Kickstarter is currently the most popular crowdfunding platform in the world. In fact, backers have put nearly $4 billion into projects they love and support. Kickstarter is a great way to help gain money to continue building your product and/or company without having to burden yourself with the traditional methods of investment. This is especially true for game developers who have a hard time promoting their indie games against major companies.
However, although Kickstarter can be very effective, there are many people that fail miserably at Kickstarter because they don’t do their research and end up making some costly mistakes. Here are a few tips for funding your game through Kickstarter:
Create An Amazing Introductory Video
There’s no way around it: you absolutely need a well-edited introductory video. Your video is the single most important opportunity you have to connect with your audience, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Potential backers will make judgements based on first impressions of your video. Unless you have thorough editing skills and good equipment, this is one area of your campaign that you definitely want to outsource. Here are a few tips for making a killer Kickstarter video:
- Make a video outline/script. Without an outline, your video will lack the structure it needs to meet your goals. Start with a brief introduction, then talk about the problem (why did you start this campaign?) and the solution (what’s your product about and what problem does it solve?). You can then introduce your team and dive a little deeper into what you’ve created. Finish off with a call-to-action.
- Be genuine and personable. After all, first and foremost, you want to create a connection between you and your audience. Think about how you want to be represented, and let it shine through your body language, tone, and words.
- Keep it short. Some of the most-funded campaigns have pretty straight-forward videos. If you cram your video with content, you’re likely to lose some viewers.
- Check out other crowdfunding videos. These will serve as great inspiration, and help you better understand what’s successful to backers. Take a look at this list of the best Kickstarter videos of all time. You’ll also want to comb through campaigns in your industry to see how others are using video to promote their products.
Have Rewards For Every Level
Some campaign creators make the mistake of omitting rewards for lower-level budgets. According to Kickstarter, the most common pledge amount is $25. However, you should still offer rewards for backers who are just sending a dollar. There are plenty creative rewards for $1 backers.
For example, you might create password-enabled website that allows backers to follow development of the game in a much more high-level, personal manner. Simply set up your website hosting, find a design/theme that allows you to capture the essence of your game, and use one of many WordPress password plugins to get you started. Check out this list of other clever $1 reward ideas.
Connect With Your Audience On Social Networks
Your campaign should have a fair amount of social networks associated with it. Although you’ll be updating on your Kickstarter campaign itself, you always want to siphon those updates into your social networks, where you’ll be able to more fluidly engage in dialogue with your audience.
Furthermore, this is the perfect time to build up your social presence, which will be there long after your campaign has ended. Be sure to respond quickly to questions and comments, and consider taking a proactive approach by searching hashtags for relevant discussions you can join in on.
Create A Marketing Strategy
Before you even begin to set up your Kickstarter campaign, it’s imperative that you have a marketing strategy in place. In fact, Kickstarter should be the absolute last thing you do.
Campaigns only last 30 days, and that’s not enough time to cultivate a brand and build awareness. Long before you start to create the campaign, start putting together your marketing strategy. Here are a few things you can do to start spearheading your marketing efforts:
- Get involved in influencer marketing. Influencer marketing has a highly effective marketing strategy. Use tools like BuzzSumo to identify key influencers in your niche, and work out a plan to work with them to help spread awareness.
- Start a blog. Not only do blogs help the public stay informed, but it can also increase your SEO.
- Launch a landing page. As previously mentioned, having a website is like having a portal towards your product. Without it, it’s difficult to create a permanent home outside of your campaign.
- Send out a press release. Your press release can help bring in referral traffic, and like a blog, can also help with SEO.
