5 Things To Post During Pre-Launch

14-5-Things-To-Post-During-Pre-Launch-Final-96K

SUMMARY KEYWORDS
product, online, talk, people, content, working, launch, project, crowdfunding, journey, post, months, crush, life, main character, founders, creating, pre launch, obstacle, Guatemala

00:03
This is the Crush Crowdfunding podcast. The number one place for people who want to launch on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. My name is Nalin and I invite you to join me for tips, hacks, and insights to get you launched and fully funded.

00:20
Hey everyone and welcome to another session of The Crush Crowdfunding podcast. I'm really excited to have you here today to talk to you about crowdfunding and how you can absolutely crush your goals on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

I'm so excited to have you guys here today because I'm going to talk about what the heck to post. It might sound kind of silly but a lot of people I talk to just really aren't sure about what to post when it comes to their social media platforms. So, let's think about it this way- crowdfunding happens online. Kickstarter, Indiegogo - it’s all online.

When you want people to come to your page and actually give you credit card information to back and pre-order your product they do it online, which is why having an online presence is crutial. You can't be knocking on people's doors every single day in the hope that marketing in that fashion translates to people actually taking out their credit card and going online to back your project. Everything is initially online so you have to market yourself online by being online.

This includes creating transparency, credibility, and building that relationship with your potential backers via social media channels. That’s because at the end of the day what you're going to be selling and having people pre-order will come from not only where you live, but everywhere else around the world. It's all online!

As you go about your day, pay attention to normal marketing for stores all around you. Stores like mom-and-pop shops and big-box retail stores. Think about how you can do what they’re doing but online. What kind of things draw you and attract you to these physical stores? Think about how to translate these things to your online marketing.

The main reason you want to really build up your social media presence on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter is to build credibility. People have to know, trust, and like you in order to spend even $1 on you, let alone if your product is $20, $30, $40, $100, or even $1,000.

Whatever your product is, people have to trust you enough that you're going to create the product, that you're going to keep them updated, and that you're going to deliver the product. One of the main ways to really build that credibility and trusting relationship with people and bring them into your campaign is to post and have a presence online.

Be active, be present, be there.

Honestly, the rule of thumb for all online marketing during pre-launch for crowdfunding, in particular, for Kickstarter or Indiegogo is: be open, be transparent and be authentic. Those are the main things you have to be cognisant of when planning on what to market, what to post, and how to be present online. Again - be open, be transparent, and be authentic.

That is important because the people who follow crowdfunding and who actually back projects are generally super-early adopters. They're the people who are willing to take money they might have put into savings and invest it into getting a potential product. Despite the fact that they may not get it for three, six or even twelve months down the line. They're the people who aren't afraid to take that risk to hopefully see this better, more effective product go out on the market in the future.

They are people who are invested and dedicated to you and your idea so much that they're willing to spend money for something that might not even get made if the project derails in some way like timeline, budgeting, or financing. These are the people who are super gung-ho about you even before the product gets made. So when you think about it, the people who follow crowdfunding are not going to be afraid to see the bad or the ugly. They're not going to be afraid to see your struggles. Actually, they love that!

Those early backers love seeing everything. Like your win’s that say- “Hey, I figured out how to tweak this prototype so it's even more cost-effective now.” Or, “Hey, I figured out how to make these colors blend better for this product that I'm creating.” Similarly, they’re open to seeing you express your struggles. Like when you work through things and say - “Oh man. I failed to do this. I tried to find suppliers for three months and it didn't work for three months. But! Now I found the best supplier who is going to be able to do this for such a cost-effective price.” Or, “I've been working for months trying to get this PCB to work properly, but it just hasn't been doing it. So I changed up a little bit and now it works.”

They're not afraid to see your struggles. They're not afraid to see the imperfections. Things that don't have a nice bow tied on the top are ok because they're here for you. They're here to support you and help you get your idea from where it is now in your head or as a prototype to getting that idea out to the market.

So, don't be scared to be open with people. Be transparent! If you're having a really, really bad month trying to get things moving forward for your crowdfunding project - tell them! They're going to be even more thankful to you for being open and telling them everything by bringing them along on the journey.

Think about the last book that you read that you were really, really engrossed in. The last thing you read that was probably fiction, right? What you learned about the main character was both good and bad, right? You learned about what their strengths were. Maybe it was that they were good at talking to people, making friends, or building communities.

But you also learned about their weaknesses. The things that they struggled with like their identity. Those hidden traits that they were scared to talk to people about. However, despite knowing the bad, you learn to love the character in both their strengths and their weaknesses.

They become a more holistic person and someone that you can actually relate to. You actually want to follow along in the story more because of it. It makes the main character more human - like you. You can relate by saying - “Okay. This person's kind of like me.” Or, “This person's kind of like XYZ that I know. I really want to root for them because of this weakness that they have and I hope that they can conquer it.” If you think back to the main character in your favorite TV shows, your favorite movies, your favorite books - there's always an obstacle they have to overcome. Something that you’re able to rally behind them and want to see them triumph over.

It's very much the same with a crowdfunding campaign.

You need to showcase people everything from the good to the bad so that everyone can rally behind you. So that they can rally behind your ideas and your projects. Through this you can gather a crowd and convert them into backers when it comes to launch time. Now that we're kind of in that mindset of being open, transparent, and authentic one thing I really wanted to talk to you about was the five different types of content that you can post during your pre-launch.

So, what are the things that you can actually post about? A lot of people come to me and ask- “Nalin, what do I post about 30 days or 60 days or 90 days in my pre-launch campaign? How am I going to have enough things to say to people during this pre-launch phase so that I'm able to keep people excited? How am I going to have enough content for all this time?” The funny thing is - you probably have more content than you even know you have.

Everything that you've done so far is the content. The process is the marketing with crowdfunding.

1 - The first thing that you can post about is simply information about your product.

What the features are. What the benefits are. What kind of things you can do with it. What are the use cases of the product if you're launching a habit journal? What do the pages actually look like? What kind of iterations for that particular habit journal have you been working on? What kind of colors have you experimented with? What kind of paper style have you experimented with?

There are literally so many things about the product itself that people don't know that are worth sharing. Since it's a new product you want them to know. You want them to know everything about it so they can visualize themselves having it in their life. Visualize themselves with the product in their hands actually using it. Be as specific as possible. The more specific you are the better. Again, the first thing is information about the product.

2- The second thing is user-generated content.

In the pre-launch phase I really recommend that you go out and beta test your product. Ask people to look at it. Ask people to try it out. Ask people to use it. Ask people to give you feedback. Ask people to imagine using it. Ask people to play around with it and even see if they can try to break it or something. Just get the product in the hands of people so that they can tell you exactly what their thoughts are.

Once you do that, you will have so much potential content to share. From product feedback to ways you can improve the product in the future or ways you can actually improve the product for this particular campaign. Using that user-generated content is so important during pre-launch. Let's go back to the habit journal example. If people trying out your product are saying - “Wow! I can't imagine living without this. I can't imagine what I would do if I didn't have this anymore. This is literally the best habit tracker I've ever seen in my entire life.” You need to share that.

Just using quotes like that and getting video reactions of people when they see your product for the first time and use your product for the first time is an absolute gold mine in regards to content. Mainly because people love to hear what others have to say. You've heard of the “fear of missing out” right? Well, it happens with products too. If people see that other people like Product A people tend to flock to Product A because there's a lot of testimonials going around regarding it. So, again, the second thing is that user-generated content.

3- The third thing we're going to talk about today is behind-the-scenes content.

Behind the scenes content is, again, what you probably have a lot of already. This is things like your sketches of early prototypes or early drawings of your idea, or even what you look like on a Wednesday afternoon when you're working in the office. Show them how you respond to people in line or what your production facility looks like or maybe even a team picture.

Basically, just anything that allows people to get a peek behind the curtain and see what you're up to draws them into your story, connects them to your ideal, and gives them the opportunity to see the true vision for this product. If you can let them in, they're sure to follow you inside regardless and take a look around. They're going to want to be on your side if they see there's ten of you tirelessly working for the past year to bring this product to life. They're going to be super excited for the product and for you.

4- Number four is the founder’s journey.

This is kind of like the behind-the-scenes idea but it's a little different because it focuses mostly on you as the founder. As I mentioned earlier - when you're looking at your favorite book, movie, or TV show everything is about that one main character and how they navigate life and become triumphant in the end. Similarly, this campaign is your founder’s journey.

You (if you haven't noticed) are the founder of this product. You are the one that people are going to be rooting for. The one that they will be cheering for and hoping succeeds. Your story is the story people are going to be obsessed with. The more you're able to tell them about your founder’s journey the better. Tell them about why you wanted to create the product in the first place. What gave you that initial inspiration? What has pushed you to actually get from ideas and thoughts in your head to actually creating the product? Bring them in on your journey and what obstacles you’ve addressed along the way. What has caused pushback? Has there been pushback in your family?

Maybe some family members didn’t want you to be an entrepreneur but you are because it’s in your blood. People are going to relate to your stories. You are the protagonist in the story. Get out there and tell people your story so that they can root for you, so that they can cheer for you, so they can want to help you get to the end of the story where you are the hero.

5- The fifth thing I want to talk about is related articles.

It’s pretty simple. Related articles break up all the content that you have here that we talked about earlier - the info of the product, the user-generated content, behind-the-scenes stuff, and the founder’s journey. More specifically, this is content from within your own niche and market. You can say - “Hey. I see what other people are doing here and I'm giving a nod to them. But you should definitely take a look at what I've created here because it's really going to be the best solution for you.”

For example, if you're creating something like a travel jacket you can talk about your product (information), about people’s reaction to the product (user-generated content), the different waterproof coating that you've tried out (behind-the-scenes), your journey (founder’s journey), and even why you created this jacket. However, one of the other things to also talk about is getting people to think about using this product in their own life. That's done through related content. If this jacket is best for when you're out hiking or when you're out traveling the world then start seeding some content about that. Start seeding some content that says - “Hey, these are the best hiking spots in Ireland.” Or, “Hey, what's the best way to backpack around Guatemala?”

Little things like that can get people more attached to your brand and what you want to offer because they see exactly how your product ties into what can happen in real life. They may be left thinking, “Oh, I have been thinking about backpacking, Guatemala.” Or, “Oh, okay. This waterproof jacket is clearly something I'm going to need because it's going to rain in Guatemala. That makes so much sense.” This related content gets them more involved in your product because they can then see how it integrates seamlessly into their lives.

That wraps up the five different types of content that I would really recommend posting about during your pre-launch. These ideas alone will give you months of content. Months and months of it if you just get a few related articles and some posts out about your founder’s journey. If you get some posts out about some behind-the-scenes or early sketches.

Don't stress too much about what to share. The process is the marketing. I really encourage you to go out and start creating this content around your product because there's so much for you to show the world. There's so much for you to say that will convince people to rally behind your idea.

Thank you for being with me here today. If you need a crowdfunding expert, feel free to get in touch with me. You can get started by heading to crushcrowdfunding.com. Lastly, I would be really grateful if you could leave a review for the podcast because it will really help others who want to learn about crowdfunding just more easily find out about the podcast.

Thank you so much for being here with me, and for subscribing to the podcast, and for continuing to listen and just being here with me to go on this journey to crowdfund your product and your idea. I will see you guys in the next session.

16:22
Thanks for listening to the crush crowdfunding podcast at crush crowdfunding.com.

16:27
Tune-in the same time next week for more ways to crush your launch.