The Crowd-sourceress: Get Smart, Get Funded, and Kickstart Your Next Big Idea

by Alex Daly

I needed to give backers a feeling of real investment in these campaigns, and a sense that they were going to feel good about their donation.

I usually tell my clients that the ideal is at least eight weeks to prepare before launching, but it totally depends on how much you have done so far. If there’s no urgency, focus on building a super strong mailing list well before that. Another rule of thumb I try to go by is this: don’t launch a campaign from November to January.

I like to do 30-day campaigns that start on a Tuesday morning; campaigns that are 30 days or less perform better, according to Kickstarter,

whether they go with Kickstarter or Indiegogo or another platform, I suggest the all-or-nothing model.

I learned pretty quickly that finding the right keywords to tell your story in a short amount of space is an art. The blurb needs to be punchy, clear, and attention grabbing; the project title should succinctly describe what you’re doing. The project image is also crucial. It’s so important to use a very clear and representative image of the project. When people see campaigns on the site, they are just a bunch of small boxes—you need to catch their eyes immediately and compel them to click the project to see your page.

in advance of going live, he asked friends and family in his network to pledge on the first day.

In addition to getting “noticed” by Kickstarter staff, your project can also benefit from Kickstarter algorithms that track the community’s response to campaigns through pledges and comments, among other factors. Campaigns with a high level of engagement can get filtered into Kickstarter’s “What’s Popular” module. Another feature, “New & Noteworthy,” is a mix of recently launched “Projects We Love” campaigns.

mid-campaign slump is pretty natural in crowdfunding, and it’s just about unavoidable.

planning interesting content to share with backers throughout the campaign is really valuable. It’s how you show your sincere appreciation, form a community (that’s what crowdfunding is all about), and keep people interested in the campaign. Releasing new rewards during the campaign is also a great way to generate new interest and attention.

The strength of that built-in audience depends on how devout they are. A built-in audience consists of: • Engaged subscribers to your mailing list • Dedicated followers on social media • Avid readers of your blog • Loyal listeners of your podcast • Interested fans in the industry

Have there been other campaigns like this? How did they do? I’m looking to see what got similar audiences engaged and excited.

When it comes time to invite others to support your project, show journalists and influencers that you did your research. Send screenshots of their tweets or mention specific stories they wrote that connect to your mission. Let them know you know what you’re talking about, and that your project directly relates to their interests.

From my perspective, part of what compels backers to give is believing in something. It’s not about investing in a product as an exchange of money for goods; it’s about seeing and hearing a story that resonates.

I find that potential donors will assume that if your video is low quality, your product will probably be low quality too. Show the world that you put care and time into the work you do.

I recommend keeping your video length to under 4 minutes.

get to the most essential point of your project within the first 30 seconds.

In your video, create a story that shows how your experience is a journey and invite backers along for the ride. Campaign videos should typically address these core questions. • How did the project come about? • What is it? • What does or will the idea/product do? What problem does it solve? • Where is it in development right now? • Why are you crowdfunding? • Where is the money going?

TAKE IT FROM RAVA. • Again, get feedback. Something you might think is important might not be important to the outside world, and vice versa. • Don’t read off a script. You will sound like a robot. • Making the ask should be the shortest part of your video. Keep most of the focus on the story. • Transcribe. After you shoot your interview footage, transcribe what was said and read it. This makes it easier to identify what to include and what to cut. This is where your professional editor comes in! • Use music to heighten or enhance sections of the piece. Videos with only one piece of continuous music in the background often don’t have any momentum. • Don’t use unlicensed music. Hire a composer or use royalty-free music. Finding the right music can take days or weeks, so make sure you allot time to do it.

The way Kickstarter is set up now, you can easily transfer the shipping costs to backers, if you want, by adding the shipping fees from your distribution partner to Kickstarter in the back end before launching, which is tacked on to the backer’s pledge amount at check out.

We created a press database (a Google spreadsheet) with the top names, emails, and Twitter handles (and their follower count) of the journalists that had written about the Standards Manual or Massimo Vignelli in the past couple of years. • We made a press list of online publications that might be interested in covering our campaign and who would promote it to audiences interested in the Standards Manual (blogs about design, fashion, urban design, subway enthusiasts, New York).

We sent sample tweets to every single influencer so that they could all tweet at the same time on Launch Day: I just backed the full-size reissue of the NYCTA @standardsmanual #boom http://kck.st/1uFblmV

Choose a title that states and sells your project in one line. In your title, answer the question What is this project?

Use a keyword for the subject (the thing or person) and a descriptive word for what it is (a robotic arm, a reissue).

Meet Makerarm As makers, we have ideas all the time—to improve things, to make our lives better. But to make our ideas happen, we need access to tons of machines, materials, and tools that are too expensive. That’s why we created Makerarm: a complete digital fabrication system packed into an affordable robotic arm that makes just about anything, anywhere.

Visual video demos are also a must. Include the essential ones with the most important features on the page, and add the rest over time in your updates. Consider adding GIFs to quickly show your product in action without readers needing to press “play.”

Logistically, backers should also know that you are experienced and the right person to do this project. Offering information about yourself and about your team allows them to trust that you are capable of getting the job done.

It’s critical to establish trust with potential backers, and one of the biggest ways to do that is by addressing risks and challenges on your campaign page head-on. Use this section to be honest about what challenges you may face in the fulfillment phase.

The best thing is always to be upfront about risks, then be solutions-oriented. Think ahead to make real contingency plans for confronting these challenges, and then explain them in this section. It’s okay if you face problems along the way; the most important thing to communicate is your commitment to being transparent with backers and your commitment to finding solutions.

We will also add your name to a list of supporters worldwide who helped make this happen in a special section of the website. We’re a team and you’re a part of it.”

When you sit down to assess your expenses, here are some production costs to include in your estimated budget. Production of your product.

Production of your campaign.

Production of each reward (if different from your product). Know exactly how much it will cost to produce and deliver on each reward. Be precise. It’s not good enough to have an estimate.

Shipping costs for rewards. If you’re doing your own shipping, know the costs of postage, envelopes, shipping labels, the printer and toner costs of printing those labels, and how much in booze you’ll need for “paying” your friends who are stuffing those envelopes.

Calculate a 15 percent buffer.

Once your project is completed and funded, in general, you’ll need to pay income tax on the money you’ve raised,

If you don’t collect taxes from your backers, you could find out later you’re on the hook for these taxes.

When you ship a product internationally, you should have the ability to choose who is responsible for any taxes or duties:

Be cognizant of budget. Don’t offer something that is going to eat up your budget or be a logistical burden. Incorporate digital rewards that cost nothing to ship.

Offer a range of prices with your rewards. In general, these ten price points have worked well for our campaigns: $5, $15, $25, $50, $75, $100, $250, $500, and then higher tiers between $1,000 and $10,000. In my opinion, $1 rewards are too low.

The $25 incentive is the most popular reward amount on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, so it’s wise to offer an appealing reward at that level.

it’s great to have limited early-bird versions of your product (a limited number at a lower price).

Referrals. You can find out how your backers are ending up on your page, whether it’s through social media, the crowdfunding platform itself, or another source, like a big article about you in the press.

Backers. We make it a daily practice to comb through backer lists to see who’s contributing to a campaign. You might find an influencer in the industry who can contribute to your campaign in a bigger way.

At Vann Alexandra, my team and I typically target online press (vs. traditional print press like newspapers, radio shows, and magazines). We want people to see these stories online, where it’s easy to click or tap a link and go straight over to the campaign page to pledge. Plus, securing online press requires a shorter lead time—a

Create a press kit complete with a press release, bios, talking points from the client, and hi-res images. The talking points are sort of like a Q&A: we send clients questions to answer to explain their product, process, or methodology in more granular detail in their voice. Journalists can pull from this for stories they write. We typically store the whole press kit in an easily shareable online folder like WeTransfer, Dropbox, or Google Drive so it’s at our fingertips. • Research appropriate outlets and audiences for a campaign. • Develop strong media stories around the campaign to get people excited. • Pitch top-tier media outlets and relevant blogs.

Start where you are, with local press. (Your hometown community can be a great source of support!) • Reach out to bloggers with smaller, niche followings. • Ask around. Do your friends know journalists who will cover your project? • Consider developing a small budget for paid press or advertising. (But do your research first, so you’re confident you’ll get your money’s worth.)

Once we have our list (aiming for at least fifty or so entries), we try to find a specific journalist at each one. We look for reporters who have covered the subject matter before, preferably more than once—maybe it’s even their beat or specialty. We try to find personal or direct work email addresses online. And again, we avoid using an “info” email, like books@nytimes.com.

We add a column in the spreadsheet for notes about what angle we can use for each individual journalist, showing why s/he in particular would be interested in our campaign. We add links to a past article or two of theirs so that later we can cite this writing history as a connection to our project, and to show we’ve done our research.

A press release is like a summary of your project, brand, and story. You’ll use it to communicate with press in a succinct, clear fashion, so everyone has all the same facts, and so your story is explained in a consistent manner. A strong release gives the reader the necessary basics: • Key information (What is the campaign all about?) • Background (Who? What? Where?) • An understanding of a campaign’s relevance and importance (Why is this compelling and important now?) • Campaign information (Link to the campaign, platform, duration, rewards and prices, product specifications) • Contact information My favorite press releases are the ones with a narrative arc. This is the tactic we used for the NYCTA Graphics Standards Manual release: we focused on the story behind the manual and its rich connection to New York history and design history. It also included access to all the necessary campaign information, quotes, and specifications of the book.

In my experience, these are the characteristics of a great press release: • Your pitch should be in the title. • In the beginning, explain your project within two strong lines, and stress the urgency and relevance of the project. • Tell a story through your press release. Imagine that you’re walking the journalist through your project’s journey. • Include quotes from the creators and/or partners. • Try to keep the press release to one page in length, except for, say, bios and images. (I’m sure not every publicist stresses this, but we do.) • Make it visual. A second page can even be used for just images. (And then also attach a hi-res media kit of the images separately.) • Get it designed! We typically have a designer create a polished PDF. • Include your launch dates, campaign period, campaign goal, the best rewards you are offering (as well as their prices), and contact information for your team’s press contacts. (Refer to the five essential elements of a strong press release listed above.) • For a product, include its specifications.