One of the most effective ways to have a successful crowdfunding campaign is to have an amazing video to go along with your pitch. You pretty much have to have a video nowadays. Premier business crowdfunding site Kickstarter says a well made video can boost your chances of a successful campaign by a lot.

Way back in 2009, when the internet was still mostly text-based, Kickstarter campaigns with a video had a 54% success rate while those that didn’t have one only had a 39% success rate. In 2018 the internet is decidedly more video-based, so you can just imagine how much more important they are now.

Actually, you don’t even have to imagine. There’s been a recent study done and your campaign is 85% more likely to succeed with a video.

Kickstarter founder Yancey Strickler says video is the “best way to communicate the emotions, motivations, and character of a project, and the sincerity and seriousness of the creator.”

He also pointed out that it’s more fun for visitors to be able to watch a video and it shows them that you’ve put effort into the project.

However, as Strickler also noted, it’s not merely the presence of a video, it has to be a good one.

Successful campaigns are adept at articulating their vision as they tell visitors:

Why their product matters.

How it will enhance people’s lives.

Their vision for how it will ultimately make the world a better place.

Videos are displayed right at the top of a Kickstarter page, so they are basically the first thing a visitor sees and naturally they will press play to watch it. As videos are the ultimate communication device on the internet, people get the clearest idea of what it is you are pitching. It’s kind of like you’re right there in the room with them, providing you opt to go in front of the camera yourself.

You can help your cause by adhering to these six guidelines:

1. Make sure your video is good quality.

This goes back to what we said about people seeing the effort you’ve put in. If people see you just sitting in front of a webcam in a dimly lit room talking, that may be enough to convince them, but it doesn’t really connote passion about your project. It says: “Meh, good enough.”

You wanna make sure you have good lighting, excellent sound quality, clear and stable picture and competent editing. You don’t need to go overboard with the production, but it’s so easy to make a quality video nowadays that if you put up a poor quality one, it’s gonna stand out in all the wrong ways.

2. Use a Script

You may feel that you talk best about your product when you’re just talking from the heart about it and that’s fine, but you should write out your thoughts ahead of time just to organize them even if you don’t ultimately memorize the script.

But, more than just knowing what you’re going to say, a script will allow you to plan out the entire video, including the shots and what goes where. Even if you just want to turn on your camera and start talking, it’s best to have a plan. If you do completely script out what you want to say, it’s important to not make it sound scripted, though. Sound natural and enthusiastic.

3.  Keep Reward References to a Minimum

If you are going to get into the rewards in your video, don’t go over all of them. Instead, just tap into your inner burlesque dancer and tease the audience. Let them know some of the exciting ones and invite them to view the complete list further down to help keep them on your Kickstarter page.

4. Be Succinct

This is a rule that you can have for pretty much any kind of marketing video you make. Although you are probably excited about your project and want to explain the whole thing in the video, resist. You want to just give the highlights in the video and tell people enough so they understand the project and are intrigued enough to learn more. There’s plenty of room on the project page to get into all the details and if people are truly interested in your project, they’ll seek out that information and read all about your project.

5. Ask

Ask people to share the project if they’re interested in it and ask people to back you. That’s what this whole thing is about. If people watch your video until the end, that indicates at least a minimal level of interest in it, so give them that extra little nudge with a clear and sincere call to action for them to share and back the project.

6. Get Inspired

To see what works, have a look around Kickstarter or whatever crowdfunding site you are using and look at other projects’ videos. Which ones appeal to you? Which ones have reached their goals? Is there something in their video that is especially compelling? Does it use humor effectively? Or is it purely heartfelt and sincere?

See what it is about the videos that appeal to you and try to capture some of that magic in yours.

Although many people prefer to use a talking-to-the-camera video to connect with potential backers and convey their passion, you might also utilize animation when appropriate. If your project is especially complex, using animation would be a good idea so you can clearly explain it.

Fortunately, we know just the animation studio to use … Super Vids. No, wait! Us. We mean us. Why not try a fun 2D animation for your crowdfunding page? Click here to get started on planning and pricing your very own 2D animation video.