Making a video for an equity crowdfunding campaign is one of the essential pieces of the communication strategy towards investors.
Presenting an entrepreneurial project through a video aims to arouse interest in potential investors and above all to convey emotions.
Choosing to finance a project through equity crowdfunding is in fact a choice that is based both on rational components (business plan, project solidity, earning prospects) but also on emotional aspects such as sharing the company’s mission and the values it embodies.
For this reason, any well-structured communication strategy cannot disregard the creation of a video dedicated to the fundraising campaign.
The video for equity crowdfunding as part of an integrated strategy
According to data released by the major platforms, campaigns that include a video designed for crowdfunding have a 30 to 50% higher probability of success than those without one.
If we think about it, it’s natural that a potential investor, after reading a brief introduction about the startup and its project, wants to know more by watching a video that allows him to get a deeper idea.
The video for a crowdfunding campaign must therefore be considered as one of the first and main touchpoints with which the recipients of our communication will come into contact.
Generically, all statistics related to the consumption habits of online content show that users increasingly prefer video content to text or images only. Not taking this trend into account would therefore also be a serious strategic error.
Equity crowdfunding platforms also provides investors with documentation that is often very in-depth and complex, which is certainly necessary to accurately evaluate the investment, but which can be difficult especially in the first phase of campaign evaluation.
A video for equity crowdfunding can be easily shared through social platforms, used for presentations during events or, again, distributed to the media that could use it to relaunch the news about the campaign.
This is how the centrality of a good video for an integrated communication strategy becomes evident.
The main potential of a good video lies in the ability to condense a lot of information in a relatively short time and to convey the values of the brand and give maximum expression to the storytelling of our campaign.
READ ALSO: The timeline Equity Crowdfunding – How long does a campaign take?
How to create the perfect video for your equity crowdfunding campaign
If a company decides to launch an equity crowdfunding campaign, it must be ready to provide its investors with valid reasons for choosing its project from the numerous projects hosted on investment platforms. This means providing its interlocutors with a dense documentation made of analysis, growth projections, prospects of return on investment and solidity of the project.
All of this obviously relates to the purely rational component of the investment, however, as we have already mentioned, the emotional sphere is also strongly involved in the choice of embracing a business project, to the point of becoming a partner.
The marketing and communication strategy, therefore, cannot be left to improvisation or goodwill, but requires the use of professionals capable of perfectly mastering languages and tools suitable for achieving the objective. Among these, the presentation video plays, as we have seen, a fundamental role.
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about making a video for an equity crowdfunding campaign.
- Focus on uniqueness. The moment we choose to start an equity crowdfunding campaign we find ourselves competing with other companies to gain the favour of investors.
Making a marketing video will therefore be a first differentiating move compared to those (now increasingly fewer) companies that will decide not to invest in this activity.
At this point, however, we will have to face competition from startups and companies that have also decided to focus on visual communication. The key word is therefore to stand out: not only will we have to stand out in the sea of all the investment proposals, but we will also have to stand out among the possible smaller group of companies that are aiming at our same market segment. In short, the video for our equity crowdfunding campaign must be able to perfectly convey our unique selling proposition.
- Choosing the right content. Clearly there can be no one way to choose the right content for a video. Much will depend on the sector of reference of the company and the specificity of the project for which you are seeking funding. The key concept, however, is to succeed in transmitting the passion to others, making them fall in love with the project and convincing them not only of the innovative scope of our idea and of the possible economic returns connected to it but, above all, of the goodness of a project that can be shared for the values it embodies.
- Develop storytelling. The secret of successful communication always lies in knowing how to tell a good story. A story that knows how to involve, excite, and make our interlocutor feel part of the story.
Telling a business story means talking about how the idea behind the project was conceived, what motivated the idea to turn it into a concrete project and how the project can positively change the experience of those who will choose the product or service.
In developing our story we should always pay attention not to turn ourselves into barkers: the video for the equity crowdfunding campaign should always take into high consideration the respect for our potential investor. In addition, dwelling on the difficulties and obstacles encountered in our journey will not make us appear less reliable, but rather will help us to solicit the empathy necessary for our project to arouse emotion and participation.
Use the right tone. Being on the same wavelength as the listener and, at the same time, using a style in line with the essential values of the brand. These two elements are the base of the choice of the correct tone that have to be adopted in the making of the film. Make a careful analysis of what the brand wants to convey and, at the same time imagine the person who will be watching it on the other side of the screen might be.
Finding the right balance between these two components is essential. Imagine, for example, that there is a sports brand, with a product aimed at teenagers: obviously a tone that would mislead this positioning can’t be used.
At the same time, however, the potential investor must be an experienced equity crowdfunding professional who expects to receive timely information. Thus, to communicate the positioning and values of the firm, it is necessary to appear deeply aware of how to structure a serious business project.
On the other hand, it might be necessary to describe an innovative professional or financial service that can leverage very specific know-how, but it might also be necessary to tell a story to an audience that is not limited to professionals, in order to broaden the base of potential investors. In this case, it will be necessary to be able to communicate our expertise without being “inaccessible” to those unfamiliar with our field.
- Choose the appropriate length. As in the case of content, there is no formula for the perfect length of the video, what is important is to find the time to communicate all the essential concepts of the project, leaving the right space for some in-depth analysis that goes beyond a general description but, at the same time, does not go into excessive detail (for which there are more suitable materials).
An effective video tends to be within 5-6 minutes, to avoid losing the viewer’s attention. However, you don’t necessarily have to aim for brevity, also because a longer video can be extrapolated to be used on different channels or on different occasions. In this regard, it is a good idea to work on a storyboard that builds a modular narrative, that is, able to create independent parts that are, however, coherently linked together.
- Putting your face to it. We’ve said that sharing and empathy are the foundation of a successful equity crowdfunding video.
In addition to assessing the goodness of the project, the potential investors must have confidence in the company and its representatives. For this, in addition to the product, people count a lot. And that’s why it’s important that the founders themselves tell the story of the business.
Making the main protagonists of the story recognizable will certainly be an important lever to trigger the mechanism that will lead investors to trust the business.
In addition to the founders, it will also be possible to give voice to any testimonials or customers who have already tried the product or service, provided that they are always real and credible.
If possible, it may be useful to bring in investors who have already supported the project in previous funding rounds.
- Leave no room for improvisation. Quality is the key and quality is not consistent with improvisation.
As we have seen, the presentation video is one of the fundamental elements of a broader communication strategy that cannot leave any aspect to chance, otherwise, the equity crowdfunding campaign will fail and resources will be wasted.
Making a video for equity crowdfunding means translating values, brand positioning and unique selling proposition into images. It means building coherent storytelling able to enhance the unique features of the company, transmitting emotions and creating empathy in a coherent system with all the other communication tools to reach our stakeholders.
All this presupposes the involvement of specific professionals: marketers, copywriters, social media managers, editors, etc. who will work together to maximize communication results in a relatively short period of time. This is only possible through a well-established system and an infallible organization.
