Did You Know Crowdfunding Is Marketing?
Crowdfunding acts as a double-edged sword for new businesses, functioning as a way to raise capital and as a marketing tool. Here’s how:
- Reaching a Broad Audience: Crowdfunding campaigns done well can connect businesses to a vast pool of potential customers and investors beyond, expanding awareness of the new business and its offerings.
- Pre-Selling Products: Many crowdfunding campaigns are structured around pre-orders. This allows businesses to gauge market interest and potentially secure sales upfront, providing valuable validation before full-scale production.
- Building Community: A successful crowdfunding campaign fosters a community around the new business. Backers become invested in the project’s success, and their enthusiasm can spread through word-of-mouth promotion and social media.
- Feedback and Refinement: Interacting with backers during a campaign provides crucial feedback. Businesses can refine their product or service based on customer preferences before launch.
- Building an Email List: Crowdfunding allow businesses to collect email addresses from backers. This creates a valuable list for future email marketing campaigns, keeping backers informed about the project’s progress and promoting future product launches.
In short, crowdfunding allows new businesses to generate interest, validate their concept, and build a customer base, all while raising capital.