Calling all fashionistas of the world: it’s time to get pumped about crowdfunding!
Are you a fashion creator looking to start building your apparel empire? If so, Kickstarter could be a great route for you.
Since Kickstarter’s inception back in 2009, the Fashion Category has put up some pretty impressive stats:
- 34,548 projects launched
- 210M+ total dollars raised
- Funding success rate of 29.57%
While the Fashion Category has a slightly lower success rate than the overall mark on the platform (about 39%), applying tried and tested strategies can ensure that your project is part of the one-third of projects that reach their funding goal.
In this article, we’re giving you some killer insider tips to propel your project to the top so that you can smash your funding goal!
Ready to become the next Vera Wang?
Let’s show you how!
It All Starts With Pre-Launch
A common misconception about Kickstarter campaigns is that the action starts after you hit ‘Go Live.’ That couldn’t be further from the truth.
In order to acquire the all-important initial funding dump and establish your project as a legitimate contender on the platform, you must apply a dedicated pre-launch strategy.
The goal of pre-launch is to get a core network of potential backers that are primed to support your campaign. When you do this correctly, you’ll have a crowd of people who believe in your product ready to back your campaign on Day 1.
Here are the basic steps to make it happen:
- Mobilize and educate your friends, family, and industry associates via email, text messages, phone calls, etc.
- Run targeted paid social ads on platforms like Instagram and Facebook, then send those people to a landing page that is designed to capture their email.
- Once you’ve got their email, send engagement emails that educate about the product, how to back on Kickstarter, etc.
- Include Call to Actions in those emails that direct potential backers to VIP Facebook groups, or encourage them to respond. This will increase engagement even more and get them excited about the launch date.
Don’t make the mistake of skipping the pre-launch phase, which should begin anywhere from 2-3 months ahead of your campaign. This is what separates successful campaigns from those that don’t reach their funding goal!
Here at CrowdCrux, we specialize in this type of marketing. If you’d like personalized assistance, make sure to book a coaching call with the founder of CrowdCrux Salvador Briggman.
Build a Branded Campaign Page
We don’t need to tell you this, but we’ll remind you because it’s so important: in the fashion industry, branding is everything.
With this in mind, you need to build a campaign page that is consistent with your larger brand messaging. Your goal here is to provoke an emotional response from backers, making them feel like their status will be elevated if they buy your product.
Indisputably, the most important element of your Kickstarter campaign page is the pitch video. This is the first thing your backers will encounter, so it’s important to:
- Have a compelling hook that entices backers to keep watching
- Showcase your brand personality and provoke the all-important emotional response
- Allow backers to visualize themselves using / wearing your fashion product
If you’re serious about raising thousands on Kickstarter, we highly recommend outsourcing this element of your campaign to a videographer or another professional agency. All you have to do is write your video script then send it off!
After your video, your campaign page should include high-resolution images and gifs, compelling copy that encourages a conversion, and other supporting materials/graphics that tie back to your pitch video.
When it comes to the brainstorming phase of your campaign page, let us give you some advice: research is the name of the game. You should visit successful campaigns in the Fashion Category and study how they structured their page. Ask yourself:
- How do they tell the story of their brand?
- What types of marketing materials do they use?
- What was their emotional hook in the pitch video?
Once you’ve got a feel for what’s working on the platform, you can start to organize your own pitch!
Structure Killer Rewards
Kickstarter is a little bit different than a traditional ecommerce offering in that backers choose from a series of reward tiers.
In most cases with fashion campaigns, there will be anywhere between 4-10 tiers. These will be centered around your core product, but it’s also important to get creative with your rewards to upsell backers into higher funding tiers.
This article gives some awesome insights into how you can structure your rewards. On a general level, keep the following in mind:
- Offer at least one lower price point between $10-$30, even if it doesn’t include your core product.
- Use ‘Early Bird’ offerings to reward those that show up first from pre-launch. This is usually somewhere around a 30% discount.
- Upsell with add-ons and accessories at checkout.
- Utilize reward quotas to increase a sense of urgency. This is built into the Kickstarter platform, allowing you to show limited quantities at each tier. Example:
Similar to building your campaign page, the best thing you can do for yourself is studying other campaign’s rewards.
What are they offering? Why is it compelling?
How can you structure your own rewards in a similar way with unique offerings?
Once you’ve answered those questions, you can build your own reward tiers that backers are chomping at the bit to get their hands on!
Key Takeaways
We hope that this article gave you some valuable insights as to how to get funded for a fashion project on Kickstarter.
Keep in mind that after you’re funded, the work isn’t over. You’ll have to fulfill reward tiers for your backers, which is a lot of work. But that’s something to unpack in a different article.
Looking to continue your research? CrowdCrux has got everything you need — make sure to use us as your trusted resource! You can start here:
- Subscribe to the CrowdCrux email newsletter for weekly insights directly to your inbox.
- Visit our Youtube Channel for all the best insider tips, tricks, and secrets.
- Check out the Crowdfunding Demystified Podcast and this book for interviews with wildly successful creators who have run six-figure campaigns.
- The Kickstarter Launch Formula book and/or course that gives A to Z processes for launching your campaign.
Done with the research phase and ready to get started with pre-launch? Book a coaching call with the founder of CrowdCrux Salvador Briggman — our expert team is ready to help catapult your fashion project to achieve its full potential!
Good luck with your campaign. And remember! CrowdCrux is here to help if you need us.
