How to Make the Perfect Crowdfunding Video

There’s no doubt about it: a brilliant video pitch can set your crowdfunding profile apart. The difference it could make is huge. On Kickstarter, projects with videos are 20% more likely to be successfully funded than profiles without them. In fact, 9 times out of 10 the first thing any visitor to your page will do is click on your video.

Just like in a job interview, you need to make a strong first impression. Grab their attention with an effective pitch and they will want to learn more about your idea. But if your video isn’t up to scratch, you could lose their interest straight away. No matter how good your product is, people won’t care if your video doesn’t reflect this.

Start with your script

As with any aspect of crowdfunding, your video will require a lot of planning. Before you even think about getting your camera out, get to work on a script. This will help you to hit all the key points you need to get across to the viewer: the who, what, where, when, how and why of your campaign. Once you have your script, start rehearsing it. By reading it out loud in front of friends, family or even in front of the bathroom mirror, you will become more and more comfortable with it. This will make you sound natural and enthusiastic when it comes time to hit record.

Get the tech right

Your video doesn’t have to have high production values – nobody is expecting you to be the next Martin Scorsese! However, you should do everything you can to make sure the quality of the video and audio is as high as possible. Whether you’re shooting on a camera or a smartphone, use a tripod to make sure the shot remains stable. For audio, you could invest in a clip-on microphone for a richer sound. Whilst video equipment is becoming more and more accessible if you’re worried about what you’re doing you could reach out to a local university filmmaking group and ask them to shoot your pitch for you. That way, you will get a professional-looking video and the students will get valuable experience for their portfolio.

Keep it short and simple

Your video should be long enough to get across the key points about the opportunity, but not so long that people lose interest. If you want to go into more detail about certain aspects of your idea, you can write it on the rest of your profile. For the video, just focus on the essentials. You might have the best idea in the world, but nobody wants to listen to a lecture on it (yet!).

Wrap it up with a call to action

Speaking of essentials, you should always end a video pitch with a call to action. This will make it clear what you would like your viewer to do. Do you want them to invest or donate? To spread the word on social media? Then just ask them to! If somebody has made it to the end of your video, there’s a good chance they want to get involved. If you make the next step clear to them, they will know exactly what they need to do to help out.