In 2016, crowdfunding was one of the most preferred ways to get projects funded.

According to a recent report by Massolution, crowdfunding is on track to amass more money than projects backed by venture funds. But because of its popularity, it’s now more difficult to earn investors’ trust to put their hard-earned money to your project.

So, what can you do to get investors to fund your project?

An interesting, well-told story related to your project is inherently compelling for your prospective investors.

Most of the time, though, you fail to make your story intriguing enough.

The main problem is there’s always a gap within a story that words can’t tell, no matter how carefully chosen they are.

A crowdfunding video comes with visual elements that fill this gap.

The answer to the question above is: You write the story well, and then visualize it to be even better.

Why videos are good for crowdfunding

In 2014, the world witnessed a staggering $16 billion crowdfunded for startups from around the globe.

Forbes predicts that the crowdfunding industry is doubling, or more, every year. That tells us that the industry model is gaining popularity at an extreme rate.

But the more projects seeking crowdfunding, the harder it is to actually get funds. In fact, less than a third of crowdfunding campaigns actually reach their goals.

This shows us that not all good ideas are communicated properly. That’s where videos help facilitate your crowdfunding campaign.

When you use video to back up your crowdfunding campaign, there’s a significant improvement of success rate (50% with video vs. 30% without video), Kickstarter said.

One problem remains though: Some people don’t have an innate ability to sell, not to mention that many are also too camera-shy to be in a video.

On top of that, as a startup looking for funds, there’s probably a slim chance they can afford actors to be in their videos.

That’s where animated videos do the trick.

To make an animated crowdfunding video, you’ll need basically anything you would need when you make a normal video.

The difference is that everything will be presented with colorful fluid animations.

Let’s take a look a bit deeper on what you’ll need to make an animated crowdfunding video:

#1 The Hero’s Story

Marketing is no longer about the products we sell, but the stories we tell. – Seth Godin

If you’re a movie junkie, you may have noticed that some of the most successful follow a similar format.

This format is called “the hero’s journey”. It’s present in many top-grossing movies such as:

  • The Lord of The Rings
  • Star Wars
  • Harry Potter
  • Transformers
  • … just to name a few

In a nutshell, these movies tell the story of a certain character (the hero) who faces ups and downs, and then finds their way to change that situation to a better one.

You can use this type of story format to help you sell your ideas. Basically, these are what you’ll need to tell your prospective investors using your video:

  • Identity
    Who you were before you started this project? (more on this below)
  • The bad situation
    What do you want to change about your prior world / identity?
  • The fight
    What have you challenged to achieve that change?
  • Finding the tricks
    What did you find that can help overcome those challenges?
  • Resolution
    Who are you today and what purpose do you serve with this project?

#2 Introductions to Your Project

If your project is straightforward and clear, then your videos can be too. Even if your project has more complexity to it, you should probably tell it simply in your video to cut its duration.

The basic introductions that you must have in your crowdfunding video:

Who you are
Introduce yourself and your team. Show some previous projects (if you’ve done any).

What you are planning to make
The more detail you can include, the better. However, consider the time your video will take to watch. This should make the most of your video for your pitch to intrigue as many investors as possible.

Why you care
Show that you are passionate about and completely into this project: This way you’ll reach potential investors on an emotional level.

These are the key things that you should include in your pitch video. Additionally, you might also include these for consideration:

Your timeframe & budget

Present the detail of your plans in terms of schedule so that investors can expect when they’ll start getting ROI. This doesn’t have to be in the video, but if you think it will add value of transparency and improve investors’ experience in working with you, these these two are nice additions.

#3 Preferred Visualization Style

In order to make your project’s crowdfunding video stand out and make the strong first impression it needs, you’ll have to do a bit of grind work: searching for the design company and choosing the right animation style.

There are a fair amount of styles to choose from: whiteboard, kinetic typography, motion graphics, stop-motion and many other custom animation styles, like our shadowmate.

Choosing a visualization style depends on what kind of project you are trying to crowdfund and how you want your company’s personality to be.

Here’s a set of handy tips that we compiled some time ago to help you choose the right animation style.

#4 The Right Length for a Video

As cliche as it may sound, a video’s length significantly affects the decision-making process of most people.

You might have heard or read it somewhere, but research proves that a video’s audience retention rate decreases exponentially.

However, a pitch video is quite different from product videos in terms of length. A pitch video should be as long as it needs to be and not even one second longer.

Given what I’ve written above regarding your self-introduction, story that you need to tell, and other details of your project, it’s only natural that pitch videos are generally longer than a simple product introduction video.

But there is still distinctive data that addresses this matter.

According to Crowdfunding.io, campaigns with videos of 5 minutes or less have a 25% greater chance of succeeding compared to those with videos longer than 5 minutes.

Takeaway

Using video as a piece of investor pitch content has been a common practice of any crowdfunding project. In fact, crowdfunding videos show a significant degree of improvement in a campaign’s overall performance and final result.

However, not every project starter knows how to sell their ideas on-camera. On top of that, it’s tougher to get funds as the crowdfunding industry grows in number.

Animated pitch video is a handy solution to tackle those problems at once. To make an awesome pitch video, you’ll need to prepare a couple of things:

  • Introduction of yourself and your project.
    You rely on investors’ trust to get their funds, so you must earn it by letting them know who you are.
  • A well-written story.
    Marketing isn’t about what you sell anymore, it’s about the stories you tell.
  • Visualization style.
    This is essential for building your brand’s personality. Sometimes, a misplaced visual element can ruin an entire campaign.