Why Running a Crowdfunding Campaign is Necessary for All Creatives
Or: Lessons I’ve Learned As a Creative With a Successful Kickstarter
As I’m writing this, I’m currently running a campaign on Kickstarter to make some creepy enamel pins (creepy as in “horror-movie-creepy,” not “that-guy-who-texts-me-dick-pics-creepy.”) I feel extremely grateful to be able to announce that I hit my initial goal after 5 hours, and am off to the races to try and hit all of my stretch goals.
If you’re reading this post, and you’re looking for Kickstarter-hacking, crowdfunding guru-advice stuff, you’ve unfortunately found the wrong piece of writing. If you’re looking for that, I’m not sure why you aren’t over following Jamey Stegmaier, who actively tracks trends and delves deep into the psychology and tactics of running a successful crowdfunding campaign. He wrote a book about it and has literally raised millions on Kickstarter. On the other hand, I have like 150 followers on Twitter and when I say I successfully hit my goal after 5 hours, the caveat is I raised $360. This is not a $5 million dollar campaign for new technology or a feature film — it’s for some sweet enamel pins.
Okay, so now that I’ve scared most of you off trying to make your first million, here’s the stuff I’ve learned.
1. Your friends are still your friends even if they don’t back you / Don’t rely on people you know to fund your entire project if it’s possible.
I’m super fortunately to have a close group of friends who I’ve known since college, and a few friends who I’ve known since elementary school. So far, maybe like two of them have pledged to my campaign, and that’s 100% okay.
I have been fortunate that a lot of friends and acquaintances back me, but most of the people I’d hope to be at my wedding are not the people giving me money, and I am very thankful I’m at a place where I don’t need them to.
In the past, I’ve definitely emailed all my friends and asked them to spread the word, or to share my post about my crowdfunding launches, or asked them to directly pledge. This time, I wanted to ask more for support in the terms of media shares and comments, rather than direct monetary support. Why? Because I knew that while I’m super into collecting creepy art, enamel pins, and other stuff like that, not all of my friends are.
I want people to pledge and back my project because they’re actually interested in what I’m creating, not for me as a person. I also want to respect my friends’ individual circumstances — while $8 isn’t a whole lot of money for some, for the rest of the 99% it is still an extra expenditure, and I don’t know what financial difficulties or other stuff people might be secretly suffering through.
The main thing about this, for me, is that if people I know want to back me, then awesome! I’m super glad they’re into stuff I make. But if they don’t want to back, then that’s totally cool too! I appreciate their friendship and support over the years and I think it would be incredibly selfish and presumptuous to ask that they buy everything I make.
Also, I understand that I’m incredibly fortunate that the campaign funded so quickly, and that for a lot of people it may be most strategic to rely on friends and family. Now that I’m mid-campaign and facing The Slump (and my birthday is around the corner) I may make some personal bids for backing. But in the long run, if I want to create art completely full-time, I can’t rely on my personal network forever.
Even if the campaign failed, I at least would get data on what people are interested in, and what they aren’t interested in. If I want to pay all my bills (damn you student loans!) from stuff I make, I need to be able to reach far beyond my personal network — selling to friends is a great way to start, but it’s far from sustainable, and I don’t want to strain friendships (as I admittedly may have done in the past) by letting purchases and money get in the way.
2. There is nothing wrong with “only” raising $360. It shouldn’t be about the money at all.
Crowdfunding is not just an opportunity to get your project funded. It really is a way to connect with your audience and engage new fans in a way that was not really previously possible. While I definitely get a high every time I check my creator’s dashboard and see a new pledge, what’s even more rewarding is getting to message every backer personally and actually talking with people.
Having backers tell me that they wish they could pledge a higher amount but that they could only afford one pin is so powerful and magical. The fact that people are willing to spend what little disposable income they have on something I made is really heartwarming and makes me incredibly thankful for that choice.
I know, I know. In the world where the media regularly touts the newest record-shattering millions of dollars raised in a crowdfunding campaign and all of Kickstarter’s front page looks like $5k projects seems like the norm, running a campaign to make a Cthulhu enamel pin for $360 may seem like chump change. And yes, it’s also true that we live in a capitalistic society and we need money to pay bills and make cool stuff, so money definitely does matter in a lot of ways.
But what I’ve learned is that no matter the size of your campaign, or how much money it makes you, any success is something to be celebrated. I feel incredibly grateful and honored that people are willing to part with their money for something that I have designed.
Ever since I started selling my creations at craft fairs, zine fests, and comic conventions, the interactions are what have always kept me coming back. Even with shows that result in little or no sales, the relationships with other creators and the few people who do buy something I have created really make my day. As a creator, none of us should every overlook the small sale, as I think to do that is to be the type of entitled asshole that everyone wants to avoid.
While I’m definitely shooting for fame and fortune one day, the one thing I never want to do is treat someone poorly because I have more status or money or power than them, and I find that the best way to prevent this ego-inflation is to make sure that you cultivate good behaviors and thought patterns while you’re still working your way up.
3. Regardless of outcome, crowdsourcing is necessary as a creative.
I honestly think that every creative should try running a crowdsourcing campaign at least once in their life. It not only allows you to connect with people you might have never connected with before, but it also really allows you to fine tune your own evaluative taste of the things you make. It forces you to get out there and face the reality of who may or may not like your stuff enough to pay for it.
Crowdfunding also polishes your copywriting skills, marketing skills, and how well you can take/edit/photos and video. I didn’t do a video for this campaign, but maybe I should have to take more advantage of Kickstarter’s algorithm, which I hear favors video plays.
Regardless of my video skills, I did leverage my photoshop skills to at least attempt to make the pins looks like their final form (yay drop shadows for depth!) and it really forces you to figure out your branding for the entire campaign.
If you haven’t practiced these skills before, then it forces you to research other similar campaigns to try and deconstruct how they’re wording things, or when they’re updating, or what kind of videos or photos they’re using. At worst and you’re a complete newbie to this, it is a great learning experience, as marketing is one of those cross-industry skills that everyone (especially creatives) should be working on developing.
Finally, it also helps make you work your way through setbacks and tough times. Having people cancel their pledges is a thing, apparently, and you may find that your campaign starts to slow down and lag a bit during the middle weeks of the campaign. How are you going to keep up enthusiasm and the energy of the campaign?
Recently, I’ve been purposefully trying to put myself into situations that I’m not super comfortable with, or trying things that I know will be particular difficult for myself in order to build up my psychological resilience. Having a crowdfunding campaign is definitely something that has its ups and downs, and now, in the mid-campaign slump with a few people who have canceled their pledges (although it’s better that they did it now rather than after the end of the campaign, so I’m grateful for that), it can be challenging at times to maintain high hopes, enthusiasm, and cheer.
All in all, crowdfunding is a great exercise in learning about sales, business, marketing, your audience, and a bunch of other things about creative entrepreneurship that. I think it is also time consuming, challenging, emotionally difficult, but also a necessary trial-by-fire if one wants to build the non-art skills one needs to commercially succeed in today’s hyper-saturated, distracted society as more and more creative and makers enter the market every day. Do yourself a favor and go out and do the research, make you campaign strategy, figure out your marketing, budget the hell out of your project, and go crowdsource something!
Rick Kitagawa is an award-winning visual artist, storyteller, and arts educator. He has taught hundreds of students how to break into the industry, land their dream jobs, and make a living off of their art. He is the creator of Lift Off Art.
If you’d like to do yourself a favor and buy some creepy pins, go check out his campaign right here.
