Crowdfunding remains popular because of its startling efficiency. Launching a crowdfunding campaign is certainly no guarantee of success, but as a token indication of crowdfunding’s power, note that over 33,000 Kickstarter projects have been funded since the organization’s launch. With so many practical applications of crowdfunding—from supporting the research and development of new products and services to helping a friend pay their bills in desperate times—it’s no wonder why more and more people are drawn to the platform.
However, if you want to be successful, you need powerful content and powerful assets to support your campaign. In addition to a strong landing page and an active social media presence, one of the most important supporting elements you can give your campaign is an infographic. Here’s why:
Get Attention
The first step to getting donations for your campaign is to get your campaign noticed, and infographics really get the job done. With striking visuals and clear organization, infographics strongly stand out in social media news feeds and in the context of a site. When you design an infographic, you’ll be able to direct your readers’ eyes carefully, to only the most important bits of information. You’ll grab their attention immediately with a captivating headline or some standout design element at the top, then direct them into the guts of what makes your campaign unique. In the hyper-competitive environment of online content, any visual element is going to get you an immediate leg-up.
TL;DR
It’s good to have lots of information for your readers to peruse — they need to be reassured that you have a solid plan, and that their money is going to a good cause. However, sometimes crowdfunding campaigns make the mistake of oversupplying their prospective donors with information. It’s good to make the information available, somewhere on a website, but when you’re trying to persuade an audience to make a relatively fast donation decision, you need to be as concise as possible. Infographics give you the chance to offer the “too long; didn’t read” (tl;dr) version of your entire story, giving audiences simple versions of the most important points of your campaign in a single, digestible format.
Measurable Value
People crave specificity when they consider their donations, which is why itemized lists have a higher likelihood of attracting donations than generalized requests, according to a blog post by Plumfund. Along with that specificity, users need to have a grasp on some kind of value associated with their donation. For example, in a product-based crowdfunding campaign, you might dole out free samples or full versions of your products to people who donate a certain amount by a certain date. In other, less tangible developments, you might associate the value of a donation to the quality of life improvements you’ll make to the neighborhood. Infographics give you the chance to specifically cite the measurable impact of each donation you acquire, which will go a long way in convincing your audience to donate in the first place.
Visual Storytelling
Storytelling is one of the most powerful forms of communication; the narrative structure makes complex concepts easier to understand, and it’s natural for human beings to want to share stories with each other. Infographics give you a singular template to tell a visual story, which has the potential to reach a wide audience and persuade them to participate in your campaign. This “visual story” can be literal, like a series of storyboards that frame a sequence of events, or more figurative, like a recap of the benefits of your campaign, or a walkthrough for how you’re going to spend the money once you raise it all. As long as there’s a sequence of events and a narrative to follow, it should work.
Shareability
The best crowdfunding campaigns have an element of shareability to them — they encourage their donors to share the fact that they donated, or otherwise encourage people to actively post about the campaign. This generates more visibility for the campaign, gives participants a greater sense of investment in the cause, and also gives people an incentive to participate in the first place. Since infographics are naturally shareable pieces of content, they can do most of this work on your behalf. As long as you frame it in a way that’s relevant to the widest possible audience, a simple distribution to your social networks could make it go viral, giving you millions of potential impressions.
With the global crowdfunding market now reaching heights of $34.4 billion, there’s no better time to get started with your crowdfunding campaign, and with the help of a powerful infographic, you’ll be far more likely to succeed. Developing an infographic with the right data, the right story, and an amazing design is tough—it takes time, and sometimes a heavy monetary investment to execute—but it’s well worth the cost of creation.
