The Jazz & Blues
Revue 40-day Kickstarter campaign ended on Friday July 11, at
2:00 PM. It was a resounding
success: we hit our goal of $18,000 on Monday July 7, and by Friday we ended up
with 250 backers pledging $19,818.
I am still a bit in awe of the accomplishment - we were able to raise
almost $20,000 to create an album of jazz and blues music that would never be
considered by the major record labels - and I didn't even have to call in my
"rich uncle" at the last minute.
This is Part 6 of a blog I started to document the actual
process of going through a successful Kickstarter campaign. There are countless guides you can find
that teach you how to create a crowd funding campaign, but I think this may be the first one that
carries you through the process.
In the end we hit and actually exceeded our number by 10%. The dust has finally settled a
little. It is time to reflect on
what I actually LEARNED from this experience
1. Set a goal that is a stretch, but is
doable.
Kickstarter gives you very good stats before and during the
process. One thing I read is the
average Kickstarter donation comes out to be around $75. So I figured that to hit our goal of
$18,000, we would need at least 240 backers. I felt certain that, between my fan base and the singers fan
base, we must have 240 people that would step up to the plate. In the end, we had 250 backers that
pledged $19,818 or an average pledge of $79.27 each. Creating a viable and realistic financial goal lets you
finish strong.
2. Timing is everything
In researching crowd funding, I knew that the dates we chose
for our campaign would matter. It
had to fit the schedule of the band.
It had to end on the right day, and not get clobbered by holiday
weekends. We all had to be
available for a final push during the last week. I wanted to schedule parties and events during the
campaign. Nothing can be left to
chance.
3. Create scarcity
Limiting the number of people that can get certain rewards
make then more valuable. This
especially helps with the large rewards - big backers want to feel special!
4. All
or nothing works
There are other funding sites that are not date specific,
and others that let you keep part of the money, even if you don't hit your full
goal. Kickstarter's "all or
nothing" approach is scary, but very effective. It creates urgency.
It let's people know you are serious, and if you don't hit your goal
they get their money back and don't get stuck with a credit card bill for an
inferior product. And people love
to be heroes - people wanted to be the one to help us hit $10,000, or be the
one to push us over the $18,000 goal.
5. Set aside time to
do the work
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise - fundraising is hard
work. I probably averaged 2-3 hours a day to make this happen. It was challenging, exhausting and so
rewarding, not just financially.
6. Make it fun
If it ain't fun, then why do this? We created some really fun rewards, we scheduled Kickstarter
parties during the 40 days, and we even scheduled a club gig the last night of
our campaign. Talk about
commitment! I figured we would both
hit our goal and have an incredible celebration, or we would have a gig that
was very depressing - and no one wanted that to happen!
7. Give Thanks
Keeping in contact with all the backers during the campaign
was important, but now it is even more important to touch base and thank them
for making our dream a reality. We
really could not have done this without their support. The final project is months from
completion, but now is the time to thank them and keep them in the loop. These 250 people are going to be our
advocates when the final album arrives!
