hyperstarter wrote:I think before paying for anything, you need to take a hard look at your product. Asking questions like:
- Do I really think anyone will buy it?
- Are my tiers and goal realistic?
- Have I made the campaign page. imagery & video the best it can be
- Does the text make sense and is legible?
- Do I know who I'm targeting? Did I reach out to influencers before launch? Who actually wants my product & am I targeting them?
I concur. This is VERY sound advice.
The most vital factor in the success (or failure) of any crowdfunding campaign, I've come to believe from experience, is the product/service itself, and this factor is closely tied to its price. The second-most vital factor is how effectively that product is presented through its campaign page, which is affected some by its platform. And the third-most vital factor is how effectively that page is marketed to the masses.
Marketing isn't magic---it can't change the fundamental nature of people or products and, as such, it can only do so much. So, you can hire the best marketing gurus that money can buy, and they can reach out to exactly the right market segments and persuasively invite people to come view your webpage, after which you can show them the best possible presentation of your product---but, if your project is a figurative Edsel rather than a figurative Mustang, then people are simply not going to pledge, because it's simply not worth it to them. Some creators might get upset by poor sales and blame this on the hired marketers, but those marketers are innately constrained by reality, specifically by the product/service that they're given to work with. Again, the product/service is key.
But, if you create a widely-desirable product/service at a highly-desirable price, and if you present it very persuasively through both its video (especially) and its page, then well-targeted very-persuasive marketing will generally do nothing but enhance its success. We've noted that, when products/services do well without marketing, then they generally do even better with it---but, if they do poorly without it, then they don't usually do much better with it. I have seen many wonderful exceptions to this rule, as sometimes marketing is exactly what's needed for a generally-worthy campaign struggling in obscurity to attract just the right attention from just the right people---but, again, those are the exceptions, not the rule.