True Confession: Why I did not give to your Crowdfunding

This has been on my heart for a while now and it seems like the right time to share it. I get 5 requests a day, sometimes more from people asking for Crowdfunding money for something personal. They can’t afford to pay for my help and they are desperate. They usually state that in all caps, that’s how I know. Here are 5 reasons why I do not give to Crowdfunding projects. I feel like I am always teaching how to get people to give and what makes you successful. But perhaps people need to see the other side too. Why I DON’T give:

1) I can’t confirm your story. When you say you are losing your house, or have a disease or need to fix your car, and I don’t know you personally, I have no way of knowing if that is true or not. I have no idea if you even know the person you claim to be raising money for. No matter how good your story is, without documentation, it means nothing.

2) Your “proof” is not very good. If I don’t know you, I really have no idea if that is really your father in a wheel chair or if those are your CT scans. The worst part is the person who sent me CT scans to prove there was a tumor, forgetting (or perhaps they never knew) that I am a physician who can read x-rays, CT scan and MRI’s. The one they were showing me was of a healthy liver. I am still not sure how to feel about that.

3) I don’t know how you got to this point. Yes, everyone tells a sad story about all the bad things that are happening to him or her, and I get that. But some of the bad things that happen are consequences of bad choices you may have made. I don’t know if you party your money away and don’t pay your bills. I don’t know if you have a drug addiction and that’s where all you money goes. I don’t know if you spend all your time in casinos spending money you don’t have. Maybe you are an extremely poor money manager and more money is not really the answer to your problem.

4) You send me mixed messages. When you are posting about your success in business or as an author or whatever it is you do to bring an income and then send me notes to help you pay for something personal, I am confused. Why are posting about how successful you are when you can’t get $5,000 for a car? You just injured your business reputation. If you are raising money for a cause that is not your personal funds, that is different. But I am talking about when it’s for YOU because YOU can’t afford it, I begin to wonder.

5) It’s just ridiculous. I don’t care about that particular cause. I don’t think that invention is that great. Your book, show or movie sounds boring to me. It’s not me “hating” on you; it’s my personal taste. It does not mean your work sucks, it just means, I am not interested. Besides, if you didn’t work a zombie into it, you are out of luck if you are trying to get money from me! But seriously, it’s mostly because your work sucks.

So if you are ever wondering why I didn’t Retweet, repost, share, or give, these are just a few reasons why. Take the hint.

Reality TV is Great PR for Business

Is a uniform company interesting? If I asked you to watch a show a company that makes uniforms you would ignore me. However, a reality TV show, millions of people watched an executive from the company fumble around trying to work a real position there. The same company is trending on Google. That means the TV appearance is creating an interest in the business. How the capitalize on that will be an interesting questions. To have millions of people suddenly at our site and leave is a tragedy. You have to only hope that they are capturing some of that traffic.

The main reasons businesses participate on Donald Trump’s show is the publicity they will get. It’s a 1-hour commercial about their products and services. Not to mention the get access to some top executives who are looking for work. They can recruit while getting publicity! What people fail to realize is that those companies pay to be placed on the shows. There are companies that just work on product placements. It’s a huge industry. Because there are many similar products, a company will pay to have their product on a show instead of the competition. Sometimes it’s just about blocking the competition. Company X many realizes that if Company Z gets that kind of exposure, it could take them over the top. Reese’s pieces surpassed M&M’s when it appeared in the movie E.T. M&M was asked and said no. I wonder what happened to the executive that made that decision?

Reality TV gives attention to locations, as well as products. Trump Tower tours are up! People love to take pictures in front of the building and tell people they were there while in New York. Golf courses that get featured see more people after being on TV. Some are patrons who have a renewed desire to be on the course after seeing it on TV. Many are new people who are interested after seeing it on TV. Reality TV can also promote events. One of the Housewives visited her husband who was in a play. I do not think the play was still running when the episode aired, but it could still be considered good PR for the play and other actors involved.  Getting your jewelry or clothing line worn is easy. If you can get the attention of a star and give it to them, you could be lucky and have them wear it on a show. Then if they were asked about it, they would talk about your brand. Just give them the jewelry or clothes for free and you have a deal.

Mayhem vs. Matos for Publicity

Insurance companies are working hard to get and keep customers. In the insurance game, everyone is engaged in the battle for the customer. The two current commercials that PR professionals are talking about are the Allstate Mayhem and Matos from State farm. In the Internet Matos is not popular. One blogger noted that you can get auto-fill insults for Matos when you type in his name in Google. The commercial tries to come off like he is friendly however, most people note that they do not like him. They don’t like the fake smile, they don’t like how he interrupts a female State Farm Agent and they think is hair is creepy. Someone has even put up a Facebook page for people who do not like Matos. State farm gets brownie points for polarizing people. You have to have the customers who cannot stand you. So that you are only engaging the customers that really love your products. The publicity comes in when you have a commercial so bad, that people are talking about it. It keeps State Farm on the table as an item of discussion and perhaps they are waiting for that to turn into customers.

Mayhem on the other hand tells you what’s about to happen to you. He says the things we are thinking and Allstate kept Denise Haysbert in the commercial. Haysbert is a big favorite and everyone is always glad to see him. Dean Winters plays Mayhem and we really have not seen him in a prominent role since OZ. Because Mayhem is much less scary that his character from Oz and Allstate can save us from Mayhem, it’s a win-win situation. By showing all the situations you could have happen, it causes everyone to rethink their coverage. This would result in new people getting covered by Allstate as well as current customers getting more coverage. The commercials have everyone buzzing and hoping for a Celebrity Death Match between Mayhem and Matos.

The lesson is if your ads can also bring you publicity, like the Old Spice Guy, your business can make money like their business did. Look! Get a horse!

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