Launching a campaign takes work but where the real elbow grease needs to be applied is in PR.  Not only does it serve as a powerful vehicle to promote your idea or product but it serves to raise exposure around your crowdfunding efforts, even increasing contributions.  Maintaining your GoGoFactor rises you up the ranks to be qualified to be featured on our Homepage, social media efforts and our newsletter. Yet outside our immediate community, we want your campaign to flourish.

We’ve created a step-by-step list of 5 PR tips to follow to get the ball rolling:

1. Look to your Friends & Family first
Do a brainstorm of all the people in your immediate network who work in media, might know of people who do or have themselves undertaken a PR mission for past projects.  Explain to them what you’re trying to do and look to them for best practice advice. The power of your own network with an introduction to the editor of a key publication might be all you need to start generating PR success.

2. Write a press release
There are numerous lists online about how to do this but be sure to deposit all the text directly into the body of the email.  Editors and journalists don’t want to take that little bit extra time opening up documents.  Think of the Who, What, Why, When and Where rules in journalism – write a concise paragraph that explains who you are, what your campaign is about, why it’s happening, how long your campaign is occurring for and where your audience can access perks in exchange for contributions. 

3. Create a press list of blogs
When you’re starting out, it’s best to manage expectations that you might not be written about on the Wall Street Journal just yet.  Where you can seed your campaign is on influential blogs relevant to your space.  Create a list of 10-15 popular blogs that you like that are heavily active in social media. 

4. Follow your favorite websites & related journalists
By posting a version of your press release on your blog, you now have a link to tweet to journalists from key local websites or influential blogs.  Find out who these people are by doing your research and tailoring each release to target their publication. Whilst it’s good to send both an email press release and a tweet to follow up, be sure not to over spam – the key to this process is engagement and building a relationship.

5. Don’t sleep, use social media!
Take the time to understand social media. Talk to active users you personally know to get an idea of key influencers you should follow and start to engage with them.  A single individual with numerous followers tweeting out a link to your campaign is just as powerful as a blog posts that reaches thousands.  It can be re-tweeted and posting on Facebook creating a viral effect that is both fast and highly effective.