money is going. Be as transparent as you can and also provide the compelling and real reasons for your project - that helps your audience understand you and also helps build trust. During Your Campaign Get in touch immediately Send your friends, family and all the contacts in your email address book, a nice, personalised email. Explain the project and what you are doing. Be friendly and professional, include a link to your campaign page, and ask for pledges and help spreading the word. And keep it as brief as possible. Also consider following up with a regular email, newsletter style. Make sure you include new information in each email, keeping recipients up-to-date on your project, rather than just coming back asking for money. Do the same with Facebook and Twitter. If you plan to send bulk emails, ensure that you provide an option for people to opt-out of receiving future emails - it could be required by law. Be smart Use resources around you, be smart at promoting what you do. Find out what other smart people are doing. Stand on the shoulders of giants. Reach out to news media: newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, blogs and websites. Contact them with specific angles and story ideas that will make them want to publish or broadcast content that talks about your project. Talk to well-connected people in your industry, target those social media experts and get them to help with the push. They are always looking for fresh content to talk