How Would I Promote a Crowdfunding Campaign?

August 26, 2016 1:42 PM

I am crowd funding a clothing line and am looking for outside sources to promote the campaign. What options outside of mine and indiegogo social media are available to me. I was thinking of contacting bloggers to do personal interviews, product trade. etc? Any and all suggestions appreciated.
posted by goalyeehah to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

What's your unique selling point?
posted by KateViolet at 2:05 PM on August 26, 2016

Definitely reach out to everyone you can. Do you have samples? I would be trying so hard to get them in front of anyone who shows off what they wear to a large audience. You need credible, suitable rewards that will not take you long to fulfill and you should aim to fulfill rewards before you plunge into what is the main product goal, which if it is to appear on ASOS, could be done without crowdfunding. The majority of revenue from mature clothing lines are accessories. If you're not strong in that category the build up to fulfillment can be arduous. t-shirts and canvas screen-print tote bags which are inexpensive to produce and distribute would be a great reward for low cost entries. Price accordingly. There are tons of tutorials around for almost every kind of crowdfunding theme, but fashion ones are typically successfully worked through establishing some kinds of funding or letter memorandum offline. That means X will stock these clothes in S/S 201X and this order would be worth $X which would allow the line to X which would be perfect for X. A great way to do this is to publish a print magazine. Other fashion labels will crowd in and you really only need to sell ten pages to cover the cost of printing a 60 page fashion edit. These might be too many ideas, but tell your design story and show consumers how vested you are in the great rewards on offer and the goal this money will allow.
posted by parmanparman at 3:09 PM on August 26, 2016

First of all, I would use Kickstarter and not Indiegogo. Kickstarter is made for funding products, while Indiegogo is much more general. Your rewards really should be primarily clothing from the actual line, so make sure you have your production set up so you can fulfill the rewards in a timely fashion. Make sure to factor in the cost of packing and shipping into your budget.

Start building your network of fashion bloggers and your potential clients. Send the bloggers samples of your clothing to wear in exchange for a write-up or review (ask them first, obviously). Make sure that your website has a *very* prominent mailing list sign up to capture visitors to your site. Whenever your pop up shop is open, or when you are at trade shows with your line, have a mailing list sign up sheet and ask if people would like to sign up.

Spend a month or so doing this groundwork. While you do this, start crafting all your social media blurbs and photos (for twitter, FB, and Instagram) and compiling a list of media contacts that you can send press releases to about the campaign, which will include the bloggers you sent stuff to. If your selling point is unique enough you may be able to reach out to mainstream media like HuffPo or something like that. Also draft several letters (one each for the beginning, middle, and final countdown of the campaign) requesting support from your close friends, family, and fans. You will also need to send out a newsletter to your mailing list about it, which should look and sound slightly different.

Then get a good videographer to make a compelling video around 3 min long to explain your product and show off their features, and maybe a bit of your inspiration for the line. This is not optional.

Once all that's done you are ready to start! You'll need to make daily updates to your social media, and ask all of your friends to post and share as well. Be very responsive to all questions that come in, and make sure to reply to all comments on social media. It's more or less a full time job, so be prepared. Crowdfunds are a lot of work, but with the right preparation they can succeed.
posted by ananci at 6:38 PM on August 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had really good luck finding blogs, news sources, forums, subreddits, etc. that were dedicated to the specific niche my project was in and getting my message out that way.

For example, with your idea, style blogs, popular instagram influencers, anywhere online people talk about fashion. If there's some specific angle to your clothing line, like it's sustainable, geeky, gender neutral, maternity wear, etc. get into that space as well as just the general "style" space.

If you are planning to rely on personal connections like friends and family, you shouldn't count on having any real success unless your goal is very small. For this to actually work, you're going to have to reach a wider audience than just your small circle.
posted by Sara C. at 7:23 PM on August 26, 2016

I think contacting blogs is a very good idea. I've had luck promoting projects by reaching out to as many sites as I can. It seems a lot of places are hungry for content. If they're not interested in giving a full interview, you might want to send them a press release. Making their job easier gives you a good shot of getting your campaign published.
posted by Wembly at 10:52 AM on August 27, 2016