Do you have a great business idea, but lack the funds to turn it into reality? If so, you might try crowdfunding via a site like Kickstarter. Our member over at Bramble Berry is in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign, which was fully funded within twenty-four hours. As you can see, the new project is a subscription box delivering everything you need to make handmade beauty products at home. Watch the video.
What a great rainy day activity for crafty people from all walks of life! With just 11 days to go in the campaign, Bramble Berry's project is already 539% funded. Specifically, $16,159 has been pledged on a $3,000 goal. Since they are such a good example to follow, we asked Anne-Marie Faiola, Bramble Berry's founder and CEO, to share some of her best tips for a successful Kickstarter campaign. Here is some of what she shared.
1. Be intentional about what funding options to offer.
We offered a wide variety of options so people could find a funding option to fit their budget. It's a good idea to have one option that is a little on the high side because it makes the other ones look so much more do-able.
In our case, no one bought $1000 option, but it sure made the $346 option seem more affordable. We followed the research of Steve Martin and Robert Cialdini with this pricing model. Originally, we had $346 as the highest option but with their research, added the “anchor” price of $1,000. There’s a great podcast of Robert Cialdini describing this principle here or skim this blog post and pay attention to the second tip.
2. Plan your promotions in advance.
We worked hard ahead of time to let people know what we were doing before we did it. By the time we launched, we had reached out to several bloggers to share the details. We also let our friends and family members know. We got a good amount of traction in advance, so when we launched, people were already excited to participate.
3. Create templates to respond to questions and concerns.
Yes, we have quite a bit of email now, but we are grateful. To minimize the overwhelm, we drafted tons of thank you emails and replies ahead of time. Once we launched, we knew lots of different people would probably have the same questions so we cued up replies in advance so we could be more efficient. Managing incoming questions and comments on the fly can be unnecessarily time consuming, and you want to avoid it as much as possible.
The other thing that is important is to keep your funding friends updated regularly. If you update people regularly, they will continue to feel a part of your project, and they will continue to share as well.
4. Give before taking.
I believe in giving before taking. You can see from my Kickstarter profile that I believe in Kickstarter. I have backed several projects over the years, so it’s a natural fit for me to launch a product on Kickstarter. I didn’t just join Kickstarter to take, take, take.
5. This is the time to call in all of your social media favors.
We are leveraging social media like crazy. This is the time to call in any and all favors. It's times like this that I'm happy that I don't ask people to share things all the time. I saved up for a big one, and this is it. Share your project on every social media outlet you have. To save time, schedule posts in advance if you can, using services like HootSuite or Buffer, and the scheduling tool built into Facebook.
6. Use video to show people what they are investing in.
Video. Video. Video. And, did I say, “VIDEO?” The best practice is to always have a video to SHOW people what they are getting and who they are working with and buying from.
Aren't those some great tips?
Even though the Handmade Beauty Box project has been fully funded, there is still time for you to back it and get one of their first subscription boxes delivered to your front door before Christmas Day.
Check out Bramble Berry's website here.
