By PledgeMe projects and marketing lead Charlotte Squire.
KEA Outdoors founder Matt Butler recently closed a successful equity crowdfund with us and the thing he shone at was his marketing campaign.
More specifically we noticed he:
- Warmed up his crowd up before he launched his campaign
- Consistently communicated with his crowd during his crowdfund
- Kept interest high mid-campaign at a time when interest typically dips
Matt had successfully run three rewards based crowdfunds, raising over $700,000 to launch innovative new outdoor gear products from his company KEA Outdoors.
When he came to us, he was ready to equity crowdfund, which meant he would sell shares in his company to his crowd.
And sell shares he did.
That’s not to say the entire process was a stroll in the park, but he knew how to navigate his way over the more mountainous challenges of crowdfunding. See what I did there?
So why was Matt crowdfunding?
With an established presence here in New Zealand, plus the United States, Australia, Canada and the UK, Matt was ready to grow his team and boost his international marketing.
Reflecting on his crowdfund a few weeks after it closed, Matt said his experience with [project, rewards-based] crowdfunding campaigns really did help and that the equity crowdfund was the same process, just “a different offering and telling a different story.”
The story was a trickier one to tell due to the backers not receiving anything tangible. Providing incentives to get people on board early was a challenge I had identified and it proved to be the case.
Promotion is an important part of equity crowdfunding and Matt knew from experience that the best way to do it was by sharing the KEA Outdoors story, and his own story, authentically, to bring people along for the ride. He said being consistent and relevant was important.
He did manage to generate some media attention too, testing out different narratives and channels in the hope that some would bite. And they did, though it took some persistence. He appeared on Radio New Zealand, in Otago Daily Times, and the podcast Aotearoa Adventures.
His most challenging moments came mid-campaign.
The mid-campaign slump is always the killer and mentally challenging, even when you know it’s coming. The toughest part with equity campaigns is there is no incentive to pledge mid-campaign so all you can do is just keep showing up, sharing your story and reaching out to the world.
He knew it was important to work hard throughout the campaign to keep it on people’s radars. He did this by advertising, emails, social media and personal outreach.
Just hitting every channel that made sense, being consistent, and then following up when it really mattered.
Strategically, to keep the momentum moving, he knew he needed to show up and do the work daily, even if the immediate results weren’t there.
You need to have faith that it will come to fruition at the end if you really put in the effort and don’t just sit back and leave it to be.
Mid-campaign he introduced a new pledge tier called ‘Community Plus’ to inspire people to keep pledging. As part of the pledge, he offered a $5000 store credit to spend online.
He also reminded interested pledgers that they would only need to transfer funds at the end of the equity campaign (May 31).
He described his final week as a “rollercoaster.”
From the uncertainty of not beng at the goal, to blowing past it to keep climbing. It was certainly a testing time and was a relief when it came to a successful conclusion.
In the PledgeMe crowdfunding world, we have this thing called ‘deadline magic’. It’s that final 10 to seven days when, often, people will finally take action and pledge. It’s something that you have to work for throughout your campaign, whether your crowd are pledging or not. You just have to keep going, keep promoting your crowdfund.
It’s something that can’t be quantified as you never know what level it [deadline magic] will take hold. As mentioned it all goes back to the work done during the campaign, without that there will be no magic so you can’t just sit back and expect to come in at the end.
Once he’d hit his minimum funding target of $250,000, Matt entered into a new phase in his campaign.
Once the goal was met it was just about reinforcing the message and giving confidence to the others who were still on the fence. Many will not have the faith until the goal is reached so sharing this and talking about next steps is key.
And naturally, once his equity crowdfund closed, he was tired. He disappeared for a ten-day holiday to recharge.
Since returning to work Matt says he’s enjoying the great feeling of having new life breathed into his business, with many more opportunities open to them. He’s excited to be hiring key staff and starting to action the plan he’d pitched in his crowdfund.
I asked him what he’d do differently if he were to do it again.
The timing of the campaign was an issue. Going back I would have run it shorter to minimise the middle slump. The reason I ran it for longer was to give myself a shot at some decent PR but that didn’t really eventuate. Other key things was setting a pledge at a level that would get keen people on board and to the goal fast, rather than just having it open to everyone.
And now? It’s back to work to building KEA Outdoors into a world-renowned outdoor gear brand.
Links:
You can find Matt’s equity crowdfund here.
You can check out the Kea Outdoors website here.
And you can connect with Matt on LinkedIn here.
