Planning to make a pitch video for your crowdfunding project? But don’t know where to start or how to bring the best out of it? No worries; we are here to guide you.
Raising funding is not a cup of tea; you need to plan strategically to be successful. And in this game, pitch video plays a crucial role in showing your professionalism and gaining investors’ trust. Considering these facts, we have listed 15 tested tips to make your crowdfunding campaign more effective. But before going straight to the tips, let’s learn the importance of a pitch video and how it can impact your funding campaign.
Why Is An Impactful Pitch Video Essential For Crowdfunding?
If you look at a successful crowdfunding campaign, you will find a common thing: a pitch video. Photos are common, but shooting a video and uploading it to the platform helps you present your funding goals best. Here are the reasons why you should create an impactful pitch video-
- Captures investors’ attention: The main purpose of standing in a funding platform is to collect investments or donations. And to fulfill your funding target, you need public attention, which can be gained through an amazing pitch video. It will reach people and encourage them to invest in your campaign.
- Showcases your funding product attractively: investors will invest in you only if they find the product fruitful. That is why the presentation of your funding product and goals is the main factor to focus on in the campaign. And creating a pitch video will do that for you. When you shoot a video, you bring all the factors of your product in a beautiful way that encourages them to invest.
- Build trust and reliability: uploading a pitch video shows every aspect of your products and answers all the questions an investor may have in mind. Thus, it builds trust and reliability, and the backers get encouragement to work further with you.
- Ensures maximum engagement: Videos are easy to share, so you can create public awareness about your campaign quicker. It will further give your brand recognition and thus increase your market value.
- Boosting your funding campaign & ROI: It is observed through research that the funding campaigns that are initiated for a pitch video have earned better responses from the audience. This will eventually help you reach your crowdfunding goals and hit your business, increasing the return on investment (ROI) —however, your determination, hard work, goals, and product quality matter.
15 Tips For Creating Effective Crowdfunding Pitch Video
To create a compelling crowdfunding pitch video, you must be creative and think out of the box to attract the investor most effectively. But how? No worries; here we have bought 15 excellent crowdfunding pitch video tips following which you can boost your funding campaign quicker-
Keep The Video Short But Impactful
When the concept of video making comes, the first thing that knocks in your mind is the length of the video. Most fundraisers make mistakes in choosing the ideal length for their videos. To tell the entire story in detail, they make the video too lengthy, eventually irritating the viewers.
Remember, the main intention of making a crowdfunding pitch video is to portray your product most attractively, showing the funding cause and its benefits and thus convincing the investors to invest in your campaign. But in this case, if the video is too long, the viewers will lose their patience to watch till the end. This will ultimately hamper the cause of video making. That is why it is crucial to keep the video length concise.
Now you may ask, what is the ideal length for a crowdfunding pitch video? Researching hundreds of successful crowdfunding videos, we have observed that the projects that come with a video of 2 to 3 minutes are more impactful. And these videos can reach their target audience 25% faster than the ones with lengthy videos.
For this, we suggest you reveal the main pitch in the very first segment of the video. If you want to be more creative and keep the main pitch for the last, there is an 80% chance that the viewer will switch the video without going up to the last segment. So, it is wise to reveal the main attraction at the very beginning or after 50 seconds of the video.
Portray Your Story
Modern crowdfunding is not just about the product. It’s all about marketing your product in the best way possible. And when it comes to product marketing, storytelling plays a key role in reaching your target audience. But to bring up a heart-touching story, you should divide your video into different segments and work on each of them. To do so, first, decide the length of the video and then divide it into three halves- the starting, middle portion, and the conclusion. Each of these video parts should effectively convey your story. Here are some tips you can follow to bring the best funding story for your pitch video-
- Starting Portion: Introduce Your Product
Just bringing out the product and giving a boring intro will make the full video unexciting. To bring the wow factor into your video, be creative with your introduction. First, analyze the problems that your product can solve. And then, throw questions at your audience and ask them if they are going through these same issues or not. Once you have highlighted the problems, now it’s time to introduce your product, ensuring your customer that it will solve all the issues. Such an introduction will grab the attention of your target audience easily.
- Middle Portion: Explain Your Journey
Here comes the mainstream of storytelling. Once you have introduced the product in the first half of the video, now it’s time to show the benefits of your product, sharing your journey and letting your audience know the struggle you have taken to bring out this product. This will help you to connect to the audience quickly and emotionally. The most effective way to tell your story is by capturing the prototypes you have made; this will help you to portray your journey most attractively. For example- if you are crowdfunding for a smartwatch, show the models you have tried yet; tell the story of your failures and success too. Showing your team, group activities, wrapping house, etc., are also great initiatives to reach the mass quickly.
- Ending Portion: Convince Your Target Investor To Invest
The ending of the crowdfunding video is the most crucial stage; here, you have to converse your audience to invest in your product. So, be wise, get your pitch lines ready, and present yourself in the best way possible. Show your dedication to the product and focus on how the investors will be benefited. Remember, you need to make the investor realize the market value of the product. Only then will they show interest in investing in you. And finally, call them to support you and be a valuable part of your journey.
A Good Video Script Is Winning Half The Game
Don’t jump directly into video shooting without proper planning. First things first, you need to find a beautiful and well-organized script that will greatly present your product. You can make this script yourself or take help from any professional script writer who will guide you to bring the story into your video. But to bring a compelling script, here are some factors you should cover-
- What is the purpose of your crowdfunding campaign?
- What are your funding goals?
- How much funding do you want to raise?
- How long will you run the campaign?
- How will your funding product benefit the investor? And more.
You must answer all these questions in your video script. So, the investor will find all their answers in one video. Before shooting the video, go through all the points over and over again to ensure you didn’t miss any important points. Remember, if you make brilliant videography for your crowdfunding campaign, but the script is not strong enough, the result will be zero. So, always bring a bold and innovative script before video shooting.
Video Quality Matters
The quality of the video reflects your potential, your dedication to the campaign, and more. That is why you prioritize your video quality to create the best impression of your product. For instance, will the interviewer appreciate that if you stand for an interview with a shabby appearance, untidy outfit, and dirty shoes? Never; they will consider you useless just by your outer presentation. The same goes for crowdfunding pitch videos. You should always maintain the proper quality to bring professionalism to your video. Here are some tips for doing that-
- Use A Proper Videography Camera
Shooting from a simple mobile phone will not work to maintain video quality. To be professional, you must go for a standard videography camera. However, if it becomes too costly for you to afford such a video shoot, then whatever you choose, keep the resolution of the video in mind. If the investors find the video blurry, out of focus, or unclear, they will not show interest in investing in your crowdfunding.
- Higher A Professional Videographer
Professional videographers have the magic to highlight your product beautifully. So, if you are willing to give the best presentation of your funding, hire a professional videographer. He rightly knows how to make the video more attractive and boost your funding goals quicker. The investors will love your effort and will think about investment.
- Focus On Video Editing
It doesn’t matter how well you shot a video; there is always space to improve it. And here, the game of editing begins. A good video editor knows where you are pitching your product; he thus sets the music, keeping the focus on your product.
- Take Video Shots From Different Angles
Taking all shots from the same angle will make the video boring. So, take shots from different angles. In this case, lighting plays a crucial role. The same product may appear different for variations of light settings. So decide in which lighting your product looks best, and shoot the video focusing more on that particular angle.
- Have Multiple Options To Select
Don’t rely on a single video; instead, make several videos with different themes and aspects. Edit them all, then judge which fits your funding campaign best. Take help from your friends and family. Share the clips and take their suggestions on it.
The Video Must Convey A Clear Message
Creating a video where there is no message or has an unclear subject is of no use. Remember, your video must have a purpose; it is not just about showcasing your product; the pitch video is the most potent medium to raise funding. So, give your total effort to convey the message clearly to your audience.
Target the beginning of the video; it is the most critical segment to hold the public’s attention. If the opening is unattractive, the target audience will never watch your pitch video until the end. For this, keep the main message within 20 to 30 seconds of the video. That is, within 30 seconds of the video, the viewers should make up their minds that they should watch the video to the end. So, hook your audience to your pitch.
Create An Authentic & Realistic Pitch Video
Authenticity matters when it comes to crowdfunding pitch videos. It’s only an authentic video that can ensure the reliability of your product. If you, by chance, steal someone else’s videography and portray it as yours, the investor will never believe in you or your product. And so, they will hesitate to invest in you, considering you a fraud.
However, to bring realisticness to your video, bring human faces. Remember, no one will love to see a faceless video. Showing just the product will make the entire concept too boring. So bring color to it and add real-life character. You can hire a model for this. Or if the budget is not much, you can also request your friends or family to participate in the video making. The most attractive option is to involve yourself in the videography. This will make the investor believe in you and allow them to connect to the concept properly.
Connect Your Audience To The Video
If you only talk about yourself and the product, the video will just become a one-sided show. Remember, the key point of a crowdfunding marketing strategy is to keep your audience connected throughout the process. So, focus on building connections with your audience to get the best result in your crowdfunding.
But how to involve the audience in your pitch video? To involve the audience in your question, you can simply present the problems in the day-to-day life of the mass people that your product can solve. Share the benefits and how your customer can use this product. You can also ask them questions that make them think about your product.
And to bring all these elements into your video, bring multiple faces. Don’t just bring one subject in your video. Make it engaging and add multiple characters in your pitch with which the audience can relate the incident to their real life. Thus, they will get encouragement to invest in your product.
Select A Suitable Background Music
You can’t deny the potential of music to influence anyone’s mood. Soft music can make you relax and calm, whereas melancholy music has the power to bring tears to your eyes. Again a vibing tune of music can also make you dance, switching your mood from sad to happy in seconds. That is why, besides the context of the video, you should also pay attention to its background music.
For example- if you are raising funds for a non-profitable organization to help a needy person collect his operation amount, then the music should be melancholic. If you add electrifying music to sad content, the video will not attract the donors; instead, they will take the matter lightly.
Whereas, if you add appropriate sad tone music in the video background, it will intensify the sufferings of the subject and express the funding cause for real. That is why choosing ideal background music is a crucial factor to consider when making a crowdfunding video; if something goes wrong, it can ruin the entire concept of your campaign.
However, the music’s authority is also something you should take care of before uploading. If the music has any copyright issues, you can get changed for using the music. So, keep these things in mind and choose music that you have the authority to use. There are many crowdfunding background music for free. Search them online and choose the suitable one for you.
Highlight The Development Process
When working on a product to raise funding, capture all its development stages in your camera. The audience loves to see a product’s process and development journey. That is why you should share your prototypes with the audience to get a quick response.
For instance, document the entire process if you are publishing a book and want to raise funding. First, add the concept of your book and its story in the video. How did the storyline hit your mind, or what inspired you to write this book- share all these facts in the pitch video. It will be amazing if you bring the book writing events, its printing, cover page designs, and the entire process in your video.
Remember, the investor will not put their money into your daydreams. So, you need to show them your hard work to get the investment. And so including the development process of your product is essential. By doing this, the audience will connect more to your concept and get encouragement to invest in your campaign.
Let Your Product Be The Heart Of The Video
While making your video more attractive, don’t forget what you are funding for. Your product is the heart of your crowdfunding campaign. So, when you make a pitch video for the funding, ensure it remains the king element. Don’t shadow your funding product while focusing on something else.
Show The Rewards In Your Video
Rewards are an attractive part of any crowdfunding campaign. It inspires the investors or the donors to participate in your rowing boat. And keeping this thing in mind, you can effectively use the rewards in your video. Place the rewards along with the main product of your video and shoot it with the help of a professional videographer.
However, selecting rewards that are relevant to your product is better. For example, if you are raising funding for a book, you can give bookmarks, highlighter, a pen set, and pencils as a reward. You need to pop up all these elements into your video so that the audience gets influenced by the rewards and thinks of investing in your campaign.
Focus On Lighting
Lighting is crucial for both photography and videography of a crowdfunding pitch. Bright lighting will make your product look better in the video, whereas dark lighting will make the video gloomy. So always give your best to provide sufficient lighting for your video shooting.
However, natural lighting is always best for crowdfunding photos or videos. The best time for daylight shooting is the first hour after sunrise. Even though it’s too early, you will not regret the decision. The soft and fresh sunlighting, with no traffic, noise, or crowd in the background, will bring the best outcome to your video.
Besides, if you plan to shoot indoors, use the sun as a backlight by positioning an actor in front of the sun. But relying only on daylight for the entire video is not a good decision when shooting indoors. So, add sufficient artificial; lighting and a mirror, too, for a perfect reflection. Another fact you should remember is that try to shoot the entire video at the same time of the day; it will provide even lighting throughout the video and help you edit finely.
Present Yourself With Confidence
Crowdfunding and the product is not the only thing that the investors put their money into; they also invest their hard earnings in the fundraiser. Whenever you hear an idea, whose idea it is matters; for example, if you present an idea today while sitting at your home, people will not appreciate it as they would if leading faces like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg present this exact idea.
That is why personality and identity matter. The investor will surely check your confidence, analyze your determination, potentiality, thoughts, and beliefs, and then think of investing. So, to bring yourself in a presentable manner, be part of your campaign video. But if you are too shy to act on the pitch video, there are other ways to approach it, such as-
- Showcase The Product By Yourself
Instead of hiring any model for your campaign video, you yourself can present it to add a personal touch. But not everyone is confident enough to face the camera; if you are one of those, then these tips are for you-
- Drink plenty of water before shooting the video. Remember, keeping yourself hydrated is important. It will keep your brain clean and prevent mouth drying. Thus, you can fluently deliver the dialogue.
- Use a teleprompter to remember the dialogue, but don’t read to the point that it seems too scripted. It is better just to highlight the key point of your script in the teleprompter and hold it in front of you, taking help from someone. But try your best to deliver the dialogues as naturally as possible.
- If you are too nervous to face the camera, do some exercise. It will increase your brain’s blood flow and calm you during shooting.
- Be The Narrator Of Your Pitch Video
The audience always appreciates the personal touch. So, you can tell the story of your journey and the entire video script in your voice. Thus, the investor will get to connect with you in a better way. In this case, be confident, and try to bring the real you. Don’t overreact when presenting something that you are not in real life. Eventually, fakeness will have a negative impact on your pitch.
- Face The Asking Segment
Besides hearing your voice, people would love to see you and know your personality. And for that, face the camera and ask the funding smartly. It is an excellent way to impress your investor; dress well, be confident, and say what you expect from them. But remember, don’t add too much drama, be clear and straightforward.
Call To Action: Ask The Investors To Invest But Don’t Beg
The main goal of the crowdfunding video is to raise funding, isn’t it? But no one will invest in your campaign if you don’t ask for funding. That is why asking for the funding amount with a professional approach is essential.
First, prepare a list of how you will convince them to invest. Make sure the request is serious, well-written, and unambiguous. You can make a draft script to ask for the funding amount. However, don’t beg, but be sure to convey an impression of urgency and action. Describe why you are collecting this money and where you are going to use it. Yet remember, the convening should not be too lengthy or too detailed. Remember, the video length is just 2 to 4 minutes. And in this time, you need to showcase your product, features, development process, and more. You will get just the last segment to ask for the amount. So, be clear and ask with confidence.
To conclude the pitch, be sure to express gratitude for their support of your initiative; showing courtesy is crucial and might help attract a few more investors.
Share Your Pitch Video In Every Possible Platform
Once you have created the video and uploaded it on the crowdfunding platform, it is time to share it. Remember, the more you share, the more response you will get. Target the social media platforms with the most engagement, such as Facebook, Youtube, or Instagram. You can also involve your family and friends to share your videos. Another fantastic idea is to tag others in the video. This will help you spread the funding video to the mass people in the shortest time.
How To Create A Crowdfunding Pitch Video?
You have known some brilliant ideas from the above section to create an effective crowdfunding pitch video. But how will you make the video? At the start, everything might seem messy, but trust us, and follow the below steps, you will find a way to shoot the best pitch video-
Step-1: Gather a team
The first step to making a crowdfunding pitch video is to build an amazing team. For that, all you should do is contact experienced persons with proper crowdfunding knowledge and know where and how to make a pitch video. You should also involve persons who know your funding product well and can bring the best out of the video.
Step-2: Note down your budget
Budget is what keeps your project going. So, before creating the video, first, make the budget. Hiring a scriptwriter, video man, and models, setting the location, editing, and marketing include all this to your budget list. Seat with your team and estimate what amount you will require to spend, and also find alternative ways to minimize the cost. And move to the next steps keeping the budget in mind.
Step-3: Script
Once you have the team, concentrate on a pitch video script. Brainstorm with your teammates and find out the best ideas. You can also hire a professional script writer for your project. Yet, don’t forget to note down the points that you want to highlight in your video. That is because the script writer may not know your funding product well; it’s your duty to give the writer all the information about the product so he can give life to the product in the script.
Step-4: Choose a location & select models
After preparing the script, you should analyze it and find the best location for shooting the video. Remember, the location should go well with your product and fulfill the script demand. Besides, select the models you want to include in your video. If you are working on a low-budget project, go to family and friends to join the video, it will minimize your overall cost.
Step-5: Collect the video equipment
The quality of the video is a crucial factor to consider to impress your investor. Concentrate on the video quality if you want to showcase your product attractively. And for that, manage a proper videography camera. If you don’t have the budget to hire a professional videographer, arrange for a camera from friends or family to run the shoot. Remember, a blurry, wrong-angle, or unorganized video will ruin your entire funding campaign. So, go for the best video equipment.
Step-6: Shooting & editing
Once you have the perfect script, location, models, video cameras, and your funding product, it’s time to shoot the video. Here emphasize the lighting and background of the video. Try to shoot the video at the same time of the day. Shoot the video from different angles to find the best outcome. After shooting, it’s time for editing. You can edit the video by yourself using various video editing apps or go to a freelancing video editor to get the best output. But don’t edit too much; keep things natural as much as possible.
Step-7: Uploading
When you are satisfied with the video making, share it with your friends and family to know their opinion. If you get any suggestions or mistakes, rectify them instantly. Now, it’s time to set for the final step, uploading. Go to the crowdfunding platform you chose for your funding campaign, and upload it. Before uploading, don’t forget to optimize the video. Add a beautiful caption with a short description. And it’s done!
Step-8: Marketing
Uploading the video on the crowdfunding platform is not the end of the game. But the real game begins here. You need to give your best in marketing the pitch. Share the video on social media and ask your friends, family, and business contacts to participate. You can also go for SEO to get maximum reach. This will build an engaging campaign and help you raise the funding money quicker. Check out 10 Crowdfunding Marketing Tactics for Successful Campaigns to learn more about crowdfunding marketing strategies.
Example Of Some Successful Crowdfunding Pitch Video
Though you have learned how to make an effective pitch video, now let’s look at some real-life examples of successful campaigns. We have also added the link to the videos, watching which you can get ideas to prepare your one-
- “Pebble Time – Awesome Smartwatch” by Pebble Technology
If you look back at 2015, Pebble Time is the most out-boasting name in the crowdfunding platform that sparked a fire with its pitch video. It is a smartwatch brand that made history with its fundraising campaign.
The company uploaded its pitch video on Kickstarter in 2015 with a target to get funding of $100,000. But with utter surprise, they collected $20,338,986! However, the video quality and graphics were nothing outstanding, so what was the strength of this video? Actually, the explanation of the features of the watch and its usage attracted the audience’s attention, which inspired them to invest. Don’t miss to watch this video before shooting yours- Pebble Time Crowdfunding Pitch Video – 2015.
- “Exploding Kittens” by Matthew Inman
You must watch Matthew’s pitch video raising funds for Exploding Kittens, a multiplayer deck card game that made history. The campaign was held in 2015 on Kickstarter with a target of earning US$10,000. And guess what? The team collected more than the targeted amount in just eight minutes! So let’s note the points that brought tremendous success to this video –
- Use of animation to showcase the final product
- Major focus on bringing public engagement
- Short video of less than 3 minutes!
- Rewards were showcased attractively
- Matthew himself presented the pith and explained the rules clearly
Undoubtedly these ideas were excellent, and if you want to use these ideas in your crowdfunding pitch video, click the link to explore the Exploding Kittens world- Exploding Kittens Crowdfunding Pitch Video – 2015.
- “The Coolest Cooler: 21st Century Cooler that’s Actually Cooler” by Ryan Grepper
Ryan Grepper developed the world’s coolest cooler with a built-in blender and Bluetooth speaker. And went on the crowdfunding platform- Kickstarter in 2014 with an outstanding pitch video that collected an amount of $13,285,226! Here are the key points that you should learn from this success-
- In his video, he ensures the high quality of the product & timely delivery.
- Explained all the features in detail
- Pointed out the advantages of investing in the product; he offered them the product only at $180, where the market price will be $500- this was a brilliant idea to gain investors’ attention.
- Kept the video short and covered it within three minutes.
Click the link to watch the video The Coolest Cooler Crowdfunding Pitch Video- 2014.
- “Oculus Rift: Step Into the Game” by Oculus VR
To bring the fun of virtual reality into real life, Oculus Rift set a crowdfunding pitch video on Kickstarter in 2012. The campaign was a great hit collecting an amount of USD 2.4 million. Here are the major extract from the pitch video-
- The background music was a hit!
- Highlighted the prototypes and manufacturing process
- Included multiple faces to express individual opinions on this project
- Described the functions and advantages of the product
- Explain the reason for standing in the funding platform
- Mentioned the rewards in the ending segment
Check out the video Oculus Rift Crowdfunding Pitch Video – 2012.
The Bottom Line
Wait for what? Get your pitch video on point and get ready with an outstanding crowdfunding presentation. However, to give life to this top-notch video, all you need to do is follow the tips and tricks discussed in the above section of this article. Yet, we are summing it up for you- firstly, focus on the video quality and bring the main product into focus. Tell a story to connect the audience to your campaign, edit your video correctly, and ask for the funding amount smartly and confidently.
And the last note, don’t forget to share it on all social media platforms to boost engagement and reach the mass people. Following this, you will undoubtedly nail the game with your pitch video, but having a solid product and crowdfunding strategy is mandatory!