How to Successfully Promote Your Crowdfunding Campaign in Japan

Choosing crowdfunding as a way to raise funds has many benefits, you can achieve a lot without asking a lender to back you. But the fear of failure prevents many entrepreneurs to jump in at the deep end. Is it your case? This is why we gathered the best tips to successfully promote your campaign.

Advertise Your Product Using SNS

Social media networks take a bigger and bigger place over the years, in Japan like in the rest of the world. Check out what platforms are popular among Japanese, and let’s get started.

The main point when using SNS for a crowdfunding campaign is to generate enthusiasm and confidence in the project. First, ask your network (friends, colleagues, students if you teach) to follow or subscribe to your accounts and share your content. If you have the chance to speak in public, you can slip in a word or two about your campaign and your social network. But don’t be shy, show that you are confident and that your project is worthy. Smile, speak clearly and be charismatic! It is a good way to show and share your enthusiasm. New supporters may be in the crowd!

Then, keep informing people on your campaign progress, on what you think about it, why it is the best product or service in the world and how well it can help your followers. With social media, your message can spread quickly – or not at all. You will have to put effort into it and be patient. But let’s see what you can do to speed it up a bit.

How to Speed Up Your Success

First, every platform allows entrepreneurs to advertise their product, company or service through ads. Usually, you can set a target more or less precise (age group, gender, interests, activities, etc.), like on Facebook or YouTube. You can even decide on the location (a country, a region, a town, etc.). No matter what your budget is, you will find a way to advertise your campaign at a suitable price.

Besides, it has been proven that images and videos increase users’ attention and boost sales. According to Zabisco, 40% of people respond to visual content better than plain text, and the information is processed 60,000 times faster. However, comparing images and videos, the latter is more efficient than the former. More, 85% of viewers are more likely to buy a product after having watched a video about it, according to an Internet Retailer study. Half of consumers would also be more confident in their purchase decision after watching product videos. So don’t post only pictures!

But watch your budget, because if supporters don’t give as much money as it took you to attract them, you will have to invest less on something else. It should not impact the product itself: if you want to take less risk, add stretch goals (by definition, goals that are more difficult to reach but which add more values to your product when enough money is raised). You cannot promise that your product will have such and such features and then say that they are stretch goals, so calculate your budget well.

Another good way to use social media is to ask influencers to promote your product. If you want to advertise it on YouTube, you can check our article about YouTube marketing for further details. It is a good way to earn people’s trust and enhance your product image.

Tips Before the Launch of Your Campaign

You have to be sure of yourself when you launch your campaign. Is it the right time, is your content good enough, do you have enough pictures, enough pre-campaign supporters?

You should first create a good story around your project to get media promoting your product, – having a good idea is not enough. You can talk about what led you to raise funds on a crowdfunding platform, the difficulties you encountered, who helped you… Journalists recommend contacting media via a direct message on Twitter, but you can also call them or send them an email. Don’t choose a company randomly: if you want to sell bicycles, get some information about magazines or newspapers cyclists love to read.

Also, think about when the right period to launch your product is. If you want to sell a fan, don’t start selling your product in October. A campaign lasts two months, and even if your product is ready for delivery in summer, it will not attract many backers in this period of time. Coolest Cooler, launched twice on Kickstarter, failed the first time because it was exhibited in November. On the contrary, the second time, in June, it was a success. Learn from others’ mistakes and choose your moment wisely!

Other Important Tips You Should Follow

• Make sure your text is flawless: on the crowdfunding platform, but also on social media, advertisements, packaging… Leave nothing to chance, and if necessary, hire professionals to proofread everything.
• Create a nice website, boost your SEO. You can also create a blog, for instance.
• Take care of your brand or product image (and yours too).
• Diversify your advertisements, not only online but also offline.
• Be honest, smile and make things work! Be confident in your project and do everything you can to find success.

Reference:
find-model.jp/insta-lab/sns-crowd-funding/
blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-Should-Include-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx
www.virtuets.com/45-video-marketing-statistics/blog.btrax.com/jp/cf-7/