We have developed various crowdfunding campaigns, for ourselves, for other companies and for non-profits. Some of these campaigns succeeded beyond our wildest dreams in the traditional meaning of the word “success.” Meaning, some campaigns dramatically exceeded the stated financial goal. Others were more modest, and one technically failed. But even the failure was a success – and I don’t mean that in some groovy Silicon Valley sort of way. I mean crowdfunding can be incredibly beneficial to your overall goals, even if the financial goal wasn’t met.

DEVELOP YOUR STORY: SHORT & SWEET

As we all know, when you put a product on the market, you have to tell people about it, get them excited and give them a way to buy it. In a normal product launch, we may develop a website, highlight features and benefits, show some pictures and click BUY NOW. With Kickstarter, the same needs are true, except there is a requirement of a video, only one page to give all the details and only 30-60 days to “sell.” This short and sweet version of information will only help your product story overall. the shorter, sweeter and faster you get to the point, the more sales you make.



JUMP START ON CREATING MARKETING ASSETS

Photos, illustrations and infographics, video and messaging needed to succeed with the campaign also gives you all the assets you need to “sell” the product in a traditional setting after the campaign. Media and interested parties will (hopefully) bombard you with requests for testimonials, marketing photos, blurbs etc about your project. Due to needing all those things for the campaign, you are already set up to provide all of that as needed rather than creating something new for every request.

CROWDFUNDING AS A TEST MARKET or FOCUS GROUP!

Throughout your campaign, you should receive fairly continuous feedback, comments, questions etc from “the field.” This feedback tells you whether your message is working. Whether you are describing the product appropriately, highlighting the benefits enticingly, showcasing the product with imagery that people respond to, and providing enough information of functionality or intent so that people “get it.”

PROVE MARKET VIABILITY & CREATE A COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS

A traditional new product launch means throwing something into a market-saturated world without any product history – and if the brand itself is new, then there is no love of any kind already in the market. Crowdfunding enables you to develop a community through presenting the product and engaging in ongoing discussion with potential backers. If the project is successful, the story lends itself to additional media mentions and potential investor interest. It puts the product in a better position, a position of higher marketability for the true launch.

 

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