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