Kickstarter Advice Part 2 - Building Your Campaign

Hi Guys! Sorry it's been so long... it was my intention to write this a month ago but apparently my body said no and decided to shut down for a few weeks after sorting out the studio! But I'm back yay!

 In part 2 of my Kickstarter advice I want to talk about building your campaign, this means writing your Kickstarter proposal, making your video and the things to do before you go live!

Writing your Kickstarter Blurb
Before I wrote my Kickstarter proposal I spent a lot of time reading other people's blurbs and thinking about what I liked about them, what I didn't like, what made me back one project and not another so this is what I found.

• Be clear and conscise (what do you want? what are your offering in return for backing?) too much info and I tend to switch off... sorry, I have a short attention span and if I do chances are other people will too, same with your video keep it short and sweet,
• Make sure you bullet point your rewards as well as having them in the sidebar, you can go into more detail, include pictures of the rewards
• Be yourself... I'm nuts, so I kind of went with being a little crazy. Remember you aren't standing in front of the Dragons in Dragon's den, you can talk to people like you would your friends... although probably with less expletives. Oh and try not to go too far the other way... don't be too nuts! I'd like to know what I am paying for, if you are dancing around in a tutu and waving a wand when you want to be selling a new line of greetings cards I'm probably going to cross the metaphorical street and pretend I can't see you. 
• Don't be negative... even if you are doing it for comic effect, it doesn't always translate. At the end of the Kickstarter page there is a section on risks and challenges. Be honest about the risks but say how you will over come them, emphasise your experience... "I have X years of selling online and 100% perfect feedback scores on Etsy" you can even include a link to your etsy feedback. Let people know you will keep them in the loop.
• and what was that last thing? Oh yeah ASK FOR SOMETHING!!! I've read dozens of Kickstarters where you get to the end and your not exactly sure what they want from you. It's know as a "call to action", if you feel uncomfortable asking people to back you well get over it... you want their support! You can ask people to share your project on their social media... don't be so blatant as shouting "GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY!" but you shouldn't be shy about asking for support both you  and your readers know it's what they are there for.

I started by breaking my blurb down into section headings and planning it out that way.

Introduction- who am I? What's the project about?
Why a tea towel - What am I selling? Where did the idea come from?
A product description - Sizes, stats, pictures
Rewards - Break down of the rewards, pictures of all the rewards
Stretch goals - I had a couple worked out but I wish I had planned for a best case scenario instead of the the opposite and had more planned out in advance. This would have helped me stay focused and not blow my budget by screwing up postage adding more things later on!
Call to action - Please back me, please share!
Risks and Challenges

So once it's written check it for spelling mistakes and then get a bunch of other people to check it to make sure it makes sense and check for spelling and grammatical errors.

This advice also stands for making your video... yes... you need one... but no you don't need to put your face in it if you are terminally camera shy. I just made a slide show with a voice over because some days I hate my face and videos are not my thing! (I tried... it was awful! Panda eyes!) Be your self, mine was slightly clumsy but I still thought it was cute and most importantly it was me (despite being unable to say tea towel). Don't ramble on too long... again... my attention span is about 90 seconds long but make sure you say everything you need to say and don't forget to ask for something. (You can flesh it out in your blurb) practice, write it down, edit, re edit, re record... take your time and get it right... or as right as your abilities let you!

Upload your shiny video or slide show.

At this point the pressure to click the big green launch now button will be immense but don't! Live with it for a couple of days so you can edit further, polish it till it shines and decide when to launch. you can ask a member of the Kickstarter team to look it over before it goes live which is worth it just to make sure you aren't breaking any of their rules.

I chose to launch just after a giveaway as lots of people were hanging around my facebook waiting for the winner to be announced so there was a buzz there already. Sunday nights around 6 are a good time as many people go online then too but chose a launch time that is when people will be around online... probably not best to launch at midnight as this means your project will end at midnight too, chose a time that is good for you and that you know you will able to be around when you campaign ends so you can bring in the last few backers (or drive everyone nuts with a count down!)

My Kickstarter campaign looks nothing like it did when I started out. I edited it as things progressed and goals were met. You have to treat it like a living breathing thing and update as things change to keep it fresh and keep the backers you have interested and engaged as well as being able to attract new ones.

So this seems like a good place to stop... next time (hopefully not in a month this time!) I'll talk about what to do during your campaign.

You can read Part 1- Things to do Before you start here:
http://feltmeupdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/my-kickstarter-advice-part-1-before-you.html


Or check out the original campaign page here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feltmeupdesigns/feltmeupdesigns-rainbow-doodle-birds-printed-tea-t/description

My Kickstarter Advice - Part 1 Before You Start

A lot of people have been asking me about Kickstarter for their projects... so I thought I would get my thoughts down in blog form so I am not repeating myself. I should say this is just my experience, this is by no means how you should run a kickstarter and it's not a guaranteed win. This blog I'm going to talk about things you'll need to think about before you start a Kickstarter campaign, the next one I'll talk about the actual running of the campaign.

Before You Start

First off you need to decide if  Kickstarter is for you... read the gubbins on their site, at the bottom in the creator section here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/

The Creator Handbook and FAQS will answer most of your questions... and those they don't there are a million blog posts out there which will.


I feel like I had Kickstarter coming out of my ears after all the research I did! Mostly I would say research, research,research because about 50% of Kickstarters fail... what I did was look up the projects similar to mine (there were 8) half succeeded and half failed and I analysed what I thought the successes did right and what the failures did wrong.

It's also worth backing a couple of projects if you never have before just to get a feel for how the site works and so you can talk potential backers thru the process if they struggle. 

Ask yourself what you want to get out of Kickstarter. Do you want to get rich and move to a hot country and drink cocktails on the beach? Well you need a millionaire boyfriend not a Kickstarter! Do you want to produce a new range of products? Fund a new studio? Get a book printed? That's more reasonable... you can't just shout "FUND MY DREAM" and expect people to be queuing up to  give you cash (hey it might happen if you have a 100 or so people who love you deeply and want to fund your dream but that's the exception, not the rule)

You need to give people something in return... something they will want, it doesn't need to be a psychical object, it can be a download (music, video, ebooks, PDFs) or an experience (a VIP invite to your gallery opening, a class in your new studio, a plaque on the wall of your new amazing what ever that you built with their name on it)

I would say do a small project first to test the waters and see if you have an audience out there who will back you but mine got a bit out of control and ceased to be small after the first 48 hours... I was lucky! If I had been smarter I would have done something even smaller to test the process, I made a lot of mistakes which cost me but I came out on top in the end and I learned a lot from the experience which I can apply to my next project.

 Getting down to the nitty gritty... The Money Bit

So you've decided it's for you, let's get serious... a lot of people have looked at what I made on kickstarter and said "wow you've made 3 grand!" well yep... I have but this included postage (about £600 of postage if your asking) packaging, producing the tea towels, prints, mugs and stickers. I didn't come out of this with a lot of profit... but I do have a new product line and the stock which will turn in to profit over the coming months...which was the point.

Do your costing first, then do them again then get a pal to check them... I screwed up on postage on somethings (kickstarter includes postage in your target which I didn't realise) but it evened out in the end. Include about 15% for kickstarter and credit charge fees and backers who drop out at the last minute (it happens, don't worry too much about it... if you work it into your budget it's not the end of the world).

Even consider doing your costing by working out a unit price for every single item and adding them up... and don't forget to add tax on... chances are most or all of your funds will be used to produce your project (if you're reading this you are probaly doing a crafty project right?) but if you do have profit then it will be counted as income and taxed (oh yay government!)

So what's the minimum you need to make to fund the thing you want to do, add 15% then add 20% for tax then add a safety net for any unseen/missed expenses... an oh yeah... profit! You may want to make some of that at some point weather it's future profit in the form of stock or actual profit at the end of your Kickstarter... this is work people! You want to get paid!

(This is getting a bit long so I will do a separate blog about creating your project)

Building the Buzz 

The best bit of advice I got is that Kickstarter is all about your mailing list/facebook fans/social media contacts/fans/friends/ family... these are the people who will get you to your initial target and help spread the word so don't be bashful about contacting them and asking them to share you project/back you.

If you don't have an audience already (look at your facebook, twitter, instagram etc do you have a lot of screaming fans or is it just your mum and your Auntie Ethel) the you need to start building it. Do you have a mailing list for your business? Have you repeat customers you can contact who might be interested.

Start a press list of blogs you want to contact, paper press, local news etc... you might want to contact these people before you go live as they are busy people... lots of blogs have a schedule worked out in advance so you may need to contact them early.

If you can build a bit of a buzz before you even launch reaching your target will be made easier as you may even have people waiting for your project to go live... wouldn't that be awesome?

You can read my Kickstarter story on my website here:
http://www.feltmeupdesigns.com/Kickstarter.php

Or check out the original campaign page here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feltmeupdesigns/feltmeupdesigns-rainbow-doodle-birds-printed-tea-t/description

Next week I'll fit in a blog about writing and planing your campaign. Watch this space!
x
mel

 

Kickstarter Update: Tea Towel and Mug Pre Orders (also Known as 50 ways to photograph a tea towel)

Feltmeupdesigns Rainbow doodle bird tea towel

So this past week I have been basking  in the glow of Kickstarter success and the glorious sunshine here in Blighty!( Sadly I don't tan... or burn... I have Goth genes and am genetically predisposed towards pasty! Still slapping on that sun cream tho melanoma is no joke!)

Feltmeupdesigns Rainbow doodle bird tea towel

If you missed out on the kickstarter you can pre order mugs and tea towels here in my special Rainbow Doodle Birds Shop. Current estimated time of arrival is around the end of July as I can't order any until Kickstarter releases the funds. I'm offering mugs and tea towels at a special introductory price on pre order so grab em now before they go up!

Feltmeupdesigns Rainbow doodle bird tea towel

Kickstarter backers check your inboxes I sent you an exclusive code so you can add on tea towels and mugs and any thing else from my webshop without having to shell out for postage again, you can also find the code in the exclusive backer update on Kickstarter if you deleted the email.

My Packaging table... we're gonna need a bigger table!

I've got a head start on my rewards making the birds for those who selected rewards with birds, getting the art work done and ordering the paper rewards which arrived in a brick of paper 2 days ago. Today I'm going to coerce Mr Felt into helping me sort them into piles and start bagging them up ready for shipping. (I might bribe him with ice cream!)

Rainbow doodle Birds Everwhere!

The piles of Kickstarter rewards are taking over the studio!

The Rewards I've made so far

I've had 3 photoshoots trying to get a decent picture of the tea towel and basically have forgotten everything I ever knew about photography! After photo shoot number 3 I think we got it!

Piles of Post cards, prints and stickers

 Feltemupdesigns.com got a make over new landing page and a brand new Kickstarter Adventure page to freshen it up... because I'm super proud about my Kickstarter! Also because it needed a spruce up!

Quick heads up as soon as the tea towels arrive I'll be shutting ALL my shops for a couple of weeks to process the rewards and then have a break... if you need something and were planning on buying it last week in July/first week in august probably best to buy it now!

xx
mel

Even More Uses for a Tea Towel - Your Ideas

The Kickstarter is over! Phew! First of all thank you for all your support, especially to all the people who shared, pledged and generally pushed me along, lifted me up and made me laugh on this crazy journey! Here's a great big Thanks for you all! W ebeat our target and are a whopping 378% funded! Eep!

Secondly I know some people had issues with the Kickstarter platform so I have set up a Rainbow Doodle Birds Shop here:

Rainbow Doodle Birds Shop

So anyone who wants can preorder tea towels and mugs and add birds to their orders too. I can't offer the exclusive rewards here unfortunately but if you contact me I'll see what I can do.

 

So I had lots of ideas of how to use a tea towel but my favourite was making the little pocket buddies and lavender bags! I asked for your ideas and you supplied them! Thanks for that! I know I'm a little late with this blog post but I did underestimate how busy the last 2 days would be! Thanks for bearing me!

Lottiepinkarthurblue made by Laura had the idea for make-shift aprons for when you leave the kid's ones at nanna's house. She also suggested that they would make fab cushion covers and
Katie Pinson said " I'd love one to sew into an extra large cushion!"


Sarah Box said "I make them into crafters pinnies great for craft fairs, Bootsales etc holding money or have sold them to hold gardening tools, crotchet hooks and paintbrushes xx" Great Idea!


Melanie Avis said "I would never use them as tea towels, I would cut them and make pretty bags out of them. They are too pretty to get grubby!" Thanks Melanie

Farfield Mill, Sedbergh suggested a tea towel fight! (They didn't specify if they should be wet or dry for this... wet would produce a great snap!

Duncan Gbf Mason had a suggestion along this theme "They make the best emergency pirate bandanas for those impromptu spoon fights in the kitchen waiting for the pasta to boil..." They do... we tried it! They do fit!

Tash 'Orange' Hill suggested  fold into a chicken as a table decoration! So we had a look and you can find lots of napkin folding tutorials on the internet that will work with a tea towel too!

Aleks C Zglińska said "mine is fabric for rainbow tweet bunting"! I love this idea

Cristina Cat "tea towel bread "pillow" case to keep the bread safe!" (I meant to this one but I ate all my bread!)

Rachelle Borbely "Comforter" for doll beds! 

Cat McLaughlin said "Sew two together to make a tote bag"


I can't wait to see what you all do with your tea towels! Please feel free to send me your pictures on Facebook when you get your tea towels... at the moment I'm estimating that we should get them mid July and all rewards should be posted out shortly afterwards so people should start getting their tea towels, mugs and Kickstarter rewards late July/ early August!

I'm around to answer questions, take orders and generally post lots of pictures of birds over the next couple of weeks but once the tea towels arrive I'll be shutting down for a couple of weeks to process all the rewards. I'll keep you posted. 

Thanks
Mel 

50 Ways To Use a Tea Towel - The Crafty Edit

So it has been noted that my lovely doodle birds tea towel is far too nice to dry you dishes with and if you don't want to hang it on your wall, wear it like a hat or use it for first aid then why not make something lovely with it?

I've scoured the internet for free patterns and tutorials to find some great projects and free instructables you could use to make something amazing with your doodle birds tea towel!

37. Make a nice apron... ok so there are 2 ways you can do this you could simply grab a belt (like Babble suggests) and improvise an apron (if for example you found a giant spider living in the pocket of your regular apron and had to take it into the garden while screaming and then never speak of it again, ture story!)

38. Follow this pattern/instructable from Fyne Designs to make an apron in just 10 minutes (or maybe 20 for the cak handed amonst us!) it involves a little sewing but as a beginners project it's a pretty simple idea.

39. You could buy loads and make a lovely table cloth! Or just 3 and make a table runner... if you want to get all fancy then why not mix it up with one or two doodle birds tea towels and some pretty stripy ones from the pound shop in coordinating colours. Here's a pattern to show you how.

40. You could make a fancy bag! So you could sew 2 together to make a giant tote bag, just ad some handles or you could follow this tutorial and make a cute drawstring bag, I had one like this for my pumps in PE at school which stopped the rest of my bag getting foot stinky!

41. Now this one I love! Welcome to the House Of Mouse has this awesome super cute tutorial for a 30 minute skirt for a toddler! A skirt... covered in doodle birds! Think about it... I reckon you could make an adult version with 3 or 4 but you'd probably have to line it then, or maybe just use one as a panel in a skirt with some lovely vintage fabric!

42. Now here's an easy one, napkins! If you just snip the tea towel down the middle horizontally and hem up each side you have a lovely napkin!

Image credit Food 52

43. Make a cushion from a tea towel... doodle birds in your living room? Oh yes!

44. Make a wallet from your tea towel... I'd suggest that you cut your doodle birds out length ways so you can have a full doodle bird on each side of the fold and inside too! The tutorial from Obsessively Stitching looks relatively simple, even to it says boys wallet I'm sure a girl could use it too!

45. Tea Towel Shopping bag holder (my nan's favourite, she had dozens of these hanging about the house! Craft bits has a really simple tutorial even Mr Felt could manage it!

The Kickstarter Tea Towel  Project is still live and we have 5 days to go so it's quite fitting that I leave you with 5 ways to use a tea towel left to cover! I've added a new stretch goal... if we hit my next target all backers requiring posting will recieve an extra Barn Owl postcard sized mini print in their parcel! Yay! It's a big stretch this one...read more about it in my latest Kickstarter update here. You might think it's a lot for just 5 days but I've seen what you guys can do in just 2! So please share if you can't pledge... I really appreciate any support.

 Thanks
x
Mel

50 Ways to Use a Tea Towel Part 8 - The First Aid Edit

So this morning I hadn't had my coffee yet and decided to unload the washing machine... which was all kinds of stoopid because before coffee I can't be trusted with complex tasks! I stood up too quickly and brained my self on the kitchen cupboard. As I was listening to the pretty birds tweeting in my head I realised that a (clean) tea towel has many applications in first aid!

(disclaimer if you have come here for genuine medical advice try NHS direct instead... I'm just silly!)

31. Alternative ways to treat a head injury.If you don’t have any ice cubes use a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel soaked in cold water and wrung out. (or just wrap the peas in a tea towel like I did!)

32. For Cramps wrap a hot water bottle in a tea towel and apply to the achey bit! 

33.If you don’t have dressing pads to put pressure on a wound a tea towel or even the person’s own hands can be used to put pressure on the wound and stop or slow down the flow of blood. (note maybe use a less nice tea towel than mine ok?)

34. Make a snazzy sling (ok this may only work for little people and teddy bears!

 

35. Dress a head wound (prevents brain from falling out!)

36. To treat a burn or scald, place the burnt area under running cold water until the pain eases. This may take up to 15 minutes. Cover the area with a clean dry tea towel (or something similar.) Do not pull clothes off a burnt area. Do not prick blisters. Do not put oil or cream on a burn. If the burn is large then seek medical advice at casualty.

My snazzy tea towel still available at Kickstarter :D

Picture sources:
https://happyowlgolucky.wordpress.com/2012/02/

Text Sources
http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/First-aid/Everyday-First-Aid/No-first-aid-kit-no-problem
http://www.whyburnpractice.nhs.uk/self-help/first-aid/

50 ways to use a tea towel part 7 In Which We Learn Stuff

A complete and accurate history of the tea towel based on 20 minutes of internet research... true to the best of my limited knowledge! (probably totally inaccurate, do not quote this in your doctoral thesis!)

The term tea towel seems to have been coined in the 18th century... possibly around the time us Brits became tea obsessed!

A brief internet search throws up a myriad of different origins of the humble tea towel from:

Way 22 - A towel made of fine linen for drying the best china

Way 23 - A beautiful decoratively embroidered towel which was used to line a tea tray to catch drips and/or:

Way 24 - To prevent the tea service sliding about on the tray.

In the 19th century Tea Time became a very popular almost universal daily event in Britain. Tea Time developed into a very serious affair accompanied by the families finest china, crystal and linens. The British lady of the house took great pride in her tea service and display and most probably her tea towel tho it's not as nifty as mine and cannot be fashioned into:

Way 25 - A very fine turban for the small of head

Way 26 - A rather splendid shawl or scarf

but could also be :

Way 27 - Wrapped around a tea pot as a sort of cosy. (ok we did this with a coffee pot but a teapot is different right? And I still have 23 more to go so give me a break!)

Way 28 - Used as a basket warmer, laid over the top of a serving basket or bowl to keep scones of fresh muffin warm (English muffin folks, the type you toast... not the huge cakey type of muffin which you should stuff in your face without warming first!) 

Way 29 - Ladies would often embroider tea towels with their own motifs... if ours wasn't gorgeous enough for you you could always add some embellishments, a french knot or two... perhaps some sequins? Maybe not the sequins!

The material tea towels are made from also provides a workable background to be decorated with embroidery. The ladies of this period often embroidered their own personal tea towels used during tea time

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/facts_5615509_history-tea-towel.html

The material tea towels are made from also provides a workable background to be decorated with embroidery. The ladies of this period often embroidered their own personal tea towels used during tea time

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/facts_5615509_history-tea-towel.html

The material tea towels are made from also provides a workable background to be decorated with embroidery. The ladies of this period often embroidered their own personal tea towels used during tea time

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/facts_5615509_history-tea-towel.html

 

Way 30 - As an improvised canvas, while my lovely doodle birds tea towel is far too gorgeous to paint on if you have ran out of canvas and are at the mercy of the muse, like Van Gogh you could improvise a canvas with a tea towel. Apparently he often did this and a still life with flowers painted on a tea towel fetched £2.1 million at an auction in 2000!

Ta da! 

Thus ends our completely inaccurate history of the tea towel! My rather splendid rainbow doodle birds tea towel is available at my Kickstarter here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feltmeupdesigns/feltmeupdesigns-rainbow-doodle-birds-printed-tea-thttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feltmeupdesigns/feltmeupdesigns-rainbow-doodle-birds-printed-tea-t

10 Ways to Use a Mug

So lately I have been DREAMING  about tea towels! Seriously I had a dream that Jason Momoa wanted to buy a tea towel and I wouldn't let him!

So for a change let's talk mugs! Now your average mug is not as versatile as a tea towel, for example you can't take it with you to the beach... you might break it! You can't use it to dry dishes (but you can dry it with a tea towel! But our humble mugs still has some great and surprising uses:

1. Drink a lovely hot beverage from it... I like coffee, white, 1 sugar or peppermint tea... and chocolate digestives for preference.

2.It makes a great pen pot for all the sharpies that I bought for totally legitimate reasons!

 3. It makes a really lovely pot for a little plant! My little cactus pal here is from Yarntistry but if you are using real plants I'd suggest a plastic pot inside the mug so it can drain properly.

 4. Ssssshhhhhh! (if you drink wine from your mug nobody will know it's wine!) Also it's super classy I don't care what anyone else says!

 5.No speakers for your I-pod or shiny smart phone? Music sounding like a mosquito stuck in a tin can... no probs... pop it in a mug a voila! It's an amplifier (look at me I'm techie now!)

6. Make a mug cake, they are yummy... they do tend to be a little dry sometime but I find a bit of ice cream or custard helps and stuffing a spoonful of nutella in the middle makes a really nice sauce... just let it cool a bit first! I like THIS one!

7. Make a cookie in a mug with a microwave! Yep... you heard it here... a cookie! So I tried this out just for you and while what I ended up with was kind of a fudgey/cookie/cakey mess with a dollop of ice cream on top it was delicious! (no pics cos it really did look like death!) Here's the recipe on Spoon University. This one seriously give it a bit of time to cool because the result is molten!

8. Don't want to wash up? Make scrambled egg in a mug and then eat it from the mug! Just whip up your eggs and add a splash of milk, some herbs, salt and pepper if you want them and bung in microwave... I cook it in 30 second bursts then take it out and give it a mix until it's cooked. Yum!

9. Make a  meat loaf in a mug... seriously who needs an oven and plates when you have a microwave and a mug! I haven't tried this but the fact that I could do you a whole 3 course meal including soup, main and a desert all in mugs in the microwave is awesome... I can't guarantee it'll taste good but we only own 4 plates and seem to have about 20 mugs!

10.  It makes a rather splendid gift, see you can pop a nice bag of sweeties (or a mini wine bottle just sayin'!) and a little gift inside a mug and then it's a lovely surprise when unwrapped. Oh hey... I bet a tea towel would fit nicely inside a mug too!

So yes! Mugs are versatile and useful as well as being pretty! I've learn you can sharpen a knife with the base of one although I can't be trusted with sharp things!

You can get my mug by pledging at Kickstarter and you can add a mug to any pledge but scolling down to the FAQs and checking out how to there :D

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feltmeupdesigns/feltmeupdesigns-rainbow-doodle-birds-printed-tea-t

Right where's my wine mug... I mean coffee... coffee... I'm not drinking wine honest!