EU Campaign Marketing Toolkit
We pulled together all the tools you need to put your campaign marketing strategy into practice so you can inspire your customers, fans and supporters to come aboard as shareholders and raise a successful round on Seedrs.
What’s in this toolkit:
1. Compliance overview
2. Creating compliant marketing
3. Email templates
Realise the power of crowdfunding with an effective marketing strategy
Acquire customers
For those who already know, love and trust your brand, your raise is an opportunity to become financially invested in its future. For newer audiences, it boosts brand awareness that may extend long after your investment round is complete.
Engage your fans
A raise with Seedrs will help you build and engage with a loyal tribe of followers and brand ambassadors. Customers become investors and investors become customers. That’s the power of crowdfunding done properly.
Secure the funds you need
Inspire your customers, fans and supporters to come aboard as shareholders, whether they bring £10 or £10,000 to the table. Secure the funds you need right now, as well as the brand exposure you need for the future.
A successful campaign is a compliant one
You should be aware that your marketing of your campaign may require certain warnings and disclosures, as it is promoting a regulated financial service. This is referred to as a ‘financial promotion’ (finprom) when communicating with UK based investors, and for EU investors this would be categorised as simply marketing and advertising communications.
To avoid confusion we will refer to all marketing and advertising of campaigns as financial promotions or “finprom”.
We have prepared some frequently asked questions that you should be aware of to help you run an engaging and compliant campaign.
What is a financial promotion and why does it matter?
A UK financial promotion is an ‘invitation or inducement to engage in an investment activity that’s made in the course of business’.
In general terms, EU finproms relate to any information or commercial communication to the consumer public, including prospective investors, about Seedrs and/or the crowdfunding campaigns it hosts on its platform.
Your pitch on the Seedrs platform is a financial promotion, which is why Seedrs must verify and approve it. But you should be aware that your marketing of the campaign may also involve financial promotions.
Every financial promotion must be made or approved by our team.
When do these rules apply?
Financial promotions can be oral or written and made in numerous ways. Information provided through emails, social media posts, paid advertising or discussed at events could all be considered financial promotions, if they invite or induce people to invest.
This sounds like a lot of work! Is there another option?
For any communications that aren’t approved by Seedrs, you should ensure that your marketing activity does not mention Seedrs or Seedrs’ services.
Creating a compliant EU marketing campaign
Please review the below instructions carefully when creating any marketing or advertising for your ccampaign.
Step 1: Include the Regulatory Disclosure Statement
If the material contains reference to Seedrs or Seedrs services, this regulatory disclosure statement must be included in all EU marketing and advertising materials (finproms):
Seedrs Europe Limited, trading as Seedrs and Seedrs EU, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
EXCEPTION: The regulatory disclosure statement can be excluded from advertisements where it is of a size that renders the inclusion of the regulatory disclosure statement impractical (e.g. a web banner), or a character limit renders the inclusion impractical (e.g. Twitter).
In this instance, the finprom MUST contain a link to a webpage where these disclosure statements are visible and prominent (e.g. your pitch page).
Step 2: Include the relevant Risk Warnings
NOTE: The Risk Warnings must be prominent, i.e. in a box, in bold type, and of a font size at least equal to the prominent font size used throughout the promotion (see examples further on in the deck).
This risk warning must be included in all marketing and advertising materials (finproms):
WARNING: Investment in crowdfunding projects entails risks, including the risk of partial or entire loss of the money invested. Your investment is not covered by a deposit guarantee scheme or by an investor compensation scheme.
In addition, depending on the content of your finprom you may need to include additional risk warnings:
Any ad containing information on past performance:
- WARNING: Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance.
Any ad which contains illustrations or information on simulated performance:
- WARNING: These figures are estimates only. They are not a reliable guide to the future performance of this investment.
Any ad where amounts are denominated or priced in a foreign currency and the value may be impacted by changes in FX:
- WARNING: This investment may be affected by changes in currency exchange rates.
EXCEPTION: The risk warnings can be excluded from advertisements where it is of a size (e.g. web banner) or a character limit (e.g. twitter) that renders the inclusion impractical.
In this instance, the finprom MUST contain a link to a webpage where the relevant risk warnings are visible and prominent (e.g. your pitch page).
What else do I need to consider?
- There are additional information disclosure requirements where advertisements make reference to the impact of taxation (please refer to Seedrs team)
- Any materials that include statements such as ‘Leading’, ‘Best Value’ or having ‘Access to all lenders’, any such statements, made in an advertisement regarding Seedrs Europe, should be factually accurate and the source should be noted.
- The consent must be sought from the author of any recommendation or commendation and state if the author is in any way connected or has received reward in relation to the recommendation or commendation
- For any advertisements through social media, the communication should contain the characters #ad
- Seedrs EU promotions do not require the warning to be fixed at the top of the page / caption / image.
- For all non-print media (e.g. podcasts, radio, TV), the warning statements can be placed at the end of the advertisement
- Must include firm’s name in all promotions (this can be done by including the logo)
Step 3: Check your content with your Campaign Manager
Every piece of marketing or advertising MUST be approved and signed off by your Campaign Manager. Follow this process for each social media post, email campaign or other form of communication you prepare to promote your campaign:
- Prepare your marketing material, including any assets, images, copy or recording. Make sure everything that you plan to share is included.
- Your Seedrs campaign manager can work with you to ensure your marketing content is compliant. Once you’ve created the content, you can send it to your campaign manager for approval (please allow 24 hours for a response). We can then approve it as a financial promotion or provide feedback on how to make it compliant.
- Once your marketing materials are approved, you can translate into the relevant European language (including the regulatory disclosure statement and relevant risk warnings) and re-send to your Campaign Manager for final sign-off.
Please note that Seedrs does not provide legal advice of any kind, and nothing in this guide constitutes such advice. If you have any questions with respect to financial promotions compliance, you should consult a professional adviser.
Light up their inboxes
When it comes to promoting your raise, email marketing is your secret weapon. Your email touchpoints will be your strongest for conversion during your campaign. Inspire them with your mission and help them navigate the Seedrs signup process so they can invest in your success.
The Seedrs email templates
We’ve included several email templates, each tailored to the stages of your round. These templates will allow you capitalise on your campaign’s milestones to help convert your community.
- Crafted in-house by our Seedrs marketing pros
- They can be customised to fit your brand guidelines – just add your company name!
- Streamline the financial promotion approval process… the closer you stick to these templates, the faster your financial promotion review will be.
Using the templates
You can simply download and adjust the HTML, or, if you’re a Mailchimp user and you’d like to use the drag-and-drop builder, open the templates in Mailchimp directly.
Always make sure to send any communications to your campaign manager to sign off before distributing to your community.
Investor Education email
This email template is designed to guide your fans through the process of becoming an investor. It includes useful details about how to set up an account and get ready to invest.
Pre-launch
This email template is designed for your pre-launch phase. You should reach out to your network multiple times with different versions of this email in order to drive traffic to your pre-registration landing page.Let your audience know that you’re crowdfunding, why you’re crowdfunding and why you’re excited to bring them on board as shareholders. Be sure to tailor your messaging depending on the recipient. Potential big tickets will appreciate a little more personalisation, while customers might appreciate something more casual.
By pre-registering for your campaign new users will begin their mandatory 24 hour cooling off period, which means they’ll be ready to invest when your campaign launches.
Countdown to private launch
This email should be sent to all pre-registered users to create excitement prior to the private launch of your campaign. It also gives them the chance to get ready to invest by signing up to Seedrs and verifying their identity. Feel free to direct any support-related queries to [email protected].
Private launch
This email should be sent to all pre-registered users to invite them to invest in your crowdfunding campaign during the private phase. It will drive traffic to your campaign page on Seedrs and notify them that the campaign is now open for investment, and encourage them to invest before the pitch opens publicly on Seedrs. You can segment your send, to ensure your warmest investors receive access first.
Pledged investor outreach
This email can be sent to pre-registered users who have pledged to invest smaller amounts in the campaign (for example £10-£10k or more). Reaching out to these investors can ramp up engagement, build momentum and allow you to promote exclusive access to your priority list. Our template includes the Seedrs support contact to help with any queries.
High ticket investor outreach
This email can be sent to pre-registered users who have pledged to invest higher amounts in the campaign (for example £10k or more). You’ll want to give these prospective investors extra attention, by offering to schedule a call with them, or providing your personal contact for any queries they may have. If you’re using a CRM, ensure to personalise it with merge tags, and sign it with your name and headshot to give a personal touch.
Countdown to public launch
This email should be sent to all pre-registered users to let them know that the campaign will open publicly soon. It’s designed to encourage them to invest while they still have priority access. You can highlight the momentum of your campaign, including how much you’ve raised so far, and how many investors you’ve brought on board.
Public launch
This email should be sent to all your pre-registered users who haven’t invested yet, to let them know that the campaign is now publicly live on Seedrs. You can also send this email to any of your contacts who didn’t have the chance to pre-register. You should mention campaign milestones, for example how quickly you raised investment, or how many investors have come on board so far.
Investor perks
If you have any perks available to investors in your campaign, this is your chance to advertise them to your users! If your perks include discounts or merchandise, be sure to include visuals. The best perks emails will highlight the benefits at each ticket size, encouraging investors to invest a little more than they normally would to make the most of them.
Funding milestone
This email can be sent to all pre-registered users and other contacts who haven’t yet invested, to let them know that you’ve hit a milestone such as 100% funded, 100 investors or one week live on the platform. You can send emails like this as often as you like – the more the better! It will keep up momentum for the campaign and drum up new investment.
Closing soon
This email can be sent to pre-registered users, friends and contacts to advise them that there is limited time left to invest in the campaign. You can use subject lines like “Our crowdfunding campaign is closing soon” or “Only 5 days left to check out our campaign”. You may want to include those who have already invested as well, to encourage them to invest a little more before close.