KickstarterForum.org

Hi,

We have started phoning (potential) supporters and I have been playing with the figures.

My budget suggests that we need 466 pledges and I am going to press people who know the orchestra hard:

50 Members - assume 80% pledge - 40 pledges
100 Past members - assume 20% pledge - 20
20 Volunteers - assume 50% pledge - 10
50 Past volunteers - assume 40% pledge - 20
5 Board members - assume 100% pledge - 5
10 Key supporters - assume 100% pledge - 10

Sub-total 105 pledges

But all these supporters have their own networks that they should be working to convince to pledge;-

40 Members - Assume average 2 family and 2 friends - 160 pledges
20 Past members - Assume average 1 family and 1 friend - 40
10 Volunteers - Assume average 2 family and 1 friend - 30
20 Past volunteers - Assume average 1 family and 1 friend - 40
5 Board members - Assume average 2 family and 6 friends - 40
10 Key Supporters - Assume average 1 family and 5 friends - 55

Sub-total 365 pledges

Total 470 pledges

So that is 470 pledges, before we get pledges from our Press & PR, Social Media, Blogging, Networks and other Marketing activity,

Sounds simple, but I suspect that it won't be that straight-forward

Cheers,

Andy

And what do your numbers look like, if you assume that only about 3% pledge, instead of the numbers that you are operating off of?

It's not that your numbers can't come true. Rather, what is the probability that they will come true?

Charles wrote:And what do your numbers look like, if you assume that only about 3% pledge, instead of the numbers that you are operating off of?

It's not that your numbers can't come true. Rather, what is the probability that they will come true?

Top-line probabilities (105 pledges) are based on the phone-calls made so far - 17 calls made - 17 promises of pledges - so that part is pretty accurate.

I think that the secondary level pledges is much more difficult to judge and is one of the reason that I have a major marketing blast ready to go - to get people who do not know the orchestra involved. If I get 100 pledges in the first 3 days, which is my initial target, then we are looking at about 25-30%. And Kickstarter stats show that projects that get to that figure early have an 80% chance of success.

Cheers,

Andy

Andy_Sinclair wrote:Top-line probabilities (105 pledges) are based on the phone-calls made so far - 17 calls made - 17 promises of pledges - so that part is pretty accurate.

I think that the secondary level pledges is much more difficult to judge and is one of the reason that I have a major marketing blast ready to go - to get people who do not know the orchestra involved. If I get 100 pledges in the first 3 days, which is my initial target, then we are looking at about 25-30%. And Kickstarter stats show that projects that get to that figure early have an 80% chance of success.

Cheers,

Andy

OK, let's go with this new information. That leaves a 20% chance of failure. How do you intend to address that 20%, in order to whittle that figure down?

Personally, I think that your project has an edge over most other projects. Why? Because, the nature of a people's orchestra is that multiple people are closely connected with the thing that underlies the project - namely, the orchestra, itself. Lots of personal connections to the orchestra. Lots of potential content generators for the project.

One thing that you might want to stress to those assisting you with securing pledges is that simply asking others to pledge, just going through the motion, is NOT the key to success. Rather, you want them to explain, in their own words with their own bit of personal meaning attached, WHY it matters for others to pledge. One person's appeal may not work for others, yet be very successful for them, individually.

I'm not sure when you are intending to launch your project, Andy, but Halloween and Christmas are both coming up. Both of those occasions provide you with opportunities to inject some color into your campaign. Halloween costumes make for great photo opportunities (bursts of visual imagery), and Christmas makes for great personal sentiment.

Halloween, in fact, is a time when kids demonstrate the art of asking for pledges - albeit in a roundabout way. Trick or treat is an invitation to others for them to pledge something - a trick or a treat. Usually, it's the treat that gets offered up, or a combination of both, but rarely just the first of the two, alone.

Charles wrote:
OK, let's go with this new information. That leaves a 20% chance of failure. How do you intend to address that 20%, in order to whittle that figure down?
.

The great thing about the orchestra is that we are run by a team of volunteers - that means that, rather than be a one-man band marketer, I have a whole team that i have dedicated to marketing the project.

So i have a team of people assigned to Social Media, Press & PR, Bloggers, Database etc

And if we do need that final push then we start to tap up the composer's many contacts - something that is not in the original strategy, but is on the back-burner as a fail-safe!

Charles wrote:Personally, I think that your project has an edge over most other projects. Why? Because, the nature of a people's orchestra is that multiple people are closely connected with the thing that underlies the project - namely, the orchestra, itself. Lots of personal connections to the orchestra. Lots of potential content generators for the project.
.

Yes - we have an edge there in that we are not a single person. With lots of members we can make a lot of noise - but it is just not about noise it is about personal connections. The orchestra members are going to get a new composition, they are going to meet and work with a major composer - who is also going to be at rehearsals and conduct at the premiere! An opportunity of a lifetime for them - i think that this is going to motivate them to actively get pledges from their own network of friends and relatives - which is a huge advantage 50 people working for pledges as opposed to 1 or 2!

As a charity and community orchestra from a deprived area of the UK we also have a lot of goodwill from supporters - many of whom are more than happy to actively promote our kickstarter (and who are extremely well connected with wealthy and philanthropic business people!).

Charles wrote:
I'm not sure when you are intending to launch your project, Andy, but Halloween and Christmas are both coming up. Both of those occasions provide you with opportunities to inject some color into your campaign. Halloween costumes make for great photo opportunities (bursts of visual imagery), and Christmas makes for great personal sentiment.
.

Launch is September 23rd for 29 days so we miss out on those 2 holidays, however we do have a concert 'Fright Night', a captive audience, just before the end date, if we are in need of a final push!

Charles wrote:Halloween, in fact, is a time when kids demonstrate the art of asking for pledges -.

Yes, they are brilliant at this!

Hi,

Submitted my project to Kickstarter for approval this afternoon and within 2 hours we got approval - a couple of minor changes required (and actioned), but apart from that we are 'good to go!'

Fabulous!!

Although we are not launching until 23/9 - so watch this space!

Cheers,

Andy

Hi,

Phoning is time-consuming, but the personal connection does have a huge effect - 36 for 36 so far -and we are creating a buzz for our first rehearsal (Sunday) after the Summer break! At which we will be able to reinforce that personal contact with their friends and loved ones will be the best way of get this project off to a fantastic start!

PR Dilemmas / Dilemmas
One thing that phoning contacts has shown me is that they are excited and want to tell the story - I am asking them to keep the full story off social media so that we get a big PR hit - the media are a fickle bunch and they love NEWS, but not OLD NEWS!

So the reveal about who the composer is - and the projects that he has worked on - is going to be NEWS! On the other hand, I don't want to hamstring supporters, by not giving them the best tools to go out and spread the word!

It is a bit of a dilemma - do I hamper/destroy the press launch in order to make the communication for supporters easier? I don't know the answer, comments would be welcome.

Cheers,

Andy

I didn't know I knew so many people...........

I have 3 work emails
2216 Contacts
1941 Contacts
75 Contacts

One Personal email
374 Contacts

And my Phone
251 Contacts

And my LinkedIn
141 Contacts

And my old fashioned personal phone book
???? Contacts

I am going through them all building up my own personal contact list - and for each person on there I will have a little contact strategy :-

i.e
*** My Mum - Family & Friends - Phone call and then text reminder on launch date
* Neil H - Casual Work Contact - Personalised Email and email reminder on launch date
*** John W - Good Work Contact - Phone Call, email follow-up and text reminder on launch date
* Sally F - Tennis Contact - Personalised Email and email reminder on launch date
* Annie R - Children's School Contact - Personalised Email and email reminder on launch date
** Michelle D - Football Contact - Personalised Email and email reminder on launch date
*** Mark C - Real Ale Society Contact - Phone Call, email follow-up and text reminder on launch date
*** Alison B - Family & Friends - Phone call and then text reminder on launch date


And you gotta loves stars
* Not much chance of pledging, but might spread the word
** Might pledge, but will definitely spread the word
*** Will Pledge and spread the word

This is a heck of a lot of work, but on the other hand it;s about time I caught up with some of these people,

Cheers,

Andy

Andy_Sinclair wrote:It is a bit of a dilemma - do I hamper/destroy the press launch in order to make the communication for supporters easier? I don't know the answer, comments would be welcome.

Cheers,

Andy

Historically and traditionally, things happen, and that's what makes it news. Telling the media what is going to happen, before it happens, is a press release.

It's a good dilemma to be in - do you impede momentum, to give formal media a leg up over informal media? It seems to me that you already have people wanting to report what you are doing.

What is reporting? Spreading the word, isn't it?

Hi,

Must have been quite a lot of traffic through the forum during the weekend - raced from 700 views to over 1100!

I had a weekend away from the project to recharge my batteries - launch is 15 days away and the build-up and immediate aftermath is going to intense! So spent time with the family and chilled with our new kitten - Skittles!

Database building is going well and we are starting to reach out to bloggers - still waiting to see version 3 of the video, but the Kickstarter preview page is out to a selected few for review.

Our website will start incorporating changes from Thursday and we are looking at a 10 day countdown to get supporters excited.

Phoning friends and family is time-consuming, but the feedback so far has been 100% positive!

Today feels a little bit like the lull before the storm!

A Question about Stretch Goals

After funding the original composition I have 3 stretch goals :~
1) Producing a Digital Download & CD of the piece
2) Filming the premiere of the piece for simultaneous live screening
3) Taking the show on tour

Anyone pledging over a certain amount will get the digital download and live screening for no additional money!

My question is (and I have seen both) do I release the stretch goals as we near them or do I publicise at the start of the campaign?

Cheers,

Andy