Step 3: Pitch

Now how are you going to pitch your campaign to your crowd? Batter up!

Your pitch is the centrepiece of your campaign. It’s the top level information you want people to see when they visit your campaign page on the PledgeMe site. It consists of a video or image, and a body of text about your company which explains why you’re seeking investment and why people should invest, your team, and other important information. Essentially it’s all those high level messages you developed earlier in the planning stage. Your pitch isn’t the right place to go into great detail about the innards of your business, that’s what your business plan and other documents are for. Below are some tips on how to make a good pitch so that people are more likely to invest.

Make it interesting

🖼 Text & Images

Be sure to keep your text clean and simple but thorough. Images can really help bring your pitch to life. Be sure to focus on your company’s people, your mission statement, and what you do. Make sure the main messages about why you’re calling on your crowd and why you need their investment are well canvassed. In terms of word count, the shorter the better, but aiming to keep it at or below 2000 words is an achievable goal.

Break up the text with images of your product, service, or other related photos. This will give people a further sense of what you do. Whether it’s brewing beer, making software, or something else, there are tangible images you can use to communicate positive messages about your company. Don’t go too crazy with images either, make sure you use them intelligently. And, for the love of all that’s good, don’t use bad stock imagery. Check out Canva if you need help.

📹 Video

Video is king! Videos are a great way to engage your crowd with the pitch. It’s the first thing people see on a PledgeMe campaign page. People are more likely to watch a short video that showcases your key messages and is interesting, than read a couple of pages of text. It’s a good way to hook people, get them interested enough in you and your company to take the time to read all the other documents, and then invest.

We suggest aiming for a 90 second pitch video. Definitely keep it under five minutes. Sound quality is also important. While you can make good videos on an iPhone and free software, you may struggle to have decent sound.

Making your own pitch video doesn't have to be hard; you can make a video with your phone and a bit of free software online like Magisto or Filelab. Read the plan for our equity crowdfunding pitch video. PledgeMe can also set you up with professional video people if you need help.

🎁 Shareholder perks

With equity crowdfunding you can offer shareholder perks beyond shares and the potential for dividends. Perks are usually tiered, so the more you invest, the bigger the value of the reward people will receive. For example, if you pledge the minimum amount you’ll get a mug, but if you buy more shares you’ll get a trip on a hovercraft. You may keep it simple like pre-existing merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs etc) or you may get special rewards made specifically for your equity crowdfunding round. This will make it limited and therefore more desirable.

The point of offering rewards is that you give people a little extra incentive to invest. It’s the cherry on the top for your crowd supporting you.

Examples of great perks

Yeastie Boys offered home-brewing sessions to their investors that pledged over $2,000.
Ooooby and Ethique [formerly Sorbet] offered tiered shareholder discounts to their pledgers.
Powerhouse Wind covered the GST on a purchase of a Thinair for those investing over $10,000.

💰Returns

In your pitch you cannot promise your company will provide a return for investors. You can say you have a strong case to be able to return dividends within a set amount of time, based on your financial forecasts. There is an element of risk involved and this risk, and the expectations of investors, needs to be managed.

If you think you have an airtight case for being able to provide returns then this is definitely a selling point for your pitch. But you do need to be careful of running foul of the FMA’s rules. We suggest erring on the side of caution and keeping information about your rewards honest, clear, and slightly conservative.

What PledgeMe can help with?

We’ll help you get your pitch on point during the second half of your CrowdfundingU programme. Having watched hundreds of videos and read thousands of pitches, we know what makes a good pitch and will help you get yours to stand out.

We can also put you in touch with professional writers, videographers, and campaigners who can help you with your pitch — but the real power is going to come from you connecting directly to your crowd.

Once your pitch is in order, documents are uploaded and the video is up we'll work with you to publish the campaign. Then it’s live and time to move onto the next phase: promo.

← ‘2. Plan’ Back | Next ‘4. Promo’ ➜

Successful Equity Crowdfunding Alumni

3. 🎤 Pitch

Equity Crowdfunding