Our experience is that all these new-fangled crowdfunding PR (public relations) outfits do monitor Kickstarter and Indiegogo and GoFundMe and elsewhere for newly launched projects. That would be a logical thing to do if you were in the business, wouldn't it? The real problem for me, it seems, is when they guarantee funding success, or couch their promotion offers in similarly seductive language. We paid on such PR outfit $250 (their entry-level "Bronze" service) on our first, successfully funded Kickstarter campaign. We did spot checks via Google to see if indeed they were creating the Facebook links and Twitter posts (they were). Did we get even one new donation attributed to their social media intervention?
ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY AFFIRMATIVELY UNEQUIVOCALLY EMPHATICALLY RESOUNDINGLY NO! Meaning, no we did not get a single new backer following their intervention.
Ditto, our current campaign at
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/67 ... fairy-tale. The number of current backers speaks volumes for the efforts of the
different PR firm. But, again, we have verified their social media posting claims, an they have given us an account with a ddashboard to see their posts which they also email nightly to us. So, while undoubtedly some off these PR outfits are scammers (just as some Kickstarter creators are being reported by backers as scammers), none have a magic wand to transform a campaign you are personally invested in and thus exuberant about, into a funding smorsgasbord where strangers will flock and open their wallets. On outfit seems to be able to deliver 100% of the time, because they target the media exclusively and eschew Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. They don't even do MySpace
So, the long and short of it is, we have used them but found the to be neither scammers nor beneficial. If anyone wants actual names of the 2 crowdfunding PR firms, I'll be happy to disclose them in a reply. I will also be happy to divulge the name of the PR firm we vetted and found to deliver almost 100% of the time (although they are the first to disclaim any such guarantee). Good luck, guys (gender neutral usage).