Crowdfunding: a marketing tool for cool dreams that need a kickstarter

Last Wednesday, I attended a seminar about crowdfunding. Looking for inspiration and to get a status update on what is happening these days in the field of crowdfunding. I have worked for Pifworld, a fundraising platform for cool projects that do good, and I believe in the power of the Crowd when in it comes to making dreams happen. A short summary of tips & tricks and some examples of interesting projects that use crowdfunding to get started.

What is crowdfunding?

Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community (crowd) through an open call.

Source: Wikipedia

Crowdfunding is a combination of crowdsourcing and fundraising. People and organizations that use crowdfunding use communities to raise funds for their activities. When you think that it is used only to get projects funded: you’re wrong.

Crowdfunding is often use as a marketing / pr tool to create awareness for a cause, a business model or an individual’s dream. Get your project funded is one thing but it’s even better to create a buzz around your project that will last.

How to be successful with crowdfunding?

During the seminar on Wednesday in Amsterdam, Ronald Kleverlaan from Webclusive, gave some guidelines on how to be succesful. He said:

• be personal
• have a clear goal
• engage with your community
• work hard

Interesting crowdfunding links

Some interesting links:

Crowdfunding platforms

• Pifworld
• Kickstarter

{Note: I had a different article in mind when I started writing this afternoon. But an other idea is pushing away my initial thoughts for this post… This post will be updated.. }