It might seem that a longer campaign is a better idea as it gives more opportunity for funding but this is very rarely the case. A sense of urgency and time pressure is generally helpful for all concerned. The principle of “the burning platform” works well in a campaign where you will experience a lull and a drop in momentum.
You also need to bear in mind that running a crowdfunding campaign is tremendously demanding so how long can you keep up that level of focus and commitment? That is carried through in the amount of good quality material you will need to have to maintain the sense of freshness and urgency of a communication campaign. People can rapidly become bored unless new and vibrant updates are available. Trotting out the same message repeatedly over a long period will certainly begin to seem thin, dull and potentially annoying.
Many platforms only actually offer set time frames fro campaigns to remain live. Not all by any means, and if you are running a DIY campaign it is up to you. Typically equity campaigns can take longer. This can be for a number of reasons: the sums raised can be larger, the process of registering as an investor often takes longer, the evaluation process in deciding to purchase can be a longer cycle, and the scope for “advertising” an offer is more regulated and constrained. But even here momentum, awareness and freshness is still important and it hard to sustain these over a longer period.
As we have said in a previous post, you should run your own campaign, so how long can you be away from your day job? You cannot afford to neglect your key role in the organisation. Maybe for a short period and maybe with good reason, but you cant extend that too far without having an impact on your role. When you factor in the amount of time required to prepare for a campaign as well as the time running the campaign you begin to see that crowdfunding is by no means “easy money”. It takes effort and commitment so you need to balance that effort effectively.
So, don’t lose the urgency and imperative of a campaign by making it unnecessarily long. Use your focus and energy effectively by channeling it to a shorter campaign to keep the energy and enthusiasm high.
This post is one of a series called Components of a Good Crowdfunding Campaign. Other posts in the series can be found here
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