A Comprehensive Guide to Running a Successful Kickstarter Campaign (Framework and Examples Included)
Kickstarter Campaign Strategy
The key to any successful Kickstarter campaign is a well thought out and comprehensive strategy.
You won’t be able to create a great product or service without understanding exactly what your backers want, setting clear goals, and executing that plan accordingly.
Here are some tips for creating a solid Kickstarter campaign strategy:
Develop a strong message for your Kickstarter Campaign:
A powerful Kickstarter campaign relies on an effective brand story that resonates with potential backers.
Identify what your main goal is and communicate it clearly in all of your messaging—on the landing page, sales copy, video content, etc..
Establishing the why behind your project will help motivate potential backers and make them more likely to help fund it.
Research the market:
Before launching your campaign, take the time to do some research on your target market.
What are their needs and wants? How can you best meet them?
What have other successful projects in this space done?
Understanding your audience and the competition will help you create a message that resonates with potential customers.
Create an easily achievable goal:
Set realistic goals for your Kickstarter campaign. Achievable goals will make it easier to plan out the necessary actions required to reach them and make it more likely that backers will contribute.
Develop rewards:
Offering rewards is one of the most effective ways to incentivize people to back your project, but don’t forget about developing non-monetary rewards as well!
Consider offering exclusive content, early access to the product or service, virtual meet-and-greets, and more.
Promote your campaign:
Once you’ve developed a strategy and created rewards, it’s time to start promoting your project!
Share it with friends and family on social media, run targeted ads on relevant platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc.
And don’t forget to reach out to influencers as well—they could make all the difference in getting your message out there.
Following these tips will help ensure that you create a strategic framework for your Kickstarter campaign that will resonate with potential backers and lead to successful results.
Examples of Successful Kickstarter Campaigns
Now that you know some tips for creating a successful Kickstarter campaign, let’s look at some examples of campaigns that have been successful.
The Exploding Kittens card game is one great example of a successful Kickstarter Campaign
The creators set an ambitious goal of $10,000 and ended up raising more than $8 million in just one month! They did this by creating strategic rewards, marketing their project with the help of influencers, and leveraging social media to reach a larger audience.
Another example of a successful Kickstarter campaign is the Pebble Time smartwatch.
The creators used video content to effectively showcase their product and explain why backers should believe in it. Their strategy paid off as they managed to raise over $20 million from more than 78,000 backers.
These examples demonstrate that a successful Kickstarter campaign is achievable with the right strategy and execution. Use these cases as inspiration when creating your own Kickstarter project—take notes on what worked and apply it to your own project.
So, If you are thinking about launching a Kickstarter campaign for your project, don't take it lightly.
Running a successful crowdfunding campaign is challenging but rewarding work.
Continue exploring for more marketing tactics and strategies right here!
If crafting and managing a campaign on your own seems overwhelming, consider partnering with us at The Branded Agency. As a comprehensive startup branding agency with a knack for digital branding and marketing, we're equipped to assist you in creating and boosting your Kickstarter campaign.
Our rich background in the crowdfunding arena has endowed us with the insights needed to bring a project to successful fruition.
Reach out to us today to discover how our services can benefit your venture!
A Guide to Making a Kickstarter Video
How to Create an awesome Kickstarter Video
A great video is essential for capturing the attention of potential backers and getting their support.
With its focus on browsing rather than searching, Kickstarter relies heavily on visuals to draw in users and convince them to back your project.
A well-made video can give potential backers an idea of what they can expect if they support your idea, as well as showing them that you have put in the time and effort to create a comprehensive presentation of your project.
Whether you're looking to raise money for a new product, an artistic endeavor, or another type of project, a strong Kickstarter video can help you connect with potential backers and achieve your fundraising goals.
Still, it’s vital when using Kickstarter because it relies on users browsing through categories rather than searching by keyword or category (like other crowdfunding platforms).
A short video gives potential backers an idea of what they can expect if they pledge money towards your project.
It also shows them that you have taken the time and effort to put together a comprehensive presentation that will tell them everything they need to know about your idea before asking for their support.
The Strategy and step by step process of creating a Kickstarter video
Conduct Research: Planning out your Kickstarter video is the first step to creating a successful one. Take some time to research other projects similar to yours and observe how those campaigns used their videos. This will give you some insight into what works and what doesn’t work in terms of storytelling and visuals.
Create Your Content Outline:
After researching, create a content outline for your video with all the necessary elements you want to include. Make sure to include an introduction that briefly explains your project, its goal, why you are making it, who it can benefit, and what makes it different from other similar products/projects.
Follow up with any additional information or stories that further explain the purpose of your project.
Write a Script:
Curate a script that follows the content outline you created.
Make sure to keep it simple and concise.
Choose Visuals:
Keep in mind that visuals are essential for any video project and can help create an emotional connection with viewers, so choose wisely.
Think about what kind of visuals you need to tell your story, such as photographs, illustrations, animation, or other elements which will add value to your message.
Gather Feedback:
Once you have all the elements together (script, visuals), show it around to friends and family who are familiar with your project and get their feedback on how they think it could be improved.
Their input could really help take your video up a notch!
Edit & Finalize Your Video:
Curate and edit your content until it's ready for the public.
Make sure to keep it simple yet engaging so viewers will stay tuned in throughout the whole video.
Now that you know how to create a successful Kickstarter video, don't hesitate to get started!
If you need any help along the way, consider reaching out to a marketing agency that can provide guidance and assistance with developing your project from start to finish.
Choosing Your Kickstarter Fundraising Goal
If you're unsure how much money you'll need, start with a smaller goal and see how much interest there is in your idea before investing too much time and effort into it. You can always increase the goal later if you find more people interested than you expected.
For example, If your project costs $10,000 or more, it may be better to start with a smaller goal first — say $1,000 or $2,000 — so you have time to make adjustments along the way.
You want to ensure that no matter what happens, you can still deliver on the project and fulfill all rewards.
Building a Kickstarter Team
If you’re not an experienced entrepreneur or marketer, don’t try to do everything yourself.
Instead, hire someone who knows what they’re doing (preferably someone with experience on Kickstarter), so they can help with video production and copywriting.
You can hire freelancers to help with other aspects of your Kickstarter campaign such as marketing or graphic design.
Alternatively, you can hire reputable agencies to handle every part of your campaign for you.
Your time will be better spent focusing on what you do best - developing your product!
Pre Launch Checklist
Start off slow by building an audience for your project.
Reach out to friends, family, and colleagues to let them know about the project.
Prepare a press kit with information about your project, such as a product description and press release.
Connect with media outlets that can help spread the word about your campaign.
Create an email list of potential backers for when the campaign goes live.
These are just some of the things you’ll need to do before launching your Kickstarter campaign in order to ensure it’s successful.
Reward your backers
If you can offer something unique at various levels of support, do so.
This might be a thank-you video or some other form of recognition for the amount of money they've pledged.
This can make the difference between someone supporting your project and walking away without doing so.
You want people to be excited about what they'll receive in return for their pledge, so make sure it's worth their money.
Some projects offer the same reward no matter how much someone donates, but that can be risky because it makes people feel like they're wasting their money if they only contribute a small amount.
If you're offering different levels of rewards, make sure each one is appealing enough to make people want to spend more than they initially planned on your project.
You can also offer something special as an “early-bird” award.
This will encourage people who really want your product or service to pledge early — and help get the word out about your campaign early on.
Just make sure this special offer doesn't put too much pressure on you to deliver everything by a specific date or risk disappointing backers who made an impulse decision!
Offer multiple ways for people to support you
If one price level doesn't fit everyone's budget, include options at different levels so that people have choices with which they can identify.
You can also offer add-ons that can be added onto any pledge level — such as an extra t-shirt or an autographed book — at an additional cost per item so that backers can choose precisely what they want without having to pay extra shipping fees.
Secure early press coverage for your Kickstarter Campaign
Press coverage is one of the most critical steps in launching a Kickstarter campaign.
You want to tell the world about your product and why it's essential, so you need to secure some early press coverage; ideally, one to two months before you launch your campaign.
In addition to helping spread the word about your new offering, this will help you build credibility with potential backers and validate your idea.
Reach out to bloggers, journalists, and other influencers who cover similar products or topics and let them know about your launch date.
When they write about you before launch day — even if it's just an announcement that they'll be covering it — they'll have already done some research on their own and will be more likely to cover it once launched.
Be prepared to provide proof that you have what you say you do.
If there are no photos or videos of your product yet, at least share images of prototypes (or mockups) so people can get an idea of what they will support.
Create a campaign timeline for your Crowdfunding Campaign
A lot of work goes into running a successful Kickstarter campaign, so you must create a timeline from start to finish.
You should keep track of how much time each task takes and estimate how long it will take for you to complete them all.
Your timeline should include milestones such as when you need to launch your campaign, when backers can expect rewards and when fulfillment will begin if your product was successfully funded.
This leads us to the next part.
Plan for delays
Know how long it takes to get things done. For example, if you're working with contractors or sending out packages, you'll need to know how long they take to do the work.
Then add a week or two to that period, just in case something goes wrong.
When you're making a game, for example, many levels of quality control and testing must be done before it's ready for release.
Depending on your game and how much time you have before your deadline, you may want to set multiple deadlines for different stages of development (i.e., alpha testing) so that backers can still get their rewards at some point even if there is a delay in getting the actual game completed.
Many campaigns go awry because they promised too much too soon.
They wanted their backers' input but weren't prepared when people started asking questions or providing feedback in droves, or they wanted to give everyone an equal chance at rewards like t-shirts and posters by splitting up the available quantities among all backers — but then there ended up being more orders than expected.
Timing matters, but not in the way you might think it goes.
Run Ads for your Kickstarter Campaign
You can run Facebook and Google ads before your campaign starts to build interest in your product. Once you launch your campaign, use paid ads to drive traffic back to your page.
You can also run promoted tweets and posts on Instagram and LinkedIn, which should help boost awareness of your Kickstarter campaign.
A good rule of thumb is to spend at least 10 percent of your budget on advertising during the 30 days leading up to launch and another 10 percent during the first week of your campaign.
You can also use paid email marketing services like MailChimp or Aweber and direct mail services like Vistaprint, Moo, and Pitney Bowes.
Ensure your campaigns are relevant, though — if people searching for hoverboards aren't interested in what you have to offer, then they won't click on those ads anyway!
Making over $100,000 on Kickstarter
Quincy Samycia, Partner at The Branded Agency, shares his story of how he successfully launched his Kickstarter campaigns and made over $100,000.
His first Kickstarter project, "Technologically Advanced Activewear," made over $25,000. It was pitched as "Gym Clothes That Don't Stink, Thanks to Shrimp Shells." Considering he only spent $500 on ads, it was a huge success.
A few years later, Quincy decided to launch another project on Kickstarter. Yet again, it was a massive success. His "Gastown Jacket" Kickstarter project generated under $100,000 in 30 days.
Example of Successful Kickstarter Campaigns
One great example of a successful Kickstarter campaign is the Pebble smartwatch, which raised over $10 million on the platform. This was largely due to its catchy video, which explained how the smartwatch worked and highlighted some of its key features. Other examples of successful projects include the Veronica Mars movie, which became one of the top-funded film projects on Kickstarter, and the Flow Hive beekeeping system, which raised over $13 million.
Controversial Kickstarter Campaigns
While most Kickstarter campaigns are successful, some have faced controversy or even outright failure. In 2014, the Coolest Cooler raised over $13 million on Kickstarter before shipping out their products to backers and then receiving thousands of complaints about poor quality, missing parts, or broken coolers. Many backers were ultimately left empty-handed while the company continued to sell the product on Amazon and elsewhere.
Biggest Kickstarter Failures
Another notable Kickstarter failed was the Zano drone project, which raised over $3 million in 2014 before being shut down by the crowdfunding platform due to a lack of progress. The creators eventually admitted that they had been attempting “an overly ambitious development schedule” and were left with no choice but to cancel the project.
What makes a successful Campaign?
In the end, a successful Kickstarter campaign will come down to good planning and preparation. This might sound like bad news if you're in a hurry to launch your campaign.
But a little extra work ahead of time can make all the difference between success and failure.
And if you prepare thoroughly, the payoff—in terms of both funding and brand awareness—will be much greater.
When done correctly, a successful Kickstarter campaign can be the foundation for many future opportunities, from traditional fundraising to crowd-sourced innovation.
Other Tips and Tricks for a successful Kickstarter Campaign
Include something beyond just digital marketing and reaching out to local publications, radio stations, and influencers.
Be sure to provide backers with clear incentives such as discounts or exclusive rewards.
Post regular updates about the project on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.
Make sure you set realistic goals for funding and that your campaign is honest about its potential risks so that potential backers can make an informed decision.
Finally, be prepared for any obstacles that may arise during the course of your campaign and try to remain positive – even in the face of failure!
Kickstarter marketing strategy
Here are some tips to get you started:
Research Your Audience: Know who your target audience is and tailor your messaging accordingly. Put effort into understanding what motivates them, what they respond to and how you can best communicate with them.
Create Interesting Content: Offer compelling visuals, stories and videos that engage potential backers. Focus on quality over quantity in all of your content pieces and make sure each piece reflects the core message of your project.
Leverage Social Media Networks: Utilize existing social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (as well as platforms like Instagram) to promote your campaign. Share relevant updates regularly throughout the kickstarter project.
Kickstarter for Influencers: Reach out to influencers in your space who can help you spread the word about your campaign. Offer them special rewards or discounts for helping to promote your project.
Follow Up with Backers: Once a backer has contributed, stay in touch and keep them updated on the progress of the campaign. Thanking them and giving personal updates will not only show you appreciate their support but will also make them more likely to back future projects from you!
Analyze Your Results: Finally, once your campaign is over, take some time to analyze the data and identify what worked well, what didn't work and how you could improve for next time.
Your Kickstarter Project will Require a Big Investment
Most people think you can put a project up on Kickstarter with a funding goal of a million dollars and the community will support you, your friends will support you and you will make more money than you can dream of.
If this is you, you will be in for a rude awakening.
Crowdfunding campaigns are extremely challenging for new project creators that lack marketing and branding experience and don't have the finances to hire the experts they need to support the project.
To succeed on Kickstarter or Indiegogo you will need to do extensive market research, formulate a brand and marketing strategy and have an innovative product and great story.
Oddly enough, people will expect you to have a website, social proof, social media presence and an amazing campaign page.
Your campaign page should include shipping costs, enticing rewards, product details and a stretch goal to encourage people to share the project and upgrade their package.
Use facebook groups and LinkedIn Groups to find like minded people to connect with and gain early support.
Make sure you have a facebook page with your company's logo and a twitter page linked to your Kickstarter page.
Lastly, I recommend setting your funding goal low, the sooner your project is successfully funded the better. People tend to want to support projects that are already funded.
We also recommend a pre launch page to collect emails, interest and create early awareness.
Looking for help with your Kickstarter marketing strategy and creating an amazing landing page that will drive revenue?
With a proven record of running successful campaigns on Kickstarter, The Branded Agency is confident in being able to help you.
Don't hesitate to contact us.
