How can projects be successful on crowdfunding platforms?

Crowdfunding allows entrepreneurs who need to raise capital to start up their businesses by receiving funds from funders who are willing to support those entrepreneurs’ creative and novel ideas. Crowdfunding is often used for cultural industries. This research reports on empirical research regarding the relationship between crowdfunding for cultural industries and marketing strategies used for crowdfunding. Previous research normally looked at the motivation of funders based on donation theories which considered funders as donors. However, this research considers funders as consumers and investors and it focuses on marketing perspective that can increase the success rate of crowdfunding. Specifically, the aim of this research is to find elements related to marketing that can increase the chances of success of crowdfunding. Accordingly, this research reports (1) positive effects on limited edition rewards, tangible rewards and intangible rewards promised during the crowdfunding campaigns; (2) evaluation of marketing strategies used for crowdfunding such as prosumer marketing and viral marketing; (3) basic findings on the influential marketing related elements on crowdfunding platforms; (4) positive relationship between social exchange theory and success rate of crowdfunding. These empirical results give insight into crowdfunding and can contribute to the development of crowdfunding as a source of raising capital. Furthermore, this research discusses the limitations of marketing strategies currently used for crowdfunding and gives recommendations on launching a successful crowdfunding campaign in the future.