Crowfunding Success Stories

Issue #797 March 4, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

1. Crowfunding Success Stories
2. Meatballs and Meatheads
3. Facebook Cover Photo Template
4. Hound Video of the Week

This Week in the Hound House:

My early morning walks with Bogie down to Lake Michigan are almost painful in this rotten weather. The only bright spot is the joyful noise from the hundreds of Canada geese, goldeneyes, scaups, long-tailed ducks and mallards in the harbor. They can’t survive the icy lake and have taken up residence near the warm water discharge of the electrical power plant. Local fishermen say they can no longer fish with minnows because mergansers (big ducks) will dive for their hooks and pick them clean.

1. Crowdfunding Success Stories

No idea is too wild for crowdfunding, a way to convince strangers to give you money for a worthwhile book or a whacky project.

Consider these unusual crowdfunding projects that have met their fundraising goals:

–Project Hexapod far surpassed its goal of $65,000 to create a 6-foot, 4,000-pound walking spider robot that you can ride. Total pledged: $907,817.

–Amanda Palmer, lead singer of the Dresden Dolls, asked for an ambitious $100,000 to cut a record. Total raised: More than $1.1 million.

–Using GoFundMe.com, Jennifer Haron raised more than $1,000 to surprise her husband with a trip to New York City for his 30th birthday.

–Within 24 hours, Jennifer Windrum raised $5,000 for making a prototype for sock monkeys and manufacturing them. The SMACs (Sock Monkeys Against Cancer) are a gang of monkeys that provide tangible support to those with cancer, reminding them that no one fights it alone.

–Brain Dwyer raised $16,587 to create the world’s first pizza museum in Philadelphia to house the world’s largest collection of pizza memorabilia.

Last year alone, thousands of entrepreneurs, inventors, nonprofits and others raised more than $5 billion through crowdfunding sites to pay for a variety of projects that make the world a better place, or are just plain fun.

Isn’t it time you claimed your share?

The webinar “Crowdfunding: How to Use Other People’s Money for Your Book or Project,” has been rescheduled for 4 to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, March 6. Book shepherd Judith Briles is my guest expert. She has used crowdfunding successfully to raise money for her author clients.

Judith knows the best ways to get started, the booby traps to avoid and how to encourage people to push you past your goal.

Register for the webinar even if you can’t attend live. After the call, I’ll send you the link for the video replay.

2. Meatballs and Meatheads

PR agencies love sending big fancy packages of stuff to reporters, hoping they’ll write about it.

My friend, Janet Podolak, travel and food editor at The News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio, sent me this note about the surprise package she received recently:

“A PR firm asked me if I’d like a sample of their gluten free meatballs. I said sure I’ll try ’em.

“Today I got a 40-pound box filled with dry ice and a 30-pound bag of frozen meatballs. I had to get a guy from the warehouse to open it since I don’t have gloves for dry ice. I don’t know what the heck to do with it. So I sent out an officewide invitation to lunch tomorrow, asking everyone to bring a jar of their favorite sauce.

“I’ll nuke ’em and sauce ’em and I’m sure I’ll still have a lot left over. We don’t have plates, bowls or silverware here. I hope they are good. But what were they thinking?”

Indeed.

Whether you’re taking a reporter to lunch at the local diner, or inviting bloggers to an elaborate press conference with tables of gourmet delicacies, feeding the media can be fraught with problems if you don’t understand the correct etiquette. See Special Report #43: The Do’s and Don’ts of Offering Food to the Media.” Only $15.

3. Facebook Cover Photo Template

Creating interesting Facebook cover photos for your Fan Page is a hassle. But help is here.

Graphic designer Louise Myers has a free template you can use right in PowerPoint. Download the free template here.

Louise, by the way, shares fabulous tips on Twitter. Follow her at @Louise_Myers.

4. Hound Video of the Week

Meet Hank, the adorable little Bichon Frise mix that showed up at the Milwaukee Brewers spring training camp in Arizona recently and has become a real Publicity Hound. He’s been adopted by the team and even attends daily practice. Named after Hank Aaron, the little guy has won the hearts of players and the coaching staff–and media all over the U.S.