Is Crowdfunding Right For Me?

Speaker 1 (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.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
What's up everybody? Thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Nalin and I'm here to help you launch your dream and absolutely crush it with your crowdfunding launch. Today we're going to talk about how to create a successful Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign. This might sound generic, but it's always, always, always the first conversation I have with people I work with. How the whole process actually works. We'll dive deep into the mechanics of a crowdfunding process, really from beginning to end so that you know what it takes step-by-step to get from idea to fully funded. A lot of people think that if they have an incredible idea, put a nice crowdfunding page together and just launch their campaign, people will automatically and immediately come to their page and the product will raise millions. That's a huge myth, unfortunately. Actually, it's the number one myth in crowd funding and still is today.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
It's the reason why 70% of campaigns don't actually get funded and only 30% of campaigns do. Let me just repeat that statistic. 70% of campaigns don't get funded. Only 30% of campaigns that launch actually make it out fully funded or get beyond fully funded. And again, it's because people just come to the crowdfunding page and just press launch. When you go to kickstarter.com or indiegogo.com and see those campaigns that are raising tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, you bet that they didn't just put their idea on crowdfunding, press launch and win. No, Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope. Here's a little teaser for the steps we'll be talking about today. These campaigns, they all put in the work for months, sometimes even years, right? Even before the project launches, they take the time to refine their product, research the competitor and market, find their crowd, nurture their potential backers and hype

Speaker 1 (02:39):
their launch to their core group. This is even before the rest of the campaign starts getting into place. So how does crowdfunding actually work? How do these campaigns actually make it so that they raise a thousand dollars $10,000 a hundred thousand dollars and even, you know, and sometimes even millions, right? How do they do it? So it all starts off with a good product, right? A good product meets a lot of people's needs. They, it's something that people actually want or people actually need and it has a cool factor that just splits it out from the crowd, just separates it from everything else that's out there, right? You can make sure that your product is in this category by doing a lot of good market research and a lot of good competitor research. Look at what else is out there. What are they, what are people calling their features?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
What features do people have? You know, people will be trading their hard earned dollars for something that you're creating. Be sure that what you're creating is much better than anything else that's out there or else why would they have to put in money and then wait for your product to come to market and they can just go to Amazon or any other website out there and just put down their money and get a product in return almost immediately, right? Make sure your product stands out from that crowd because every time a backer comes to your page, they can consider, hey, I can back this project or I can go somewhere else and put my money elsewhere and get a similar product pretty much immediately. Again, it all starts with a good product. You have to have that good idea, make sure that the features are refined and also make sure that the product is priced in a reasonable manner.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
If you're looking to release something like a new projector and you're pricing at $10,000 probably not going to make the best sense to launch that because 9.9999% of projectors are going to be below the $10,000 mark. Probably, maybe all the projectors are going to be below the $10,000 mark. And so if your projector can't take people to the moon, they're probably not going to be investing in something like that. So again, do that market research, competitor research, pricing research, just to make sure you have a good product at a good price for people. So that's kind of on the product side. We can go a lot deeper into the product side, but in general that's what you kind of need. Next up you need, you need good assets, right? Because good assets can take your product very, very, very far. Think about it this way.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Everything that people see about your product online, on social media, on your website as an ad, it all comes down to the assets. What pictures you take of your product, what videos you have of your product, what gifts you've made of your product, what little snippets you've taken of the assets you have, right? All pictures, videos, gifts, short videos, things like that. It all comes together really, really well. And really importantly before you even embark on your crowdfunding campaign because people need a see while you're trying to build. People need to see what they'll be giving their email address to, you know, for this project. And then finally what they potentially will be giving their money to for this project. And if you don't have good assets, if you don't have good pictures, if your picture is blurry or not high quality or it doesn't fully showcase what your product does and it's natural lifestyle habitat, then people probably won't be as excited to back your project.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
If you're launching a board game for example, and you have no pictures whatsoever of the pieces or you have no pictures whatsoever or people play testing the product of the play, testing the game and won't be as convincing to people, it won't be as legitimate to people. This as well as pictures of the pieces, pictures of the little people, the board of the board, game itself, things like that. Videos of different angles of it, right? Things like this you really need because it is the base of everything that you do at your learning page, your social media, your press kit, everything. So good assets is something that's incredibly important to have in before you start marketing for your crowdfunding campaign. Next, you have to start really finding people who want to talk about your product. Who they want to talk about your project, and the earlier you start, the better, right?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
These can be people like influencers, bloggers, vloggers, press, freelance journalists, just anyone out there who writes or has an audience who would, actually just anyone who has an audience, right? If they love your product and they want to talk about your product, make sure that you communicate with them, form that relationship with them. You don't have to tell them to release anything right now, but start forming those relationships so that when you do launch your project, you can, you know. Leverage that relationship that you have to, that, that person with their audience upon thousands of tens of thousands or millions who can actually come back and say, Hey, I told my audience about your project. My 5 million people, person audience about your project and they're all super excited to back you for your launch, right? Start finding those people and start making those relationships.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
The next thing you need to find your own audience. This is one of the most important things. Actually, this is probably the most important thing of a crowdfunding launch and a crowdfunding campaign. You have to find your audience. People think that in order to be successful, they can just go out and buy an email list of 100,000 people and just send an email and say, Hey, we're launching, and then hope to get fully funded from that list of 100,000 emails. But sorry, but it doesn't work that way, right? Finding an audience is one of the most important things because these people will know who you are and know what your product is, be already, you know, excited about the idea. They've been thinking about it a lot for awhile. They've been, it's been simmering in their head. And then once you finally launch, right, like you should have done enough to just convince them to actually back you and your campaign and your project.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So finding an audience and finding the right people for your product is going to be just hugely, immensely important for you. Especially for crowdfunding, right? I say especially for crowdfunding because of how crowdfunding actually works. In order to get that traction and get that success on crowdfunding, you don't just rely on the Kickstarter Indiegogo platform, you actually have to bring your own crowd to crowdfunding, meet at least 30% of your conference and goal within 24 hours. And once that happens, once you know Indiegogo and Kickstarter actually tracks that you have visitors and these visitors are actually turning into backers and you're actually raising dollars, then the platform on both kickstarter and Indiegogo starts, you know their algorithms start going into place. They start pushing you into their trending sections. They start putting you out into their social media channels.
Speaker 1 (10:35)
They start putting you out into their newsletters. They start putting you out on the front page. So finding that your audience, your own audience that care about you, care about your project and are willing and able to actually come and back your campaign that first day. It's just so critical and just so important for your launch that this is just the number one thing that you just have to do, right? Buying an email list, it doesn't make any sense. You can find your audience by, you know, going to friends and family and getting them to promise you to back on your first day. You can go to forums and start talking to people and start forming those relationships one on one with people. Start telling people about your project that you're launching, things like that. You can go to meetups and start talking to people who might be interested in, in your particular product or your project.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
You can go out and talk to people at coffee shops. You can talk to your neighbors. There's so many different things you can do in order to find your audience. The main, main way that people do find their audience is actually to go to Facebook, right? They actually run advertising on Facebook to a group of people who they think will probably be interested in their project, take them to a landing page and then collect those emails. And that is how the majority of people who launch from crowdfunding find an audience and actually convert that audience into backers. So again, finding an audience incredibly, incredibly important. The next part is that pre launch phase, right before you start launching your product and press that button to go, right? You have to get your audience warmed up. That pre launch warm up phase, right? And this kind of can is, is that kind of nurturing of your fans, your the people on your email list who said, Hey, I'm interested in your project.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Hey, I'm going to back you when you launch. Get them warmed up. Say, Hey, I'm gonna launch on this date as at this time and I really want you to come and back my campaign because if you do, it's going to make the platform Kickstarter or Indiegogo actually talk about me more. Send this out to more people, right? Get more eyes onto the page so that I can make this success so that I can bring this to you. Say, this is an email, say this in social media, say it everywhere that you can when you're just about to launch so that everyone who is anyone who's interested in your project knows that this is coming right? On the launch day itself, you know, just release the floodgates. Get people noticing the project. Follow up with every single person who you talk to who has expressed interest.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Those people who said they would start talking to their own audience about your product. Those influencers, bloggers, vloggers, tell them that your project has launched and have them tell their audience to bring their audience to your page, right? Tell your own audience, people who have promised who they're going to back on the first day, those friends and family tell, tell them, tell everyone. Tell the world shouted from the rooftops, right? If they're there to be super excited to back your product already, they're gonna come and they're on that first day, whip out their credit card and support your campaign, right? And the next thing is you have to do, it's all just, you know, pushing through for the next 30 or 60 days, right? It's figuring out, you know, how do I get the word out to more people and how do I convince more people to come and support my project?
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Right? Just continue to get people,people to notice your project. Continue to try to increase the average order value for people on your campaign page. People do this by putting out stretch goals or putting ad-ons or something else in order to increase the number, the amount people pledge to the campaign, right? Make it easier if you want to understand your project. Do a live session. If it is a live video session where you talk directly to your backers or people who are on the fence, have them ask you questions or talk more about your project. Talk about the updates, how, how things are going in the backend, right? Direct message people who have backed you or who have not backed you to send them a survey. Ask them, Hey, why did you back us? Or ask, Hey, why didn't you back us? And make sure that you make changes on your page. Make changes on the way you're talking about your project and changes so that you can reach more people and convince more people, right? Run cross promotions, run referral programs. Get the word out there any way you can.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And again guys, this is pretty much the step by step breakdown of how to create a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign, how to successfully run one. And it all starts with a good product. You need to have great assets to begin with because everything about your campaign online just all comes down to pictures and videos and information about your product, right? You want to start finding people who want to talk about your product. You have to you, you want to find your audience because that's the people who's going to take you from zero dollars to fully funded. It's your audience, people who love your project and want to see your project come to life and wants to see you successful. You want to get your audience warmed up. Tell them where they can help you bring this project to life, how much they can contribute. What time, what day you're going to be launching. And then you know, as the campaign moves forward in that 30 to 60 day timeframe, just let people know you know, what they can do to help and also continue to get people to notice the project. And continue to figure out ways to convert people into backers.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Just if there's one thing to take away from today, is that crowdfunding takes a ton of preparation. And it takes a lot of time and energy both before the campaign launches and during the campaign period. You can't just press launch on Kickstarter or Indiegogo and hope to get to your $30,000 goal overnight. Think about it, just thinking about this way, raising $30,000 in the 30 days of your campaign literally means you're doing the work of a 360,000 per year job on top of the other obligations already have. You know, work life fun. Like it's crowdfunding is no easy feat so I'm just so excited that you're here today listening to this podcast, wanting to embark on this journey. And I hope that today I've kind of broken down step by step of what actually needs to happen to create a successful Kickstarter Indiegogo campaign. Like it really is just step-by-step like this guys. It's, it's not too complex, it’s how you execute it.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Making sure that you have the good products, you have the good assets, you are talking to people about your product, you're finding that audience, you're telling them that you're launching and that you're, you're continuing to just get the word out about your project, right? Like that is really just end to end what happens for a crowdfunding campaign. And it's just so important, so, so, so important to just lay it out there so that you know how to prepare and how to just get your product out there to just succeed and just completely crush it on crowdfunding. Right? I, I hope you find some value from what we talked about today, that that 5,000 foot view and that step-by-step and what it takes to get a product from idea all the way through to fully funded. And just really have an amazing day and I'll see you in the next podcast. Thanks for listening to the crush crowdfunding podcast at crushcrowdfunding.com. Tune at the same time next week for more ways to crush your launch.