BrioBolt is a professional music, graphics and video production house that helps make better crowdfunding pitch videos. We caught up with MD, Aeron Jones, who shared five expert tips you should ensure your crowdfunding investment follows.

What is the core message?

The core message that you are a good choice for investment.  This can sometimes get lost in details that are important to your relationship with the business but not necessarily important to the pitch, taking up time at the risk of losing the interest of the viewer.  The core message is that you are a good choice for investment. Your viewer’s should be as convinced of that as you are.

You need us more than we need you

An attractive situation for most would-be investors is one in which your product is in such demand that you already have customers poised to buy every single one you make. Your personality will come across in the video, so keep your ego under control, but describing your business as one that needs investment cash in order to survive is not going to attract anything like as much investment as convincing them that this is an opportunity they should be hungry for.

Stick to the script

Presentations in meetings are a human experience and a bit of improvisation and digression is perfectly acceptable. Even if this is one of your strengths, don’t rely on it for your on-camera presentation. Once the red record-light goes on, every little pause will be magnified. It doesn’t matter if you develop your script all alone or if you work with a seasoned crowd funding pitch producer, practice it in advance, OUT LOUD with a stopwatch, to the point where you know every comma and can deliver it comfortably within the target time.

Attention span

Everyone has an opinion on this, but most (including ourselves) think 2-4 minutes is about the optimum length for your video. This should be your target, but despite the general consensus there have been many successful campaigns with longer pitch videos than this.

The most important thing is to be focused. You should have a strong, almost bullet-point presentation of the strongest parts of your pitch, and you should be able to deliver this calmly and confidently within the first 30-seconds.  You can then punctuate your video with a change in pace/music/imagery as you move into expanding on the strengths you summarised at the beginning.

Start by introducing yourself, your place in the company and something about yourself that’s relevant to the business you are pitching.  If you have built and sold several companies in the past, use this to impress the viewer right at the beginning.  If the company has an impressive pace of growth, “beyond expectations”, say so!  Seeing your personal passion and belief in the business is encouraging, just beware of getting bogged down in expressing emotional attachments that could be read as personal delusion.

When you move into expanding upon the finer points of the investment opportunity, keep people interested, both through the script and visually.  Nicely shot footage of your products and/or company locations are ideal.  Animation is a popular choice for visually reiterating key points and can work alongside live footage.  Relying entirely on animation can be risky, though, as the good-quality motion is time consuming to produce, with the cheaper animation making many pitch videos look the same.

The sum-up

Here is your opportunity for a strong finish.  The sum-up is another chance to punctuate your video, along with a change in pace/feel, and should again reprise the key strengths of your opportunity for your potential investors. Reiterate the points from your introduction, alongside any less-obvious positive side effects that achieving your investment target will have on your business.  Include something personal that reflects your enthusiasm in your business’ future – and end with a smile!

 Find out more about BrioBolt (winner of CrowdCube’s Best Video of the Year) online right here.