KickstarterForum.org

Magnus wrote:Screw it - I'll keep going...

Yes, please do keep going.This thread has turned into a true treasure trove of information that many project creators will find useful, when and if they read it.

And they will, in due time.

Agreed, this thread is great information for beginning Kickstarter campaign creators. Well done!

Let's talk about MONEY...

"The world is changed with a checkbook"
- Paul Hartunian

Here's one thing that's made a massive difference to the amount of money I've received from crowdfunding:

Blatantly, and without reserve, I always make sure I'm doing everything I can to get the maximum amount of cash I can.

I didn't realise it would be so tough (and continues to be tough) ...to add margin to my own products. With this "margin" being cold, hard cash that goes into my pocket. Personally... I initially struggle with setting my own price and determine what I'm "worth".

There are loads of reasons to keep prices as high as you can.

But the one that's more important for YOU, as a crowdfunder, is that it gives you a lot of "wiggle room" for stuff going wrong ...which it will.

I made sure my first crowdfunding campaign had plenty of margin (read: profit!).

During part of the project fulfillment I almost had to get something done in a different way to what I had planned - which would have added $20 to the cost of each Reward!

I JUST managed to avoid it. But, to be honest, it wouldn't have been a major issue because I had plenty of "wiggle room".

But imagine had I not had this extra "wiggle room" available ...I'd be have been thousands in debt after the project had ended.

Scary!

So, yeah, squeeze as much money as you can out of it ...you're doing both yourself and your Backers a great disservice by not doing this.

It's been a while... (but I have excellent excuses!)

I went on a bit of a posting frenzy when I started this thread - and now I've been gone for a month (that's pretty much my approach to everything in life - feast or famine).

So here's the low-down:

#1 - I'm about to launch my fourth crowdfunding project on Kickstarter - and, if you're running your own campaign, you may just want to see how I execute it!

#2 - I've managed to get to a stage where I've now quit my job and am able to do this full-time ...purely because of crowdfunding.

Now, don't get me wrong...

I couldn't live solely off crowdfunding (it's not a business in and of itself). But it's the business I've been able to build because of crowdfunding - and I'll tell you more about this in anther post.

I'd like to get a little "ADVANCED" today...

As I mentioned in the previous post - I'm about to launch my fourth Kickstarter project around 36 hours from now as I type this.

Now, there are a few things that are different to how I run a crowdfunding campaign compared to most others.

#1 - I know exactly what I'm doing

I don't mean for this to sounds arrogant - but, for the most part, I've got a good handle on what works and what doesn't. And relatedly I can predict with a fair degree of accuracy the types of numbers (in terms of both Backers and Dollars) I can expect.

#2 - It's not about getting funded

Because I have a list of previous Backers and Customers ...it's no longer about if the project gets funded ...it's about how much will it be over-funded by.

Getting funded is no big trick at this stage. I have chosen a somewhat arbitrary number of NZD$9000 (around USD$7400) ...makes no difference really. The campaign is almost certain to break $10k on the first day anyway.

#3 - Get it over quickly

Related to #2 above about it not being about the money ...then I want to get the project over and onto the next one as quickly as possible.

After analysing the previous funding statistics from my previous campaign, as well as taking into account the time it will take me to get the project Rewards produced and shipped, I'm planning to run the campaign for 21 days.

I'm hoping this will give me enough time to have the Rewards shipped for Christmas and perhaps launch another campaign before the end of the year (although I'm a little optimistic on this perhaps as stuff always goes wrong no matter how well I plan).


Damn, this coffee shop is going to close...

I'll end this here for now and continue later.

wow, tus!

You know, it's funny...

One of the mantras I live by is this:

"Good is good enough"

But it's not quite as simple as that - let me explain...

The application of that mantra is not done across everything. No.

When it comes to my high-end titanium products - then I certainly do not apply it. I'd prefer to put nothing out that to send out something that could be even remotely considered "sub standard".

Now take the Kickstarter video...

I'll just shoot that in one take with me talking into the camera. Why? Because I don't believe it's that important to success in crowdfunding.

However, I will spend a ton of time getting the written part of the Kickstarter pitch page done right. In that case the "good is good enough" will not do.

And you can probably guess why... ... ...yes, you got it, it's because it's important.

This is probably part of the reason I get relatively quite a lot done (i.e. able to build a six-figure business from scratch while still holding down a full-time job).

Continuing on from the previous post...

There is something I spend a lot of time on.

In fact - the amount of time I spend on it seems like it's waaaaaaaaay out of proportion for what it is.

But, the reason I spend so much time on it is because [quite predictably] it is massively, hugely and humungously important!

I'm talking about the Rewards on Kickstarter.

Now, I'm not talking so much about the type of Rewards or what they are exactly. I'm talking more about things like:

--> How many Rewards you offer

--> The price of each Reward ...relative to the other Rewards

--> Taking into account exactly what you're trying to achieve with your campaign (is it just a one-off gig to get as much money as possible ...or maybe a "loss leader" to get to Customers or just to get attention and get noticed)

I'll spend hours and hours and hours (usually over a period of days to weeks) figuring out the exact Reward strategy.

Yes, it may look like I've just thrown up a bunch of Rewards - but it's very far from the reality.

If you want proof of how well this works then take a look at my last Kickstarter campaign ( https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cogent/titanium-ultimate-carabiner-style-mini-clips-for-y )

Take a look at the proportion of Backers who went for the highest-priced Rewards compared to the lower-priced Rewards... (I'll leave you to do the analysis)

I highly doubt you've ever seen a campaign with such a ratio (I certainly haven't).

Okay, enough blowing-my-own-trumpet here ..starting to sound like Captain Ego!

Here's a real quick trick...

(I might have mentioned this before ...can't remember)

In the project title and description of your Kickstarter campaign use words people might be searching for.

So, for example, let's say you've got a kitchen-related product that will help in baking cakes (I know nothing about baking cakes by the way). And let's say the project is call the CakeMate (made that name up just now).

Many people will put the project title as something like: "CakeMate - A Revolution in the Kitchen"

But, I would take a different approach.

I'd typically not even put the name in the title and say something like: "Baking Cakes Better - The Kitchen Gadget You NEED!"

So, should someone be searching on Kickstarter for things to do with baking or cakes or kitchen gadgets ...then you've got a higher chance of coming up in the search.

I've not done much testing of this - I just do it. But, from what I can kind-of tell, it seems to make a little bit of difference (but Kickstarter stats are not hugely reliable).

You probably know this already, but...

Having "Early Bird" Rewards on Kickstarter works well.

From personal experience (as a Backer) there are many projects I've backed because there was an "Early Bird" Reward (which typically was a cheaper price than the standard Reward level).

Oh, and I'm mainly talking about when the "Early Bird" is limited in the number of Rewards available at that level.

This will almost always make me pledge right away on a project.

I've lost count of the number of times I've seen a project and thought, "I'll save it a back it later" ...only to never back it.

The short version of what I've said above is basically:

Strike while the iron is hot! (i.e. do everything you can to get a potential Backer to become an actual Backer IMMEDIATELY!)