Corporate Crowdfunding in Practice ③ | How to Attract Backers Before Launch? Building Supporter Candidates from Existing Customers and Business Partners
機械翻訳 / Machine-translated
When a company starts a crowdfunding campaign, one of the most common questions I hear is:
"How do we attract backers through social media?"
Of course, social media matters.
But when it comes to corporate crowdfunding, the first thing I look at is not the number of social media followers.
The first thing I check is:
Who are the people who already have a relationship with the company?
Existing customers.
Past customers.
Business partners.
Suppliers.
Local businesses.
Employees.
The founder's personal connections.
People met at events or trade shows.
Every company has accumulated relationships over the course of running its business.
In crowdfunding, the starting point is organizing those relationships.
One of the biggest mistakes in corporate crowdfunding is this sequence:
The page is finished.
It goes live.
And then you start asking:
"Who should we tell?"
I don't think of crowdfunding as something where you begin attracting backers on the day of launch.
Before going public, you start sharing things gradually:
"We're launching a new product."
"We're taking on a new challenge."
"We're planning a crowdfunding campaign."
Then, when the campaign goes live, you deliver the message:
"It's started."
That's the right order.
Whether or not you receive support on day one is not just a matter of how hard you work after launch — it's largely determined by how much preparation you put in beforehand.
Companies have an advantage that individuals don't.
That advantage is:
Already having relationships with customers and business partners.
For example:
Customers who have purchased your products multiple times.
Companies you worked with in the past.
Regulars who visit your store.
People you exchanged business cards with at trade shows.
Businesses you have ties with in your local community.
Past event attendees.
These are not complete strangers.
That's why I don't think:
"We don't have many followers, so we can't do crowdfunding."
Before looking at social media numbers, I look at:
How well the company has organized the relationships it already has.
This is a crucial point.
Just because you have a list of existing customers doesn't mean you should blast everyone at once with:
"We're launching a crowdfunding campaign — please support us."
First, think about:
Who is this product a good fit for?
Who is likely to be interested in this challenge?
Who might participate as a company?
Who might refer someone else?
Even with the same 100 people, there's a huge difference between sending everyone the same message and tailoring how you communicate based on your relationship with each person.
I think of crowdfunding outreach not as a numbers game with contacts, but as designing who to reach, with what message, and in what way.
Customers who already use your products or services know your company.
So you don't need to introduce yourself from scratch.
Instead, tell them:
"Why did we create this new product?"
"What customer feedback led to this?"
"What are we challenging ourselves with in this campaign?"
Because they're existing customers, you can present it as a new challenge that grows naturally from what they already know about you.
Rather than feeling like a sudden fundraising request, you want them to feel:
"A company I already support is taking their next step."
That framing matters a great deal.
For business partners and other companies, purchasing your product isn't the only way to get involved.
They could:
Spread the word internally.
Share it with their own customers.
Become a sponsor.
Purchase products in bulk.
Introduce you to other companies.
Collaborate with you.
So instead of just asking:
"Please support our crowdfunding campaign,"
think about what form of participation makes sense for each specific company.
As I wrote in my article on corporate sponsors, it's easier to design this if you think of companies not as "supporters" but as "participants."
In corporate crowdfunding, your employees are also part of the picture.
To be clear, this does not mean:
Pressuring employees to back the campaign.
Requiring them to post on social media.
But it is important to share with them internally:
Why is the company doing this crowdfunding campaign?
What is the product?
Who are we trying to reach?
If employees don't understand it themselves, they won't be able to explain it when customers or acquaintances ask.
On the other hand, if the purpose is shared internally, some employees will naturally start saying things like:
"Our company is taking on this challenge."
In corporate crowdfunding, I consider internal communication before launch as part of the outreach preparation.
Social media is often thought of as a way to expand your reach to new audiences.
But in crowdfunding, it also serves as a way to remind existing customers and acquaintances:
"Oh right, that company had a crowdfunding campaign going."
Someone you contacted directly also sees your post on social media.
Someone who saw it on social media hears about it from a business partner too.
Multiple touchpoints build interest over time.
That's why I don't treat direct outreach and social media as separate efforts.
Combining individual, targeted outreach with broader public communication is what matters in corporate crowdfunding.
Before a campaign goes live, I always check:
"How many people are likely to support this on the day it launches?"
This isn't about getting firm commitments.
It's about having clarity on:
Who will you contact on launch day?
Who will you reach out to in the first few days?
Who will talk to which businesses?
You want that picture to be clear before you go live.
As I wrote in a previous article, a strong start in crowdfunding is not the result of what you do after launch — it's the result of the preparation you did before launch.
For a company especially, it would be a waste not to leverage the customer and partner relationships you've built over the years.
When thinking about outreach for a corporate crowdfunding campaign, I start by organizing these five things:
Once those are in place, then I think about next steps like:
Increasing social media posts.
Running ads.
Reaching out to influencers.
When people think about crowdfunding, they tend to focus on:
"How do we spread this to new people?"
Of course, reaching new audiences matters.
But companies have relationships they've built over the course of doing business.
Organize those relationships.
Share the challenge you're taking on.
Generate the first wave of support and referrals.
Then gradually expand outward.
That's how I approach outreach for corporate crowdfunding — not as "gathering strangers," but as "turning existing relationships into new support."
Before trying to grow your follower count, look at the relationships your company already has.
It's a major asset — one that's available to you precisely because you're a company.
5 Things Companies Should Decide Before Starting a Crowdfunding Campaign
How to Attract Backers via Social Media for Crowdfunding | "Please Support Us" Alone Won't Cut It
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