KickstarterForum.org

[bookstoop]

I've been advising some former students with a project campaign launched just a few days ago and had an idea for increasing # of blogger responses to submitted press releases & project details with intentions for spotlighting your campaign or, at the very least, re-posting the material you provided them.

The idea is to offer some type of unique, blogger-specific incentive opportunity to help boost awareness & spark initial interest. An ethical "quid pro quo" related to their business such as offering free services to increase target readership and unique visitor traffic such as exclusive banner ad featuring their blog/site for a specific period of time.

Even though my background is in marketing, I am very new to the crowdfunding world and would love some experienced & expert feedback regarding:

A) The idea in general. Has it been done before? Any experience with it? Thoughts or Impressions?

and....

B) If something like this is used, any input/advice on a professional way to notify and inform the blogger/writer of the incentive(included in the originally submitted email? separate announcement after submitting? etc) To avoid inadvertently insulting someone's intelligence.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Zach W.

[sbriggman]

A) - Yes. It's very effective. We're all human. I tend to write about creators that can in some way benefit my website (they can pass on their experience crowdfunding to my readers). Tailor your incentive to the blogger.

B) A good example is the article I wrote today (http://www.crowdcrux.com/learn-how-thes ... f-capital/). The creator contacted me with the idea of writing a story about how they are young and inexperienced. It shows that anyone can raise money online. This is inline with the goal of my website - to help people who have little experience crowdfunding raise money on websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Their incentive for me was providing some awesome content that shared how they raised over $7,000.

If someone contacts me and underscores that they are willing to help market and promote the article I write or that they will help spread awareness of some of my best articles on their social networks, I am definitely more likely to take a closer look at their pitch.

[bookstoop]

Thanks for the quick reply Salvador. Getting some blogger perspective was the main reason I posted this on a couple of forums.

What about the concern for the timing of the incentive information? A mentor of mine was worried about possibly coming off as trying to "buy their attention" and inadvertently insulting a blogger. Personally, I've always taken pride in maintaining a certain level of professionalism in all of my business communications and would think that this effort would suffice.

If that concern isn't warranted, then would I be correct in opting to include these relevant incentives in my initial email/submission?

[sbriggman]

I think it depends on the blogger. I personally wouldn't be insulted, but other bloggers may be. You might be able to get a feel for them from their twitter/articles/responses to comments.