Cross-promotion for your Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign is one of the best ways to build an organic audience for a project launch.
By teaming up with other creators, you can cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship that helps all parties involved to smash their funding goals.
Sound like a good deal?
That’s because it is. In this article, we’re giving you all the best tips and tricks from cross promoting your crowdfunding campaign so that you can be as successful as possible in bringing your project to market!
Let’s dive in.
Start With a Blurb
You’ve probably been working hard on your campaign page to construe value to potential backers using elements such as:
- Your Kickstarter video
- Engaging graphics, images, and gifs
- Campaign text
In order to pitch a cross-promotion with other campaigns, you’ll need to distill that information into a short, readable blurb that you can easily send out to other entrepreneurs.
Your blurb should be somewhere between 250-500 words, and include the following:
- A short description that includes the name of your project, what it is, and what problem it solvers for backers.
- A Call to Action such as “Click Here” or “Back Now” that links to your campaign page.
- One or two photos that can be used by your cross promotional partner
Once you’ve got your blurb, it’s time to identify which partners might want to pair up with you.
How to Find the Best Partners
There are a couple of best practices you’ll want to know about when seeking a cross promotional partner.
First off, you’ll need to consider the type of campaign that your project would pair well with. For example, if you’re launching an all-in-one piece of workout equipment, it wouldn’t make sense to pair with someone who is doing the same thing — that would just be promoting the competition.
Instead, try searching for campaigns that are in your niche but not your direct competitor. Using the all-in-one workout example above, you could search for related health-related campaigns such as wellness books, diet projects, workout headphones, etc.
By doing so, you’ll reach a similar community of backers without losing sales.
Second, you want to cross-promote with a campaign that you believe in, and that has similar statistics. The last thing you want to do is associate your brand with a scammy/mediocre project; so make sure you do your due diligence when vetting other campaigns.
To start building your list, select your product category and scroll through campaigns to discover those that have similar funding totals.
You could even dip your toes into other platforms. Are you launching a campaign on Kickstarter? Browse your equivalent product category on Indiegogo and further reduce the threat of competition all while tapping into an even larger audience!
Reach Out With a Personal Approach
Once you’ve identified campaigns that you’d like to work with, it’s time to reach out.
When doing so, you want to be sure to make a personalized connection. Nobody is going to want to team up with you if you copy & paste a catch-all message that feels impersonal.
To do this, include these elements in your message:
- Your blurb
- Your current numbers (frame from a position of success and excitement!)
- Why you think a cross-promo between your two campaigns would be mutually beneficial
I also highly recommend backing potential partners before you reach out to them. Not only will this show that you are committed to the success of their campaign, but it will also help you to pair exclusively with partners that you would actually back yourself.
Reach an Agreement & Post an Update!
Once you’ve made contact with other campaigns and agreed to cross-promote, make sure to stay attentive and transparent.
Come to an agreement about when each of you will post an update, and make sure to include the project title, a photo, and a short blurb with a call to action to back their campaign. Naturally, the other campaign should be doing the same for you.
It’s also good practice to be transparent with your backers. You could say something like:
Hey everybody, thanks so much for your support thus far with our campaign! We’re super excited to announce a partnership with [PRODUCT NAME], and we think you’ll really enjoy their product.
[Partner’s blurb, photo, and Call to Action].
By coming right out and announcing the partnership, you’ll come off less sales-y, and your backers will probably appreciate being directed to another project that might be of interest to them.
Most importantly: don’t flake. It’s a bad look for your business, and you want to be known as a contributor to your community, not a mooch.
Once you’ve posted the update, reach out to the other creator and let them know that it’s live. This will allow them to track any potential uptick in traffic, and it’s also just good business.
Conclusions
I hope that this article has been helpful for you to discover some of the best practices for finding great partners to cross-promote your crowdfunding project.
Cross-promotion is one of the most valuable tools for driving organic traffic to your campaign. If you follow the tips listed above, you can expect:
- An uptick in traffic to your campaign page
- Organic, free growth with backers that are already interested in your niche
- More funding for your project!
For more ideas to unlock the ultimate Kickstarter marketing strategy, check out this article where we do a deep dive into all the best practices for you to smash your funding goal.
I also have a great book — The Kickstarter Launch Formula — that has helped thousands of creators gain A to Z understanding of everything that goes into a successful launch.
Or you could check out my UDEMY Course where I deliver more than 6 hours of insider information about how to stand out on crowdfunding platforms.
Looking for more personalized attention?
Book a coaching call with me. I’ve helped tons of successful campaigns reach and exceed their funding goals in the past, and I’m ready to go to work for you!
Good luck with your cross-promotional journey and your project launch as a whole! We’re rooting for you.
