How to build a brand from your kickstarter campaign: BBQ Dragon
Take your kickstarter Campaign to the next level
1. BBQ Dragon: A Revolutionary Fire Starter
What’s the fastest way to start a fire? Try BBQ Dragon. BBQ dragon can fire your grill up to 1700F in just five minutes.
The idea behind BBQ dragon was born when two brothers, George and Bruce Prior got tired of waving a paper plate for an hour in front of a fire pit. The idea was to create a fan that can be clipped to any/every grill. They knew from the very first moment that there was no product like BBQ dragon out there. Of course there were grill fans available for purchase, but they were not hands free and codeless. George recalled:
“We got obssessed with the idea, but the question was- what do we do with this?”
George and Bruce spent the following two years to create more than 40 prototypes of BBQ dragon. But for them, this was not just a process to develop a product. It was a journey to build a brand.
2. Tips for Innovators: Leverage Kickstarter as a marketing platform
Kickstarter is more than a crowdfunding webiste. BBQ Dragon’s kickstarter campaign helped to scale the results of previous marketing efforts and further get BBQ dragon’s name out there as a brand. When asked to offer an advice to start ups, George answered:
“I would like to suggest the inventors to think of kickstarter as a piece of your marketing materials”
How? Read below to learn how to use kickstarter as a marketing platform. BBQ Dragon’s kickstarter campaign raised more than $100,000 in 2013.
Tip#1: Use Kickstarter as a continuation of other marketing efforts. Market your brand.
“With BBQ Dragon, we were backing up the product very early on with the marketing. That was because we wanted to be able to release BBQ dragon and have a lot of customers and e-mails that we can release that information to.”
George started running 12 separate websites that featured BBQ Dragon in 2012, about a year before the kickstarter campaign launch. Each website had a different BBQ related theme, such as international grilling, exotic meat and vegetarian grilling. The websites drove traffic to BBQ dragon’s social media accounts, including an youtube channel where the viewers could access videos from all websites. With an average view count of 2000, every video contributed to make people remember BBQ dragon’s name. Individual website conveyed a different message, but overall, each message was designed to promote BBQ dragon as a fresh, grill brand.
Tip #2: The Kickstarter page does not lose it’s value as a marketing tool even after the end of the campaign
About a year after the end of the campaign, George and Bruce starred in an episode of All American Makers on Science channel. It’s one thing to get interviews and have articles written about a product, but it’s surely another thing to have a three minute long youtube video solely dedicated to introducing your product on a channel with 760,000 subscribers. George emphasized,
“They (All American Makers) contacted us because we were on kickstarter. When we look back at the values of various marketing campaigns, one of the great things we got from kickstarter was the real public visibility”.
Until present, BBQ Dragon’s kickstarter page remains as an active communication channel for original backers. After the first manufacturing run, BBQ Dragon team shortly realised there was a defect in one of the components. Though this turn of events could have resulted in creating a group of unhappy customers, they immediately offered to replace the defect component. Thanks to such prompt feedback, BBQ Dragon backers still visit the kickstarter page to post inquiries and stay connected.
3. What’s the end game?
“It’s one thing to have an idea for a product. But it’s another thing to be able to create a product, get it out, sell it and have a plan.”
From the very beginning, George and Bruce were certain that marketing for a brand rather than a product would be pivotal for sustainable, long term growth of BBQ dragon business. Now that product development for BBQ dragon is stabilised, with reliable manufacturing and retail distribution partners lined up, George is ready to introduce more “fresh” grill gadgets that fall under the brand he created.
“One of the main things that we always are making sure we’re doing is preparing our company for a business plan in the future. We’re selling BBQ dragon. But we’re also thinking, alright, what’s the end game? So we’re adding new products and continuing to work on the branding, which is probably our most valuable asset.”
4. Get Started
What was the best resource that Platform88 provided for BBQ dragon?
“I think one of the most attractive things from the beginning, was working with Jacob. He understands the challenges that entrepreneurs are going through. It’s easy to realise that he really was looking out for you being successful. And that gives comfort to people who are going into unfamiliar places, like manufacturing in China.”
Listen to Jacob Rothman, Platform88’s founding partner and grill/kitchen industry expert talk about manufacturing China at PULSE startup podcast: https://chinastartuppulse.simplecast.fm/36
Have a new idea? We’re here to listen. Please contact us to schedule a free consultation.
