Yet you won’t be able to convince hundreds or even thousands of people to invest in your company without a powerful story. Make no mistake, storytelling could be the number one factor that determines whether your crowdfunding investment venture is successful or not. Let’s take a closer look.
Why Does Story Matter for Investors?
Simply put, story matters for investors because it determines whether they believe in your opportunity.
If you want to start a business or new enterprise, you already believe in it. Your job as an executive or startup founder is to convince others to believe in the same venture. You can’t necessarily do that by:
Highlighting the fact that you want to make money and think your business will be profitable. Everyone gets into business for money to some extent – mentioning this doesn’t do you any favors, especially with crowdfunding
Strictly relying on data analytics. Many professional investors and angel investors love numbers, but crowdfunding is more about emotion and belief. On top of that, even the most number-crunchy big investment firms want to hear more about your business idea than just your profit projections
When you craft a compelling narrative to convince people to invest in your business, you give them a reason to believe in your venture beyond the numbers. That's incredibly powerful, and it can keep money flowing into your brand during the earliest, riskiest stage when you likely aren't making a profit and are still trying to build up a customer base from scratch.
One of the best strategies to help build your customer base is by engaging with and providing support to them via CRM (customer relationship management) software. They normally come with features such as contact forms, integrations to accounting software to send customers invoices, social media monitoring tools, lead management tools, and customer service tools.
In effect, CRM tools are used to effectively close the communication gap with customers.
One of the benefits that comes out of this is that it will ensure customers feel supported so they speak more positively about your brand in online reviews. This is something that potential investors will view more favorably when considering investing in your business, and it can factor into your company narrative as well.
When Will You Need to Tell a Story to Crowdfunding Investors?
You might need to tell the story of your company or your idea at several points as you attempt crowdfunding. For example, you may need to tell the story on your website, breaking down the reasons members of the public should invest in your business.
If you meet with crowdfunding groups in your local area, you’ll also need to relate the same compelling narrative. Making a story that emotionally resonates with those local investors can do a lot to instill trust in your venture, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience or you aren’t known to the local community just yet.
Crafting an Investor-Worthy Narrative
You don't have to be an expert writer or a novelist to create a narrative that is worthy of your investors, and that does a great job of inspiring people to fund your enterprise. To succeed, you’ll want to keep these key steps and strategies in mind.
Identify the Core Message or Theme
First, you need to ensure that your investment narrative has a core message or theme. The theme can be:
Your personal journey as a small business owner or entrepreneur
Something you experienced that convinced you to start a business to solve a problem
The overall goal or mission statement of your brand – this could be particularly compelling if your business has a public or eco-friendly focus
Regardless of what exactly the core message or theme is, it needs to resonate. Make sure the major theme of your story is interesting and emotionally engaging from the get-go.
Gather Data and Numbers to Back Up the Story
Emotion and humanity are important for any investment narrative, but so are numbers. Even people in the general public who help to fund your business venture – who likely don't have degrees in data analytics – need to see some numbers to back up your claims. Those numbers can include projections, profit predictions, and much more.
Whatever the data or numbers you choose to use, be sure to present them in easy-to-understand charts. You can include these charts in your investment packages or on your website.
Describe a Challenge or Pain Point
It’s also wise to identify a challenge or pain point, which you can describe in conjunction with the core message of your investment narrative. The challenge or pain point can be either specific or more generalized, such as:
Creating products or services that aren’t yet available
Providing services to a group of people in need
Making products better than a competitor, such as through using different materials, eco-friendly practices, etc.
The point, again, is to show why your business is necessary and why you need crowdfunding investment cash.
Record Personal Experiences or Beliefs
Many investment narratives benefit from a personal touch. With that in mind, you might consider recording personal experiences or beliefs, particularly if they directly relate to your decision to start a business.
For example, if you have invented a new product and want to start a business to create it, tell the story about how you invented that product or came up with the initial idea. People love personalized stories like this.
Create a Sense of Urgency
Simultaneously, be sure to create a sense of urgency throughout your investment narrative. After all, the point is to get people from the general public or from investment groups to invest now, not much later, when your business is already financially stable.
You can create a sense of urgency by reminding people that they have a chance to get in on the ground floor of your business and that investment returns will be phenomenal for those who are early investors.
Keep the Narrative Concise
As you draft your investment narrative content, it can be tempting to go above and beyond and include lots of text or many different stories. While your investment narrative doesn’t need to be so short that it doesn’t include a compelling story, it also can’t be too long.
Keep your narrative concise and to the point. That way, it won't take too long for prospective investors to read through it when you hand an investment packet or pamphlet to them.
End With a Call to Action
Like all great marketing materials, your investment narrative or story should include a call to action. This can be one to two sentences long and should just serve to inspire prospective investors to take the plunge and help you find your business.
Just try to avoid “sales-y” words. That can make your pitch seem inauthentic, fake, or annoying at worst. Be genuine and earnest in your request for financial assistance – it’s okay to be upfront, so long as the rest of your investment pitch is also honest.
Conclusion
In the end, being able to frame the point and purpose of your business is key to acquiring the investment funding you need to grow and succeed. Getting your investment narrative right is vital, particularly if you’re looking to acquire investment capital at the earliest stages of your business.
Indeed, company narratives are part of what makes the most popular opportunities on Mainvest so successful. Check out these investment opportunities today and take inspiration from their stories to improve your brand’s investment pitch going forward.