KickstarterForum.org

[Jdbug]

Hey guys,

So I'm quite new to this forum. A little background before I ask the big questions:

I have finally finished developing samples of my product and am about to jump into the brand building stage + collecting all professional creatives that will make up my campaign (photographs, video, copywrite).

I've been researching for many many weeks on the absolute best way to handle the marketing + launch side of the campaign, and have found it more frustrating with only a side of exciting. Every time I think I'm getting close to finding a solution, I read the "fine print" to find the dozen reasons on how it will not work or how I will not be able to afford it in my budget.

Thus comes around the first big question: MARKETING AGENCIES.

To use or not to use. Right?! Every second one reeks of scam. I have listed below a few that are/were potential for me, and that I have found good/great reviews on, and little or none reviews accusing of scam.

1: Jellop - (only help out select few - mainly those that have already had a massive start + potential for $200,000+). Jellop to my knowledge do not charge an upfront fee, and take 20% of sales they generate. This is ideal for my low budget and also trust issues (I cannot trust Funded.Today with their $3500 upfront fee, as they have no guarantee that they will take on your campaign. Further, I have been advised by a experienced marketing specialist that $4000 is more than enough to generate a $25,000 campaign launch given the right product. Am I the only one thinking what the hell they actually do with that kind of money? Perhaps they have a perfectly reasonable explanation for it, and I will not judge on what I do not know for certain. Either way, it is simply out of my budget.)

2: Hyperstarter - I do not know a lot about this company, though I have seen and heard many good reviews. If someone could provide insight on how they work with campaigns and what the fees might be (negotiable, non-negotiable, upfront, percentage?) I'd be extremely grateful.

3: Backercamp - This one seen a few negative reviews, but few at that. From my understanding, they ask for a $600 upfront charge, and 12.5% of sales. This is an ideal situation for me with low upfront fees, but really, I do have trust issues with companies that promise big numbers. I'm very curious about whether someone could confirm that their process is refined and well spent.


My second option & question: Ad Specialists

I have seen hundreds of ad specialists for hire (some through upwork.com). A few I have had the pleasure of talking to, and they have given me free consultation as they are genuine and seem eager to help. However, is this my best option? Despite saying I don't trust companies that promise big numbers, part of me is saying "this ad specialist isn't promising big numbers". Almost ironic isn't it. I guess those ads we see really do know what we like to hear.



All in all, I'm confident and excited about my product. I'm young photographer, so I have a heap of experience with running business through Instagram & Facebook. I also have experience enough to shoot my own professional photographs and videos. I've run a small Shopify business before and studied Facebook Advertising intensely.

With all that being said, and hopefully without tooting my own horn, I'm still quite scared that I'm going to go wrong somewhere. Despite having experience in facebook advertising, I don't think I'm near knowledgable enough to successfully market my own campaign.


What I want to hear from you guys is
1) any advice possible on the side of marketing and driving my campaign as a one man band.
2) any experiences you've had with hiring out agencies or marketing specialists, etc
3) if you've successfully crowdfunded a campaign and can provide insight, that'd be amazing
4) What you'd recommend for me on a tight budget and wanting to raise at least half way to six figures


Thanks a heap for reading guys! I've gained lots of knowledge from reading posts on here as old as 2012, and I hope that this forum discussion can prove extremely useful for years to come if we can get some good answers coming in! I look forward to reading your responses.

Best,
Jono

[nomlinz]

Working with a crowdfunding agency is not for everyone. However, if you want to and have saved enough dough to work with a crowdfunding agency, it can provide a positive ROI for your campaign.

Know that when you're signing up to work with an agency, you're buying into a lot of things. You're buying into their industry knowledge, you're buying into their systems, you're buying into their platforms, and you're buying into their connections.

At this point, if you’re about ready to engage with a crowdfunding agency, I’m sure they’ve sent over information about their successful campaigns, generic steps they’ll take to bring your project to life and glowing testimonials.

After having worked at a crowdfunding agency myself, there are three critical things I’d look for as a potential customer:

- What kind of projects they are currently working with. The agency will not be able to give you specific names, but should be able to provide general industry verticals and a loose budget. Why is this important? Well if the agency is partnered with another one that is within their niche specialty or is partnered with one that has a large working budget, it’s quite likely that they’ll be spending most of their resources on the other project. You want to make sure that you’re working with an agency that will put effort into your project.

- What communication will be like throughout the working relationship. Some companies treat creators like partners where a lot of things are recommended and then discussed. On the other hand, others take a more “dictatorial” approach where it’s “their way or the highway”. You probably can figure out what communication is like between the two extremes. There are crowdfunding companies that are on each side and all along the spectrum. As a creator, determine what you’re comfortable with. Be sure to ask probing questions about this.

- What the agency does when projects they’re working with do not meet the ideal goals initially set out. It’s what agencies do in times of “crisis” that really matters. Some agencies collect their retainer (or their upfront fee) and leave you high and dry if your project doesn’t take off as planned. It’s really in their best interest to do so since putting resources into a dying project typically does not make the best business sense. However, the truly classy agencies will stand by their client and do what needs to be done. Maybe it’s revisiting the marketing channels after collecting preliminary data. Maybe it’s revisiting the type of creative to better work with the audience. Maybe it’s revisiting the positioning of the project itself to become more relevant.

Also, when you’re vetting different agencies also make sure they’re on-time, prepared for meetings and generally seem trustworthy. You can usually tell a lot about how working with an agency will be during the preliminary stages of conversation.

Now onto the more specific questions:
- Jellop: yes, definitely better than Funded.Today - they treat you better as a client, don't need the upfront fee and actually work to make your project "work" if you pass their strict vetting process.
- Hyperstarter: have never worked with them so can't speak to that
- Backercamp: no. Have tried multiple times and has always been a waste of money. Use that money for other promotional channels.
- ad specialists: definitely a hit or miss. I've worked with duds and superstars from UpWork. Be sure to include in your job description that you need someone with previous crowdfunding background. Ask for explicit case studies, what they did exactly for the campaign, their strategy, their thinking about the audience, etc. Going through that will get you at least a halfway decent one.
- how to launch with a tight budget: I consult for crowdfunding a lot and always tell people they need to have their MAP.
Money: know how much money you need to bring your project to life. Don't make a goal too low or too high.
Audience: do you have an audience? Launching into the void is a guaranteed project failure. With a tight budget, start small. Weeks and months before your campaign actually launches, start connecting with people and building your community. Put your idea out there and ask for feedback. If people are interested, kindly ask for their email or ask them to join your online group so that you can let them know when you are ready to launch the project. Rinse and repeat this everywhere - forums, Facebook groups, Meetups, a networking event, etc.
Plan: crowdfunding is a long and arduous road. You need a plan every step of the way for your community, your communication, etc.

Best of luck and go out to crush it with your campaign!

[hyperstarter]

I just saw Jono's post and Nomlinz about working with Crowdfunding agencies and in particular Hyperstarter.

Crowdcrux rated us in the Top 9 Kickstarter Marketing Campaigns alongside Jellop and Funded Today, so feel free to get in touch.

How we work on campaigns is that we're an alternative to paid ads. We focus on the campaign page and story, then work outworks with "hands on" pitching and outreach, prelaunch and existing campaign launches.

Our most popular campaigns were ONAK Canoes, The British Invention of the Year and Neck Hammock which have raised over $1.5m between them.

In terms of crowdfunding agencies and what to expect, I'd love your thoughts on this recent post I wrote:
http://www.hyperstarter.com/crowdfunding-agency

Working with a crowdfunding agency is not for everyone. However, if you want to and have saved enough dough to work with a crowdfunding agency, it can provide a positive ROI for your campaign.

Know that when you're signing up to work with an agency, you're buying into a lot of things. You're buying into their industry knowledge, you're buying into their systems, you're buying into their platforms, and you're buying into their connections.

At this point, if you’re about ready to engage with a crowdfunding agency, I’m sure they’ve sent over information about their successful campaigns, generic steps they’ll take to bring your project to life and glowing testimonials.

After having worked at a crowdfunding agency myself, there are three critical things I’d look for as a potential customer:

- What kind of projects they are currently working with. The agency will not be able to give you specific names, but should be able to provide general industry verticals and a loose budget. Why is this important? Well if the agency is partnered with another one that is within their niche specialty or is partnered with one that has a large working budget, it’s quite likely that they’ll be spending most of their resources on the other project. You want to make sure that you’re working with an agency that will put effort into your project.

- What communication will be like throughout the working relationship. Some companies treat creators like partners where a lot of things are recommended and then discussed. On the other hand, others take a more “dictatorial” approach where it’s “their way or the highway”. You probably can figure out what communication is like between the two extremes. There are crowdfunding companies that are on each side and all along the spectrum. As a creator, determine what you’re comfortable with. Be sure to ask probing questions about this.

- What the agency does when projects they’re working with do not meet the ideal goals initially set out. It’s what agencies do in times of “crisis” that really matters. Some agencies collect their retainer (or their upfront fee) and leave you high and dry if your project doesn’t take off as planned. It’s really in their best interest to do so since putting resources into a dying project typically does not make the best business sense. However, the truly classy agencies will stand by their client and do what needs to be done. Maybe it’s revisiting the marketing channels after collecting preliminary data. Maybe it’s revisiting the type of creative to better work with the audience. Maybe it’s revisiting the positioning of the project itself to become more relevant.

Also, when you’re vetting different agencies also make sure they’re on-time, prepared for meetings and generally seem trustworthy. You can usually tell a lot about how working with an agency will be during the preliminary stages of conversation.

Now onto the more specific questions:
- Jellop: yes, definitely better than Funded.Today - they treat you better as a client, don't need the upfront fee and actually work to make your project "work" if you pass their strict vetting process.
- Hyperstarter: have never worked with them so can't speak to that
- Backercamp: no. Have tried multiple times and has always been a waste of money. Use that money for other promotional channels.
- ad specialists: definitely a hit or miss. I've worked with duds and superstars from UpWork. Be sure to include in your job description that you need someone with previous crowdfunding background. Ask for explicit case studies, what they did exactly for the campaign, their strategy, their thinking about the audience, etc. Going through that will get you at least a halfway decent one.
- how to launch with a tight budget: I consult for crowdfunding a lot and always tell people they need to have their MAP.
Money: know how much money you need to bring your project to life. Don't make a goal too low or too high.
Audience: do you have an audience? Launching into the void is a guaranteed project failure. With a tight budget, start small. Weeks and months before your campaign actually launches, start connecting with people and building your community. Put your idea out there and ask for feedback. If people are interested, kindly ask for their email or ask them to join your online group so that you can let them know when you are ready to launch the project. Rinse and repeat this everywhere - forums, Facebook groups, Meetups, a networking event, etc.
Plan: crowdfunding is a long and arduous road. You need a plan every step of the way for your community, your communication, etc.

Best of luck and go out to crush it with your campaign!

[Cristina]

This post has been moved to the Kickstarter and Crowdfunding Questions Only (Strict) section.

[RFIDsecur]

Jono,

"Thus comes around the first big question: MARKETING AGENCIES.

To use or not to use. Right?! Every second one reeks of scam."

Wait until you launch you'll be bombarded and then it won't be every second one..


What I want to hear from you guys is
1) any advice possible on the side of marketing and driving my campaign as a one man band.

Read, try, learn, read, try, learn repeat. Work out who your target is, and refine, advertising wise, try to filter to establish who they are to target effectively.

2) any experiences you've had with hiring out agencies or marketing specialists, etc
Backer club and Backers hub, Krowdster ok to a point will get your sales, but don't pin your hopes on them, prepare to cannibalise some of your existing sales to them if any of your existing backers are with them for any offer you give via them.

3) if you've successfully crowdfunded a campaign and can provide insight, that'd be amazing
What insight would you want? it's hard work, tiring, demanding, stressful, exciting, rewarding, engaging. Win or lose you learn a lot.


4) What you'd recommend for me on a tight budget and wanting to raise at least half way to six figures.
Difficult without knowing more about your campaign. But getting trending and bringing an audience is key, get your offer prices right and use your limited offers to add incentive..

Use bloggers where possible, not so sure about influencers, too many of them.
I'd say it is harder to build a list than two years ago, to me it seems that way, not sure since FB and the politics around that people are less inclined to sign up, but could just be me..

Find niche projects similar audience to yours and ask if they can blast out to their backers about you.

Never underestimate the archaic back end of KS, so keep your options simple and make sure your survey is clear and gets you all the info you need to dispatch orders.


Re the marketing agencies, Hyperstarter has been around for a few years building up a profile here, since before I launched my previous campaign, I haven't seen any negative posts, I'd be inclined to get in touch make your own mind up.

[hyperstarter]

Thanks. I think that was our approach from the outset, slowly and surely get noticed and get good feedback. There's some on this forum at: http://www.kickstarterforum.org/recommend-using-hyperstarter-t6127.html

If an agency is promising things too good to be true, then it probably is. I'd also be wary of guarantee's too, as no one can guarantee anything. One other thing, if the agency's focus is on money and how quickly they will get paid - then probably they aren't the right match.

One thing I would recommend to campaign owners, from the point of view of an agency is to have everything in order.

We get a lot of emails of "What's your prices", but half the time the campaign is still at the idea stage or no where near ready for a campaign.
- I always suggest putting together as much as possible, so whether putting everything on a draft page and sharing it, gathering press materials or putting together an email list...it really helps to know what stage you're at.

[BigSamoz]

I think you should choose the second option, but anyway I can not tell for sure. When I think about an investment project it seems so good and safe, but at the same time, we must acknowledge that it is not as good as we see it. In order to avoid making stupid investments because of being too subjective, I found a company that helped me to make a concept testing. Now I can predict how the business will evolve, what will be the demand for the product I am about to sell, and a lot of other details. For me, it is more than just important to make a marketing campaign.

[Phillip Donnelly]

I don't have a ton of money for ads so I found this pretty interesting and wanted to post it in case anyone else is in the same boat (it's actually how I discovered this page too).

https://medium.com/@hyperstarter/100-fr ... d93a1163f6

[ronton]

I think you should choose the second option, but anyway I can not tell for sure. When I think about an investment project it seems so good and safe, but at the same time, we must acknowledge that it is not as good as we see it. In order to avoid making stupid investments because of being too subjective, I found a company that helped me to make a concept testing. Now I can predict how the business will evolve, what will be the demand for the product I am about to sell, and a lot of other details. For me, it is more than just important to make a marketing campaign.

I absolutely agree that we can be too subjective with our own ideas

[AmaDeY1993]

There are more than 40,000 search queries on Google every second. No other advertising method has the potential to get your business before that many pairs of eyes.
Google Adwords is sort of the godfather of online marketing channels. It’s been around a long time. It’s competitive. It’s expensive. And if you know what you’re doing, it can work very, very well for you.

Despite being a paid channel, Adwords’ goal is still to deliver relevant search results to users, and as a result, it will be less expensive for you when you are utilizing proper on-page SEO.

Google assigns a quality score to your ad, which is dependent on CTR (Click Through Rate), relevance and the landing page your ad sends traffic to. This quality score factors into the bid rate you will need to get an ad displayed, with higher scores lowering the bid cost.

Unlike many of the channels we will discuss today, Adwords is a remarkably symbiotic channel that can be paired with many other strategies to maximize output. As a paid marketing channel, it also allows you to obtain immediate results and can scale as far as your budget allows.