Lessons learned in the middle of a Kickstarter Campaign
By George Kahn
The Jazz & Blues
Revue is now 2 weeks into our 40 day Kickstarter campaign. Although I have
released 7 albums on my own, using my boutique record company and CD Baby for
distribution, this is the first time I have used crowd funding to finance a
project. Here are 4 tips that I
have learned this week that can help you have success with Kickstarter
1. It starts with a sprint, and turns into a
marathon
Last week I spoke about "first followers". It is important to have key people lined up to get your
project off to a fast start.
Getting traction, and being "in the race" is important to
attract others to join your vision and goal. We had a very successful launch,
and after 2 weeks we are 33% to our goal of $18,000 to fund our new album. Now the strategy shifts - we are in a
marathon, and perseverance and endurance will be more important than speed and
flash.
2. It takes a village
Hillary taught us that it takes a village to raise a
child. In the same way, it takes a
village to raise money on Kickstarter.
You need to get a "buy in" from the members of your group, so
that everyone is involved in promoting the project and asking people to get
involved. Each person will have
their own strengths they can bring to the project. One band member may be great with viral marketing, another
with writing copy, and another with having a rich uncle. Find each person's strength, and let
him or her bring it to the table.
Everyone in the group needs to own the project for it to succeed.
3. Use different platforms
When it comes to Internet marketing, the more the
merrier. Social media continues to
evolve, and the more places you show up the more likely it is that people will
notice you. Posting on Facebook is
the obvious place to start, but you can also post to your groups, and send
individual requests to your friends.
Over the last year I joined every LinkedIn group I could find related to
music, jazz or blues. I am now sending
these Kickstarter blog posts to these groups. I also manage four other blogs, and am using them to spread
the word. In a similar way,
Twitter has various levels of involvement. I don't do Pinterest or Tumblr, but the more you can be on
these various platforms, the better your chances for people to find your
project.
4. Time to ask
Now it is time to not just go wide, it is time to go deep.
This is the hard part for many people.
Picking up the phone and asking for help brings up feelings of fear and
rejection, and may even bring up concerns about self worth and your
relationship with money. Remember,
this is no time for "paralysis of the analysis". You have already sent the mass
emails. Now is the week to send
personal emails to the people you know most likely to support your vision. Then, if their pledge does not show up
in a couple of days, a follow-up text message or phone call is appropriate. Time to put on your Nike shirt and
shoes, and Just Do It.
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