How To Make Your Kickstarter Project A Success

We were successfully funded by 521%, and here's what we did to get there!

Intro

I decided a couple months ago to take a break from my career to focus on side projects. One of those projects was to launch a Kickstarter campaign for a me-too consumer product that a couple of friends and I had planned called Alchemi Nail Clippers. Why nail clippers? Traditional nail clippers only account for the inward curve, resulting in nail bending, cracking, and splintering, so we designed Alchemi and its inverse-blade technology to conform to both the natural curve and arch of one's fingernails.

Crowdfunding was a great way for us to raise capital for our project as well as test our product concept and validate our ideas with little risk, but it wasn't easy. If you want your Kickstarter project to be a success, there are a few things you need to do to put your best foot forward with backers. In this article, I'll share some tips on how we maximized the potential of our product and how you can make your Kickstarter project a success too!

1. Do your research

Before launching your project, it's critical that you conduct comprehensive market and product research as well as competitive analysis to learn more about your target market, customers, and competitors. 

Research can help you identify new opportunities, make critical business decisions, and get your project funded successfully. Here are some questions to consider when conducting research:

• Who’s my target audience?

• What’s the size of my market?

• What’s my target demographic?

• Who are my competitors (direct and indirect)?

• What do my competitors do well and what do they do poorly?

• What are some of my customers' potential pain points?

2. Create a great video

People are more likely to back your project if they can see what you’re doing. Creating a captivating video is a great way to get people interested in your project. According to AdAge, if your audience isn't totally engaged within the first thirty seconds of your video, more than 33% of viewers will exit the video, which may cause you to lose the support of prospective backers.

Consider the following tips when developing your Kickstarter project video:

• Create a compelling video storyline that introduces your product, demonstrates how it works, and emphasizes your product's unique selling points.

• If you're going to speak in front of a camera, be your authentic self. People can tell when someone's not being real.

• Make sure you have good video and audio quality.

3. Communicate effectively

When you’re telling your product’s story, focus on the three Cs to effectively get your points across. Be clear, concise, and consistent. Let backers know who you are, why you’re building what you’re building, what you hope to achieve, and what your product’s plan and schedule looks like. 

Make sure your story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It's easy to get lost in your ideas, which can be quite confusing to potential backers.

4. Get the word out

Once your project goes live, you need to get the word out! You need to tell people about your project and how they can help you get your product to market. There are several ways to do this:

• Encourage family, friends, and colleagues to spread the word.

• Share your campaign on your social media channels.

• Network with bloggers to promote your Kickstarter campaign.

Final Thoughts

Kickstarter is a great way to raise capital, but it requires a lot of effort. I can't tell you how many meetings we had to go through to go over every detail of our project, or how many times we second-guess ourselves. 

However, in retrospect, these were all key elements that contributed to our campaign's success and I hope this helps you get one step closer towards your crowdfunding goals.