Implementation and Marketing for a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign : Case: X-routes
Kovtun, Diana (2014)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014120818900
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014120818900
Tiivistelmä
Crowdfunding is an emerging and not yet profoundly researched topic. It is a promising way of financing for new business ventures, which implies collecting funds from a large amount of individuals through Internet. Crowdfunding involves a versatile range of outcomes which might sometimes be even more beneficial for the project than the funding itself, i.e. market validation, visibility or sustaining the company’s future through pre-sales. It is particularly curious that the majority of companies that decide to utilize crowdfunding fail dramatically for numerous reasons, which vary from insufficient preparation time to poor supporting marketing.
The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how crowdfunding campaigns should be created, implemented and marketed, and what are the primary factors that influence their success. The research was originally requested by a Finnish IT company Observis Oy that created a new service - X-routes, and was looking for ways to fund, develop, test and launch it. Crowdfunding could satisfy all those needs, but only if carried out successfully. For the benefit of the project, only two out of four crowdfunding models were considered, equity and reward-based.
Firstly, a profound literature review was conducted in order to establish a strong theoretical background on crowdfunding and marketing communications involved in it. Furthermore, five semi-structured interviews were carried out: four with companies that have already done crowdfunding on various platforms and one with a representative from a major equity-based crowdfunding platform in Scandinavia. In order to achieve a more exhaustive description and explore both equity and reward-based crowdfunding in-depth, benchmarking approach was utilized together with a thorough review of primary and secondary data sources.
As a result of a comprehensive analysis of both theory and empirical findings, a framework for companies willing to pursue crowdfunding was developed. The research identified that crowdfunding should begin long before the actual start of a campaign. Among the utter necessities for success were named prior networking, attractive presentation with compelling high-quality content, and thorough preparation. Marketing channels and communication process were scrutinized in this study as they constitute the major part of the implementation process. The concluding part of this research contains a circumstantial analysis that together with the framework can be used as a guide for developing a successful campaign by any business.
The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how crowdfunding campaigns should be created, implemented and marketed, and what are the primary factors that influence their success. The research was originally requested by a Finnish IT company Observis Oy that created a new service - X-routes, and was looking for ways to fund, develop, test and launch it. Crowdfunding could satisfy all those needs, but only if carried out successfully. For the benefit of the project, only two out of four crowdfunding models were considered, equity and reward-based.
Firstly, a profound literature review was conducted in order to establish a strong theoretical background on crowdfunding and marketing communications involved in it. Furthermore, five semi-structured interviews were carried out: four with companies that have already done crowdfunding on various platforms and one with a representative from a major equity-based crowdfunding platform in Scandinavia. In order to achieve a more exhaustive description and explore both equity and reward-based crowdfunding in-depth, benchmarking approach was utilized together with a thorough review of primary and secondary data sources.
As a result of a comprehensive analysis of both theory and empirical findings, a framework for companies willing to pursue crowdfunding was developed. The research identified that crowdfunding should begin long before the actual start of a campaign. Among the utter necessities for success were named prior networking, attractive presentation with compelling high-quality content, and thorough preparation. Marketing channels and communication process were scrutinized in this study as they constitute the major part of the implementation process. The concluding part of this research contains a circumstantial analysis that together with the framework can be used as a guide for developing a successful campaign by any business.