KickstarterForum.org

As someone with mad skillz at finding scams let me tell you my thoughts on Crowd PR. I've read many posts here about Crowd PR from a while back, and I think this pr company is based in Peuto Rico (hence the PR domain). I don't think a pr company based there is accuratley able to serve the needs of crowdfunding projects. Crowd PR may not be based in the PR though, but according to their domain they are. I think someone had connected crowd pr to crowd pr ninja as well. If thats true then all hell may break loose for crowd pr, because crowd pr ninja is widely regarded as the worst crowdfunding pr agency on earth. Head up on this on bros.

I used to work in a "boiler room" where we would sell things by telemarketing so I know all about these kind of pushy tactics. If you've ever watched the movie called boiler room you'll know they are the same tactics. First off is that they get really aggressive in trying to contact you. They will go so far as to message your personal email, facebook message you, or even give you a call. Their whole aim is to get you to hire them and to do that they will do whatever it takes to engage you in a conversation.

The next thing they do is lay out what the return on investment from this kind of crap is. Beware beware beware, because generally there is no return on investment from marketing. I've tried and failed in life so many times that I know this for certain. People just pick what they pick and thats the way it is.

After they sell you on the "ROI" (abbreviation for return on investment) they then proceed to "feel you out" to see what they can get away with charging. I've read medium posts about people paying $50,000 for advertisements and not seeing any of that initial investment back. Holy smokes don't let that happen to you.

Most of what these firms get you to do is pay them directly for the ads instead of paying facebook directly. I think most of us here should be smart enough to see why they are trying to do that, but just in case you don't know why, its because they want all of the money for themselves and not your crowdfunding campaign.

If you say no to them, then they will promise more and more. Franky I don't recommend anyone go with a company unless they get a written assurance + contract guarantee of what your goals are. So if you want to get featured by 1000 websites then that must be guaranteed by contract. They are then bound to repay you if the end result does not match the contract guarantee.

The gurantee is most important above all else. If you are looking to raise over 50,000 then you must get a moneyback guarantee from the firm for it. Every bonafide company offers money back guarantees, remember that.

So if the firm is unable to offer you a guarantee then don't go with them. These firms can be so pusy in getting you to sign your name on the dotted line that you need to be on guard agains not being guaranteed.

Yes I remember that they somehow got ahold of my email address. When they emailed me, I told them that I require prior written consent before I allow anyone to email me. I suggest you all do the same.

My dream is to get featured on the new gadgets part of http://www.forbes.com.

I see they do feature projects all the time, and I see that Crowd PR claimed to have gotten 3 clients in there. While that may be true, I know that I can just do it myself. I have powers that no one knows about. I am cunning, I am stealth, and I am liquid.

But yes it's alot like you said. Aggressive, and they even told me that success is not guaranteed. I think companies should be able to guarantee that. I passed on them and I am glad that I did. I'll take my chances and look for a firm who offers 100% guaranteed success.

I dont know if the OP trying to promote crowd pr or something. But its an awful much topics for no really good reason in multiple section of the forums dont ya think?

Anyway, just read my signature and you'll be glad you did.

I believe that Crowd PR is a pr agency for crowdfunding projects, according to their website. I have read 3 posts today of people who believe the same thing. Further more I see that Crowd PR may actually be funded today in disguise. The community needs to be aware of any marketing that is currently targeting our community.

If they are really push then that is not a good sign for starts. I am searching for info on Crowd PR.

We all know that if you build it they will come is right for products, and the same applies to services. If you're good at it: they will come. So if they come to you, it just means that they are frankly not good at what they do.

More about Crowd PR though. They may be part of an even bigger movement in terms of the pr industry. Just don't do it until more light is shed on the matter.. From what I have seen (see attached) they claim to be based in san francisco and I highly doubt that. Their website also looks like crap, which is another error in their ways: www.crowd.pr

I think if a crowdfunding service really believes in a project, they will agree to use their own money for ads and marketing, and make a deal on a percentage that they will take from the sales they produce on your Kickstarter. If they are asking for a big lump sum for results that aren't guaranteed, I don't think its great. And if you have the money to pay a big lump sum to unguaranteed results, maybe you don't need to be doing crowdfunding in the first place, and have enough money to fund the business yourself? Just a thought!

We worked with Crowd PR for our campaign (check signature).

Yeah, it seemed sketchy at first, but based on their referrals and seeing their logo on a few other campaigns. We were pressed for time mid campaign and had a decent marketing budget, so we deemed it an acceptable risk.

We were quite happy with the results. Now mind you, it's almost impossible to tell 100% if all the results came from their efforts, but we had no other PR in the field at the time except for one initial press release when we launched the campaign, and we're pretty sure that's not what did it. We also did not have review units at the time, which many tech outlets were asking for before they did any coverage.

Engadget and The Verge picked us up, and we believe this was because of Crowd PR. (http://www.crowd.pr - they have us on their portfolio page).

If anything I would suggest they make some changes to their branding and communication methods to get a bit more trust. I totally understand why people think it's sketchy, but they worked for us.

Also, for those of you folks talking about marketing companies working on a contingency, in our opinion that works under certain conditions, like if you don't much of a marketing budget of your own, and you have a super high margin product.

But a flat fee was MUCH more preferable for us in this case and in others (like The GadgetFlow). It's really not that simple.

Are you actually freaking out about receiving a cold sales email? I read the whole email, and it was a pretty straightforward message and nothing wrong with it.

I hope that you are just kidding or just trying to promote the link to your campaign.

drudge wrote:I keep a log of the crowdfunding agencies i research for my campaigns, it helps me remember which ones to avoid when im live. and i just so happen to have a convo from crowd.pr. I’ll just let it play here. Enjoy!

CROWD PR MESSAGE 1:
Rene Smith <rene@crowd.pr > wrote:
I am an employee of Crowd PR. We did the PR for the Shonin Wearable Camera campaign. Shonin has added the Crowd PR badge and website address to the bottom of their kickstarter page for verification: kickstarter.com/projects/shonin/shonin. Check out our website: http://www.crowd.pr

MY MESSAGE 1:
I’m not looking at that campaign, I don’t do the work, that is your job. If you want to work for my campaign, then submit a proposal as well as 9 references. I’m not really interested though, we’re doing just fine without any marketing. I don’t pay for marketing, I pay for results.

CROWD PR MESSAGE 2:
Rene Smith <rene@crowd.pr > wrote:
I think you’d benefit from marketing, most big campaigns do lots of marketing. Here is several campaigns we’ve worked with this year (we are a new agency):

https://crowd.pr/amabrush
https://crowd.pr/kuroi-hana
https://crowd.pr/whitefox-keyboard
https://crowd.pr/huskeecup-3
https://crowd.pr/shonin
https://crowd.pr/mymug

Rene Smith | Sales
Crowd PR | http://www.crowd.pr

MY MESSAGE 2:
Again, I’m not doing any work. You need a find a way to prove to me that you did those campaigns. How much do you charge for crowdfunding promotion?

CROWD PR MESSAGE 3:
Our rate is $3k per month, and we work with many of our clients post-kickstarter for continuing PR if you move to indiegogo indemand.

Rene Smith | Sales
Crowd PR | http://www.crowd.pr

MY MESSAGE 3:
I’ll pass. You’ve got to be out of your mind. I don’t pay more than $200 for a crowdfunding promotion service. Period.

CROWD PR MESSAGE 4:
I don’t appreciate you insulting our work and what we do.

Rene Smith | Sales
Crowd PR | http://www.crowd.pr

----
There you have it folks. Beware of Crowd.PR. They charge $3k and they don’t even have a way to show they did the campaigns they take credit for. This firm is definitely a no go for me.

I have heard for a few agencies working for $0 (totally free). They just seem really hard to find.

What I need is an agency to do my marketing free of cost, and make my campaign a success.

trent.palo.smith wrote:What is so bad about what they said here? I don't get it.

You asked them to work for zero upfront and they told you they dont' work that way. Doesn't mean they are a scam. Anyways though a really good company is one who works for zero upfront.

I have heard reports of agencies paying for their clients advertisements even. Now that is the kind of agency you want to work with, one that charges you nothign, covers your costs, and you only have to pay if the campaign is a success.

drudge wrote:I keep a log of the crowdfunding agencies i research for my campaigns, it helps me remember which ones to avoid when im live. and i just so happen to have a convo from crowd.pr. I’ll just let it play here. Enjoy!

CROWD PR MESSAGE 1:
Rene Smith <rene@crowd.pr > wrote:
I am an employee of Crowd PR. We did the PR for the Shonin Wearable Camera campaign. Shonin has added the Crowd PR badge and website address to the bottom of their kickstarter page for verification: kickstarter.com/projects/shonin/shonin. Check out our website: http://www.crowd.pr

MY MESSAGE 1:
I’m not looking at that campaign, I don’t do the work, that is your job. If you want to work for my campaign, then submit a proposal as well as 9 references. I’m not really interested though, we’re doing just fine without any marketing. I don’t pay for marketing, I pay for results.

CROWD PR MESSAGE 2:
Rene Smith <rene@crowd.pr > wrote:
I think you’d benefit from marketing, most big campaigns do lots of marketing. Here is several campaigns we’ve worked with this year (we are a new agency):

https://crowd.pr/amabrush
https://crowd.pr/kuroi-hana
https://crowd.pr/whitefox-keyboard
https://crowd.pr/huskeecup-3
https://crowd.pr/shonin
https://crowd.pr/mymug

Rene Smith | Sales
Crowd PR | http://www.crowd.pr

MY MESSAGE 2:
Again, I’m not doing any work. You need a find a way to prove to me that you did those campaigns. How much do you charge for crowdfunding promotion?

CROWD PR MESSAGE 3:
Our rate is $3k per month, and we work with many of our clients post-kickstarter for continuing PR if you move to indiegogo indemand.

Rene Smith | Sales
Crowd PR | http://www.crowd.pr

MY MESSAGE 3:
I’ll pass. You’ve got to be out of your mind. I don’t pay more than $200 for a crowdfunding promotion service. Period.

CROWD PR MESSAGE 4:
I don’t appreciate you insulting our work and what we do.

Rene Smith | Sales
Crowd PR | http://www.crowd.pr

----
There you have it folks. Beware of Crowd.PR. They charge $3k and they don’t even have a way to show they did the campaigns they take credit for. This firm is definitely a no go for me.