Premier Sailing LinkedIn Outreach & Crowdfunding Campaign
The founders of Premier Sailing were no strangers to high adrenaline situations, but in attempting to crowdfund £100,000 in two months during a global pandemic, they were heading into treacherous waters.
And They’re Off!
BACKGROUND
Premier Sailing is an award-winning sailing company that came to us before launching a new sailing adventure – The Capitals Race. This experience was an adrenaline packed yacht racing trip around the UK that enables the amateur sailor to enjoy the magic of sailing without needing to commit vast sums of money or months of their year.
Premier Sailing needed to raise £100,000 to increase accessibility for the race and cover training and logistical costs. They decided to opt for a crowdfunding campaign and needed assistance in marketing their venture.
Becoming Part of the 23%
THE CHALLENGE
In the last 10 years crowdfunding has grown dramatically as a way to secure quick, and often lucrative, funding without having to be introduced to investors through traditional methods.
Whilst we often hear about the success stories, the truth is that less than 23% of crowdfunding attempted projects reach their target. Premier Sailing needed to raise a substantial amount of money within just two months in a relatively niche market. Achieving this goal would be no small feat.
Create Buzz, Target Smartly
THE WORK
Given the scale of this task and the time in which we had available, we knew we had to cast a wide net in our approach. This meant launching a multi-channel campaign centered around attracting both high-end and low-end investors.
Our first task was to ensure that all the messaging aligned. The pitch needed to be watertight and its key points reflected across our marketing. We worked with Premier Sailing to develop promotional copy for their crowdfunding pitch and used this as a base for all future copy on marketing channels. We also supported the visual creation of their investment deck, ensuring that the brand had a cohesive feel.
Our next priority was to create some buzz. We couldn’t realistically expect investors to part with large sums of money for an event which no one seemed to know about. Through a series of email campaigns and interest-generating social media tactics on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, we built an engaged follower base for the project. We then transitioned our efforts to action-oriented communications on these channels to drive investments.
From there we decided that a LinkedIn cold outreach campaign would be the best way to increase our audience to include the most relevant targets – those in the UK sailing industry with an interest or history in investment.
Lastly, as coronavirus restrictions prevented Premier Sailing’s founders from inviting potential investors to onsite Open Days, we helped our client quickly transition to virtual events – four in total. This assistance included promoting the webinars and providing pre-session support.
Over the Finish Line
THE RESULTS
We couldn’t have been happier with the results of the LinkedIn outreach campaign. We received a reply rate of 45.9% and 41.6% of connection requests were accepted – far higher than the industry average.
Most importantly, in just over two months we managed to not only hit our client’s £100,000 target, but surpass it, raising a grand total of £111,740 with 155 investors involved.
The success of our crowdfunding campaign highlights how a planned, targeted and result-oriented marketing effort is paramount to achieve a set crowdfunding target.
Words are not enough! Having used other agencies before, Yay!Starter are the first to react with action rather than “just words”. They not only gave us open and honest advice but put the plan into action with maximum effort to ensure the best outcomes for us! – Colin Stracey, Premier Sailing