This article is sponsored by PitchFuse. Create a pre-launch page for your crowdfunding campaign and get feedback, gather a following, or do a giveaway!
With media-hyped successes like Zach Braff’s Kickstarter Campaign, The Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android and Amanda Palmer’s record braking $1+ million dollar music project, it’s easy to get carried away thinking that Kickstarter is easy money for that project idea you’ve been kicking around your head.
Below are five questions that any creative type should ask themselves before starting a Kickstarter or Indiegogo Campaign.
1. Are you ready for the time commitment?
You need to be ready to commit a minimum of four hours per day to running, promoting, and maintaining your Kickstarter campaign. From responding to comments/emails, marketing on industry forums, doing guest posts on relevant blogs, attending events, scheduling tweets/fb messages, and reaching out to influencers, your time an quickly be eaten up each day dealing with the basics.
In addition, when preparing for a campaign, don’t forget the time investment needed when: creating a professional quality video, crafting compelling reward tiers, having multiple high-quality images taken of your prototype, designing a compelling value-proposition, and finally breaking out the spreadsheet to estimate the costs of reward fulfillment in addition to the minimum amount needed to bring this dream into reality.
See what a few crowdfunders say below about the time commitment:
“Spread the word in every way possible, and be ready for a lot of work! Kevin, I and our families have been working hours upon hours to execute our plans and try to get this to take off.” The Ripple raised $29,000 on Kickstarter.
“Don’t expect thousands of people to find you on their own. Be prepared to work every day to find new ways to get the word out. Even if people like your project, it’s a busy world and it’s hard to get people to notice you.” Jason Coffee’s Warhawks raised $21,000 on Kickstarter.
2. Do you have a social media presence and a website?
I recommend you begin building up your social media presence a minimum of three months before even beginning to plan your campaign. This means creating profiles on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+ if you don’t already have them.
Not only is social media a way for you to engage with potential backers via interest-centric groups, but it’s a free way to get your value proposition in front of a large number of people. In addition, being part of these social networks helps improve the chance that second degree connections will get a chance to see your campaign. Sharing, tweeting, and re-pinning happen every day and unless you are there in the room, your message doesn’t have a chance of reaching a larger crowd.
Lastly, a website is essential for developing rapport with potential backers and with new social media connections. People want to see transparency and professionalism. A record of your previous products as a company or even individual accomplishments show that you are the real deal and can execute on your vision.
“For your own social media, first thing you absolutely need is a website, not matter how simple. No matter what you’ve heard, it does give your idea credibility and acts as your central hub for people interested in your product or campaign. In our opinion, separating your personal facebook from your campaign’s facebook is a must. Not only does that give you an extra platform to market with, but you can really get an idea of who your fans really are.” Martial Arts: The Trading Card Game raised $8,000 on Kickstarter.
3. Can you create compelling images?
Humans are extremely visual-centric. Professional images develop rapport with your potential backers and start the process of getting people emotionally involved in your product’s creation. In addition, images are shared much more often than text on social networks like pinterest, instagram, twitter, and Facebook. Also, a great way to spread the message about your campaign is through cover photos.
“Finding a great cover artist was really important to us because we didn’t want to launch our project on Kickstarter until we had something cool to show our potential backers. I think people always appreciate when they see that you have already put substantial work into a project before asking others to help out. It also helped with publicity because websites and blogs always want imagery to show.” Jason Coffee’s Warhawks raised $21,000 on Kickstarter.
