Nick Romer is the entrepreneur behind the Da Vinci Notebook Kickstarter campaign, which has raised over 250% of it’s fundraising goal and is still accepting pledges for 7 more days. In addition, he has raised money two other times successfully on Kickstarter with his Kreate-a-lope® and Kreate-a-lope® 2.0 campaigns.
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Nick was nice enough to do an AMA (ask me anything) on the KickstarterForum (unofficial) last week, which yielded some really great tips and pieces of advice for creators looking to raise money on Kickstarter or other crowdfunding platforms. I’ve curated some of the best responses below. Be sure to check out his latest campaign before diving into some of his killer tips.
“Revolutionary new, eco-friendly notebooks & sketchbooks made from stone! Tree-free, bleach-free, and no water used in production!”
1. Are there backers on Kickstarter waiting to pledge?
This is by far the most popular question I receive. Can you just put your project up there and hope it will be funded by backers searching on Kickstarter for cool projects, or do you need to drive the majority of your own traffic?
The answer is complicated, because it depends on the campaign. Some campaigns receive 90% funding from Kickstarter and external sources. Other’s receive closer to 10%. It depends on the fit for the community.
In one response to a question asked, Nick explained:
“I believe you’re going to have to bring the backers to this campaign. I’m not sure this will resonate with the KS community. KS has not published their demographics, but based on my experience in 4 campaigns, seeing and interacting with thousands of backers and project creators, I believe the audience is around 65% male. In that group, it would be difficult to imagine your solution to short nail brush applicators being in high demand.
Be prepared to embrace a massive campaign off Kickstarter to drive people to your project – press release, blogger outreach, friends and family, etc. This is not a cool gadget that will get easily embraced just by showing up like some KS project do”
Regardless of whether or not your project will appeal to the Kickstarter community, it’s vital that you line up 20-30% of your pledging goal via friends/family/professional connections and have them pledge within the first week of your campaign.
“Many people think once they launch on Kickstarter, they’ll instantly get funded. This hardly ever happens. Kickstarter does have a honeymoon period (when your project can be found in the recently launched area) that could send your project into orbit, but if you don’t resonate, you won’t be found on ‘popular’ pages and won’t benefit from the KS community because no one will see you unless they drill down forever.”
2. How do you craft a good video pitch?
Building rapport online is extremely difficult, especially with all the Kickstarter scams that have been in the news in the past year. You need to convince strangers from around the world that not only are you passionate about this project and able to execute on it, but that you will execute on it and deliver their rewards in a timely manner. The quickest way to build rapport is with a video.
“If you want to get a hit in baseball, you need a bat. If you want a hit on Kickstarter, you’ll need a “bat” for this game also – and the bat for crowdfunding is a well planned campaign message and the marketing tools to go with it. You’re in show business, entertain us – make us feel, make us want what you have, make us want to help you in every way possible, etc., etc., and we will get behind you.”
We live in a world of short attention spans and groups of people craving entertainment, be it TV, Buzzfeed, blogs, youtube, or social media. It’s your job to hold their attention with the video and leave them wanting more. In response to one question regarding a creator’s campaign, Nick responded:
“Your video is entirely too long – 7:27 – you have 10 seconds to get my attention, and if you go over 2 or 3 minutes for the whole video, you’ll probably lose the majority of your audience. If you study a number of campaigns you will see the first section shows the “wow” – the problem and solution (for problem solving items like yours), followed by the backstory section, concluding with the “why I’m on Kickstarter” – where the funds will go, what the backers will get, etc…Backers want to know what you plan to do with their money. “
We see a lot of technology and design projects on Kickstarter. We also see a lot of story-based projects like comic books, games, and novels. For the latter types, sometimes, it can feel like you are watching a “business plan” pitch when you watch a crowdfunding video, which, believe it or not, is the worst way you want your backers to feel. You want to get your backers excited and draw them into the story or fantasy world. When giving feedback on another creator’s campaign, Nick replied:
“You’re missing a very key ingredient in your video – conflict. Show us your poor friend Tom interacting with the “villain” – his strict parents, i.e. the dramatic opposition, and you will not only have us feeling for Tom and his plight, but you’ll switch us from thinking your project is about funding your cross country party to strip joints and the like, to empathizing for Tom.”
Giving backers a taste of the conflict, tensions, and drama of the storyline is an awesome way to increase the chances they will become invested in the outcome of your project.
3. How do you go about getting PR for your campaign?
“Find a unique angle for getting the attention of journalists, because after friends and family, you have to start reaching out for publicity and you need hooks and angles to make write-ups interesting.
Example: I recently discovered a “body dryer” project on Indiegogo that uses the hook of “disrupting the towel” – meaning, they have a solution that they say (wish) would eliminate towels for drying off. Great hook for publicity (plus the girl in the bathing suit doesn’t hurt), so as a result, I’ve seen the coverage they received (ABC News, CNET, etc.) and it certainly boosted their campaign.
Spend some time thinking of how you are going to catch the attention of a blogger that receives hundreds of requests and wants to present interesting things to their readers. I also do recommend if you have samples of your product or a way people can see it prior to launch, that this is worth working on well in advance of your campaign.”
In my experience working with CrowdfundingPR, I’ve come to realize that a lot of creators are unfamiliar with PR outreach, media lists, the difference between syndication and distribution, and crafting a pitch. Unfortunately, it is a lot of information, but it’s vital you get a quick overview.
You can have the best media list in the world, have your press release sent to journalists or syndicated on big-name websites, but if you don’t have a compelling media pitch, there’s no reason for a journalist to consider learning more, even if you have the greatest product in the world. You need a hook that explains why you are different and newsworthy. In response to one question, Nick elaborated on this point:
“Look for lists of blogs that would write about your setup. Have you heard about girls auctioning off their virginity on ebay? Shocking, right? You’re doing the same thing, essentially, so frame your pitches to bloggers and news outlets in the same way.
There are thousands of press releases out there that don’t introduce anything new, and if you don’t angle your pitch to bloggers and the like as ‘news worthy’ you’re just a filmmaker looking for money to make a film – boring. Craft your pitch so that it resonates with people or intrigues them to want to learn more.
4. How do you deal with people unfamiliar with Kickstarter?
Believe it or not (lol) Kickstarter isn’t very well known among older generations and most people in the general public only have a vague idea of what it’s all about. It sucks, but for these demographics, you’re doing to have to do a little education marketing, as Nick explains below.
If you reach out to people that do not understand Kickstarter, you would benefit greatly by educating them. KS has some great stuff about the historical use of Crowd Funding – i.e. The Statue of Liberty was partially crowd funded, Mark Twain used crowd funding, etc. It’s somewhere on their site or blog. And of course, you have to emphasize to newbies, the all or nothing nature of KS. (You could always go to Indiegogo and launch a partial fund campaign).
I always try to recommend emphasizing that their card will not be charged unless you meet your goal and that the payments are processed through Amazon (which most people, even in older generations, have used). I also recomend putting the emphasis on the rewards or the benefits they would receive, rather than that they would be making a “donation.” I’ve included more ways to overcome objections in this previous post.
5. Dos and Don’ts for a Kickstarter Campaign
Here are a few helpful tips:
1. Put some effort in like you’re doing with your marketing. Create a video. How about a sizzling book trailer for your epic novel?
2. Generate a press release and contact book reviewers (or bloggers).
3. Reach out to your family, friends, and co-workers to back your campaign, but also to help spread the word.
4. Contact your local newspaper with a human interest story angle.
5. Work your butt off to contact bloggers and social media influencers in your area of interest.
What not to do:
1. Spam boards without giving back or contributing.
2. Contact other Kickstarter project creators asking them to promote your project when you have nothing to reciprocate.
3. (My addition) Launch without having done any preparation, backing any other campaigns, or researching similar campaigns.
My Question For You
Did you find this AMA to be helpful? Leave a comment below letting me know. You can also find the full AMA here. I would appreciate it if you’d take a second to check out Nick’s campaign. He’s been extremely generous answering everyone’s questions.
