The news has been inundated with stories about crowd-funding websites like Kickstarter, whether they're calling attention to hugely successful projects like the Veronica Mars Movie, or highlighting the hidden side of the crowd-funding process. Here at Stratus Interactive, we have the opportunity to experience the process first hand, as one of our clients, Boxcar Brewing Company, is currently putting together a crowdfunding project on Kickstarter. The project, which hopes to make enough donations to implement Boxcar's plans for a community brewpub, has just been submitted and is awaiting approval from Kickstarter before it launches to the public (fingers crossed!)
Having never launched a Kickstarter campaign before, we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to create a series detailing our experience with the crowd-funding process: before, during, and after. This way, anyone interested would have a well-rounded look—whether they're simply curious, or considering launching their own project.
The first installment will discuss our experiences prepping the project for submission and planning for launch. We thought the best way to do this was by offering a few crowd-funding project suggestions.
Research, Research, Research
We can't stress enough how important it is to read up on all of the articles and blog posts already written for crowd-funding newbies. Building a strong foundation of the process, rules, and experiences of others has been a huge help in the beginning parts of establish our campaign. Whether it's best practices, an outline of the submission process, or just current and past projects, you can find a lot of useful information on Kickstarter's website, itself.
We thoroughly analyzed similar projects that succeeded or failed to determine what works and what did not in terms of rewards, video, story, etc. Another tip we came across that other crowd-funding newbies may not realize: You must factor in the cost of rewards, shipping, Kickstarter fees, and credit card processing fees. We made sure to put together a cost analysis spreadsheet, which factored in those often overlooked costs. We'll see if our analysis pays off once the project launches.
Give Yourself Enough Time
When planning your timeline for the launch of your campaign, make sure you remember the Approval Process! Kickstarter says it takes them, on average, 2-3 business days to approve your project once it's submitted. Aside from the approval process, there are always last minute changes and new ideas to incorporate before the project is submitted. These changes often end up taking longer than you imagined, and can dramatically alter your launch date. Plan ahead and make sure you begin working on your project well before your desired launch date.
Think of Your Audience
Stratus Interactive is an audience-centric marketing company, which helped us a lot when creating Boxcar's campaign. Think of your potential backers... what do they want to know about your project? What would appeal to them? What would make them back your project? For Boxcar, we made sure to personalize the story and include everything and anything about the company and its successes, as well as what the money would be used for if they were able to meet their goal. In addition, you have to consider the look of the project.
While people want to know about the company, the project, and the rewards, let's face it--people will get bored if the story's too long. Break it up the text with images, and white space to make sure it looks appealing to potential backers. As a company that offers graphic and website design services, it was a little upsetting that we couldn't design a killer background to take Boxcar's project to the next level, but we compensated by incorporating some key graphics into the story.
Look Forward & Plan Ahead
Always have a plan for when the project gets approved and launches. To meet your goal, you need to create awareness and buzz around your social media channels, local news outlets, friends, family, email, and etc. Make sure you walk a fine line between promoting and being obnoxious; you don't want to annoy your entire network of connections. Kickstarter suggests waiting to promote your project until AFTER it is approved, but if you develop a good plan of action, you'll be able to hit the ground running.
We hope these suggestions help you in your crowd-funding endeavors and satisfies your curiosity. Keep an eye out for our next post about our experience with Kickstarter, and Boxcar's future Kickstarter project!