With equity crowdfunding, brand awareness and community engagement is crucial when trying to secure prospective investors. There is no better ambassador for the brand than the founder/CEO, and the personal touch of founder outreach tends to resonate with investors.

We have identified six important community marketing best practices that we recommend all founders/issuers follow to optimize for a successful raise on StartEngine.

Engage with Lead Investors

We recommend issuers develop a custom strategy to engage and convert as many lead investors as possible. "Lead investors" are typically defined as high-value investors who are familiar with your startup and can offer strategic advice and connections.

If you're new to equity crowdfunding and do not have an established community on StartEngine quite yet, getting lead investors to invest early on is a great way to generate momentum and excite prospective investors visiting your page.


<aside> 💡 Are you familiar with StartEngine's benefits for large investors? Learn more by reading through our write-up of StartEngine's ‣ and be sure to incorporate this program into your strategy as you work to secure lead investors.

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Email Your Community

Email marketing plays a critical part of your raise, particularly throughout the first week. Make sure that all of the contacts in your communities know that they can invest in your company.

Remember, consistency is key. We have found a majority of a company's email list will need frequent touchpoints before they are willing to convert.


<aside> 💡 Refer to our "Email Marketing" guide for helpful email templates and other resources.

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Plan Regular Organic Social Media Posts

Your raise should be prominently featured on all of your social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. (Don't forget your personal social networks too!)

Plan to post at least 3x per week on each platform for the first week, followed by weekly posts throughout the course of your raise.


<aside> 💡 Be sure to review **our tips to leverage organic social posts** as you implement your marketing strategy.

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Schedule Investor Webinars

Once a month during the raise we recommend you sit down with your investor community to answer important questions and share pertinent updates to help inform their decision to invest.

You can promote the webinar and drive sign-ups through marketing channels such as your social media accounts and email lists.