If you are running or thinking of running a Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or other type of crowdfunding campaign, I urge you to check out Meetup.com to find some local events in your area where you can learn from other campaign creators and network with people who are going through the same fundraising process.
Two weeks ago, I attended the Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Crowdfunding Meetup in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There were two awesome speakers, Eli Regalado and Elan Amram. Eli is the cofounder of Videogogo, a full-service marketing agency based in Denver, CO, and has successfully helped raise $183,000 on Kickstarter. Elan is the founder of ShmoozBiz, a Social Community to Discuss and Learn about Crowd Funding.
David Iaituri, who has raised $194,682 on Kickstarter, was also there and provided some great insight into raising money on the platform.
When just starting out, many campaign creators have similar questions about raising money from the crowd. Eli, Elan, and David did an awesome job answering some of these questions and outlining the common mistakes that first-time campaigners make. I’ve included some distilled tips below.
1. Don’t Expect People To “Discover” You.
Eli Regalado likened raising money on Kickstarter or Indiegogo to the early days of the web, where people expected that if they threw up an ecommerce web page, thousands if not millions of people would find their page (what else do they have to do with their lives?) and they’d become a millionaire in a matter of months.
The fact is that you must drive your own traffic to your crowdfunding campaign to see results. No one wants to be the first one to the school dance. Get your friends and family to commit to pledging throughout the first week to build momentum and add social proof to your project.
“Unless you’re Bill Gates that has a network of people that will write you checks of $50,000 a pop, you really need mainstream PR. You really need to get the blogosphere excited about what it is that you’re doing” – Regalado on SucceedInYourPajamas
2. Build a Team BEFORE Launching Your Project
In order to be successful on Kickstarter, you need the following key skills: campaign management, social media, video editing/production, design ability, copywriting skills, and marketing/PR. You may have all of these or only one. Either way, your time is finite and building a team around your project can help increase the chances of fundraising success.
Read more here:
http://www.crowdcrux.com/kickstarter-su ... -creators/