Reasons not to run a crowdfunding campaign in 2019 — and why you should still consider it.

Just over a week ago in the beginning of November 2018 our first kickstarter campaign for SMOSH MOSH came to an end. Thank god it was a success! (Thanks to all our backers!).

Crowdfunding has lost it’s novelty and impact over the years. The press covers only very few campaigns (if at all) and a lot of backers have been disappointed by campaigns that did not deliver.
We did a lot of research before hand and by any means we didn’t do a lot of things right. In fact, after all that we had learned we decided against running a campaign because the work and emotional stress seemed to outweigh by far what we anticipated (and needed) to raise.

An unexpected event changed our minds: A fan on Facebook wanted to create merchandise based on our IP. Key-chains and plush hats would make for some beautiful rewards! So we took the chance and tried to raise 15.000$ to keep the project going and get to the next milestone.
Two weeks before launch, the fan that was supposed to prepare and offer the merchandise was not heard of again. She went completely dark on us and we had to come up with alternatives in a very short time. But great ideas can emerge from desperate moments. We offered inktober artwork, tote bags, beenies and original oil paintings instead.

On launch day we did a small real-life kickoff party that we announced and live streamed on Facebook where we have our small community of 3.000 awesome fans.

That evening marked the start of what I will remember as a very annoying 30 days of my life.

You against the internet and the press

We all know how hard it is to stick out in the crowd. There is also no bullet proof guide that you can follow and be sure to be successful even though crowdfunding statistics help you a great deal to measure, compare and lower your own expectations.

But while I was doing what I was doing to promote the project I kept thinking: It must have been a lot easier to run a campaign 5 years ago:
The press was not fed up with crowdfunding so it was easier to pitch your story. Crowdfunding was at the top of its hype cycle and the number of undelivered projects was low so it still had a positive vibe. Organic reach and exposure through social media was easier as the algorithms were less sophisticated and less strict. Communities in general seemed a lot less fragmented.

Today, you always need to pay for reach. The insidious thing is, even if you pay for fans and followers, you won’t necessarily reach them again with your posts.
Nobody who runs an honest kickstarter campaign (not a “we are backed by a big studio but just use it as a marketing tool because we look indie”) — has money to generate leads or convert subscribers through ads. What do you do? You turn to reddit. A platform you happily ignored for many years now seems like your last hope. Power to the people and not the algorithms!

In advance I scouted through all potential subreddits and I started posting. Soon I realized that every subreddit can have its own rules and one rule they had all in common: Do not self promote.
Quickly you get scared and paranoid because you expect some mod who is having a bad day to check your profile and see all the duplicate posts and ban you for good. Sometimes the automod deletes your post, sometimes you are not allowed to post because you do not comment enough (comment karma). Reddit is basically a platform that gives the loudest kids on the block a voice. The more time you waste on reddit commenting and trolling the more power you have. Click-bait titles and controversy are the best strategy to get upvotes.
You keep trying and you feel like you are spamming the internet (and you are).

Day after day goes by and you keep finding new email contacts within your industry, new relatives, new (or old friends) and news blogs covering your niche. You chase every dollar, think about PR stunts and you wonder if you’ve lost your dignity along the way.

At some point you come across ridiculous kickstarter campaigns like selling a bite of potato salad for 3$. You see the amount of money raised and you start to doubt yourself, your creativity, your project and humanity in general.

(BTW if you want to know how we got over 4.000 emails from our industry you’ll have to subscribe here and just ask)

Why we would do it again.

But you know what, your frustration and bitterness doesn’t really matter. Because through all this struggle — the research, the preparations, the failed marketing strategies — you hopefully learned valuable lessons. Not just about marketing but about yourself, about your project, about the internet.

We knew this project is a tough sell for broadcasters and it would take a very long time to convince networks to give us money. We know because we pitched it on several occasions. Our initial goal was to build a community and have them be involved in the creation of a series intended to be enjoyed through streaming services on the web. It made perfect sense for us to run a kickstarter. Not just to get a few dollars, but also to grow our community and to test if people actually like the project.

This might be very different for your product and industry and if you think you can get money through more traditional channels you should try that first. With regards to kickstarter: Just be realistic. The chance your passion project goes viral is almost zero (unless your passion is potato salad).
Gather your email contacts, make a list, get the press on board early and find strategic partners. Create a nice video and trailer with some great royalty-free music. Leverage every new social media feature Facebook or other channels are rolling out, they will increase your reach (live video, watch parties etc.).
Expect a big chunk of money to come from friends and family. That’s ok and is very important in the first few days to show some traction. Don’t expect a lot from getting featured by kickstarter. Most important: Stay positive and polite and don’t stop thinking about marketing ideas during the campaign.
(Also do me a favor, if someone tells you about the three f’s: friends, family and fools, slap their faces for me. Your backers deserve better than to be regarded as fools.)

In the end, we prepared well enough, persisted long enough and are now very relieved to have raised 17.000$ in 30 days. But the road to success was very painful, just be aware.

Reach out on twitter @phili_maas if you have any questions . We did a few things right after all and this article was not supposed to be all negative ;)