Over the last 10 years, I’ve written over 1000 articles on this blog to share my thoughts, observations, mistakes, and insights with my fellow creators. That’s a lot of content to go back and read for someone who is navigating the crowdfunding process for the first time, so in this series I continue to revisit my Kickstarter Lesson posts in chronological order, highlighting the core elements of each.
Preventing a Dud (#86): Richard Bliss and I recorded a podcast episode and in this lesson I share some tidbits from that podcast. Check out the full lesson for further details. Here are the key takeaways:
- The crowd has to come before the funding.
- Make sure you enjoy running a business before you create a Kickstarter project.
- Don’t count the money until you’ve delivered every copy of your product.
- Don’t rely on Kickstarter to promote your project.
- Don’t ask people to promote your project.
- Art is king.
Custom Art (#87): I’ve since changed my stance on art customized to match a specific person. (Spoiler alert: that link goes to my article titled “The Top 3 Kickstarter Mistakes We Made on Tuscany That You Can Avoid.”) But this is a nice time capsule of past-Jamey’s perspective. This lesson #87 does provide guidelines on how you might provide reward levels that offer customization of the final product, which could be helpful in other contexts.
Project Creep (#88): One thing to watch out is project creep. Not just in regards to excessive add-ons and upgrades (which are covered in this lesson too), but also for social aspects of your campaign. Excessive polls and surveys can make it look like everything is up for discussion. Excessive calls to action, for instance asking backers to like, share, etc., can be unproductive. Excessive project updates can drown backers in less important information. Solutions to these problems are varied, but I’d suggest only posting one poll and one call to action a week. And it’s important to empower backers with specific, creative ways to share the project.
How to Have Fun with Your Backers (or “How to Celebrate April Fools as a Business”) (#169): For a company, April Fools (and any time you want to have fun with your backers) shouldn’t be about fooling your customers. Rather, it’s about having fun with them in a way that demonstrates value. I boil it down to three objectives/cautionary notes: (1.) Don’t take yourself too seriously, but keep the focus on you, (2.) don’t confuse your backers, and (3.) take the opportunity to highlight what you do well by taking that thing over the top. Check out the full lesson to see how I spoofed my own customer service habits for April Fools 2014.
What You Should Do for 30 Minutes After Posting a Project Update (#90): Short answer: Sit at your computer. Being available and responsive aren’t hard things to do. The hard part is allocating enough time not only to write a project update but also to sit at your computer for 30 minutes after you post the update. Overestimate when calculating this amount of time. You never know when something you say in an update will result in a swarm of questions or even accusations. You need to be available when that happens.
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If you have any questions or thoughts about these topics, feel free to share in the comments!
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