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With the vast growth of the Internet, there are numerous opportunities to conduct business that never existed before. One of these includes the ability to obtain the funds that are needed for a start-up company. Unlike in the past – where new business owners would be required to personally visit a bank or other lender (and essentially make their case for a new loan), websites like Kickstarter now provide the opportunity to reach out to “everyday” people to acquire the funding you need for your company.
In doing so, however, it is important to consider all angles of these opportunities, as well as the amount of time and effort it could take to run a successful campaign. Likewise, you should also consider what your next step will be once you acquire such funds – or alternatively, if you are unable to meet your funding goal.
First, you should be cognizant of the fact that Kickstarter (or any crowdfunding platform) will receive a percentage of the funds that are raised, in return for allowing you to use their site for your funding needs.
Also, Kickstarter (as well a any other crowdfunding platform) campaigns don’t simply sell themselves. In other words, there will still be a fair amount of work for you to do in terms of marketing your funding needs and getting the word out to your target market. This means that you should still post regular content online, as well as participate in various other marketing activities, as if you were advertising your business – because essentially, you are.
Also keep in mind that there can be certain contractual obligations that you must fulfill once a successful campaign has ended. For instance, typically, business owners will offer incentives to those who help with their funding, such as sending them a tangible item and / or giving the funders credit by way of putting their names on their website, or some other type of thank you technique.
If you’ve considered all of the angles, though, and you have decided that crowdfunding your company’s financial needs by way of source like Kickstarter is the right way to go, it can be extremely beneficial – and it could allow you to move forward much more quickly than going the route of the traditional lender.
When considering a Kickstarter (or any other type of crowdfunding) campaign, be sure that you have carefully thought out what type of reward or benefit you will offer to your contributors. For instance, be sure that the incentive you offer doesn’t end up using all of the funds you’ve acquired from the campaign itself, as this could put you further behind in terms of the funding that you need.
When launching your product, you should only consider Kickstarter or Indiegogo.
That’s why one of the most frequent questions I hear is…
“Should I choose Kickstarter or Indiegogo for my crowdfunding campaign?”
And they are often surprised when I answer: “Both .”
What many don’t know, is that in crowdfunding, you are not locked into one platform. In fact, if you don’t tap into both, you are leaving money on the table.
Here’s a better question and the one we will be exploring in this case study…
How do I use BOTH Kickstarter and Indiegogo to maximize the funds raised for my product launch?
We’ll explore the answer by explaining our strategy and diving into the BaKblade 2.0 case study.
Launch on Kickstarter first
We’ve found that Kickstarter performs much better compared to Indiegogo for these 3 main reasons:
Kickstarter’s has done a better job of fostering trust with their backer community (top reason why!)
Kickstarter has more organic traffic
Kickstarter has a higher conversion rateKickstarter’s main focus has always been on delivering the best backer experience possible. For example, there is an approval process (unlike Indiegogo) to launch on Kickstarter. This isn’t some formality. Kickstarter’s team does their due diligence before any new product gets approved to launch.
This is to protect their backers and build trust. Their commitment to the backers has led not only to a larger community than Indiegogo, but one that is more likely to buy your product.When you follow the right pre-launch strategy and are properly prepared to launch on Kickstarter, you can tap into their huge audience and your campaign will be much more successful.
Transition to Indiegogo InDemand after Kickstarter
In 2016 Indiegogo released their
InDemand program on their platform. It allows successful campaigns to continue selling on their platform indefinitely — you can think of it like your pre-order storefront. InDemand is not exclusive to Indiegogo campaigns. They will actually clone your entire Kickstarter page for you and you’ll be up and running in under an hour.
We take advantage of this by immediately launching the Indiegogo InDemand campaign once the Kickstarter campaign has ended.One of the best parts about InDemand is that they even copy over how much you raised on Kickstarter so you are not starting from scratch. This allows you to keep the social proof you worked so hard to acquire during your Kickstarter campaign and use it to your advantage on InDemand.
We did that with BaKblade 2.0 after a successful Kickstarter campaign.In the case study below, my business partner Mark Pecota walks you through how powerful Indiegogo InDemand can be once your Kickstarter campaign has come to an end.
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