How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign

how to have a successful Kickstarter campaign

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign Tips 1.
Learn from the best, Solve a real problem.

Give people something they’ve never had before. Relieve your potential customers from a pain. Show them that with your product, they will be freer to do what they always wanted to do.

Take the Pono music Kickstarter campaign. The product doesn’t look amazing, but it solves a source of  frustration: sound quality. And it provides a sound quality better than you’ve most likely experienced.

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign

Pono doesn’t look good but solve a problem: Better quality sound

Get inspired by more successful projects from entrepreneur.com .

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign Tips 2.
Plan the campaign.

Preparation

The preparation of the campaign is as important as the campaign itself. The more people that are excited about your campaign before you launch it, the better. If you’ve prepare well so that people buy the first perks at the beginning of your campaign, the Kickstarter algorithm will rank you higher and and it will be an opportunity to be featured on the first page of Kickstarter.

If people start buying your perks at the beginning of your campaign, the Kickstarter algorithm will rank you higher and it will be an opportunity to be featured on the first page of Kickstarter.
Sydney

Have a working prototype.

It’s always better to start your campaign with a working prototype. While some people can be very inspired by ideas, it’s always better to have a working prototype as it builds trust and will help potential backers to associate with the project.

Come up with something real

Be prepared for all possible scenarios. What do you do if you exceed your funding expectations? Many successful Kickstarter campaigns were not prepared and took longer time to ship their products than expected. Frustrating your backers with delays shows that you cannot hold promises. Delays can be really damaging for your brand on the long term. You should make sure to be prepared and able to reach everybody that paid for your product. Be sure you have the resources and ability to scale up if high demand. It’s better to put a limit on the number of perks and have them all happy than the opposite.

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign Tips 3.
Market your campaign.

Marketing your campaign doesn’t only mean having you and your friends sharing the campaign on social media.

First, understand your users

The first thing to do is to understand who your product is targeted to. And then how, where and when they will use it. Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes and ask yourself questions like: Will they use it to go to work? Or is it rather a product you use on weekends with your family? People are lazy, so you need to create the picture for them to show how they can use your product.

Don’t tell them about your plans. Show them how they can use your product now!

This successful cat calendar Kickstarter campaign managed to identify their users pretty well “Do you enjoy photos of cats dressed up as magical creatures? Do you use a calendar? Yes? Then we have something awesome for you. ”

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign

The cat calendar campaign was aimed at people who love cat pictures and calendars.

Communicate your campaign

Do you know what your potential customer are reading or are subscribed to? Well, you need to be on all mediums. Get in contact with as many local newspaper, websites, Facebook groups and Twitter influencers to relay your campaign so you will get a wider reach.
Press release are also widely under-estimated. Put yours out there so you can get picked up by bigger newspaper. You never know how well you will succeed but if you do its jackpot. You can submit your press releases on Pr newswire and look for more on press release relay on Google.

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign

No wonder they raised $13 million, the Coolest had a great PR strategy.

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign Tips 4.
Set realistic goals

It would be amazing to reach 1 million funding but is it realistic for your product? People like to fund winners. If your campaign is 100% funded, additional backers will be more attracted to fund you.  First of all, it’s easier to get convinced that your product is awesome, and you’ll also convince them that they’ll receive their product.

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign Tips 5.
Tell why you do it.

There is inspiring Ted talk by Simon Sinek who says “people don’t buy what you do, but why you do it”. He mentions that outliers are companies that, above all, manage to communicate why they do what they do. If you tell your customers why you created your product (is it because you believe in something bigger than you?), they will  be able to identify themselves easier with your vision and emotions. It increases the chances of buying your product as well as becoming brand ambassadors.

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign

“People don’t buy what you do but why you do it” Simon Sinek

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign Tips 6.
Be funny

One of the biggest holdups in Kickstarter’s history is from Zack Danger Brown, who managed to raise $55K for a potato salad . While I believe Zack is probably great at manipulating the media to his benefit, it all started with something funny: he wanted “to show the internet the potato salad”.

People also want to be entertained. And if they are, they will be looking to pay for it.

Example of a stretch goal: “$35 – I will make 4x as much Potato Salad. I know $40 isn’t 4x $10, but you guys have earned it.” Which makes people smile. Perks are also a great opportunity to be funny.

Here is the 1$ perk “You will get a ‘thank you’ posted on our website and I will say your name out loud while making the potato salad.”

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign

The potato salad Kickstarter project raised $55k.

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign Tips 7.
It should be your top priority

Once your launch the campaign, you shouldn’t sit back and relax.

ENGAGE! The main reason is that you want to engage early adopters (the first backers). Early adopters are influencers and word spreaders; these guys will help your campaign become viral. If they send you an email, be ready to respond quickly. Engage with them and ask what they like your product (even though it seems obvious to you). Always aim to surprise your backers.

Recognition is always welcomed. You can for example put their name on your site or tweet about them from the company account to thank them.

How to have a successful Kickstarter campaign Tips 8.
Learn from your mistake.

Not everything you do is going to work out. If you learn from what  doesn’t work, you can step up and make something that works.

The most successful campaign from Kickstarter wasn’t made in a day. Before making the big hit of being backed with $13 million dollars , Grepper had a campaign that was a flop.

“I think the biggest lesson from that first campaign was recognizing that failure isn’t permanent”
Grepper.

Do you have more tips or comments for a successful Kickstarter campaign? Comment below!