KickstarterForum.org

I have learned that making a website for your campaign is a good idea

I've learned three things.

1) It's a lot harder than expected. I knew it would be difficult, but not this tough. The first week was very smooth, but I'm running out of gas. My facebook friends kicked in a lot of money, which is amazing, but I'm still far from the goal. They know it's a kickstarter project that is noble and for a good cause. Wish I had more friends.

2) I get A LOT of spam now from people that want to "help" me. A LOT. It's sickening actually. I'm sure they prey on desperate people. There is one company that requires you to give them full access to your Facebook messages. I want this to happen, but I'll never be desperate.

3) I've been ignored by every single news source I can submit my kickstarter too. Well, with the exception of one. I'm getting through to one source because I had a previous interaction with this person. If it wasn't for that, I'd be 0 for 29 in my attempts. Trying to reach out to celebrities with a good cause is useless. I fantasize about Tom Hanks simply mentioning my diabetes software, but that's not going to happen. He (like all other celebrities) can't see a message from a norm, or simply doesn't care. Don't we all wish for our kickstarter to magically get on Huffington Post or some high traffic site with real people?

It is very difficult to get consistent backers for a smaller budget film without content for the film already on the page. Friends and family will donate because they know you you are, but there is very little appeal for strangers to back your project.

should we consider using the people who offer to promote our project on there social media networks for $$$

Since my last post I have learned a few more things. Without any funds to advertise, it is very hard to succeed with a Kickstarter project. Unless your project is very small, and your friends and family contribute, it is hard to raise funds using kickstarter. The idea is to spread the word and receive pledges. The problem with this is that is costs money to spread the word. Well, if I had the funds to spend, I wouldn't have launched a kickstarter project in the first place!

Also, I have seen many projects that have been funded that have no way to succeed. My kickstarter experience has been a learning experience, and once again proves that the media hype about ways to use the internet are just HYPE.

I found a guy who repainted a toy, and is trying to sell it as something else. I called him out and he totally admitted to it. So, I complained to kickstarter and no results. Kickstarter is a waste of time unless you have funds to advertise, or have a following of thousands of people.

A lot of you have mentioned social media as a massive contributor to success. Are there any bloggers or press release sites that you feel contributed to helping get the word out.

I'm on a team about to launch our first Kickstarter, and taking in all the tips or advice we can get! So thanks in advance.

Rachel
@zuullabs

I've tried eight (8) different press release sites. They're all worthless. Your press release is basically invisible - doesn't matter which service you go through. If you want to find your press release, you'll literally need to type out "press release <your product name>". Nobody is doing that kind of search. They're basically free too. Unless you want to pay $30 to insert an image into your press release. Some charge $20 per clickable link too. The only good thing that comes from making a press release is that you feel like you're doing SOMETHING towards your campaign to get the word out.

Haha that was my fear. Did you have any success with bloggers @herbmeehan?

rvalentine wrote:Haha that was my fear. Did you have any success with bloggers @herbmeehan?

They have all ignored me with the exception of one. I was able to reach out to one blog because I had an existing contact with this person. If it wasn't for that particular blog, I would have went 0-17. I get it. I really do. Someone you don't know comes out of no where and wants to promote their kickstarter. I'm sure they see this as spam.

Oh, then there's the PR crowd that will tweet your project out to thousands of people. Don't even get me started on this one. Who are these "followers" they have? I just assume they're all bought/purchased follows. One such person tweeted out my link to their 10,000 followers and not even one person came over to even view the kickstarter project.

The biggest asset has been my friends and family. I've never broken out of that circle and will most likely fail. I'm so grateful for their support, but I need to get strangers to make this happen. My visibility is pretty.. well, invisible. I don't have a penny to spend, so please, no private messages and sales pitch how you can help. Thanks.

I have a total of 23 messages sent to my kickstarter inbox.

2 were real. Encouraging messages about the kickstarter.
21 were from sales people trying to sell me something. The promise of a successful kickstarter.