The Top 2 Things You Must Have To Succeed In Crowdfunding

12-The-Top-2-Things-You-Must-Have-To-Succeed-In-Crowdfunding-Final

[00:00:00] Intro/Outro: [00:00:00] 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.

[00:00:20] Nalin: [00:00:20] Hey, everyone. Welcome to another session of the crush crowdfunding podcast. I'm really excited to have you here today and to really talk to you about crowdfunding and how you can absolutely crush your goal on Kickstarter and absolutely crush your goal on Indiegogo. So today I wanted to talk about what distinguishes kind of a big campaign from a small campaign.

[00:00:46] And, you know, with crowdfunding, there's a lot of things that go into making an entire campaign. Obviously there's like a press, the, maybe influencers, your walk. You're working with, there's no advertising. There's your [00:01:00] campaign page. There's lead generation. There's your landing page. There's like the colors that you use, the graphics that you use.

[00:01:07] So I can go on and on and on about everything. You need to make a good campaign, right? Like. They're kind of the basic things that have to be in the campaign itself, but there's two things that people don't talk about it. Right. Kind of funding that really kind of makes or breaks a campaign and also really sets apart the really, really big successes from something that probably just raises, you know, a few hundred dollars.

[00:01:33] Right. And that I really think is going to be the product itself and the audience and community that you have around your product. So let's kind of dig into this a little more. So what the product, what I'm trying to say here is that a lot of people can have really great ideas. Right. You can have an idea while you're walking down the road.

[00:01:52] You could have an idea as you're, you know, in the shower, washing your hair. That's where most of my greatest ideas come from [00:02:00] actually, but what sets apart a good idea? That will really, really just take off in crowdfunding versus an idea that usually just is hard to make work is the fact that the product needs to solve a problem.

[00:02:14] Right. Let that sink in for a little bit. The product needs to solve a problem. So what do I mean by this? So, okay. Let's look at something like the fidget cube, right? That seemed like it was just a silly toy, right? You just like, kind of put something in your hand, you kind of play around with it, you fidget with it so that you don't get forward Joes off or something like that.

[00:02:34] But when you really look at the core of why the fidget cube was created, right, it's focus is for attention, especially with. The environment now where, you know, our phones are ringing all the time. There's text messages coming, there's Slack on a popping up in your face. There's blog posts to read there's this ebook you've been meaning to tackle there's, you know, the kettle's boiling, you know, there's traffic everywhere.

[00:03:00] [00:02:59] Your dog's like running around in the background. Like focus is so hard

to maintain. And that was kind of the premise of is something like the pitch to cube, right. It was to help you maintain focus that's honestly, I think why I did so well, because it's something that is so simple and so easy for people to relate to.

[00:03:19] And it really hits at a core problem that we all just keep wanting to move or throw in this direction. We're pulled in that direction and intrinsically, we just want to stay still. We just want to be right here doing what we're doing right now. And one way to do that is to kind of extend the energy to fidget, right?

[00:03:38] To expend the energy to fidget while you're sitting there, you know, Savannah meeting, listening, you're not focusing on your phone and things like that, so that you can actually use that time to be present and to be doing exactly what you should be doing at the time, rather than, you know, Going all over the place and being pulled in all these different directions.

[00:03:56] So product, right. It really comes down to [00:04:00] product. And when you're thinking about a product, there's a lot of ways you can approach this, right? You can create a product and think, Hey, this will be great for every single person out there in the world. Right. And this really relates to the next part, the community and the audience too.

[00:04:12] You can say, Hey, I created this really cool. Cool mug and it's made for everybody cause it holds liquid and you know, we're 70, we're made of 70% water. And since liquid is what makes most of us, everyone needs this mug and everyone should want this mug, but. That's not true. Right? The reason you created your product, the reason you thought about your idea is because you found a problem within your own life, or you found out an issue that someone else who's close to you or related to you or near and dear to you, they've had this problem this whole time and you were like, Hey, why don't we fix it in this other way, which led to you making your own product. Right? And that my friends is exactly what you need to solve is the problem that you want to solve. And it's [00:05:00] exactly the thing you want to do, and it's the problem you want to solve. And it's exactly what you need to make and who you need to talk to.

[00:05:09] Right. Who else has this problem? Who else has all these issues that this new product can solve instantaneously. Right? Like this mug, it's not for everyone. Right. It's pretty big. you know, I've pretty much like two hands to hold. It's ceramics. I'm not everyone who likes ceramics. Some people probably like glass or some people like plastics.

[00:05:28] Some people like a water bottle to use at home. Like who are the people who would want something like this? Like, why was this made like, sure, this mug is probably not the best example because it's kind of a commodity, but it's a great thinking exercise, right? Like. Who should you talk to? That would like the contours of this. How, you know, you can put probably like three full cups of coffee in here, this mug, and probably last you like four hours before you have to go fill it up again with another drink, like who in the sea of people who are [00:06:00] probably, you know, who are out there. People who love yoga, people, hiking, people who, entrepreneurs, people who are working from home.

[00:06:06] People are staying home. Moms who stay at home dads, like who. In the world would want your product, right? This thing, this mug, who is it? And I always encouraged

people to think back to again, like why this product was created in the first place. That's why product and community are so important. And they're so tied together.

[00:06:28] Why did you create this product? Why was it important in the first place? Why was this something that you felt like you had to make? Because that my friends is exactly the core pain. The core values, the core needs of the people you should be talking to. The reason you made this product is going to lead you to the group of people who want the product, right?

[00:06:54] That's the trick. Some people really think, Hey, this product is for literally everybody out there, [00:07:00] and then your message gets diluted. Your story, no one really cares or hears about. Could you try to make your story? Work for everyone, right? If you're creating a backpack, a minimalist backpack, that's aimed at someone who is traveling for four days a week, rather than someone who travels once every blue moon, all the pain points that you talk about, all the features that you.

[00:07:23] All the benefits that come with a minimalist backpack will resonate the most with people who are in that same situation. And, and really no audience is too small because when you look at other campaigns, right, the ones that are really truly successful. Really designed for a core, core demographic, and then explodes from there.

[00:07:41] Let's look at an example in real life, like back then a potato peeler used to look Thirty silly. It used to look like this, this metallic thing. That's really hard to hold. And like, it was just difficult to just squeeze it and just peel potatoes. Right. [00:08:00] And then one day someone was like, people who have arthritis can't have arthritis, just can't hold this thing. They can't hold this, squeeze it and use it to peel potatoes. Like this is horrible. Right. And so they actually worked with arthritis patients. They work with people who had these needs for a better potato peeler and they created what this thing looks like here with a really thick handle, a handle that kind of fits and contours better into your hand. And that what you see now was made explicitly for people with arthritis, from things like arthritis, like national association or something like that. So weird just to create for this one. Particular set of people. And then guess what? Now that's pretty much the only type of potato peeler you see? Why is that?

[00:08:44] It's because this product was made for a certain group of people and it works so well so well that everyone else was like, Whoa, wait a minute. Why aren't we using that too? Why are we still using this really crappy, metal thing that we can't even hold, [00:09:00] we can't even squeeze. Cause it digs into our hands. Why are we still using this? There's this other cool thing out there that conjures through my hand, I can squeeze. I can like pull properly while peeling a potato. Why? Why not? Right. And so it became something that everyone uses now kind of the standard for potato peelers, right? So let's think about crowdfunding, those campaigns that go really be like, go really viral. Why I encourage you to go look at them, go look at campaigns and whatever category that are like the most funded. Or fully funded, things like that and to see like, okay, who were they initially designing for? Who was their target market? Because you'll find that all of these campaigns had a really, really key core target demographic and really met all those needs. Before everyone else was like, wait a minute. That's amazing. I need that too in my life. And so people from other demographics, other needs, other wants, started to [00:10:00] see why these, this product

was so special and so necessary. And they themselves said that, Hey, I'm part of this chart too. They came in and was like, Hey, let me be part of this. Let me help support this and bring this to life too. So that's pretty much like. Why product and community are just so important to any crowdfunding campaign. Like if you don't have a good product that solves a problem and you don't have a product that solves an issue, that's so near and dear to someone, and you're not able to extract.

[00:10:30] Why then there's an issue, right? If you don't know why the spark is helpful, why this is so necessary, why this is life changing and the people who are using it, then that's, that's difficult for you to kind of scale and to go beyond. Right? So for products, I encourage you to look back and like why you created this?

[00:10:47] What was the reason behind making this product, like if theirs was in the market tomorrow, what pain does it solve for you? And for other people who have the same problem? The same pain point? No, that [00:11:00] why write it down, write it down. So, because that's going to form who you go after. For the audience, right? For your community. It's the people who have those same pain points have those same issues that they want to really, really just tackle. Right. Let's take an example. Another, another campaign that I worked with these guys are called move and they created this online grocery store. And first year like, Whoa, what an online grocery store, what are you talking about?

[00:11:30] But when you think about it, the core part of the reason why this product, this product slash service is important is because. They really care about food access, right? Food access for people who are in remote areas, food access, healthy food access for people who don't have that access and at an affordable price. So those key concepts really drove that particular campaign, right? Because by finding those core [00:12:00] things, the food access, the healthy food lovers, and also people who wanted good, healthy food and affordable prices like that, those are the things that drove the product or the service really drove the community. And the campaign went on to raise 400,000 something dollars and have thousands of backers. Ready for them when they actually finally launched their campaign, I mean, launch their store online and it's great because one always follows the other. So I encourage you. Go look at your PR, think about your product, think about why you created it, what the problem was and who is solving a problem for, because that will answer two very great things. If there's a need for your product and if there's a community, need your products too.

[00:12:45] Intro/Outro: [00:12:45] So thank you for being with me here today. If you need a crowdfunding expert, feel free to get in touch. You can get started by heading to crushcrowdfunding.com. Lastly. I would be really grateful if you could leave a [00:13:00] 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.

[00:13:26] Thanks for listening to the Crush Crowdfunding podcast@crushcrowdfunding.com tune in the same time next week. For more ways to crush your launch.