Raising over $3 million through Kickstarter, over $2 million of that in less than half a day, doesn't come easy, even for the Conor Lewis, who did just that. Investors didn't just flock to the page for FORT by coincidence or a passing curiosity, Lewis and his team carefully built their ad campaign brick by brick to make sure their kid friendly castle concept didn't topple under siege. Here are some of the insights and brand-awareness battle tactics he shared with Lucas and Pitstop for crafting a clear and cost effective advertising strategy.
Everyone Starts Somewhere. Don't worry if you're not an expert on how to best market your Kickstarter page, GoFundMe drive or Shopify store, Conor certainly wasn't when he started out. Like many in e-commerce, he had the tools and expertise for working with Shopify, Facebook and other online, user based markets. While bringing over his lists to Kickstarter gave FORT a terrific break out of the gates, there was no campaign plan beyond initially getting them to follow from one site to another, or to keep them engaged once there. Don't worry if you don't have a plan, have faith that your followers and supporters will get you through the first few days, more than enough time to strategize your next step.
Spend Money To Make Money. The vast majority of Kickstarter campaigns are built entirely off ads, rather than from organic traffic or SEO. As such, anyone who relies on their imported followers from before they launched on Kickstarter for too long will soon see their well of potential wealth dry up. No matter how much money is spent on sites like Facebook to funnel users to your Kickstarter page, you'll find your money is better spent on Kickstarter ads directly, speaking to interested customers already in a culture, and mood, for spending , rather than the looky-loos and maybe-laters who will inevitably overtake your external lists. Every dollar spent on ads within Kickstarter itself will stretch much farther than on social media.
Your Medium May Be Your Message. Study your list data and make smart ad-buying decisions based on what it tells you about your demographics. Are you mostly dealing with young, trendy parents? Why not invest in automated SMS, which will put you a step ahead of the competition in vying for their attention, in a much more personal and intimate manner. Are they older, or are many of them outside your region? Then keep the hassle, and cost down, by relying on classic email messaging, which some older consumers still trust more than a text, which they may find intrusive. Consider how you are communicating with your customers, and adapt to the medium they prefer.
Make The Most Of Your Messaging. If you know what mediums your paying public positively respond to, then you should also have the data about what specifically it is about that medium that they enjoy. Don't just settle for sending them the bare minimum, make that medium work extra hard for you. Make your texts or emails engaging, challenging, curious, insightful, informative, fun or creative. Let people take a peak into your design process if its visually exciting, or explain the technical specs if it's complicated, or include call and response challenges for social media. Test the waters fearlessly and frequently, and when in doubt, simply ask some of your most loyal supporters what they think is and isn't working.
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