The updates you send out to your backers provide meaningful information about your campaign progress and product. As an aside to that, you also have the option to include information for other campaigns you think your backers would love to hear about.
The creators of those campaigns can do the same in return, creating a mutually beneficial partnership.
It creates a win-win-win situation for everyone. Backers get to learn more about awesome campaigns and both creators get more backers.
Why do cross promotions work?
There is a number of crowdfunding backers who are “repeat backers” or “super backers” – this means that they back more than one campaign on crowdfunding platforms. There are even platforms dedicated to providing discounts to those “repeat backers” like BackerClub and Krowdster.
In 2013, Kickstarter reported that 29% of their backers or 1,473,393 are considered “Repeat Backers” and support multiple projects.
Therefore, we can leverage this pool of “repeat backers” and “super backers” by working out cross promotions with other campaigns. In the crowdfunding space, dedicated campaigners frequently and consistently provide updates to their loyal fans. Here, mutual cross promotions will help each campaign drive more traffic to each other.
Which campaigns should I work with?
These fall into two categories: campaigns that reach out to you and campaigns that you reach out to.
Campaigners that reach out to you
Throughout your crowdfunding campaign, there will be other campaigners who reach out to you. When deciding on which campaigns to conduct mutual cross promotions with, make sure to adequately vet the campaign so that you are not accidentally promoting a direct or indirect competitor to your own product.
Pro tip: people who are repeat backers on crowdfunding usually back projects in multiple categories so a campaigner from a different category reaching out should not be a deterrent.
For example, if you’re launching a new phone case that makes a cat noise every time you pick it up (hypothetical, but why not, right?), be sure to entertain cold emails from campaigners who are crowdfunding for an ebike since Superbacker Andy can potentially be an ebike enthusiast who loves cats.
Campaigns that you reach out to
On the flip side, be sure to constantly be looking through crowdfunding platforms for exciting campaigns to cross promote with. It can be campaigns that have the same target demographic as your own campaign, it can be campaigns with complementary products and so on. MeowCaseTM mentioned above should be interested in cross-promoting with other campaigns in the phone accessories category.
One concern many campaigners have is the price point for campaigns they conduct cross promotions with. What if rewards in my campaign is $1,000 but the other project rewards are tiered at $29 and $39?
My advice to you? No cross-promo is a bad cross-promo.
Again, repeat backers look at different products and categories and vet them accordingly to their competitors within the product category. Even if your product is $199, be sure to reach out to campaigns at higher and lower price points too.
If your product is appropriately priced within the market then this will not be much of a worry.
What should I include in the email?
There’s a few basic points to include in the email, but be sure to continue testing out other iterations to get the highest open (subject line) and response (content).
- Credibility for your own campaign. Make sure there are proof points for your campaign that will turn some heads.
- Cross-promotion blurb. To save time, ready and offer up your cross-promo blurb right up front. This will also give the other campaigner an idea of what you are looking for and what they should send back.
- An offer to set exact dates for the cross-promos to be released. A lot of campaigners skip this part and end up never getting a date locked in. Be sure to
- A follow up link. This means that the partner campaign will have to prove to you that they will post about your campaign in an update.
What to include in your cross-promotion post
- Campaign title
- Highest performing image for the campaign
- Short summary of the campaign and why the product is special
- Secret perk link or special offer (make sure there are tracking links on here!)
Here’s an example of what a cross promotion looks like:
How much of a traffic or conversion boost should I expect from these cross promotions?
The answer to this depends on a lot of factors: backer engagement from the partner campaign, how enticing the cross-promotion offer is, the way your special perk is set up for backers of the partner campaign, your campaign page and so much more.
Make sure to consistently reach out to campaigns and queue up cross promotions for each week of the campaign.
Read more examples and dive deeper into them in my other post.
What are you waiting for? Secure cross promotions for your campaign today and CRUSH IT out there!
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