KickstarterForum.org

Hi, I just want to share my first experience running a Kickstarter Campaign.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cl ... classicbot
I hope it would be a fun and relatable read. There will be self-promotion, I hope you don't mind. ( We are all entrepreneur here, right, so you would understand)

So I am a toy designer from Hong Kong. My retro-themed toy line Classicbot (https://classicbot.com)has a small but loyal following. I mainly sell my toys thru my own online shops, plus some niche online retailers around the world. After 3 products and 3 years since the beginning, I wanted to take the 4th toy to a bigger arena. I thought Kickstarter was the way to go. I hope it will get my toys more exposure. But there was hesitation, I worried about what the existing fans with think. I already talked about making the toy. Will they want to support me if I suddenly shifted the project to Kickstarter? Anyway, I am glad I went ahead. I tend to overthink, not sure if any of you do. But I am glad I convinced myself to go ahead.

So I tried to search for every available info on the nets, all the tips, and guidelines of how to do a Kickstarter. I also took a course Hacking Kickstarter, by the founder of Throwboy Pillow. Classicbot and Throwboy Pillow have a very similar audience, namely fans of Apple. And the course outline seems comprehensive so I took it. It was great for me. Even though I searched and learn a lot, I am someone who is never that great at digesting all the info into an actionable plan. So this course helped me. It was a great course that started from macro theory to something very actionable, down to the detail of what apps to help you will doing the backer survey, etc. So I would recommend it to newbies or people who just need a bit hand-on guidance. It also struck the balance of informative but not overwhelming. Roberto the founder is also a great motivator, I feel pretty empowered after the course Link herehttps://shotgunceo.com/hacking-kickstarter You can use discount code "CLASSIC" to get $100 off.

Originally I planned to start the campaign in Feb. But I moved it to March because I think people may have spent their money on valentine's gift in Feb. So I set the date on March 17. It is a Tuesday which is great for online purchases and 2 days after the common payday. So I think it is a very nice day to start. Little did I know the Coronavirus started to affect the whole world in March. I had fans too me they would back one more toy if not for the virus. But in the end, it wasn't too bad fo me. The cancellation rates were around 5 %, so normal.

So I started to work on my campaign 3 months ahead. It was a lot of work. DON'T UNDERESTIMATE IT, is my main outtake. Especially if you are a one-man company like me. Just preparing all the material that goes on the Kickstarter page was a lot of work. I had to learn to edit video because I knew that I need a lot of videos and I could not rely on my friends like I used to. And obviously I could not afford to outsource it. It is also great to have the ability to do so, I could get things done by myself fairly quickly in the end. And you need to prepare a set of PR material and most importantly a list of journalists bloggers on my niche. And I started to contact them. And of course, you need to continue to tease and promo the Kickstarter on your own social media.

The first phase of the campaign was to gather emails of potential clients. So I did it with my social media, a small facebook ad campaign, a giveaway campaign with Kingsumo, with only modest success. Just a few hundreds email. But since I have existing fans, So I still manage to send out 2 thousand emails to create the initial traffic on the first day which is absolutely crucial for the successful.

Another important outtake is you need a lot of time building a relationship with the press and bloggers. Even I tried to approach many journalists and bloggers for this Kickstarter. Most of the ones that covered my Kickstarter, in the beginning, were the ones who already knew me through my old toys before. That means even I tried very hard the journalist that did not know me pretty much ignore me. ( could be a bad write up on my part, but I doubt it was the main reason) But luckily after the campaign was a success, and the initial rounds of the press coverage appeared, many new press and bloggers joining in and cover my story. And I kept sending emails to different press thru out the campaign. It paid off to be persistent.

And this also led to another observation. Kickstarter is a great way to understand my product. It is a great way to tell which press is most relevant and led to most backers. It also made me realize the limitations of my product. It was probably more niche than I believed. I end up with great press coverage. But from my non-scientific observation, many products with similar press coverage tend to do better in terms of funding. It is good to know the truth. I may develop something will more mass appeal.

So above is just a very initial thought after the campaign ended. Not sure if it is of any value to you guys. But I just feel like sharing it.

P.S. if you can start a new email address just for the campaign. You cannot imagine how many emails you get when running the campaign, from backers messages, notifications, to PR agencies that approach you. You would not want your regular email mixed with all that.

Have a great day. Stay safe and wish your campaign a great success .

Good luck!

Thank you for sharing your insights on your campaign! And congratulations on the funding.
I think, as you mention, that it helped a lot the fact that you had established relationships previously with some press, and had other products that give you social proof "you know what you're doing". So great! Keep on the good work and let us know if and how you'll create a product for a broader audience next time.

Congrats!

totally understand you regarding being able to edit a video, a very useful skill
what video editor did you use?

It is not that difficult to edit videos nowadays since there're so many easy-to-use tools, applications, so you are not supposed to be a professional in the video editing sphere to make a high-quality montage. Of course, those who make movies are beyond TikTok/Instagram video editors, but you can be one of those editors who post on social media even if you have 0 skills. You just need to begin by using simple software like fastreel smart online video maker https://www.fastreel.com/video-maker.html, practice at least 4 days a week, and have willing to learn.

Thanks for sharing your experience with your Kickstarter campaign! It’s really inspiring to hear about your journey and the lessons you’ve learned along the way. It sounds like you put in a tremendous amount of work, and it’s great to see that your efforts paid off with a successful campaign.

I completely agree with you on the importance of starting early and being thorough with preparations. The amount of work involved in setting up a Kickstarter campaign can be overwhelming, especially for a solo entrepreneur. Your advice about not underestimating the workload and the value of learning new skills, like video editing, is spot-on.

I also found your insights on press relations and audience engagement very valuable. Building relationships with journalists and bloggers who are familiar with your work seems to be crucial for success, and it’s good to know that persistence can pay off.

I’m curious about how you managed your social media promotion. Did you find any particular strategies or platforms to be especially effective in driving traffic to your Kickstarter page?

Thanks again for sharing, and congratulations on a successful campaign! Wishing you continued success with your toy line and future projects.