Crafting a Perfect Crowdfunding Campaign, Chapter 2

Structure, Padding, Content

Let’s face it: When it comes to web content, everything your high school English teacher taught you was wrong. Nobody wants to read an expository essay in an ordered paragraph format with a header, body, and footer. Readers don’t care if you restate your thesis at the end of each body paragraph and write a summary at the end. All that matters is that your work makes them want to buy something from you.

In this chapter, we’ll be going over what does and doesn’t make a project attractive. The simplest rule here is S.P.C. – Structure, Padding, Content. You should build structure first, then work on padding (fluff), then paste in any content you feel is absolutely critical to your audience’s understanding. Since content is so low on our list, we should focus most of our effort on what really matters: structure.

Structure, at its core, is the order in which things appear, but it is not that simple. A well-structured crowdfunding page never lets go of the backers’ hand. It guides them to your product via the scenic route and drops them at the front door of the “Pledge Now” button like the very finest of chauffeur. Placing the right elements in the right order, with the right pacing, layering, and movement is 90% of the challenge when constructing your campaign. In parts 3 and 4, we will discuss tried-and-true structural templates for the video and text content.

Part 3: Video

Video is a relatively young medium, turning 124 this year. For only the last 20 years or so has it even been within the reach of the average consumer. Being so new, many of the rules for professional video are still lost on the average home movie maker. For this reason, it is difficult to make technical recommendations. This part will instead focus on the exact elements that need to appear in a crowdfunding video, which are generally the same for all product campaigns. Some exceptions or alterations may be necessary, and these are noted wherever possible. The following outline is the recommended format upon which we will build the presentation.

• Open with a fade-from-black to some stock footage of activities relevant to the product, but not the product itself (muffled or muted sound)
  • Alternatively, fade into an attractive and in-charge looking person on a plain background.
  • Thirdly, and only if you are reselling an already-made product, the video may fade in on a series of dramatic close-ups
• At 0 to 3 seconds in, fade in instrumental music. The genre depends on the market.
  • For minimalist, natural or simple products, choose songs with only ukulele, xylophone, and a makeshift percussion set. Light piano or acoustic guitar are acceptable. 4-chord progressions only.
  • For futuristic or sleek products, choose a clean, electronic ambient sound. Avoid drums wherever possible.
  • For household, down-to-earth, but not explicitly “natural” products, choose an uplifting soft-rock sound. 4-chord progressions only.
• Begin a voiceover/speech with one of the key phrases:
  • “Here at [company name], we’re all [name for members of an interest group]. We know the pain of [problem statement]…”
  • “Did you know, [socially conscious trivia]? We do…”
  • “Have you ever [encountered problem statement]?”
  • “How many times has [problem statement] happened to you?”
  • “What if you could [perform solution]?”
• Continue by saying “that’s why we invented… [product name]”
• The speaker must provide backstory and functional description of the product. Use only simple English in the story, do not describe the product.
• While this is happening, the video must show each of the following scenes:
  • Someone waking up in a queen size bed with downy white sheets. No one is sure why, but this shot is critical
  • A person relaxing in their naturalistic, but ultramodern home with your product present.
  • Women practicing yoga in a brightly-lit studio or at a park
  • Friends enjoying each others’ company on a Californian pier
  • At most, two shots of your product being used in typical situations. The pairing knife might be shown coining carrots in one kitchen, and chopping tomatoes in another.
• The video should then show the speaker on a flat background as he or she closes up the backstory, and begins a technical description.
  • Be sure to use highly specific technical language when describing trivial or irrelevant features. For instance, when referring to a stainless steal part, say “AISI 304 chromium-nickel steel alloy”.
  • Remember to emphasize how much your product values “design”. Talk about “the curves” whenever possible.
  • Use as many of the following adjectives as possible, even if they appear to be oxymorons:
    • Simple
    • Minimal(ist)
    • Ergonomic
    • High-end
    • High-tech
    • Precision
    • Natural
    • Luxury
    • Custom-designed
    • Intuitive
• While the technical description is running, cut to product shots of the hypothetical design (or a far-along prototype).
• Finally, an engineering staff member (or possibly the original host) should start talking in front of the plain background
  • Consider the gender of your engineering spokesperson. While the layperson is more likely to believe a male speaking vaguely about engineering, media outlets tend to report more on female engineers.
  • The engineer should talk about your company’s experience in the relevant field but not the product.
  • Work in the line “The team has X years of combined experience in the field”, where X is an absurdly large number. Do not say how many team members there are.
• During the engineer’s speech about the staff, you must show the following shots in some order
  • A wide-shot of your open floorplan converted loft office with modular furniture
  • A non-technical employee working on advertising materials which could be mistaken for a CAD rendering. They must be using a Mac
  • If there is a software component, the non-technical employee may be replaced by someone typing code into Sublime Text editor, or editing the first open source javascript file you can find on Github.
  • Two shots of laboratories with anonymous cleansuit-wearing scientists doing something that might be somehow related to the product.
• If an engineer is not available, you may replace most of this content with shots of designers fondling a prototype or raw material in front of a wall of concept sketches.
• Finally, your original host should thank the audience for their support, and the product logo should show one more time before it all fades out.

Once again, remember that the point of the campaign isn’t to get bogged down in the details of “how” or “who”, it’s just to get the idea out there. Your job is to show exactly what the audience expects to see, without giving natural skeptics a chance to find a “flaw” in your product. The last thing you want is a viewer casually spotting a hole in your story.

The video is a major undertaking. Although I’ve outlined the ideal format here, much of the logistics is still up to you as the campaign-runner. In the next chapter, we’ll discuss the format of the written description in a similar way. For that reason, chapters 2 and 3 may be applied in reverse order, but should always be double-checked for consistency.

If you liked this post, or found it helpful in building your own, please let me know in the comments. You can like and subscribe to my Youtube Channel and follow me on tumblr, or donate to my Patreon to give some extra monetary support. Blogging isn’t free, after all.