There has been a huge buzz on the internet lately concerning raising funds with a Kickstarter campaign. First you have the Levar Burton campaign to bring back Reading Rainbow, a popular children's reading program designed to help kids read. That Kickstarter campaign was flooded with donations that put it in the millions in just a short while. Then you have Hyungsoo Kim, maker of the Bradley Watch, who successfully launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised almost $600,000 for his watch production. Regardless of what you need the money for, it is clear to see that by understanding a few of the insider tips to build a successful Kickstarter campaign, you could be well on your way to funding your very own project. While crowd funding has been growing in popularity, it is important that you understand how to get your campaign in front of the masses.
Selling Your Campaign
In order to get your backers emotionally invested, you really have to give them some sort of incentive to want to donate money towards your campaign. If you are working on getting funding for a unique new product line, consider offering anyone who donates a free product that is similar to the new product, or possibly even giving them the completed product when the campaign is successful. If you are raising funds to produce your own independent movie, giving a copy away of the DVD makes perfect sense and will get the crowd excited.
Planing the Kickstarter Campaign
The most successful campaigns on Kickstarter, like Reading Rainbow and Bradley Watch, utilized the power of marketing outside of the Kickstarter website to draw in followers. Social media is exploding in popularity right now, and if you can get your followers and their inner circles to stop by and contribute, you could easily hit your financial goal with the right planning. A strong marketing plan will get your followers excited, and in turn bring in people who do not even know who you are yet simply because of the excitement and word of mouth.
Wording the Campaign
Like any other fundraiser, the only way that you are going to get people excited enough to fork over their money is to create a compelling and engaging campaign. Before you simply throw together a video asking for donations, consider a few of the following. Why should people be excited about your fundraiser? How much money is it going to take for each person to help you reach your goal? What audience will be most interested is seeing this campaign succeed? What incentive do you have to motivate people who are considering donating to your project? What social media networks can you implement into the campaign? Answer these questions and you have won half the battle.
The Successful Marketing Plan
Having a marketing plan puts you far ahead of those campaigns that are thrown together overnight and never make more than $50 in funding. Consider using your website to get traffic to your campaign, and then think outside the box to reach a much wider audience. Hire a professional press release writer, then let them sculpt a well written press release that you can submit to many different news sites. If your project is going to better your community, the local news stations will be all over this feel good story. The end result is your release could wind up reaching millions of potential contributors.
Take the time to plan out your Kickstarter campaign, this way it not only looks more polished and professional, it draws in more attention. Once the ball begins rolling, you could see contributions roll is quickly as you surpass your goals and get your project funded.
