KickstarterForum.org

Like most I too realised too late how I should have gained more followers before launching the campaign. I only just launched 2 days ago and I find it very exhausting. I did learn a lot as well about promoting but I am still not where I want to be. I hope I eventually can also get more support from strangers on KS and the like instead of just friends and aquaintances.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14 ... ms-artbook

My first launch was not nice, I have cancelled it.
My second launch is going okay, I have learned from the mistakes and come back with better campaign content.

- Have you learned any new skills (marketing/social media)?
>>>> Yes, I have learned how to use twitter (Sorry, but no one in Hong Kong is using Twitter). And now I know how important to gain followers on social media!

- Have you gotten any backers you don't know?
>>>>> Oh.. well, I don't really know any of the backers. No one in my circle is interested in Kickstarter... probable due to language problem, and that sad, because no one is willing to help me share my campaign when they cannot understand the words lol

- What has been frustrating?
>>>> I thought I have made a mistake on shipping fee calculation, I set the price too low comparing with others. I didn't choose to send my products by UPS or DHL, but local post office service for a better price. Just the shipment time is long.....

- How did you motivate yourself daily?
>>>>>>As Mel Robbins said, "Motivation is garbage" I agree with that. Use the 5 second rule, don't ever try to wait for the good mood after motivating yourself to do stuff. You don't have to wait for feeling in the right mood to do things. I trained myself to make process even I don't have the mood, I trained myself to complete things when I feel lazy. Really, if anyone is watching this, go try the 5 second rule by Mel Robbins! It works!

- Are you planning on starting a business if your Kickstarter goes well?
>>>>> Yes, I want to make this as my life time job, I love to make figures and I want to make every family a set.

- What tools or websites do you recommend (others than this one haha)?
>>>> I want to know it too!!!

Our kickstarter hasn't gone as we intended and we feel we've got a good product to sell:

Dark Comedy film in the same vein as Shaun of the Dead: check

some star power behind the scenes, with Bianca Van Damme (yes, Jean Claude Van Damme's daughter), and Oscar winning make-up artist Barney Burman (he's a guru) to help mentor our already bad-ass art department, as well as some in-roads to landing some popular talent (trying to snag Jenna Marbles for a lead role, And finally lots of advice from Sean Stone (Oliver Stone's son). People loved the script, and we've got a great vfx team that is gonna help out (www.elektrashock.com), but we just didn't do enough research on how to attack a first week of PR marketing and now we're really behind. I've started trying to invest in PR firms but it's taking time to comb through posers vs what will give us a good bang for the buck.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/20 ... =user_menu

do you research before launching!

Nathan McCoy
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1430420/?ref_=nv_sr_6
http://www.onlyhumanproductions.com

Hi Nate,

If I were you I'd hold off on the PR firms as the campaign page isn't good enough. What the campaign needs to show is:
- Who you are (like in the video)
- What the film is all about in detail
- What the money will be spent on...

There's just no detail on the page. If you were to show stills, sketches and actor photos & a plotline and couple of pages of scripts, then that would be a good start.
- The thing is, why would backers want to back you? This is the key question. If it's something they're into (like Shaun/comedy films) then they need some emotional type of investment to back you.

The reward goals are huge, so $20 for a digital download to $500+ to be part of the (LA based?) crew is alot to ask, plus now it's become location specific.

I don't think it's going to work out. I'd suggest relaunching, but only after you've redesigned the campaign page and attracted interest from a niche group of backers who really want to make it happen and are as passionate as you are in getting it funded.

Best of luck!

NateMcCoy wrote:Our kickstarter hasn't gone as we intended and we feel we've got a good product to sell:

Dark Comedy film in the same vein as Shaun of the Dead: check

some star power behind the scenes, with Bianca Van Damme (yes, Jean Claude Van Damme's daughter), and Oscar winning make-up artist Barney Burman (he's a guru) to help mentor our already bad-ass art department, as well as some in-roads to landing some popular talent (trying to snag Jenna Marbles for a lead role, And finally lots of advice from Sean Stone (Oliver Stone's son). People loved the script, and we've got a great vfx team that is gonna help out (http://www.elektrashock.com), but we just didn't do enough research on how to attack a first week of PR marketing and now we're really behind. I've started trying to invest in PR firms but it's taking time to comb through posers vs what will give us a good bang for the buck.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/20 ... =user_menu

do you research before launching!

Nathan McCoy
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1430420/?ref_=nv_sr_6
http://www.onlyhumanproductions.com

Thanks for the reply. Those are good points actually. Showing actors that I haven't cast would be tricky, it can be a lawsuit issue as they control their "persona" which is considered a commodity. Also, there pics could lure people to pledge and if they don't make the film (assuming if got tremendous funding), then they could possible sue for not getting what they wanted/promised... even if I word it very well on the KS page.

I didn't think the backers would want to be bored about a list of what the budget was being spent on, so I just kept it simple, "obtain actors, get lawyer, then we use that "actor value" (usually a 3 to 1 ratio based of production company's assessment of how much box office they pull in to budget of the film), to get funding from a distribution company or bank outright (the latter gives a worse rate).

The trick that I feel your opinion on is the plot line. I don't know how to talk about it without giving it away, but I suppose you just have to explain it all. I suppose I should have also typed it out even though it's briefly explain in the video too. (redundancy could be key) Analytics show that only 1/3 of the people that watch the vid finish it... which astounds me since it's only 3 mins. If the Jenna Marbles thing pulls through (which face it, is a long shot), then maybe it'll turn around, but your right about shutting it down I guess.

Yep sorry to be blunt about it, but I felt at this stage if you were pouring money into marketing it as it is, it wouldn't work out.

I guess it's a bit like on Shark Tank where they ask the people how much they've raised, where their revenue sources are and so on. They have to disclose the details, if they don't - they don't get funded...It should be the same for your campaign too. Disclose as much as you can, give people a better idea of what they're backing as it's too easy to spend a few seconds on a page and close it down if everything isn't made clear.

This is our first campaign
our answer to these question are

- Have you learned any new skills ?
Yes we are learning a lot about posting and making new follower on social media

- Have you gotten any backers you don't know?
Someone, we started without an already created comunity, this i our first error.

- What has been frustrating?
Te low traffic

- How did you motivate yourself daily?
Our motivation is the love for what we do

- Are you planning on starting a business if your Kickstarter goes well?
Yes, we want to grow and spread the world with our project

- What tools or websites do you recommend (others than this one haha)?
we don't know

link to our campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mu ... sicassette

Hey Everyone!
I will say that our Kickstarter Campaign has been a lot of work, and we are only 4 days into it. For a first timer, this is a major learning experience. It is imperative that you do your research to the max prior to starting your campaign. I love this forum because people truly post good information.
We are currently 1/3 of the way to our goal now and learning as we go. As I learn new things I'll post any tips I may find. One thing for sure is know the Kickstarter site in and out, prepare your first 72 hours of material, that includes posts, comments, pictures, social media strategies, awards, updates and comments.
IF you feel like the idea of making a mini-figure that looks just like you or for a gift, check out our project.. It's pretty cool!

Great to read everyones messages, some good info.
Just launched on May 8th 2017 - mealmonsters.com/kickstarter

meal monsters is an animated app that combines recipes, games and storytelling to encourage kids to cook and eat healthy meals.

Positive: Great response on social media and bloggers writing blog posts and instagram/facebook posts about us - generated some strong followers. BUT the negative is that I dont know if our audience would pledge on kickstarter.
The bloggers have mentioned that the mums and parents who would use the app are not really going to pledge on a crowdfunding platform as they dont know about it and have never used and its not really for them. So although we getting followers and audience on social media, it is not translating to money on the campaign.

Learnt so much! And was very prepared with databases, bloggers scheduled to write about us, submitted press release, posted on lots and lots of facebook groups etc BUT its like everything has a very small return so its constant posting and finding new avenues. Once things start and you feel prepared, you then realise you are not prepared at all !!

I am not sure kickstarter is right for our idea as the demographic of our audience are not really people to pledge.

Have had a lot of emails promoting PR and marketing services that will double backers and raise more pledges but they seem like sales letters and just automated sales tactics. Anyone have experience with any of these? Any of them worth it?

Such as http://www.cssfundingpromotions.com
https://beppromotions.com/crowdfunding/?wpam_id=13
https://presscenter.co/?press5=d

and lots more!
Anyone have experience with Backer club? Dont know whether would be worth the money?

One thing I have learned is that it takes a lot of time to sort through the noise and to know what is exactly worth the money and what will bring a return - still learning about this!

It can be quite a negative feeling when lots of people say I LOVE your idea, I am going to pledge but then you dont really see the pledges going up!!

Love to know feedback and advice!

thanks
elisa

We have just launched our new product on Kickstarter and it is already running for 20 days. But we are still not funded yet and were wondering, what is the reason. Can you help out? Give us advice how to still get it funded?
PowerCube Sensor Series - Creating a smarter home
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/38 ... sor-series
Please help and share!
allocacoc