You’re searching for the golden goose… a list of people who have previously backed Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns.
This quest will take you across mountains, through rivers, and you’ll have to combat fire breathing dragons.
Joking aside, you’ll actually probably end up losing a lot of money.
I can’t tell you the number of people on Fiverr and other sites selling a list of previous crowdfunding backers. Most of these are pretty useless.
After all, if you could make thousands from an email list, why would you sell it for $5?
In addition, it’s technically unethical to just add someone to a marketing list without their consent. You’re probably going to get a lot of angry messages. Make sure you have an unsubscribe button.
I want to address this topic and help point you in the right direction.
1. Send Facebook Ads to a Landing Page
I typically recommend that if creators want to build up a list of interested backers that they created targeted Facebook ads and send those visitors to a landing page. You can do this with a simple application like LeadPages.
The landing page will offer a lead magnet, free video, or the opportunity to gain access to early-bird reward tiers.
A certain percentage of traffic will end up signing up for that email list. You’ll then send them content leading up to the launch of your Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign. This is how you build a positive relationship with email subscribers before you launch.
Here’s something important to keep in mind… using this approach, it might cost you between $2 – 7 per lead. If you’re good at Facebook ads, you might be able to get that cost down.
When you see services selling 1,000 emails for $5 and it costs a seasoned marketer $1,000+ to generate that same number of emails via Facebook ads, you have to question the quality of those emails.
2. Buy Into a “Backer Directory”
There are backer directories out there that have the content information of regular and super backers on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
On episode #150 of the Crowdfunding Demystified podcast, we share with the audience how creators can use the tool and service Krowdster to increase the pledges to their crowdfunding campaign.
To find some reviews about this service and others, you can search on KickstarterForum or Crowdfunding Forum.
3. Indirect Access With GreenInbox
If you haven’t heard, GreenInbox is a tool that you can use to message friends via email, on LinkedIn, on Facebook. and other networks about your Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign.
You can also use GreenInbox’s targeted advertising option. Under this plan, they will create a Facebook advertisement for you that target only individuals who have backed more than 50 campaigns on Kickstarter.
According to the website, you can “reach people that already backed at least 2 kickstarter/indiegogo campaigns in your category and/or people that backed 50+ campaigns on kickstarter.”
While you don’t gain direct access to this email list, the service does allow you to advertise directly to them. The website specifies that this service works best for product-centric Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns.
There are a lot more ways that you can stand out on Facebook aside from Facebook ads. You have a lot of weapons in your arsenal.
4. Hack It With a VA
A VA stands for a virtual assistant. You can hire one for a relatively low cost. Of course, it depends on the area of the world that they’re working from and the nature of the work.
In an Inc article, Kevin Rustagi explains how he used VAs to reach out to super backers via email that have backed 20 projects or more.
According to the article, “After an introductory email was sent to potential supporters, Rustagi found that Hustle and Play received direct responses from nearly one in four of the Kickstarter-identified backers–compared to about one in 20 responses from the company’s previous marketing efforts.”
While this might seem like a slick strategy, it isn’t condoned by Kickstarter. A spokesperson said, “I think unsolicited spamming is bad form and people don’t usually appreciate that.”
It’s up to you whether or not you decide to use this type of marketing approach. If you do, I wouldn’t just blast information about your product. I’d really try to get to know the backers and genuinely see what they think about your product.
Conclusion
These are a few ways that you can gain access to a list of previous Kickstarter and Indiegogo backers. There are also firms out there in the marketplace that will do the marketing of your campaign for you.
It’s easier than you might think to learn the skills to actually marketing your own crowdfunding campaign. If you haven’t already, go and sign up for one of my free courses or attend my next webinar. This will quickly get you up to speed.
Finally, if you want a proven strategy for getting funding on Kickstarter, grab a copy of my book, The Kickstarter Launch Formula. I’d also love it if you took a sec to leave an Amazon review. Thanks!
