KickstarterForum.org

Thought I'd share my experience so far with a Kickstarter campaign and suggest what might be going wrong, not just with mine but with Kickstarter in general.

Within the first few days of launching I had over £1000 in pledges, which seemed very promising. Most were coming from my Facebook friends list, most of whom don't know me personally, suggesting they just liked the project. I also saw a few pledgers I didn't recognise at all. However, these few pledged low amounts and were unfortunately too few to make a big difference. I've since spent time trying to 'advertise' the project on various sites, blogs and forums, as is always suggested, so far to no avail.

However it seems to me that there's a basic problem here. The bigger Kickstarter gets, the more necessity there will be to 'advertise' in order to make your project visible. People offering to advertise your project are already appearing and I can only see this becoming more and more popular. Soon there will be a simple choice a project creator will have to make - will they make back on the campaign more than they spend on the advertising? And if they can afford to spend money on advertising, doesn't this undermine the point of Kickstarter?

I'm not offering any solutions or even suggesting this is a complete or realistic analysis, but I'm curious to know what the future of Kickstarter will actually be. Does it really have the bright future everyone is predicting for it?

Interesting perspective and congrats on the over £1000 pledges. I don't have a complete answer to your question, but here is my perspective:

At its heart, I don't think that advertising is what separates successful campaigns from not-so-successful campaigns. I think remarkable people and products are what set you above the crowd, not paid eyeballs. I think the reason why most people turn to advertising is that it's a quick way to get traffic, which could result in pledges.

Ideally, as more people launch campaigns, creators will take more of a long-term approach to planning and execution. They will work to build their tribe before they launch a project. I wrote about this here: http://www.crowdcrux.com/kickstarter-an ... community/

I also try to push the idea of using Kickstarter as a launch pad for an actual company - the investments you make in terms of time and money will benefit you when you can sell your newly-attracted crowd products in the future (repeat customers).

I don't know about the long-term destiny for Kickstarter, but I think that the fundamentals will prevail in terms of why people pledge on the website, regardless of the new tactics creators employ like advertising or paid marketing.

Hi,

Brilliant reply thank you! That really inspired me, reading your link I can see immediately what's missing from my own campaign - I'm trying to do something new in an old genre, but I haven't really tapped into the community around that old genre. That's something I can definitely work on.

However I've discovered that my idea is very difficult to describe properly. It's a simple idea really, but the end result isn't easily defined. I'm forever changing and adding to my description to try to get the idea across properly. Ultimately of course, I might just not have a particularly great idea, but it's hard to tell when I keep finding out that people have misunderstood it. It's a bit like trying to describe a piece of music - you really have to just hear it before it'll make sense.

I think that some ideas - or rather, pitches - will work better on Kickstarter than others, and just as some bad pitches may be good ideas, there are probably lots of pitches that look like a great idea but turn out not to make that much sense in the real world - OUYA is a case in point. I think I'm fundamentally sceptical about pitching - having worked in advertising for years, you get to see that pitching is really all about a particular, skilful type of bluff, a particular use of smoke and mirrors, with usually very little substance. And clients usually buy it, only seeing the holes - often disastrous ones - later on.

I think it's certainly true that the old advertising models are out of date, although I suppose it does depend on what you're advertising. With any art form, if someone really has something new and interesting to say, there will always be people interested in hearing it. The 1000 fans thing works, I know from personal experience! But with washing powder (for instance) it's still really about making sure everyone knows you're making the best product. And incidentally, washing powder companies compete fiercely for market share and it really is all about the quality of the product - my wife used to attend the conferences! But the point is there's probably only 'room' for a few brands of washing powder, people want what they trust and recognise. And in the end it's all controlled by supermarkets deciding, often randomly, what to sell - they're the biggest marketing dictatorship there is!

So maybe, as it says in the Kickstarter FAQs, not all projects are right for Kickstarter. You just have to work out whether your idea is right or not.

Very inspiring reply though, thank you!

"I think that some ideas - or rather, pitches - will work better on Kickstarter than others" - Very true. I've noticed that software tends to struggle on the Kickstarter platform.

With your washing powder example, I do agree that advertising in particular helps older companies maintain market dominance and keep reminding consumers about their brand, when it may only be slightly better than a store-name brand.

What types of campaigns do you think are a good/not good fit for crowdfunding?

Sal

That's certainly an interesting question to try to answer! I think since I read your link about the community / tribe theory, it really does explain a lot. You could even say that a good 'fit' for Kickstarter would be primarily anything that is also a good fit for an existing tribe - and I'm wondering whether it even needs to be so remarkable. One of the most over funded Kickstarters in the UK was a documentary by George Galloway about Tony Blair. I don't think it's a remarkable idea as much as something a lot of people were already waiting for - there was a ready made tribe.

The Galloway doc also had a crystal clear USP, which is I think where fresh ideas struggle and have traditionally always struggled. There are numerous tales of successful films and bands and writers who were consistently rejected by studios, labels and publishers until they got their break, usually as a result of one executive who 'got it.'

It's tempting to see crowd funding as skipping this executive hinderance to development, but you've also got to look at the reasons why all those executives rejected those ideas in the first place and whether tribes really have any more imagination to see potential than those executives.

I always end up sounding pessimistic don't I, sorry! But it's a really interesting thing to talk about - hope you agree!

I'm glad that you think the article was interesting .

I agree with you in that many executives have training in terms of looking for the component of a successful product - market appeal or target market being one element.

At the same time, these executives are people like you and me and are limited by their experiences and training, which is why so few people are able to pick the successful startups, best companies to invest in, and the books that will be a smash success (like the 4 hour work week or harry potter).

To me, the best way to use crowdfunding is to conduct a market test and see if there is a tribe out there interested in the product or project. If there is, you can bring that to an executive as proof, or you can then see it is worthwhile to continue pursuing your passion. You can also use it as a way to engage the tribe you are building and involve them in your creative process.

I also agree with you about USP (unique selling point for anyone that isn't familiar with the term) - more creators need to think about what their USP is for their project, which is easier said than done!

In addition - on the topic of social media promotion and advertising, I think you might find this article interesting if you get a spare moment: http://www.crowdcrux.com/kickstarter-so ... -kawasaki/

Sal