Hi ssdesign,
That's a great question. Preparing for a campaign and getting the word out can be tough, but there are a lot of options out there and creative ways to do it! Here's a pretty good list of tools you can use to reach out to potential backers before you launch:
http://www.crowdcrux.com/6-tools-to-gen ... g-project/Other ways you can prepare for your campaign are by setting up a website (if you don't have one already) and social media pages, reaching out to interest groups, forums, blogs, and your friends and family for feedback.
Can you tell us a little bit about the project you are launching?