I can’t believe how radically Kickstarter has transformed crowdfunding.
When I first started writing about the platform in 2012, I had NO IDEA that more than $3 billion would end up being pledged on Kickstarter.
It’s insane!
So many creative types, entrepreneurs, and innovators are getting badly needed funding for their projects.
At the same time, there are many Kickstarter campaigns that FAIL to hit their funding goal.
I have spoken with many creators who are frustrated. For whatever reason, their campaign didn’t end up getting many backers.
I’m here to share with you a few different ways that you can get backers for your Kickstarter campaign. A lot of these strategies also apply to Indiegogo. Enjoy!
Facebook Marketing
1. Direct Messages on Facebook: This is the BEST way to get members in your own social network to pledge to your campaign. Don’t just post massive broadcasts on Facebook. Your friends aren’t guaranteed to see them, due to the Facebook algorithm. You gotta reach out to them personally.
2. Organic reach with engaging posts/images/videos: If you have a Facebook page (which you should), you can begin to grow your organic following by posting videos, images, and blog posts. This content should either be informative or entertaining. Consistent quality free content is what causes someone to begin to “follow you.”
3. Facebook Ads using custom audiences: Rather than using broad targeting on Facebook, I’d recommend creating a custom audience to really narrow your advertisement targeting. You can target a list of subscribers, website visitors, and more.
4. Facebook Ads using look-a-like audiences: If you have an existing list of customers, or you’ve installed a Facebook pixel on your website, you can create a look-a-like audience. Facebook will use their powerful algorithm to create a select of people with similar traits to those that you designated.
5. Facebook messenger AD campaign: This is a newer Facebook feature that I’ve been playing around with. Basically, you can do all of your customer support and messaging within Facebook itself, rather than with an external email software provider. You can directly interact with potential backers and answer all of their questions.
Email Marketing
6. Pre-Launch Lead Magnet: You can use a “lead magnet” to get email subscribers before launching a Kickstarter campaign. You’ll then be able to announce this campaign to a whole group of people who are already familiar with you, your story, and your product.
7. Traditional Email Marketing Launch: I’ve used a traditional email launch sequence to announce many of my own products. First build an email list. Second, you send out free content to that email list and tease the upcoming product to create anticipation. Then, you introduce the product and the limited time in which subscribers can back your campaign or own the product. Make sure that you underscore the sense of urgency related to the campaign.
8. Direct Email Outreach: This is going to the best ROI for most people out there. You can directly message individuals in your social network, your second degree connections, and people who haven’t opened your previous emails (more on that below). This will allow you to hear their objections! Often times, a personal touch is needed.
9. Segmenting Your Email List: Email list segmentation is an advanced strategy that you can use to not only blow past your goal sooner, but also to get the most out of your existing subscribers. You can divide up your email list based on campaign activity. If people have failed to open your emails, you can directly reach out to them. If certain individuals have been opening your emails, but failing to pledge, you can tailor your marketing to them.
10. Storytelling and testimonials: Finally, one of the reasons that I love email marketing is that it gives me the opportunity to capture so many testimonials from my community. It also gives me the chance to reply to people and hear a transformative customer story that I can use in my marketing. This will help you get more backers.
Instagram Marketing
11. Product placement and social proof: In order to get excited about a product, we need to see how it will fit into our daily life. Product placements give us an idea of where we could use this product, and also WHO is using it. You’re painting a picture in the mind of a backer that seduces them into backing the campaign.
12. Lead generation: Of course, Instagram is also a great source for lead generation. Having a lot of followers might stroke your ego or make you feel special, but at the end of the day, they are meaningless when it comes to profit and revenue. The only thing that matters is engagement and getting users into that marketing funnel so that you can introduce them to your story, your products, and your campaign. I recommend doing this with a lead magnet.
13. Brand Storytelling: Finally, photos and videos are a great way to tell the story of your brand and showcase your values. This goes a long way when you’re trying to give people a sense of who you are so that they can not only like you, but also empathize with your mission. It’s not all about numbers. It’s also about how many you have emotionally affected.
PR and Media Exposure
14. Press Release Websites: Press release websites are an easy way to send out your press release to the world. You have your press release syndicated on news websites or have it sent to the email inbox of journalists. Your press release must effectively convey your story so that a journalist is compelled to write about you.
15. Direct PR Outreach: The best way to get media attention is to directly reach out to relevant reporters that are interested in hearing stories like yours. First, you create a relevant media list. Then, you go about crafting a compelling email subject and story. After all of your outreach, if you’ve done your job right, a certain percentage of journalists or bloggers will decide to write about you.
16. PR Agencies: PR agencies will basically do the two above things for you. They’ll send out press releases and pitch journalists or influencers. The term “journalist” is a bit looser now a days. That can also mean bloggers or YouTubers. Of course, you’ll be paying them a hefty upfront fee.
17. Influencer Marketing: You can also reach out to influencers on key social platforms like Instagram and YouTube to share your story with their audience. This is not something that an influencer will casually decide to do. You have to thoroughly understand their audience and why this would be a good choice for them to talk about your product.
I now have a FREE course which shows you exactly how to get media attention.
Kickstarter Super Backers
18. Trending on Kickstarter: The most effective way to rake in regular backers on Kickstarter is to simply trend well on the platform. That way, they’ll see you as one of the featured projects on the platform or on one of the various newsletters. There are a few different ways to accomplish this.
19. Kickstarter Cross-Promotions: While this topic gets a lot of controversy, it is something that has worked in the past and something that members of my forum have gotten results from. You can cross-promote with another project in a way that you choose and that is in line with the guidelines of the website.
20. Community Engagement Stats: A little used function of Kickstarter is the Kickstarter Community tab, which you can use to get a breakdown of where all of the backers have come from for a particular project. Take a look at a similar project to yours. You can use this to get an idea of how how many regular vs. new backers supported this project.
21. Kickstarter Comments Section: This is another bit of functionality that isn’t used a lot. You can look through the comments section of a Kickstarter project and easily identify the super backers that are engaged in the campaign. You can then click through and see the other campaigns that these backers have supported. Of course, you can follow them, reach out to them if they have contact info available, and more.
I’ve also put together a FREE step-by-step video walkthrough on how to rank well on Kickstarter and blow past your goal.
Upselling and Your Community
22. Add-Ons: You can use add-ons to increase the amount that an existing backer has pledged to your campaign. This will boost your overall fundraising meter.
23. Stretch Goals: Stretch goals are another way that you can rally your community around a funding amount. You can encourage them to share the project or increase their pledge so that the project hits this goal and unlocks a new feature or item.
24. Celebrating Backer Stories: By sharing stories about your backers or highlighting why the pledges, you’re effectively finding an excuse to talk about your project on social media or in an update. Naturally, this will draw in people who are not yet backers of the campaign and persuade some followers who are on the fence to become a backer.
Live and In-Person Events
25. Live streaming: Kickstarter allows you to set up a live stream for your campaign. You can use this opportunity to educate backers about your progress, rope in new supporters, and rally the troops to help you spread the word about your campaign.
26. In-Person Events and Parties: You can also hold in-person events to build up your list of subscribers and get new pledges. This has been very effective for some of my podcast guests and members on the forum. Having a “launch party” is a great way to have everyone in the same room and take the same action at the same time.
27. Fundraising Street Team: It’s a lot of work to set up and run a crowdfunding campaign. If you have a core group of supporters that are willing to help you manage and share the campaign, your odds of success are much better. Having strong marketing templates and messages will make it easier to share the campaign with their own network.
Promotional Services
28. Premium Services: There are promotional companies out there like The Gadget Flow and others that will help market your fundraiser to their community. You have to be careful because some of these services are quite frankly scammy.
29. Kickstarter Marketing Agencies: You can also enlist the help of a professional agency to do all of the marketing related to your project. It isn’t gonna be cheap though. Many of these agencies charge high fees.
Online Groups
30. Industry-Centric Groups: By interacting with online groups in your niche, you’ll be able to make connections, get subscribers, and even form partnerships. This can be a great way to begin to build a bit of a crowd if you don’t have one! You can also get direct feedback on your project from the very same people that you’re trying to help.
31. Crowdfunding-Centric Groups: There are many crowdfunding groups out there that you can use to meet other crowdfunders and individuals running Kickstarter campaigns. You can provide feedback on other people’s campaigns in exchange for feedback on your own. You can also share what’s working right now or get marketing tips.
