Pitch promotion guide

If there’s one piece of advice I can give, it’s prepare, prepare, prepare.Luke Lang,Co-Founder and CMO - Crowdcube

Pitch promotion guide I Version: July 2016

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Overview Having seen over 300 successful raises, the most of any investment Crowdfunding platform in the world, we know what goes into a successful campaign. This guide will help you get ready and give you the best chance of exceeding your target.

It’s worth remembering that your fundraising campaign on Crowdcube can be about more than getting the investment you need. It’s a great way of gaining exposure for your business and building a group of brand advocates.

The most effective companies approach their raise as a marketing campaign and do 90% of the work in advance - including writing emails and updates so they just need to click ‘send’ on launch. Preparation should begin a month before your campaign goes live.

The most successful pitches...

■ Are clear on their core marketing message and use it consistently

■ Appreciate that first impressions count so present themselves professionally

■ Have a detailed action plan that they stick to, with required actions being assigned to a specific person for a specific time

But don’t just take our word for it. You can read up on how Sugru approached their record-breaking £3.5m campaign here: http://bit.ly/SugruRaise

There are four factors all successful campaigns exhibit, which this guide will help you to maximise:

Campaign exposure: The more people that view your campaign page the better. Make sure your own network as well as your customers know about your campaign.

Progress: Build a sense of investment momentum from day one and work hard to maintain it.

Number of investors: The more people who invest and talk about your campaign, the more attention it will get.

Buzz: The greater the interest you can create around your campaign, via social media and the Discussions section, the better.

Please note: The following isn’t formal legal advice, so if you have any questions just ask.

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Contents

1. THE BROAD RULES Promoting your Crowdcube campaign differs from most marketing activities as it is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and as such needs to be carefully considered for the protection of all involved. The formal advice could (and does) fill an entire book, but we’ve distilled it down into a single page of broad communication rules. They may appear severe, but they’re designed to help you raise the investment you need as quickly as possible. They apply to all the communication channels (email, social, print etc.) you will use.

Fair, clear and not misleading: Any communications relating to your raise need to be fair, clear and not misleading. If a statement has room for misinterpretation, or is not 100% true, don’t use it. You are responsible for what you say unless it is approved in advance as a financial promotion by Crowdcube. As far as the FCA, and hence Crowdcube, is concerned, there’s no negotiation on this.

It’s about investment: This may sound obvious but all communications regarding your raise, including your main campaign page, need to focus on investment and should point to where people can invest. Whilst remaining on-brand is critical, the investment communication materials should stand out from your other marketing activity.

Balanced: The potential rewards need to be balanced with the risk to capital. Wherever you reference an investment benefit (e.g. the interest rate), the risk needs to have ‘equal prominence’. For example, if you have ‘earn 8% interest p.a.’ in 18pt black text on a white background, you need ‘Your Capital is at Risk’, or an agreed alternative, just as clearly.

Evidence: Every claim you make in your communications and campaign needs to be supported. If you say your market is worth £50bn a year, we’ll need independent, verifiable proof before we can approve it.

Signed off: Everything you say regarding your Crowdcube raise should be based on the text that is formally approved as a financial promotion. Use your campaign page as the basis for your marketing materials and don’t add any new content. You also need to include the appropriate risk warning and approval text. Please see end of section two.

On message: Once your key messages have been agreed and signed-off, it’s vital everyone sticks to them. This will add impact and effectiveness as well as avoiding a call from the FCA. You’ll find more on key messages in section two.

Your responsibility: Even though your campaign is on Crowdcube, if you publish materials that promote it you are liable as far as the FCA is concerned.

Overseas investors: Different countries have different approaches to Crowdfunding so you need to make sure you do not approach people located in the United States, Canada or Japan. Anyone you know who is resident outside the United Kingdom and wishes to view your Crowdcube campaign must first satisfy themselves that they are not subject to any local requirements that prohibit or restrict access.

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2. Key Messages Your proposition

Just like any marketing campaign, you need a core proposition - a punchy summary - that is communicated consistently. It is the reason people should believe in your campaign and will build an emotional, as well as rational, attachment to your business. The best propositions are clear, concise and believable.

Pavegen (£2m raised from 1,474 people) said: “Pavegen’s technology converts footsteps into electricity.”

Sugru (£3.4m raised from 2,377 people) said: “Sugru is a mouldable glue designed to fix almost anything.”

When you’re promoting your campaign, make sure you do the following...

Get straight to the point

Start with the clear message that you’re seeking investment, ask people to invest, and to be part of the business’ future. Something like this…

Educate people about the business

If you usually talk about product promotions or service developments it’s worth including a brief overview of the business so people can view it as a potential investment opportunity. This may include revenue figures, partnerships and contracts you have (particularly with household names), as well as how you plan to use the investment raised.

“It’s an exciting time in our company’s growth and we’re inviting you, our friends and customers, to have the first opportunity to invest in [Company] and become part of our future.”

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Be clear about how they can invest

It is important investors know how and where they can invest and that they are investing through an established and credible platform. You may want to say something like…

We’re raising finance on Crowdcube, the world’s first and leading investment crowdfunding platform. Businesses like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage and the Eden Project have all raised investment on Crowdcube.

Investing on Crowdcube is simple. All you need to do is sign up to Crowdcube’s investor community of more than 200,000 people. Registering is free, quick and has no obligations to invest. If you want to invest in [Company] and be part of our future you can invest from [minimum amount] to as much as you like.

Tell your team

It’s critical to tell your employees about your raise and where people can invest. Not only will they be able to encourage people to take a look at your campaign, they’ll also feel comfortable with what they can and can’t say. Advise them to stick to the content of your flyer - take a look at page 19 for more information on this - and point those asking more detailed questions to your campaign page for further information.

Prepare answers

You should expect some tricky questions. The most effective campaigns prepare answers on four main topics before they go live:

Valuation: You need to have a strong argument for your valuation that will stand up to external scrutiny. Expect to have it questioned.

Financials: Just like your valuation, your financials need to withstand potential criticism, so make sure the numbers are realistic.

Sales and marketing: How do you plan to grow the business? The more specific you can be the better as it gives people something to believe in. People tend to be sceptical about vague phrases like ‘brand equity’ or ‘leveraging social media’ if they’re not used alongside sales-focused activity or backed up by data.

Exit plan: People want to know how they’ll get their money back and make a profit. Whilst you will not have all the details right now, make sure you have a realistic exit plan. Give them examples of how similar businesses have created an exit.

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Finish with a strong call to action

Now you’ve inspired your crowd, finish with a clear and concise call to action which drives readers directly to your pitch page.

Risk Warnings and Financial Promotion Approval

When you’re designing your promotional materials, please be aware you will need to add a full risk warning and approval text. We have included the text so you can see how much space it needs. Please be aware you cannot use this text unless your materials have been formally signed-off by Crowdcube.

For equity raises…

Investments of this nature carry risks to your capital. Please #InvestAware. Approved as a financial promotion by Crowdcube Capital which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (no. 650205).

For bonds...

Capital at risk. Interest payments are pre-tax and not guaranteed. Your investment will not be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Approved as a financial promotion by Crowdcube Capital which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (no. 650205).

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3. YOUR NETWORK Building your own crowd will make a substantial difference. So activate your own network, friends and colleagues and ask them to introduce you to the right media and investor contacts, as well as investing personally. And if they can share your campaign with their contacts, all the better.

You and everyone involved with the business will need to make segmented email lists for your networks. Download your Gmail, Outlook and LinkedIn contacts into a spreadsheet, delete those you do not have a relationship with and split the others into:

Influencers: Identify those with significant industry sway and capital, both monetary or social early on. Spend time engaging with them to nurture and grow the relationship.

In-the-know friends: They should already know about your campaign and be ready to promote it for you.

Suppliers and acquaintances: They need to be told why your business is great (remember to be fair, clear and not misleading), why they should invest and how they can share your campaign.

Each of these groups should receive a different email as soon as you launch. Suppliers and acquaintances should receive a mass email sent via a system like MailChimp. Influencers and in-the-know friends should receive a personalised email explaining what you’re doing before the launch and again on launch, followed up with a call.

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Top tip:Campaigns that have been successful very quickly have sent a ‘feeler’ email explaining their campaign to a wider group of people to test the water and warm up contacts before the raise. Lauren Pugh, Marketing Executive - Crowdcube

4. YOUR LANGUAGEThe language you use in your Crowdcube campaign is essential, be it on your campaign page or in how you promote it. When writing for your Crowdcube campaign have the following points in mind:

Be clear: Say what you do simply and clearly as it helps people picture your product or service. You should be able to do this in one or two sentences.

Be concise: Every word you use needs to have a specific purpose. If it doesn’t, delete it.

Be human: Use normal language, not the latest trendy buzzwords as they put people off.

Be specific: If you have evidence that your product improves sales effectiveness by 68% say it. Don’t be fluffy and talk about ‘the market leading impact of employee-led transaction rate increase’.

Be consistent: You want people to be 100% focused on buying into your business. If you’re inconsistent or vague with your language you may confuse them causing them to give up.

Be appropriate: Use language that will engage the audience you’re addressing. Speaking to people you know well? Don’t be too formal. Speaking to potential investors that you’ve not met before? Don’t try to be their best friend by being too relaxed.

From a compliance point of view, the language you use throughout your pitch must be free from hyperbole and superlatives. Being positive and backing up what you say with verifiable facts is good, but making unproven claims and using flowery language needs to be avoided. Don’t use phrases like “we’re the market leader and best product available”.

Aside from people responding best to clear communications, hyperbole and superlatives cannot be proven as fact and will therefore have to be removed before going live, which will slow the process down. So always be considered in your writing.

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Top tip:Make it easy for people to understand your financials by showing them graphs and talking about trends. Don’t just give them a massive table of numbers.Bill Simmons, CFO - Crowdcube

5. YOUR PROMOTIONAL CHANNELS You know how best to communicate with your audiences but here are some of the promotional channels you should think about:

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Your website

Your own website plays a vital part in promoting your Crowdcube raise and can help turn your customers and advocates into investors. Make sure your key messages are clear.

Some businesses completely alter their homepage so the first thing people see is a reference/link to content related to their raise. Others add a banner and/or additional navigation that links to such a page. It’s your choice, but whatever you do make it clear and ensure people can get to your Crowdcube page in a couple of clicks. You can find usable banners here: http://bit.ly/CrowdcubeBanners

If you’re adding written content to your site you should only use text which has been taken directly from your pitch page. This way you know it has been checked and approved by Crowdcube. The page, and any images driving traffic to it, will need the appropriate risk warning and financial promotion approval text added to it after being approved by Crowdcube (refer back to section two for this). We’ve provided some example text here to get you started.

Banners and images: Any text on these should be statements of fact and free from hyperbole, superlatives and unsupported claims. They also need to include the text ‘Capital At Risk’ in a prominent and easy to see position. Below is an example from the Crowdcube homepage.

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Top tip:Make sure you have a page on your site that explains what you’re doing and why - and points people to your Crowdcube page. People will check your site and if they can’t easily find a reference to your raise they won’t think you’re serious. James Chalk, Head of Equity Business Development - Crowdcube

Social media

Facebook, Twitter etc. are great channels for getting your message out there and engaging with different people, but they’re not the only solution. As transitory channels you need to have a strategy and narrative that engages your audience and keeps everything fresh.

If you’ve got an active community, take the type of activity they engage with and apply it to your raise. For example, if you’re a food business and you’re using food-based rewards as part of the pitch, try posting photos of your food reminding people that if they invest they could get this as a reward.

The FCA is looking specifically at Social Media and treats tweets in the same way as other media (posters, adverts, online etc.), so they should include risk warnings and be approved as financial promotions. You are responsible for your tweets so we suggest the following guidance to help you stay on the right side of the FCA.

Facebook and Twitter

You can tweet or post on Facebook about your pitch if you follow some basic rules…

Always include the text ‘Capital At Risk’ (written like this, not as a hashtag) within the body of the tweet if you reference that you’re raising finance in any way.

If you include a link to your pitch you need to include the text ‘Capital At Risk’ in the tweet or post AND include an image that has the full risk warning and financial promotion text. This is for two reasons; first of all, the image interrupts people’s feeds, secondly, it provides a place for the full risk warning and approval text. You can find JPEG templates that will allow you to create suitable images here:

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Facebook Twitter

Equity http://bit.ly/FB_Equity http://bit.ly/TW_Equity

Bonds http://bit.ly/FB_Bonds http://bit.ly/TW_Bonds

Facebook posts, whilst longer, need to follow the same principles:

■ Equity investments should include ‘Capital At Risk’ in the body

■ Bonds should have ‘Capital At Risk’ AND ‘Interest Payments are not guaranteed’ in the body

These warnings need to appear before ‘show more’ if the post is long and gets truncated. The template linked to previously can be used for boosted posts on Facebook providing the image you add has minimal text in, as it currently falls under Facebook’s 20% text in images rule.

Example tweets - these will need to be accompanied by an image

Love [brand/product]? Now you can invest in us via @Crowdcube [shortened link] Capital At Risk

We’ve now reached [X]%! You can be part of our @Crowdcube raise at [shortened link] Capital At Risk

Did you know we have [amount] [sites/stores etc.]? Help us create more by investing via @Crowdcube [shortened link] Capital At Risk

You can help us grow by investing via @Crowdcube here > [shortened link] Capital At Risk

You can earn [X] interest p.a. with our @Crowdcube Mini-Bond [shortened link] Capital At Risk

Compliant Facebook post

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Linkedin

The same financial promotion rules apply to Linkedin as to Twitter and Facebook. However, there are a few extra things you should do:

1. Let your contacts know you’re raising funds and would appreciate any investment or support they can give you. Ask them to share your campaign, but don’t hassle them. Tailor your communications as much as possible.

2. Update your company profile to include details of your Crowdcube campaign and include a link to your page. Please only use text that has been fully approved by Crowdcube.

3. Search for potential investors by joining angel investor groups and discussions, just don’t spam anyone. You can also search for investors and make a direct approach in a respectful, professional way.

4. Regularly update your personal and company profile on your progress or events and remember to include a link to your campaign page.

Emails

Email is an efficient, low cost way of driving investment - we’ve seen businesses generate over £200,000 from emails. The best ones...

Are targeted: Group your audiences (e.g. friends and family, customers, suppliers, influencers) and tailor your language and tone to them. For example, with friends and family you can be chatty and say that even a £10 investment will really help. With professional contacts be a little more formal and talk about business growth and your strategic plans.

Have an intriguing, but not obscure, subject line: Your subject line is critical to the success of your email. Whilst you don’t want a completely random one, you need something that will stand out and make people want to open the email.

Test subject lines: Using a system like Mailchimp will allow you to test different subject lines automatically. Doing this will also show you the types of messages people respond to.

Are succinct: Get to the point - make sure your core campaign message is front and centre. Don’t waffle.

Mix and balance text and images: Include images based on other campaign marketing materials you’ve created. Remember that if you’re including text within the images (see example below) relating to potential rewards you’ll need to balance this with the risks.

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Are timely: Send emails in the lead up to your live date, as soon as your campaign is live, when you hit milestones (e.g. 25% or a major investment amount) and when you post any new and exciting updates (e.g. a well known investor has come onboard).

Avoid spam filters: Check your language for anything that might be considered Spam. You can read more here: http://bit.ly/spam_check. Mailchimp has its own spam scoring tool.

Have a strong call to action: Finish with a bang - get people to visit your page and invest. Include an obvious link.

As emails are typically longer than social posts you will need to include a risk element, as well as the full risk warning and approval text that needs to sit at the end of the email. Typically this risk element will include the following statement at the end of the first paragraph:

If you have a bulleted list within your email that promotes your company’s strengths or the potential returns on the investment, you will need to make the final bullet ‘Capital At Risk’. If the email is short (two concise paragraphs or less) this may not be necessary as you have mentioned risk in the opening paragraph.

You can find examples of emails here.

After your sign off you will need to include the full risk warning and financial promotion approval text.

Don’t forget - add a banner or image to all of your standard emails pointing people to your Crowdcube page. Also, set up your auto response (out of office) to say you’re raising investment, and that they should take a look at your campaign. Now is not the time to be shy!

Top tip:Using an email system like Mailchimp will really help you deliver more effective emails and keep on top of responses. It’s inexpensive (free for some businesses!) and comes with lots of easy to use templates and the ability to send automatic responses. The Crowdcube marketing team love it. Michael Wilkinson, Head of Equity Investment - Crowdcube

You can find out more here [link]. Please remember that investments of this nature carry risk to your capital.

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Events

Events can create a real buzz around your campaign. They allow people to meet you, try your product and get a real sense of your business.

Launch event: Gather everyone you know, personally and professionally, and tell them you’re raising on Crowdcube. Show them your video, ask them to invest and spread the word. Also make sure you produce a flyer, or something similar, covering the core elements of your raise: the idea, team, market, why you’re raising investment and where they can find out more.

Open House: Whether it’s at your office or co-working space, allow people to drop in at a time that suits them and have a coffee - make it easy for people to visit you. This worked really well for Sugru. Their single largest investor (£1 million) went to an informal event at their office, met the team and decided to make an investment.

Collaborate: If you’ve seen another business you like on Crowdcube, why not ask them if you could do a joint event?

The most effective events allow you to show people why they should invest. So if you’re an online company, have laptops or tablets people can use to test your product. If you have a physical product make sure people can pick it up or try it out. You’re asking people to invest significant sums, so give them something tangible they can get their teeth into.

To make things easier we recommend setting up an Event Brite page at www.eventbrite.co.uk. It’s free, easy to use and will send reminders automatically. Once you’ve set your page up, let your Crowdcube Investment Analyst know and they will liaise with our marketing team.

A quick word on compliance: please remind attendees that their capital is at risk.

Top tip:If you’re looking for a venue in London we’ve got a deal with Impact Hub Westminster where you can get space at discounted rates, give them a call on +44 (0)207 148 6720. Rose Elliott, Events Manager - Crowdcube

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Physical Assets

If you have shops, restaurants or venues, essentially any physical site, let’s make the most of them. You should think about...

■ Posters

■ Flyers - these are great for events as well as general distribution

■ Window graphics

■ Stickers

■ Packaging

■ Postcards

■ Staff uniforms

When you’re designing these it’s critical to bear in mind that everything you create needs to be true to your brand whilst remaining visually distinctive. The last thing you want is your customers to think it’s another menu/event/sale poster and not realise it’s about investment. You may want to pick a different colour, or type of illustration, to what you normally use.

As with everything you use to promote your raise, you need to follow the language rules and ensure the appropriate risk warnings and financial promotion approval text are added.

Top tip:Get your staff on board by making them comfortable with what they can / can’t say. The best way to do this is telling them to stick to what’s on the flyer you’re using for your launch event. You are holding a launch event aren’t you?.Phil Baker, Investment Analyst, Crowdcube

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Physical Assets | posters

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Physical Assets | flyers

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Physical Assets | window graphics

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Physical Assets | packaging

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PR

PR can be a cost effective way of generating interest in your pitch, but with so many businesses crowdfunding these are our top tips to help your release stand out from the crowd:

Tie the raise to a wider story

Press releases about a business that’s crowdfunding are everywhere so the release needs to cover more than just the raise. You’ll need a hook to pique the media’s interest. Think about how you can tie the news of your raise into wider communications. Some great examples are:

■ JustPark when they talked about the sharing economy: http://bit.ly/JustPark_Telegraph

■ Sugru on its US expansion plans: http://bit.ly/Sugru_Telegraph

■ Camden Town Brewery bringing production back to the UK: http://bit.ly/Camden_gb

■ Pavegen on its sustainable credentials: http://bit.ly/Pavegen_tc

Keep it short and sweet

It’s definitely quality over quantity when it comes to your release so keep it short and sweet, ideally just one page. Get to the point early on in the release by covering your key messages in the opening paragraph, you can expand the story later on. A punchy and interesting headline always helps!

Make it easy for journalists to write about

Journalists are inundated with press releases, so make it easy for them to write about your business above all others. Simple things can help, such as:

■ Including the release in the body of an email rather than as an attachment

■ Avoid making the release sound too promotional, as the journalist will only have to spend time editing it to make it objective and balanced

■ Include your contact details and a brief overview of your company (100 words or so), along with the URL

■ Provide them with high-quality, interesting images

Cast your net wide

If you’re not pitching for an exclusive piece of coverage, spread your net wide by sending your release to the relevant trade press. If you can adapt the release for each of the various audiences, even better.

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Discussions, Updates and Business Plan requests

Arguably the most public and important communications channel on the site, creating a buzz in the ‘Discussions’ section of your campaign is intrinsically linked to businesses that do well. ‘Discussions’ is split into two categories:

■ Pitch Updates: only you can create an update

■ Pitch Discussions: anyone can create a discussion to ask a question

Pitch Updates

Pitch Updates are a great way of keeping your pitch fresh and driving investment. Focus on new content that adds value to potential investors and expands on your key investment sales messages - i.e. content that re-enforces why people should invest. So think about the latest sales figures or what you’re doing to make the company more successful and valuable.

Alternatively, use updates to communicate why key investors have become part of your business. Why did they invest in you? And of course, updates can be used to tell people about events you’re hosting.

Always apply the ‘so what’ test to your updates - why should busy, sceptical investors care about what you’re saying?

If you really don’t have news you can share, think about asking people for their input e.g. ask which of three potential features they’d prefer? Just make sure you’re ready and willing to respond quickly to questions you ask.

Top tip:Get more than one bite of the cherry by tieing news of your crowdfunding raise into any wider press releases you plan to send out during the time you’re live on Crowdcube. Becca Lewis, PR and Communications Manager - Crowdcube

It may seem obvious but…

Make sure your pitch is live on Crowdcube when you expect the news to hit the press so you can reap the rewards of the coverage you receive.

Our complete PR Toolkit can be viewed here: www.crowdcube.com/pr-toolkit

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Generally speaking effective updates are…

Sales / revenue focused - talk about what’s happening with sales or other activity that will make the business more valuable - that’s where investors will make their money

Personable - make them friendly (but not too ‘matey’) and use them as a way of communicating the type of people / brand they could be investing in

Positive and inclusive - be positive, tell / show people what you’re doing / going to do and try to make people feel involved

Key Investors - if you’ve got key / well known investors, get them to say why they’ve invested

Urgency - if a raise will close soon, say it - make the most of the fear of missing out

Length - 3-4 short paragraph is about right. Any less and it may come across as lightweight, too much more and it probably won’t get read

Update title

Your update title is critical. Think of it as the subject line to a marketing email - amazing content hidden behind a vague title is worthless. So use something positive, eye catching and informative. Intriguing / exciting is good, just don’t be vague / obscure (e.g. ‘update’ or ‘importance of PR’). You might want to use something like ‘Q2 sales figures up 27%’ or ‘why our cornerstone investor got on board’.

You should use these updates as a way of keeping your pitch fresh, but remember it’s quality over quantity, so reserve your updates for real gems of information which will help inspire investment from the crowd. For example, if you’ve received some great press coverage post an update with some quotes from the piece along with a link to the full article. You can also post updates on key achievements such as new product launches, expansion plans, contract wins and achieving sales targets.

When posting an Update an automatic email will be sent to your investors and followers which will include the title of the Update, so make sure the ‘Title’ is descriptive, piques the interest of investors and encourages them to read the full update.

Liven up your posts by adding images. You can see a great example from Sugru here: https://bit.ly/Sugru_Post

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Pitch Discussions

Whilst responding to questions in ‘Discussions’ isn’t strictly promoting your pitch, it makes a significant difference to how well you’re perceived by potential investors and therefore how successfully your pitch converts viewers to investors. Whilst you need to address each question on a case by case basis there are common traits in answers that are handled well (and badly, too).

Positive Traits:

■ Reply quickly as delayed responses look poor

■ Be polite and start with a ‘hello’ or ‘hi’

■ Acknowledge that people have asked a valid question

■ Answer the question clearly and concisely

■ Be positive but light in tone

Negative Traits:

■ Overly complex

■ Full of jargon, buzzwords or is opaque

■ Shifts blame to others

■ Is passive/aggressive in tone

If you’re asked a really interesting question in a discussion, or one keeps recurring, post the question and your answer as an Update to ensure it’s obvious to everyone.

Spend some time before your raise preparing responses for likely questions such as valuation, financials, sales and marketing, and your exit strategy.

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Business Plan Requests

When people request a business plan respond to them as soon as possible and make sure you follow up within 72 hours to check they’ve received it. Ensure you check your spam every few days in case something has slipped through the net. The key is balancing being proactive with respecting their time, so don’t spam people.

You may wish to say something like…

Dear [Name],

Thank you for requesting our business plan - please see attached.

I’d love the opportunity to discuss it with you in more detail, when are you free over the next 72 hours? My mobile number is XXXXX XXX XXX.

Thanks again for your interest in [Company] [link to pitch].

Hello [Name],

A few days ago I sent you a copy of our business plan and I wanted to check to see if it had arrived.

I would really appreciate the opportunity to discuss it with you in more detail. When would be a good time to run through it? I’m free on [day] between [Times] and you can contact me on XXXXX XXX XXX.

Thanks again for your interest in [Company] [link to pitch].

And then something such as…

Top tip:You should be aiming to produce two updates per week. But don’t go crazy - more than one a day and you’ll start to annoy people.Richard Warren, Investment Analyst - Crowdcube

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Rewards

Creating exciting, non-financial rewards can get people talking about your pitch. If you can reward investors with something unique, you are more likely to hit your investment target.

Adding new rewards can spark interest both on and off the platform. It’s a great reason to send out an update to your networks and contacts and tap a completely new demographic of investors as well. Your rewards might include:

Your name on: Can you produce items unique to the campaign that have investors’ names on? Caterham put people’s names on their race car, for example.

Early access to: People love feeling special and having private access to events or product updates. Fabric, a private communications platform, gave their 105 investors access to the beta version of their app and quickly received valuable feedback.

Time with: Whether it’s one-to-one or a small exclusive event, can you give investors access to people / places that others can’t? Hybrid Air Vehicles offered people who invested more than £2,500 a place at the VIP launch party with Bear Grylls.

Premium service: Do you have, or could you create, different levels of service? Chilango gave everyone who invested £10,000 or more a ‘Black Card’ entitling them to a free meal every week for the life of the bond.

Please note that rewards above a certain financial level can impact upon EIS for your investors. These are assessed on a case-by-case basis but if you have a reward that is worth more than £1,000 please seek independent advice.

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Hi, thanks for your message.

To help us grow the businesses further and deliver an even better service we are currently seeking investment on Crowd-cube. You can find out more about our plans and get involved at www.crowdcube.com/XXXX

If you can get behind us, either by making an investment or tell-ing people about the campaign, we would truly appreciate it.

Thanks for your time and support whilst we’re working hard to make [Company] even better. I will respond to your email as quickly as possible.

Kind regards etc.

6. Next stepsEmail suggestions

We’ve put the following emails together to help get you started. As with all communications, we recommend that you group your audiences and tailor the language to suit.

The following emails are financial promotions so will need the appropriate risk warning and financial promotion text adding. They also need to be approved by Crowdcube before being used.

Auto-Responder / Out of Office

Set this up as soon as your campaign is live so that everyone who emails you knows about it. Update it after a couple of weeks to keep things fresh.

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Launch Email

Once the campaign is live on Crowdcube email all of your contacts using a system such as Mailchimp. You can easily personalise them and measure their impact. Group your contacts and adjust the content depending on who will be receiving it. Remember to keep it professional, concise and with a strong call to action.

Hi/Hello/Good morning [Name],

Today marks the start in the next stage of our growth and we’d love you to be part of it.

To help deliver an even better experience to our [customers/clients] we’re seeking investment via Crowdcube. You can invest from just [minimum amount]. In exchange, you’ll own part of [Company] OR receive X% interest p.a. paid [biannually/quarterly] and can share in our success. Investments of this nature do carry risks to your capital.

You can find all the details and see our video at www.crowdcube.com/XXXX

Crowdcube is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is the world’s leading investment crowdfunding platform. You can join in under two minutes, it’s free and there’s no obligation to invest.

If you can get behind us, either by making an investment or telling people about the campaign, we would truly appreciate your support.

Thanks for your time.

Kind regards etc.

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Possible subject lines…

[Name], we need your support

Be part of our growth

Now you can invest in our future

Follow up email

Once you’ve been live for 3-5 days or have raised 15%-20%, whichever is sooner, send your different groups a follow up email.

Hi/Hello/Good morning [name],

A few days ago we launched a campaign to raise investment to help us deliver an even better experience for our [customers/clients] and grow the business. I’m really pleased to say that we’re making great progress - we’ve raised X% so far.

You can see how we’re getting on at www.crowdcube.com/XXXX

We still need your help though.

We would greatly appreciate if you could make an investment. You can invest from just [minimum amount]. We would also be grateful if you can spread the word of our campaign. We’re on Twitter [link], Facebook [link] and Linkedin [link] so it’s really easy to let people know. Please remember that your capital is at risk.

To get involved, take a look at www.crowdcube.com/XXXX

Thank you for your support.

Kind regards etc.

Top tip:Mailchimp has a feature that will allow you to quickly re-send emails to people who haven’t opened or clicked your email. Give people 48 hours to see it and then resend it with a different subject line. You can do this in less than five minutes.James Roberts, Head of Communications - Crowdcube

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Possible subject lines…

Help us reach our goal

Have you seen our Crowdcube campaign?

Blog / Site content

Here’s some sample text for a web page or blog post. Please remember that it will need the appropriate risk warning and approval text adding before you can use it publicly. The ‘Approved progress stats’ need to be tak-en from your approved pitch text.

Over the last [insert period here] we’ve been working hard to build [company name] into a business we can all be proud of and fundamentally [insert core purpose here].

Since the start we’ve been determined to [something unique about the way you doing things]. So not only have we always [feature 1], we also [feature 2] which allows us to [advantage to customer] which is great for [long-term benefit to company].

So far we’ve achieved a lot:

• [Approved progress stat 1]• [Approved progress stat 2]• [Approved progress stat 3]

We’re now ready to accelerate our growth and are seeking [£ amount] investment to do that. We’d love for you to be part of that journey so we’re crowdfunding via Crowdcube, the world’s leading investment Crowdfunding site.

[button in here – link to pitch]

Since 2011, Crowdcube have raised over £150m for businesses including Eden Project and River Cottage. They’re regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority so you’ll need to join to see our full pitch, including the video featuring [Person 1 and Person 2]. Joining Crowdcube is quick, simple and there’s no obligation to make an investment. Investments like this do carry risks to your capital.

If you’ve got any questions, you can email [me / us / the team] or why not get involved in the discussion on Crowdcube.

[button in here – link to pitch]

[your sign-off in here]

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Please note: The information in this note is intended to be general information and is not comprehensive. Crowdcube Capital Limited is unable to provide any financial, legal or tax advice and this document is not to be relied upon as such. We recommend that independent advice is taken from an appropriate professional in relation to the corporate documents of an investee company and the crowdfunding process.

What next?Ready to set the world alight? If you’ve already read our Business Plan and Financial Forecasts Standards guides and have those documents ready, start your pitch application at www.crowdcube.com/my-pitch

If you’ve already submitted your application and have any queries, please call us and we’ll put you through to the right person.

CrowdcubeThe Innovation CentreUniversity of ExeterRennes DriveExeterEX4 4RN

www.crowdcube.com

@crowdcube

/crowdcube

support@crowdcube.com

01392 241 319

Contact the team for more information: