The Yiddish Dialect Dictionary
What are you raising money for? What is the issue or challenge you are solving?
Why is it important to do (and why right now)?
Why are you the right person / organization to do it?
How are you going to solve the challenge you describe?
How are you going to use the money?
When are you going to implement your solution?
You do not have to have a separate section for each of these questions, but you should certainly structure your description in a clear way that takes the visitor through a “story” that answers these questions. See below about some advice on how to use media in between your text.
Do and Don’ts of describing your campaign (and using media in it)
Do use short descriptions and get to the point quickly. Visitors to your campaign page should understand what you are raising money for within the first few seconds.
Do use images in between sections of your description. Illustrating parts of your story will not only help your donors connect with what you have to say, you’ll hold their attention better by breaking up big blocks of text.
Do include high-quality images of your product and rewards if you have any. Your contributors will want to see what they’ll receive for supporting you.
Do add visualizations of why you need your goal amount, and include a break-down of your costs. Knowing why you need the money and what you plan to do with it are always helpful for contributors to get a better sense of the project, as well as your ability as a campaign owner to think the project through to completion.
Do be thoughtful about the images and videos you choose. You want your visual aids to make sense for the type of your campaign you’re running. Both style and content should support your campaign story. If you’re launching a new product, include pictures of your prototype. If you’re running a nonprofit or personal cause campaign, add some images of the people your campaign will help.
Don’t use too many images and videos. Although using images might seem like a way to make your pitch more visually interesting, using too many of them can be distracting and take attention away from your story. The visual media you choose should complement your written text, but not overwhelm it.
Don’t use long videos. Even though you might have a series of great videos, if they’re more than five minutes long, most contributors won’t watch the whole thing. To use your videos effectively and efficiently, your main campaign video should be no between two and four minutes, and any videos in your pitch no longer than 90 seconds.
Don’t use content you don’t own. This includes music in your videos. If you’re looking for a free resource, try YouTube’s Audio Library of free music or Flickr’s Creative Commons photo database.
