1. PLAN IN ADVANCE!
There is just so much out there, and seriously, no one is
going to back your campaign if they don’t know you’ve already done something.
From my own experience, I went into my Kickstarters with work already started.
People want to see something, a prototype, a concept, something that will show
them how your final product will look.
2. CREATE A BEAUTIFUL PRODUCT, EVEN IF YOUR PRODUCT IS
VIRTUAL!
Kickstarter has (in my own opinion) become a “shopping”
website rather than an actual crowd funding website. People from my own
experience, have been using the site as a means to shop for the latest gadgets
and items that are unique and one of a kind. Those who DO support you without
purchasing tend to be friends or people you know who really may not understand
what you’re really doing or what they are getting in return other than “I was
able to support my friend in their project”. So for end users, create beautiful
product images that make even your digital or virtual items look like a
physical product. If you have to, get a box and make it look like it’s
something a person could hold. VISUAL is the key here, as people want to see
what they are getting at the various levels rather than reading all the extra
text from the various backer levels you’ve placed.
3. IGNORE THE SPAM!!
Right off the bat, when I launched my project, I was
bombarded with so many emails and messages from people trying to sell me on
promotion and marketing services to my Kickstarter campaign. I even got lured
into several of them and paid and got ZERO (0) Results! Don’t fall for these
$10, $5 scams in my opinion, as they tend to add up and by the end of it all
the only people making money are the people who are TAKING it from you. I
actually l got some great advice from the web which was basically to think
about the services you’re using to “Promote” your Kickstarter campaign for
you…YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY CAMPAIGN THEY ARE PROMOTING!!!! Which means that even
if they have 250k users, those users are seeing MANY projects, including yours,
and in some cases (in many in fact) the users may not even be real users!!! But
hey, spending $5-10 really makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something in
the short term, but long term if you get no pledges, then you’re wasting your
time and money. Facebook and social media worked way better for me than
spending money on these so called promo services. But once again, this is just
from my own experience thus far
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4. MAKE A VIDEO!!!
Kickstarter even tells you this itself, and it’s not a joke,
using video is a very powerful tool and can get more users engaged with your
campaign. Not making a video is a complete waste of time in my opinion and you
should not start a Kickstarter campaign without it. It doesn’t have to be
fancy, just stick to the final product and vision you’re trying to convey to
backers. Think of this like investors looking at your idea. Would YOU want to
purchase this if you saw this video? Also KEEP IT SHORT! 3 min max approx. Anything
longer and it REALLY gets boring (in my own opinion) unless there is something
you really believe will create a buying decision for a potential backer.
5. CHECK YOUR DASHBOARD AND KICKTRAQ DAILY!
I found out about these two after running my first campaign
(which I’m now redoing – I’ll post the link below). Dashboard is an area right
inside your Kickstarter project page that allows you to view a lot of solid
data on your campaign! http://www.Kicktraq.com is another website that also has
INCREDIBLE information about your project and can even give you predicitions on
if you’re going to hit your target or not! Really solid stuff, I recommend
checking it DAILY!
6. DON’T POST TOO HIGH A BUDGET – YOU CAN’T CHANGE IT
AFTER!!! (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)
This was my big mistake on my end. I put out a budget that I
was not going to hit, and unfortunately, I had to cancel the project early in
order to re-start it again with a new budget and also to change a lot of things
inside of my campaign (From shorter text to smaller images to a better page).
Lower budgets will help you hit your target faster and on the Kickstarter
website this REALLY helps get users to want to back you.
7. KEYWORDS AND SEO!
YES This does work as well! Kickstarter has a search engine,
and I realized that if you throw in keywords that users are going to type in,
you’ll get listed higher! My own title I adjusted to add my game name PLUS the
mobile platforms and several other keywords as follows:
Armies of Riddle Mobile Card RPG Game iOS & Android Redo
As you can see above, I’ve underlined the keywords that many
of my target market will be typing into the search engine if they are looking
for similar kickstarter campaigns. The neat thing is if you type in ANY of
those right now (Sep/Oct 2014) while the campaign is active, my own campaign
shows up within the first 10 results (Except for RPG)! HOW COOL IS THAT!?
BONUS TIP 8: SOCIAL GROUPS
Using facebook and google+ groups targeted towards your
specific market can help you gain more backers and eyeballs to your campaign as
well. Just be kind and don’t spam. I find that if I ask the group creator if
it’s okay to post my campaign or if they state it there that it’s okay to do
so, then I will go ahead and do it.
BONUS TIP 9: MAKE A CALL!
That’s right, pick up your phone, and go through your
phonebook and ask your friends and family to pledge with you over the phone or
even send them an sms text. You don’t have to look desperate, but in many cases
I’ve found that many people have ironically never heard of Kickstarter or have
never used it and thus don’t understand the concept. I’ve told others to
“Pledge” rather than “Back” my project because many people understand the
concept of pledging. Don’t be afraid to make a call, as that tends to get you
backers guaranteed vs online methods (This has been my own experience).
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