crowdfunding goal.

Did your campaign run on Kickstarter instead of Indiegogo? No problem, you can still use the InDemand program. In fact, it’s quite a common thing among Kickstarter’s successful campaigns. Also, this comes with the added bonus that your campaign gets to be seen by the users of both platforms. In other words, you get to double your reach and work on a single campaign.

Granted, you will have to invest some time in getting your crowdfunding pitch ready for the InDemand section. But that’s nothing compared to the work you’ve put in so far.

2. Get Media Coverage

Don’t wait until the campaign is over; start your media outreach immediately after reaching your crowdfunding goal. Start by contacting the outlets that supported you when you launched your campaign or even before that. They will love to write this follow up. Aside from the fact that, as we previously said, everyone loves a success story, this will also show their readers that they know which projects to get behind.

Next, start sending press releases to all the major outlets that have an interest in your product’s niche. If you can get a few articles published before the campaign expires, you might even raise more money after reaching your crowdfunding goal. Why? That’s easy: people know you already have the necessary support and they don’t run the risk of funding something that will never see the light of day. There is always safety in numbers and online shoppers know this best.

Don’t limit your media outreach to publications in your niche. Write your story for websites like entrepreneur.com or huffingtonpost.com. You can become a contributor on both these websites and share your success story with tens of millions of readers all over the world. Just a quick tip before doing this: each website has its own guidelines for writing articles. While they vary from website to website, one thing remains constant: none of them like blatantly advertorial articles. So, instead of praising your product, write useful tips that inspire and help other people reach the same success. Don’t worry; you’ll still get traffic to your campaign!

3. Create a Buzz on Social Media

If your social media strategy for crowdfunding was well-executed, then you must already have quite a lot of fans and followers. While they weren’t all your backers, they should still be kept in the loop. Here are some mandatory steps to take immediately after reaching your crowdfunding goal:

• Let people know about your success. Don’t just post a bland announcement. Use emoticons, hashtags, show your enthusiasm, pin the post to the top. Do everything you can think of to make it stand out.
• If you haven’t invested too much in social media ads, this is the time to do it! The announcement of your success is bound to attract heaps of new contributors, so make sure you reach as many people as possible. Learn how to avoid spending too much money on useless ads from this post.
• Thank people. When you do so, make sure to include everyone. Make it clear that every like, share and retweet helped with reaching your crowdfunding goal, not just the cold, hard cash.
• Start building your community. Your business venture is just beginning, so make sure you update your social profiles as often as possible. Keep people in the loop with every recent development. You never know when you may need their help with buying your new product or funding another campaign.

4. Thank Everyone Who Helped

…and not just on social media. Make the most out of your email database. Send everyone a heartfelt “thank you” email. Yes, even to those who didn’t contribute: reaching your crowdfunding goal might be just the thing to push them to do so now. And, even if they don’t, remember that they still have an interest in your campaign (they wouldn’t be on your list otherwise), so keep them in the loop.

This the time to get personal. Craft different “thank you” emails for those who contributed and for those who didn’t. It’s an opportunity to upsell to the first category and convert the latter. Make each email as personal as possible, starting with using their first name and going as far as mentioning their country. This will help you show them that you truly value their contribution, whatever that was.

Most importantly, don’t let your email blasts grow cold when the campaign is over. Send updates to those who wait on their product delivery. Let them know if there has been any change or delay in the expected delivery date and reassure them that you’re doing your very best to start shipping as soon as possible.

If you’ve launched your website, guide people there – even those who didn’t contribute to your campaign. The email addresses you gathered before and after reaching your crowdfunding goal should be the backbone of your strategy. Send out blasts whenever you add new features or launch new products. Remember that these people loved you from the very beginning, so it’s incredibly easy to turn them into brand ambassadors.

5. Be Honest

Reaching your crowdfunding goal is just the beginning of your adventure. And, even if you conquered such an important milestone, unexpected things can still happen.

You must already know that the people who ordered your product are waiting for it impatiently. So, if you know delays are bound to appear, let them know. Update every social profile you have and send out email blasts with this. It may not be the easiest thing in the world to do, but it sure beats having to reply to angry messages. Plus, people will appreciate you because you tool responsibility and announced them early on.

When you do announce them, don’t blame the factory or the courier company. Tell the whole, honest story (or as much of it as you can reveal without breaking any confidentiality agreements). You’ll be surprised at how many people can relate to such issues.

6. Use Your Success Story to Market Your Product…Forever

You may think that a year or two from now your success story will have little relevance and your product will have kept its success on its own merits. While the last part may be true, why give up on something that can bring you new crowds of happy customers?

Reaching your crowdfunding goal is not just a rare thing; it’s also a very inspiring one. Keep the Indiegogo or Kickstarter-funded on your website and on the covers of your social media profiles forever. Go even further: when you launch a new product, use: “From the creators of X – successfully funded on Indiegogo/Kickstarter in (year)”.

Why? Because reaching your crowdfunding goal means that you have passed the public’s test with flying colors and that you know how to create crowd-pleasers.

Need help reaching your crowdfunding goal or crafting your post-crowdfunding strategy? We’re here to help: