KickstarterForum.org

Thank you! Really great bullet points, I took a lot away from this. The key takeaways section is gold.

Glad the tips were helpful!

I just successfully finished my first campaign and here's what I learned:

This forum and crowdcrux.com are goldmines of information. Read them BEFORE you start, unlike me. I found them just after launch. They were still useful, and I think made the difference between success and failure, but I wish I'd had more time ahead of launch.

Making connections with bloggers and online media outlets ahead of launch would have helped a lot. My project is photographic, so I submitted photos to any blog I could find who would take them. Every picture was linked to the campaign or to my website, where I have a "Check out my Kickstarter Campaign" banner on every page. Even though I didn't have established relationships with the bloggers, I did get photos published and reblogged fairly extensively. The major win was a reblogged picture on the Yahoo! Finance blog. None of these published photos generated backers, but the publicity is still useful, and my extended network of contacts were excited by the publications.

Keeping rewards to introduce during the campaign is a great idea. I didn't do that, but once I read the idea, I made up some new rewards and they helped. Mostly, they gave me another excuse to communicate with people.

I sent out a lot of pleas for support, but always adhered to this format in my emails: BRIEF. That's an acronym for Background, Reason, Information, End, Follow-up. Keeping the overall length short, I provided background info (44 backers to date, for example), a reason for writing again (to tell youI was just published on Yahoo! Finance), one-to-three bits of information I wanted them to know (usually explaining in yet another way that Kickstarter is all or nothing because no one seems able to grasp that, explaining that there's always a lull in the middle of campaigns, things like that), and an ending appeal for support. The follow-up part is not about content in the message, it's about anticipating any questions that may arise from your message and preparing answers and/or next steps to address them.

Now here's what saved my bacon: I created a challenge match. I got an anonymous donor to agree to pledge $2 for every $1 pledged during the final week, when I was still 35% away from hitting goal. People love a match. It makes them feel like their small gift will be more meaningful, and that the project has a real shot at success so they won't waste their time making a pledge. If possible, line up a match donor before you start and announce the opportunity at a crucial moment.

In the last two days I still needed $1,000 so I flogged the match mercilessly on Facebook. "Only $885 needed, 2 days left,"

I kept updating the stats in slightly different ways, but kept to six words. I read somewhere that six-word stories are memorable, so that's what I told. I also read somewhere that numerals catch people's attention and generate click-throughs.

The other thing I did, in email appeals and on Facebook, was to ask over and over for people to share news of the campaign. In fact, the was the entire call to action of one email: "I'm writing to ask you for one thing: please share this campaign with your network on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, your blog, wherever you use social media." And I offered a reward to anyone who shared the campaign and told me they'd done it. It worked.

The last two days were exciting and nerve-wracking, because I didn't make goal until 9 hours before the end. But every new pledge gave me another reason to post new stats, and people were really caught up in the excitement. I'm sure I got several pledges in the last day because of that. And in an effort not to be obnoxious by always and only posting about my campaign, I also posted links to interesting photos or articles I read that related in some way to my project idea. I always tried to give people value.

I thanked everyone with 12 hours of their pledge, usually sooner, and when the goal was reached, I sent out an email with the subject, "You did it!" The email began, "You just helped fund PICTURES FROM 'AMERICA'!" As a professional fundraiser for nonprofits, I know the importance of putting the donor at the center of the action. Always focus on them, what's in it for them, how much you appreciate them, what they're making possible. After thanking them profusely (you can never say thank you too much), I told them I was going to think of the trust they put in me as I produce my project, and will work my butt off to live up to their faith in my work. That's very true. It's an awesome responsibility and I take that very seriously.

I hope some of you find this useful, as I have been helped by others who came before me. Good luck everyone!

Wayne

Hello there!
Great community around here and helpful tips and advice!

Me and my team are preparing a kickstarter campaign and I'm the one responsible for the media coverage and finding the people to spread the world when our campaign will be launching. Can you guys give me some tips on how can I approach the bloggers or people in this area?

It would be very helpful for us! Thank you very much!

Great post, keep it up!