In this final episode of the Crowdfunding Uncut podcast, we explore what's next and how you can keep us in your earballs. Visit launchandscale.crowdfundinguncut.com to learn more.
What if you could launch your project and have a super-engaged audience lining up to buy your product? So many blogs, and guru’s harp on having a big email list before you launch. What if it wasn’t about that? What if it was about how engaged they are?
"90% of the people who sign up for my Giveaways end up reading their email, and about 50-60% respond to that email", Timothy Moser, MasterOfMemory.com
This rings true for a lot of things. If you have a tiny list of raving fans, I guarantee you will convert higher rates, and get MORE sales from that list then you would have if you only focussed on the quantity.
Using a Giveaway Strategy in another niche has helped Timothy Moser get an almost unheard of 10% conversion rate (from lead to sale). This unique selling strategy focused on nurturing your leads, and getting them super engaged, and ready to buy anything you’re selling.
Before Timothy Moser started Master of Memory, a website that offers free information and courses on how to memorize anything, he was a lot like many people trying to get their start on the internet.
He had been listening to podcasts and reading blogs on how to start a business online.
Memorization and learning had always been a passion of Tim’s. One day Tim was googling around for more information to improve his own skills....
But he didn’t find much.
He mostly found forum posts, but certainly no central hub to learn the best techniques for remembering someone’s name you just met, or Spanish verb conjugation.
So Tim threw up a website for fun hoping to make some beer money with banner ads…
When Timothy’s website, MasterOfMemory.com, blew up!
Even though he decided early to focus his brand around giving away ALL his information for free, he was still able to monetize the site within 3 months by selling a course on learning Spanish where enrollees get personal attention from native speakers online.
His Unique Selling Proposition for that course was to use the advanced memorization techniques he had learned and apply it to learning “boring” vocabulary and grammar.
This podcast isn’t on how to memorize anything… Go to MasterOfMemory.com for that info…
You will learn:
Contact Khierstyn at www.khierstyn.com
Show Notes:
The Ultimate Guide To Use Hangouts On Air For Webinars - By Pat Flynn of SmartPassiveIncome.com
Gareth Everard ran a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign when he launched the first product that led to the founding of Rockwell Razors. He used that first campaign to launch several other successful product lines and made the transition to make it a sustainable brand. But his road to success was not an easy one. In today’s episode, Gareth shares his story of the manufacturing problems he ran into and what he did to keep those troubles from causing his product to fail. If you’re launching a product, or even thinking about it, you’ll want to join us and learn all you can from Gareth’s experience.
Gareth Everard’s first crowdfunding campaign exceeded its goal the first day and made 12 times that goal by the end of the campaign! In this episode, Gareth talks about how he chose his product, how an online community made a huge difference in the success of his campaign, and how he navigated the challenges that came his way. Listen in to gain some great tips and ideas for a successful crowdfunding campaign.
As Gareth Everard describes it, his crowdfunding campaign became a series of unfortunate events when he discovered that his manufacturer had massively misled him regarding their capability for producing a quality product. In this episode, Gareth tells me about how he overcame this huge obstacle in a way that allowed him to keep his backers and customers and successfully launch additional products. It wasn’t easy. Listen in and learn from Gareth’s experience how you can prevent your crowdfunding campaign from ruining your life.
Are you wondering how to create a business out of your crowdfunding campaign? Do you want to learn from someone who did it well? Gareth Everard was successful in turning his campaign into an actual business. In this episode, he talks about the one factor that played the biggest part in his success. And it’s not what you might think. Listen to this interview to learn what you need to do to keep your backers and customers receptive to new products.
Are you trying to decide which creator would be the best for you to use for your crowdfunding campaign? In this episode, Gareth Everard provides some insight into Kickstarter and Indiegogo and which one will likely best serve your needs, based on where you are in your product development. Listen in for some great advice that will help you make a good decision about the platform you want for your campaign.
Rachel Pedersen is a Facebook marketing strategy specialist. In this episode, she helps you dig deeper into Facebook advertising and shares her most helpful tips and insights into how to do it well. Rachel provides solid answers to detailed questions. Listen to this interview to learn how to use Facebook ads in a way that will stand out, engage your audience, and lead to a successful product launch.
The first step in preparing for your product launch is to identify your potential audience and find out what message will resonate with them. In this episode, Rachel Pedersen explains how vital this step is to your entire Facebook marketing strategy, and details the ways you can test your market so that you don’t spend money on ads that may be ineffective. Listen to this interview to find out how to set yourself up for success by knowing ahead of time what is going to attract your market.
Good copy is essential to effective Facebook marketing strategy. As Rachel Pedersen says, “If your copy isn’t explaining the benefits of your product very well it doesn’t matter what audience you send it to.” In this episode, Rachel provides instruction on what good copy includes, how to find examples to base your copy on, and how to then test your copy to be sure it resonates with your market. Listen to this podcast to get a head start on writing great copy for your Facebook ads!
Your e-mail audience is your warmest audience. They have already indicated interest in your product. In this episode, Rachel Pederson talks about the importance of communicating with them, and gives tips for targeting Facebook ads to your e-mail audience so that they see your product launch everywhere and don’t forget to be part of it. Listen in to learn about using your e-mail audience as a vital part of your Facebook marketing strategy.
Is the best Facebook audience a lookalike audience based on your e-mail list? The answer to that question depends on several factors, including the size of your e-mail list. In this interview, Rachel Pederson explains what is needed to create an accurate lookalike audience, and how to make adjustments as you gather more data. Listen in to learn about creating a lookalike audience and to gain other helpful tips and insights from this Facebook marketing strategy expert.
"The smartest thing we did was reject old fashion, old media, old world advice of how to trick people into giving you their money" - Max Temkin
If you are becoming frustrated, depressed, and disillusioned learning about how to raise money to fund your project, then this podcast will inspire you.
Max Temkin has directly raised, or advised in a number of projects that have raised over $10 million total on Kickstarter.
You MAY have heard of them…
In December, 2015, Max raised $1,479,046 for "Secret Hitler", a social deduction table game based in pre World War 2 Germany. Players have to help or hinder the beautifully illustrated Junta-Komodo-Dragon-Adolf-Hitler from taking over the government. His goal was $54,450 and he raised over $100,000 in the first 24 hours.
But that is not where he started.
His first project was Cards Against Humanity, one of the first games in the early days of Kickstarter, raised "only" $15,540 but since exploded and has been #1 Best Seller on Amazon for Toys and Games for as long as we can remember.
(...and is a staple at every games night I host with friends!)
In fact, Cards Against Humanity, as of publishing, occupies 3 - WOW! - of the top 20 spots on the Amazon.com Best Seller List including the TOP 2, besting classics like Jenga and Connect 4.
Max also helped advise his friends who made the Most Backed Game in Kickstarter history, Exploding Kittens, which raised $8,782,571.
Max understands Kickstarter, the Kickstarter Community, and his audience, probably better than anyone on the planet.
But Max is not a "marketer". He hates "gimmicks" and "tricks" and "gurus who don't know what they are talking about".
If you are feeling jaded by the Kickstarter Marketing World, and think that in order to fund your project you need to sacrifice your vision, then listen now. It will be the best 38 minutes of your day, guaranteed!
You will discover
Famous last words:
"Finally, I am not the funniest guy in the room"
-Del Close
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Max on Twitter
Secret Hitler
Cards Against Humanity
Max’s Other Projects
Exploding Kittens
CONNECT WITH KHIERSTYN: www.khierstyn.com
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, a book of short stories about extraordinary women, surpassed one million in preorders, in spite of the small budget that was available for advertising. Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo did not expect the success that came their way. But, looking back, they have realized the steps they took that all worked together for their project to become the most funded book in crowdfunding history. Listen to this interview with Elena Favilli to hear the story of their campaign and learn the secrets to their success.
Testing the market for Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls began with Elena and Francesca’s newsletter audience. In this episode, Elena details how they entered into open dialogue with their readers and how that dialogue informed the decisions they made and eventually led to the launch of their book. Listen to this conversation to learn how you can engage your audience early in your project and ensure that you are creating something they really want.
Once Elena knew that there was a market for her product, she sent out a Google doc with a link to purchase. While it might seem that this could be a mistake and hurt her campaign, the result was quite the opposite. In this interview, Elena discusses how they went about choosing the people who would receive the Google doc, and how the response to it drove the success of their campaign and helped them exceed their goals even with their small marketing budget.
Keeping the community #engaged and energized throughout their# campaign was important to Elena and Francesca of Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls. In this episode, Elena explains how they managed their updates and stretch goals in such a way that their community became their ambassadors for their campaign. The engaged community was a major factor in allowing their launch to succeed with a small advertising budget. Listen in to find out what you can do to keep your community energized!
Elena Favilli has two marketing tips for anyone who has a great product and a tight budget. First, do a lot of research for journalists who might be interested in covering your campaign. Second, make your video great. In this episode, Elena shares details about both strategies. She clarifies when and how to establish relationships with journalists that can help your campaign succeed, and describes the most important qualities for your video, which don’t include spending a lot of money on it. Listen to this interview to get the details on these two tips that can lead to a successful campaign on a small budget!
Have you ever seen a Mystic Unicorn poop creamy, delicious, ice cream?
If you caught the viral sensation ad for the Squatty Potty then you are familiar with some of Derral’s work.
But Derral was not always making millions of dollars for himself and his clients creating incredible direct response video ads.
After Derral Eves graduate from college with a degree in Public Relations and Advertising he landed his “dream job”:
As a Hospital Administrator.
No Really. That WAS his dream job. And he loved it… at first.
Within six months of diving in he had saved his new company $680,000 and went to his boss for a $10,000 per year raise. A 1.5% commission seems like a pretty good deal eh?
Well, not according to his boss, because if Derral got the tiny raise he was asking for he would be making more money than his direct supervisor. We wouldn’t want to rock the boat over a measly $680,000 saved in the first six months on the job, would we?
“I knew right then and there that I needed to get out... I needed to work somewhere where my work was appreciated.”
Despite having a brand new baby and wanting the security of a salary for his family, in 1999 Derral ended up in business for himself generating traffic for websites and doing internet marketing.
In the early days, Derral was being paid a base for his work but ALSO a commission of final sales, so he was looking for every possible way to get visits to convert into sales.
And video was his Golden Ticket.
Fast forward to 2016, Derral has been the Executive Producer and Project Lead for the Squatty Potty ad, he’s launched the musical careers of the Piano Guys from retail piano store owners to global sensation, and recently celebrated over 1.8 BILLION total views on Youtube from videos he has produced.
This episode is NOT about a specific crowdfunding project or crowdfunding necessarily.
But it IS about the most crucial element of your crowdfunding campaign that you have to nail if you want to beat your funding goal: Your Video.
People who come to your page will base the majority of their buying decision on quality of the MESSAGE in the video, (fortunately, NOT the “expensiveness” of the production). In this episode, Derral is going to teach you exactly how to make a video with a MESSAGE that sells.
Derral considers himself a student of crowdfunding videos and offers up a number of wildly successful crowdfunded campaign videos as examples of his concepts at work.
This could be the most actionable podcast I have ever recorded. Pay attention, listen to it at least a half a dozen times.
Especially pay attention to how to study successful crowdfunding video online, and it will all but guarantee you hit your crowdfunding goal.
You will learn:
Wondering how to get product validation and calculate your costs? Today’s conversation with Brian Creager is a great place to get started. In three years, Brian went from $500 a month to $250,000 a month! Listen to this episode to hear Brian’s expert advice about how to find a product, how to tap into the market for that product, and how to discover costs and set prices. If you want to crowdfund a product and sell online, you need to listen to this episode!
Your first step for selling your product is to see if it will sell. But how do you know what type of product to choose? In today’s episode, Brian Creager describes product types and gives wise advice about how to choose products when you are getting started. Something truly innovative? A product similar to others out there, that does it better, faster, cheaper? Where is your best chance for success? Get answers to these questions and more in today’s podcast on product validation.
You will want to figure out whether or not your product can sell it before you go to the time and expense of making it. But how do you know? In this episode, Brian Creager talks about the steps he takes to validate his products, how to find out the size of your potential market, and how market information influences the choices that he makes about what products to sell. You won’t want to miss Brian’s expert advice about validating your product before launching!
What are the necessary steps involved with launching a new product? What aspects of a new product should be evaluated before moving forward? Amazon marketing expert Brian Creager shares in this episode four steps that he takes in the process of launching a new product, and how he grades ideas on three specific aspects of the product to help with product validation. This information is invaluable for anyone seeking to market products online. Don’t miss it!
Connections work. Seek out others who sell products similar to yours. Does that sound scary to you? In this episode, Brian Creager, founder and owner of The Product Hatchery, explains the valuable resource that others in your field can be when you start to see them as resources instead of competition. Listen to this podcast and discover how to connect with others in a way that helps you be more effective in the way you launch your product, and less afraid of the competition.
Want to get in touch? Go to www.khierstyn.com
Cheat Sheet
About this Episode
If you have been preparing for your Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign then you are probably finding out just how much stuff you have to do:
Oh yeah! And design your product!
And if you are like most of the people I talk to, you are probably a rookie in most, if not ALL of these categories!
When you are researching any one of these tasks, you have probably realized that you can go REALLY DEEP into any one of them. There are awesome, in-depth products on each one of these fields.
So where do you start - other than with my Product Launch Checklist?
Your time is scarce.
It takes time to execute everything you want to execute...
It takes more time to learn how to execute what you want to execute…
And it takes the MOST TIME to sort through all the information out there just to decide WHAT to learn and who to learn from before getting down to the business of learning and then executing.
And because you may not have the financial resources to go on a mad hiring binge, nor have the experience to be able to properly vet the people you want to hire, you probably fall into what this week’s guest, Chris Ducker, calls....
SUPERHERO SYNDROME
Superhero syndrome is where we as entrepreneurs try to do everything ourselves.
And that is incredibly overwhelming. It is hard enough to learn one new task as opposed to 10, and to be able to complete the task to your own high standard, let alone your customer’s.
At some point, the only solution is to cut something or hire someone to do it.
Enter Chris Ducker.
Those of you who have been following me for a while will recognize this episode from my original podcast, Entrepreneur Uncut #19.
But I have been getting so many calls from overwhelmed project creators that I decided to repost it for you here.
This episode is a crash course on both how to decide what to outsource, and how to outsource. It applies as much, if not more, to crowdfunding Project Creators as it does to any other entrepreneur.
Chris explains in detail his concept of the 3 Lists Of Freedom that I have personally used to delegate tasks in my business.
When I got started advising entrepreneurs launch crowdfunding campaigns I was doing most of the work myself.
But now, I have a team of people that help me do the copywriting, customer support, and technical work, while I focus on strategy, media outreach, and quarterbacking the whole project.
Listen to this episode, go through the 3 Lists of Freedom exercise, outsource something small, and then get some sleep!
Your business will thank you for it.
If you would like to contact Khierstyn, please visit www.khierstyn.com
Resources mentioned
When weighing the options for crowdfunding, most project creators opt for a months-long process to ensure optimum success. In some cases, however, time is not abundant. This was the case when Bryce Fisher of Ravean Heated Jackets approached his first Kickstarter campaign. The timeline from idea to prototype to crowdfunding campaign was just a few weeks long, giving Bryce a time crunch to meet his goals. The question is, how do you find success with so little time to raise funds? In his chat with Khierstyn, Bryce unveils the secrets that helped Ravean launch with a bang, in spite of having just a couple of weeks.
As Bryce approached the Kickstarter campaign for Ravean, he knew spreading the word quickly would be the only way to find his supporters. With a little trial and error, he was able to connect with his target market via social media and gain incredible support in a short time. Bryce shares some secrets that can help you connect your product to the sometimes-elusive target market that is essential to the success of any crowdfunding campaign. Driving traffic to his site was key, Bryce explains, and his strong focus on those efforts have given him the edge Ravean needs to maintain vigorous support.
When planning a crowdfunding campaign, it’s pretty clear customers will either make or break you. Bryce explains why customer validation was the #1 reason for success with his Kickstarter campaign, and how he maintained this as his top priority throughout the campaign. He delves deeper into some key strategies by sharing marketing techniques that truly transformed his campaign. Finding your niche will help to drive all-important organic traffic to the campaign, which saves time and money in gaining support.
A great first impression is essential to any interaction. Bryce explains the role of having a clear, eye-catching campaign photo in converting customers. He offers a few tips that can give any crowdfunding campaign the edge. Getting potential supporters to your campaign page is just half the battle and Bryce shares the importance of the details as you create your campaign. He shares his top 3 marketing focuses and how he applied mistakes from his first campaign to his current Indiegogo campaign. By understanding the key differences between Kickstarter and Indiegogo, future crowdfunders will be better equipped to choose the best platform for their product.
Bryce shares with great passion the unique heated jackets offered by Ravean and what he sees as the next steps for his company. By continuing to focus on quality and customer validation as top priorities, Bryce believes the sky is the limit for this growing company. After far exceeding the goals set by his first Kickstarter campaign, Ravean continues to see success in the current Indiegogo campaign. He shares his key learnings and future goals for Ravean with Khierstyn.
CONNECT WITH Bryce: www.Ravean.com
CONNECT WITH KHIERSTYN: www.khierstyn.com
Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, and many others have been around for about 10 years now, and yet there are still lots of people who don’t understand why Kickstarter is good for your business. In this quick video, my aim is to explain the power of Kickstarter and other similar crowdfunding platforms and the potential that they have for your business or personal needs.
Put as simply as possible, crowdfunding platforms allow you to raise money for projects with the help of a community, which you then repay with various small physical or non-physical tokens of appreciation. These can be the products that your project ends up producing or anything else that’s relevant to your project and your supporters. Crowdfunding supporters sometimes get their money’s worth and sometimes do it mainly with altruistic purposes. Either way, the bottom line is that understanding the power of Kickstarter and knowing why Kickstarter is good for your business is how many of the most successful entrepreneurs of the last decade realized their projects.
Particularly with physical products, where my specialty is, you need to raise X amount of dollars months ahead of your production schedule so that you can even start your business. To that end, crowdfunding campaigns typically set a certain monetary goal that needs to be reached within a certain amount of time – usually 35 days, but sometimes less or more than that.
Whereas with other traditional investment methods such as bank loans, angel investment, friends & family loans, etc., you can often put yourself in uncomfortable situations, with the power of Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms you can go global and contact your future customers directly. And this is another reason why crowdfunding is such a good idea – because it allows you to get in touch with your client base even before you’ve created your product and start building upon it in advance.
These are just a couple of the many great benefits that come with crowdfunding. For more tips and strategies about how to plan your Kickstarter campaign, be sure to subscribe.
Crowdfunding too early is a common mistake a lot of entrepreneurs make with their campaigns. They don’t research what to know before crowdfunding before jumping in. Today we’re going to take look at a key stress point in your campaign and how to avoid it.
I have a major beef with many marketing agencies that deal with crowdfunding. They don’t talk about the phase of production that comes right after the successful end of your crowdfunding campaign. Most agencies and fundraising coaches give all sorts of crowdfunding tips for making a successful Kickstarter or IndieGoGo campaign. However, by “successful” they mean “a campaign that’s reached 100% of its funding goal.” They talk about what to know before crowdfunding, but only in the context of preparing for the campaign itself. What’s usually left unsaid, and what kills a lot of otherwise “successful” crowdfunding campaigns, is that they’re not well prepared for the phase that follows – using the raised funds and manufacturing the planned products.
This is why a lot of campaigns fail to deliver on their promises and why they get delayed for months or even years. Crowdfunding too early can kneecap even the best business concept. It can cause you to fail to predict the exact manufacturing costs, lose key manufacturing partners, and force you to change major aspects of your product. In an ideal world, a crowdfunding campaign should be started when you have a working prototype, or have already manufactured about 100 items and figured out the ins and outs of the whole process.
Otherwise, you risk delivering a different product than what you promised, delaying delivery, and losing potential clients for your brand. What’s more, you’ll damage the trust that crowdfunding supporters have, both in your brand and in crowdfunding as a whole. None of us want that to happen, so don’t make the mistake of crowdfunding too early.
Can your product succeed on Kickstarter? We’ve been going over different tips and tricks on how to run a successful Kickstarter or IndieGoGo campaign, but it’s time to talk about your product itself. It doesn’t matter how well-prepared your campaign is – you first need to see if your product is a good fit for crowdfunding in the first place.
Crowdfunding is an amazing tool for raising money, but it simply can’t be done for any and all products – at least not easily. People who support the various fundraising campaigns on Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, and other platforms don’t do it out of sheer altruism, nor do they only care about the material incentives they’ll get from supporting it. These things matter, but the main rule here is that crowdfunding supporters tend to gravitate toward interesting, new, and unique products that manage to impress them. So, when wondering how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign, the first thing to do is consider the following three things about your product:
What’s your product’s selling point? What’s unique about it, what niche can it fill? It doesn’t have to be a “never-before-seen product”, but there needs to be something new and different about it.
Is your end customer a consumer or is your product intended for a business-to-business model? Can your product succeed on Kickstarter if it’s intended only for social media managers or CEOs? In theory, yes, but generally there are other fundraising platforms and methods that better suit B2B products. For a platform such as Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, you want your product to be something that can catch the interest of a wide consumer base.
Does your product have market validation? Sure, your product has a unique twist, but is it truly one of a kind or are there other similar products out there? The best way to know how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign for your product is to check out how other similar campaigns have fared. A big mistake a lot of people make is taking notes from the campaigns for different products from different niches. This is risky because what works for products from one niche is counterproductive for others, and vice versa. The best case scenario is having a product with existing market validation that still has something unique about it to make it interesting.
Once you’ve answered the question “Can your product succeed on Kickstarter?” then it’s time to proceed with your crowdfunding campaign. If you want to learn what to do next, like this video and subscribe to our channel for more insightful crowdfunding tips.
The Kickstarter popularity algorithm is probably the most overlooked factor for ensuring a successful crowdfunding campaign. If you want to know how to launch a new product on Kickstarter or IndieGoGo successfully the algorithm is something you need to be aware of!
The Kickstarter popularity algorithm is based on the idea of social proof. In order to have social proof a campaign needs early support before the majority of potential backers start to see and support it. In the crowdfunding world this means that we are more likely to support campaigns by unknown creators that have already gathered some support from other people. If we stumble upon a campaign that has been online for a week or more and still hasn’t gathered a significant amount of support, we tend to ignore it. It’s a perfectly natural and understandable response – after all, why would people support something that no one else has any interest in?
And because crowdfunding platforms take a share from successful crowdfunding campaigns they tend to feature and promote only those campaigns that show promise from day one. After all, there are so many campaigns running at any one time, the prime real estate of the home page needs to be reserved for the best of the best! The Kickstarter popularity algorithm includes factors such as the number of backers a campaign has gathered on day one, the number of transactions, the amount of traffic and amount of comments, and the general amount of activity that has happened for your particular campaign.
This is the reason why knowing how to launch a new product on Kickstarter or other crowdfunding platforms is so important – because most of the work has to be done before the campaign has even started. More often than not, to hit your funding goals a campaign has to gather support from the very first day. And for that to happen, you need to have built a significant portion of your audience beforehand.
Pro Tip: when building an audience ahead of launch, don’t overlook support from your inner circle (friends and family). Their support can be critical!
Knowing how to set your Kickstarter goal is a tricky but an extremely important part of your crowdfunding campaign. Funding goals for your Kickstarter project involve a lot of factors, but the bottom line is that the goal has to be reached.
The first thing to understand about crowdfunding goals, particularly on Kickstarter where your campaign’s goal needs to be reached for you to get anything, is that you actually have two goals to consider – the public goal and your personal goal. To properly identify those two goals you need to ask yourself two questions:
“How much do I * need * to raise for my project?”
“How much do I * want * to raise for my project?”
These are two very different questions.
More often than not, the trick to achieving your funding goals for your Kickstarter campaign is to set your goal at the level you * need * to raise. The higher sum – your personal goal – can still be reached, but you have a higher chance of reaching both goals if you use the smaller sum as your official public goal.
The reason for this is very simple – the lower your campaign’s goal is, the higher percentage of it will be completed with each consecutive contribution. If you have a goal of $10,000 and someone contributes $500, that’s 5% of your campaign goal!
However, if you’ve set your goal to $100,000, then those $500 will be just 0.5% of your campaign goal. The reason this is important is that fundraising platforms such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo tend to feature “successful” campaigns on their main pages, exposing them to communities of millions of people. So, when wondering how to set your Kickstarter goal, choose the lower number – the one you absolutely need to hit. Once the contributions start rolling and you gain traction among the platform’s audience, you’ll find it much easier to reach and pass your initial goal. In fact, by doing this, you’ll have a higher chance of reaching your real funding goals for your Kickstarter campaign and bringing your vision to reality!
Dreaming of launching a kickass crowdfunding campaign for your project? There’s one common Kickstarter mistake you need to avoid at all costs. It’s super important that you keep this in mind when researching how to plan your Kickstarter campaign. Let me explain … The key to success on crowdfunding sites is to really understand the mindset of potential backers. That includes knowing when the right time is to launch your campaign. One thing I see over and over again – and in fact I’ve been guilty of it myself – is people often make the common Kickstarter mistake of launching their campaigns in the fourth quarter of the year. On the face of it, it sounds like a good idea, right? With Black Friday and Christmas around the corner, surely that means increased consumer spending and a greater likelihood of reaching your goals? Right? WRONG! The holiday season doesn’t mean more backers. In fact, it’s likely to be the opposite. Here’s why… When considering how to plan your Kickstarter campaign, scratch the surface and work out what’s going on in the minds of your potential backers. Most campaigns, if successful, will take months before the product is manufactured and delivered. Knowing that backers are reluctant to spend their holiday budget on something they may not see for six months. After all, they’ve got more pressing things to spend their money on, like gifts for friends and family! From a marketing perspective, there’s also an increased advertising cost you’ll need to factor in. Around Black Friday, marketing costs can spike to three or four times what they are during offseason. Why? Well, it’s the time of the year where there’s a feeding frenzy of competing advertisers all vying to get eyeballs on their products. All that competition drives costs up! Long story short - avoid making the Q4 Kickstarter mistake. Don’t do it! For more tips and strategies about how to plan your Kickstarter campaign and execute the perfect launch hit the subscribe button and stay up to date with all my videos.
In today's episode, we take a look at how MadnessPlanner.com, a current planner brand that's getting ready to release their latest planner, is using Instagram Giveaway contests to gain brand traction and build their audience.
Jocelyn Schade launched Madness Planner on Shopify earlier this year. Madness Planner, as I like to describe it, is the un-planner for creatives.
Planners seem to be one of the hottest products to launch on Kickstarter right now.
But when Jocelyn was searching for a tool to help her focus, she couldn't find one system that really worked for her.
And that's how she got the idea to create a planner for those Mad Ones. The ones that don't want to conform to a system... but want to create your own.
[Me = Guilty]
So, needless to say, she's sold out of her first 500 units fairly quickly.
Jocelyn decided to go to Kickstarter for Version 2.0 of Madness Planner. She decided to take the launch slow and treat that first "500 sold on Shopify" as a way to get customer feedback and focus on creating an even better product for round 2 (Kickstarter).
Part of her early success has been how she's used Instagram Giveaway Contests to build her email list + get early sales.
Listen to our latest episode to see how she used Giveaways to build her list by hundreds in a few short months.
With nearly 50% of all e-commerce sales occurring on Amazon, many crowdfunders are asking the question, “how can I take my product and sell on Amazon?” On this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut, Khierstyn has a conversation with Ben Arneberg, founder of Product Fuel and creator of crowdfunding giants Willow & Everett and Terra Mat. Ben shares his top tips for crowdfunders looking to move into the e-commerce space after a successful campaign, how to rank highly within Amazon’s categories, and many more trade secrets that you don’t want to miss. Be sure to listen to this episode - your product will thank you.
Turning a successful crowdfunding campaign into an equally successful brand online is hard work. That’s why Ben created Product Fuel - to help entrepreneurs move their products from crowdsourcing platforms into digital marketplaces. While it may be easy to list products on Amazon, it’s extremely difficult to allow that product hit its full potential. Product Fuel has successfully taken campaigns such as Wilcox Boots that earned over $140,000 through Kickstarter and helped them bring in over $80,000 monthly Amazon sales. When a campaign is nearly complete, Ben and his team will begin conversations with the client to determine product flows and shipping methods. This allows both parties to fully understand the desired outcome for the product and make a game plan that is tailored to each product, target audience, and sales goals. To hear how to get your product on Ben and Product Fuel’s radar, be sure to listen to this episode.
Product Fuel attracts clients who already have a successful crowdfunding campaign in progress. Ben encourages aspiring creators to go to a crowdsourcing platform first, rather than trying to launch solely on a website or directly to Amazon. There’s a trifecta that leads to the most success: a successful crowdfunding campaign, an interactive website, and ranking highly on Amazon (leading to more sales.) The campaign is the first integral piece in the process - aside from having an innovative product that fills a market gap. Campaigns create “an amazing halo effect” as Ben explained, and when harnessed properly the momentum drives organic traffic to Amazon and pushes your rankings higher. Without all three of these pieces, your efforts will be much more difficult. For Ben’s full explanation on this cohesive approach, be sure to listen to this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
To explain the importance of great keywords and appropriate pricing, Ben uses a hypothetical coffee mug scenario. Even if you have a stellar coffee mug that sells well for $50 on your website, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will sell well on Amazon. When compared to $7 competitor mugs, if your $50 mug only has a 5% conversion rate on Amazon, it will be pushed down in the rankings and be seen by very few customers. This is the point of critical balance - your product needs to be priced accordingly to not be immediately written off by the client, and it needs to be matched with the right keywords and categories. Product Fuel can help you with this process. For all of the insights on Amazon success, don’t miss this conversation with Khierstyn and Ben.
In addition to all of the selling strategies Ben discusses on this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut, he encourages crowdfunders to always communicate with a campaign’s backers. You want to avoid launching on your website or on Amazon before your most loyal supporters receive their product. You can also use this window of time for feedback - see what your backers like and dislike about the physical product and then make slight adjustments before releasing it to the general public. He and Khierstyn also discuss the importance of always fulfilling sales through Amazon and why you should stay away from Amazon Launchpad. To hear more of Ben’s expert advice don’t miss this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
If there’s one area of business all entrepreneurs and crowdfunders need to understand, it’s the art and science of investing in relationships. On this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut, Khierstyn interviews Jayson Gaignard, founder of Mastermind Talks, about the story behind the Talks, how he maintains influential relationships with his network, and the best questions to ask to spark great conversations. You don’t want to miss Jayson’s passionate insights, and your network will greatly benefit from hearing his advice.
After spending the early part of his career building Tickets Canada, traveling the world, and netting $6-7 million per year, Jayson realized that he wasn’t happy with the direction his career was headed. He avoided talking to his clients, started having stress-induced health issues, and wanted to start over and go in a new direction. Rather than sell the company, he decided to downsized and unfortunately was met with debt upwards of a quarter million dollars. That’s when the idea for Mastermind Talks was born. He tapped into a niche market for high-ticket networking and entrepreneur launch events and began working within his passion for connecting people. Mastermind Talks was immediately thrust into success when Jayson purchased a book and speaking engagement package from Tim Ferriss, and Ferriss was in the audience for the first Mastermind Talks event. But how did Jayson manage to purchase this package? He simply made three phone calls. The first two looked promising, but it was the third call to a personal contact that changed the game for Jayson. To hear about how this phone call turned out, and why this contact “invested in Jayson, not the business idea,” be sure to listen to this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
When Jayson switched gears from e-commerce into the art of connecting people, he knew he wanted to be selective in deciding who would be invited to the Mastermind Talks events. The invite-only events that cost upwards of $10,000 per ticket allow Jayson to personally screen interested parties. He explains to Khierstyn that he wants to surround himself with people of integrity that he would personally be friends with - not just any business person who can afford the ticket price. Jayson is so committed to these high standards that for the first event, Mastermind Talks refunded over $40,000 in ticket sales because the fit between the event and the participant just wasn’t right. Mastermind Talks isn’t about event size or revenue, it’s about creating a space where stellar people can share great ideas and make connections that could change the course of their careers. Jayson is passionate about his story, and you don’t want to miss hearing him tell it on this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
Jayson tells Khierstyn that “it’s noisy at the top, and amazing people become increasingly amazing over time.” This is why he stresses the importance of connecting with people as they’re rising in their careers. You never know when someone might need a connection that you can make for them. Crowdfunding and relationships are deeply intertwined, and even the most successful Kickstarter campaigns with 60,000-70,000 backers only have around 100 exceptionally influential backers. This Kickstarter data proves the mantra Jayson lives by, which is “It doesn’t matter how many friends you can count, it matters how many friends you can count on.” The most influential and memorable moments in your life occur because of other people. You can’t afford to miss Jayson’s lessons on the art of investing in relationships, so be sure to listen to this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
There are a few key pieces of advice that Jayson shares in this conversation with Khierstyn. He explains that “You never know the value of your network until you need it,” and “You’re only ever left with two things, the integrity of your word and your relationships.” To continue to invest in your relationships after the initial meeting, Khierstyn and Jayson explain that connecting with them in unexpected ways is key. For example, how many times do people receive a video update email rather than the standard email asking “what’s new with you and how can I help?” You can’t be afraid to be the one initiating contact, and you also have to ask the right questions in order to draw out the right responses from your network. They list many great conversation starters on this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut that will dramatically improve your ability to connect to your network, and you don’t want to miss it.
Many entrepreneurs start their company and launch their products because they want to implement healthy change in the world. Khierstyn’s guest for this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut, UJ Ramdas, and his company Intelligent Change is doing just that - encouraging people to embrace healthy change and document positive growth through beautiful personal journals. Their conversation takes you through the company idea formation process, product launch, endorsements, and the importance of infusing excellence into every aspect of doing business. It’s a conversation that you don’t want to miss.
UJ recognized the fact that change is inevitable, and he was passionate about wanting to help people make it productive and enjoyable. He created Intelligent Change to make beautiful things that directly guide people through the change process in practical ways. The Five Minute Journal was born out of these core ideas. The six-month journal is based on leading psychology research that discovered expressing daily gratitude leads to a better overall quality of life and higher levels of positive emotions. UJ is passionate about his company and its products, and he tells his story in this interview in such a way that’ll leave you inspired and wanting more.
The Five Minute Journal began as a Kickstarter campaign but unfortunately, funding fell flat. Although their first crowdfunding attempt didn't succeed, UJ and his team successfully launched at Mastermind Talks in front of just 120 people. One of the guests in attendance was famed entrepreneur and author Tim Ferriss. UJ explains to Khierstyn that in a stroke of “unbelievable awesomeness” Ferriss loved the idea of the journal and within just a few months ordered over 3,000 copies to be shared with his own followers. UJ exclaims that it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time and a perfect testimony to the power of networking. Ferriss is now one of Intelligent Change’s biggest advocates. For more, be sure to listen to the full episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
Since The Five Minute Journal was launched, Intelligent Change is now working on a number of different products that continue to encourage healthy change in people’s lives. Khierstyn and UJ spend some time on this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut discussing the #1 problem in business - finding good employees. UJ could have never balanced external product launches and daily business operations without solid teammates by his side. But finding quality employees is the hardest struggle. He encourages entrepreneurs to prioritize their needs, seek out and hire the best people you can find, and move forward from there. For more of his advice, be sure to catch this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
Intelligent Change has been met with such great success because of their stellar ways of doing business. Wowing your customers repeatedly within the first 100 days of a launch, gathering and maintaining 1,000 true fans, and systematizing excellence are all methods that UJ lives by. Without these strategies in place, it’s much harder to have a successful product launch. If you’re struggling with your crowdfunding ideas, or just want to hear a great success story, be sure to listen to UJ Ramdas on this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
On this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut, Khierstyn interviews crowdfunding success mogul Evan Varsamis, founder and CEO of Gadget Flow. He has built a platform that puts innovative products in front of over 25 million people per month, runs an international team remotely, and has some great advice for aspiring crowdfunding professionals. You don’t want to miss their energetic and informative conversation, so be sure to catch this episode.
What started in 2012 as a part-time project quickly grew into a crowdfunding giant that now hosts over 10,000 products across 140 categories. Gadget Flow is the third largest Indiegogo partner and they have successfully worked with over 6,000 customers thus far. Evan and his team recognized a niche market need for technology and design products that may not get picked up by large platforms such as Amazon and Etsy. They are able to host a wide spectrum of products and give backers exactly what they need to know (tech specs, images, brief descriptions, etc.) in a beautifully simple way. To hear Evan tell his engaging story, be sure to listen to this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
Not every campaign or product idea that comes across Evan’s desk will be successful. Gadget Flow currently has an acceptance rate of 78-80%, and the team is highly trained to differentiate the gems from the duds. By using an internal evaluation process they look at the top campaign specs: funding time remaining, the quality of the presentation, and if the product’s team has been following established steps for crowdfunding success. Evan’s employees look for those unique teams that aren’t just shooting in the dark when it comes to marketing and campaign efforts. Their #1 red flag? If a campaign has less than 10% of their goal raised after five days of campaigning. Be sure to hear the full story behind the evaluation process by listening to this episode - your campaign can’t afford to miss it.
The current Gadget Flow team is comprised of 25 people in 8 countries. How does Evan manage to lead such a diverse team? And why did he choose to pursue remote teamwork rather than a traditional office setting? The answer is found in commute time - he was tired of wasting precious productive hours commuting to and from a physical workspace. He found that highly skilled employees and contractors often do their best work in their own environments. By allowing (and even encouraging) his team to remain in their hometowns and countries, and utilizing remote work tools such as Slack, Evan created a global team that is passionate about Gadget Flow. He tackled the issue of creating a strong company culture by implementing weekly video calls with each one of his team members. Evan’s desire was to encourage personal connections, even though miles and time zones separated each individual. It’s such a great story and a testimony to dedicated team members, you don’t want to miss it.
Few entrepreneurs are as unique, engaging, and great at creative networking as Sol Orwell, founder of nutrition advice empire Examine.com. He is also the creator of websites garnering over 200,000 visitors per day and a fanatic chocolate chip cookie enthusiast. On the first official Crowdfunding Uncut episode for 2018, Khierstyn interviews Sol and asks him key questions about his successful empire, why he thought to connect his love of cookies with creative networking events, and his top advice for entrepreneurs who want to do things a little differently. Their conversation will leave you intrigued, laughing, and wanting more so don’t miss this episode.
What started with a desire to know the facts behind nutrition supplements morphed into an independent analysis company with the sole goal of “reading the research, making sense of it, and putting it online.” From being the sole creator of the company to now being a consensus-building leader and visionary, Sol has built the most trustworthy source for accurate information on supplements - minus any hype, agenda, or ulterior motives. Khierstyn uncovers the human story behind a website giant, and it’s a story sure to inspire. You don’t want to miss it.
Sol’s current position as a leader of Examine.com allows him to have a clear picture of what works (and what doesn’t) when his team connects with their audience. By empowering his employees to do what needs to be done, he can watch them successfully interact with visitors via email and actual phone conversations - a rare phenomenon in today’s digital world. By trusting their niche market and the quality feedback they received over the years, they were able to organically grow into new market segments. They utilized Google Surveys, one of the most versatile and user-friendly tools on the market, to connect with what their audience was actually looking for. He found that if you expose your company’s personality more, people are more likely to engage with your content and communication. Be sure to listen to this episode for more of his stellar advice.
When Sol grew tired of predictable coffee networking meetups, he wanted to create an exciting new way to bring people together. That’s when #CookieLife was born. Rather than buying someone a simple cup of coffee, Sol started inviting people to try the "world's best chocolate chip cookie" with him. In just two years the idea moved from a small Toronto chocolate chip cookie shop to $30,000 fundraising and networking events. Khierstyn talks with Sol about how he discovered that people will come together for any reason that’s new and engaging. By simply encouraging people to follow their own unique passions, he has set a new standard for how people develop a comprehensive personal brand - rather than focusing only on one aspect of themselves. To hear more about #CookieLife, how it gives back to communities, and its expansive reach, give this episode a listen.
Being an entrepreneur should be about a few key ideas: intentionally create lifestyle freedom, give back while creating an impact, and pair fun with passionate hard work. In his interview with Khierstyn, Sol explains that there’s no single “right way” to build your career and that you shouldn’t forget to enjoy the steps along the way. When trying to create a network of influential friends, Sol recommends “Actually do something interesting - you don’t connect over business strategies you connect over personal interests.” One of his best pieces of advice is, “Do things that personally drive you forward, and don’t be afraid to let go of a project once it solves the problem you set out to eliminate.” To hear about Sol’s top 3 career tips, you’ll have to check out this episode of Crowdfunding Uncut.
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, a book of short stories about extraordinary women, surpassed one million in preorders, in spite of the small budget that was available for advertising. Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo did not expect the success that came their way. But, looking back, they have realized the steps they took that all worked together for their project to become the most funded book in crowdfunding history. Listen to this interview with Elena Favilli to hear the story of their campaign and learn the secrets to their success.
Testing the market for Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls began with Elena and Francesca’s newsletter audience. In this episode, Elena details how they entered into open dialogue with their readers and how that dialogue informed the decisions they made and eventually led to the launch of their book. Listen to this conversation to learn how you can engage your audience early in your project and ensure that you are creating something they really want.
Once Elena knew that there was a market for her product, she sent out a Google doc with a link to purchase. While it might seem that this could be a mistake and hurt her campaign, the result was quite the opposite. In this interview, Elena discusses how they went about choosing the people who would receive the Google doc, and how the response to it drove the success of their campaign and helped them exceed their goals even with their small marketing budget.
Keeping the community #engaged and energized throughout their# campaign was important to Elena and Francesca of Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls. In this episode, Elena explains how they managed their updates and stretch goals in such a way that their community became their ambassadors for their campaign. The engaged community was a major factor in allowing their launch to succeed with a small advertising budget. Listen in to find out what you can do to keep your community energized!
Elena Favilli has two marketing tips for anyone who has a great product and a tight budget. First, do a lot of research for journalists who might be interested in covering your campaign. Second, make your video great. In this episode, Elena shares details about both strategies. She clarifies when and how to establish relationships with journalists that can help your campaign succeed, and describes the most important qualities for your video, which don’t include spending a lot of money on it. Listen to this interview to get the details on these two tips that can lead to a successful campaign on a small budget!
Rachel Pedersen is a Facebook marketing strategy specialist. In this episode, she helps you dig deeper into Facebook advertising and shares her most helpful tips and insights into how to do it well. Rachel provides solid answers to detailed questions. Listen to this interview to learn how to use Facebook ads in a way that will stand out, engage your audience, and lead to a successful product launch.
The first step in preparing for your product launch is to identify your potential audience and find out what message will resonate with them. In this episode, Rachel Pedersen explains how vital this step is to your entire Facebook marketing strategy, and details the ways you can test your market so that you don’t spend money on ads that may be ineffective. Listen to this interview to find out how to set yourself up for success by knowing ahead of time what is going to attract your market.
Good copy is essential to effective Facebook marketing strategy. As Rachel Pedersen says, “If your copy isn’t explaining the benefits of your product very well it doesn’t matter what audience you send it to.” In this episode, Rachel provides instruction on what good copy includes, how to find examples to base your copy on, and how to then test your copy to be sure it resonates with your market. Listen to this podcast to get a head start on writing great copy for your Facebook ads!
Your e-mail audience is your warmest audience. They have already indicated interest in your product. In this episode, Rachel Pederson talks about the importance of communicating with them, and gives tips for targeting Facebook ads to your e-mail audience so that they see your product launch everywhere and don’t forget to be part of it. Listen in to learn about using your e-mail audience as a vital part of your Facebook marketing strategy.
Is the best Facebook audience a lookalike audience based on your e-mail list? The answer to that question depends on several factors, including the size of your e-mail list. In this interview, Rachel Pederson explains what is needed to create an accurate lookalike audience, and how to make adjustments as you gather more data. Listen in to learn about creating a lookalike audience and to gain other helpful tips and insights from this Facebook marketing strategy expert.
Jim Chao is the co-founder of Silly Peach Perfect Potty and TK World’s First Stainless Vaccuum Insulated Cycling Bottle. He has over 10 years of internet marketing experience. In this episode, Jim shares key principles that contribute to a successful product launch. In a recent campaign, Jim combined his crowdfunding and internet marketing experience to use a webinar to fund his campaign the first day. Listen in to find out you can get backers through using a webinar.
How do successful crowdfunders choose products that will sell? And how can they know for sure that they will sell? In this episode, Jim Chao details his process of identifying a problem, offering a solution, and then making sure that his solution will offer value and draw in a significant market. If you want to run a successful crowdfunding campaign, listen to this interview and learn from Jim’s insights on how to choose a product and get backers.
Jim Chao is a successful Amazon seller who has learned over the last three years to leverage his crowdfunding campaigns to prepare him for a successful Amazon launch. In this episode, Jim discusses current trends on Amazon and provides helpful advice for providing more value and using crowdfunding as a publicity tool. If you want to sell on Amazon, this interview will make you aware of current trends and help you make good decisions on what to sell and how to go about it.
When Jim Chao launched TK World’s First Stainless Vacuum Insulated Cycling Bottle, he got over $20,000 in funding outside of his crowdfunding campaign, by offering a webinar to his personal network. In this episode, Jim explains how he decided to try this, and what he did that made it successful. Listen in to learn about this innovative idea that can help you get backers even when you don’t have a lot of funds to invest in advertising.
Jim Chao combined his experience in internet marketing and e-commerce to spark the idea of using a webinar to get backers for his crowdfunding campaign. In this episode, he shares the details of how he set up the webinar and chose rewards for his backers and gives advice on how you can make this work for your campaign even though your product and your network may be different from his. Listen to this interview to get practical ideas on how you can use a webinar to get backers outside of your crowdfunding campaign!