March is national Crowd Funding Month
March 22, 2012 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Crowd Funding, Featured Articles, Front Page
As you think about different ways to fund your project or business, you cannot help but think of crowd funding as a source. Most people have never even heard of crowd funding. Those who have may be confused about it. It’s worth taking the time to know about it. It’s good to have enough information so that crowd funding is an option for you.
Creating a project is not hard, however creating practical rewards might be. You need to think about those who are supporting your effort. What would they want? What would they need? What would be so remarkable that they would tell others about it? Some people will give just to support your cause. Most people think about what’s in it for me? They want something novel or unique. I have one client who is a musician. The most popular reward he gave was a song that included the givers name. Who wouldn’t want their own song in an mp3 by their favorite artist? Most of the people had purchased his last CD. They were already fans and were delighted to get this perk. Then he had a whole new set of people who wanted that mp3 for a gift. No matter how many people he gave it to, it was still unique to that person. My client assured me that this special mp3 did not involve writing a new song each time and it was something that he could easily do for anyone who asked for it. This reward was a huge homerun. If you can find a unique reward like this, you will get more than enough support for your project.
When is the best time to do your own crowd fund? Now! People are getting their tax refund and have some extra cash on hand. Also, it’s before the summer. In the summer, employment numbers change. Some seasonal workers like teacher are out of work and then you add youth workers who are out of school and looking for a job.
Unless your project is a fun activity or you have a strong base to work with, the summer can be tricky.
Make a decision this month to get your crowd fund happening!
IndieGoGo Updates Their Algorithms
March 18, 2012 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Featured Articles, Front Page, Wright Ideas
The crowd funding websites usually feature some projects on the front page. Those projects have an advantage in that mostly everyone visiting the site will see it and consider giving towards the success of the featured projects. Each site has different criteria for what is being listed on their front pages. IndieGoGo, one of the more popular sites has recently changed how they decide what goes on the front page. Much like Google, IndieGoGo has an algorithm it uses. They feel an algorithm is fairer. The algorithm will take into account how many comments a project gets and how much people are sharing it on social media. This means they are tracking your activity while you promote your project. Updating the pages often will also help. Basically if you do your work, get people to promote your page, view it and fund you, you will get the homepage advantage to help promote your project even more.
IndieGoGo is just one of many crowd funding sites. Many sites specialize in types of projects. For example, there are sites for education money, sites for just films and television, sites for scientists, sites for art only projects. You need to look at the different sites, see what they have to offer and find out as much as you can about what it takes to be featured on the home pages. For some sites, it is as simple as paying an extra fee. With sites that use an algorithm, you to have some understanding of what is being weighed. If the actual formula gets out, they will change it up again to keep it secret and keep people from “gaming” the system.
You have to make good use of your social media to make this work. Updates need to be frequent to keep people interested. As your project goes along, hopefully you can gain Facebook friends and Twitter followers because they got involved. Asking people to share and re-tweet can only help you reach that all-important financial goal.
Want to learn more about Crowd Funding, join us for the mastermind on Wed Night
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How Realtors Got Hot (Again)
March 14, 2012 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Featured Articles, Front Page, Media Training, Wright Ideas
Listen to this article here!
From my trip to Canada in 2011
Have you noticed that Realtors are hot again? Maybe you didn’t
I see all the media requests for interviews and I have been seeing more and more about real estate and real estate agents ( and yes I know a REALTOR and a real estate agent are different, so no emails about that please).
Magazines, TV Shows, radio shows all want to talk to realtors. Property values are going up. There was actually a SALE in my neighborhood. Those agents sent big letters letting me know they made sale. They acted like they had not eaten in a week and were now able to buy food!
My point is, if you are a real estate agent, there is something going on in your industry. I know because of all the media inquiries and magazines run 4-6 months ahead. Do yourself a favor and ride the wave of attention this time. Learn how to take advantage of media opportunities and even make your own. Otherwise it’s going to be those same three guys you always see on TV talking about real estate and they will be the same guys making all the money because of public perception.
Grab your 10 week PR Challenge CD and be ready for this new season of attention.
“I stay ready so I don’t have to get ready”- Will Smith
You say you want to make more money. Are you ready?
