What I've learned so far... 1. Planning is key! Take your time. It can take weeks, months even, to properly setup a Kickstarter campaign. Note: this isn’t a guarantee of success. But, it should help. I’m not there yet. I still have far to go! 🤞🤞🤞 2. Research other similar campaigns. Look to see how the creators of those successful campaigns structured their campaign. Make notes and follow their lead. 3. Create a campaign page that's a good mix of text, images and video. You can do it yourself... you don't have to hire professionals to make your video. Do try your best to create a good concise video though. Shorter is better. There are lots of apps out there to help you with video editing and image/graphic creation. I used VivaVideo and Canva. 4. Write an excellent press release and have your friends who have a keen eye for spelling grammar and "sale-ability" take a look at it before you send it out into the world! 5. Make an extensive list of media contacts (newspapers, radio, bloggers, etc.) *also include friends, family and other supporters of your work who you hope will contribute to your campaign at the time of its launch. 6. Be prepared that once you officially launch that you're going to have to have time to answer questions, direct and hype your work everyday until it's done. 7. Sell, sell, sell! Draw on those sales and marketing skills you have (or never thought you had) -- no joke! If you're not into selling your project, Kickstarter may not be for you. 8. Website and social media. At the very least you'll need at least one or two social media platforms up and running in order to keep your backers (and potential backers) up-to-date on how the project is doing. Consider a website for your project or at the very least, if you already have a website, create a page specifically for your project to post updates and communicate with your backers. 9. Updates! Updates and communication with backers will help drive your project forward.
10. Reward levels. Be sure to include a variety of reward levels anywhere from $1 to thousands of dollars so that there's something for everyone. Remember that not everyone wants to donate money. Money isn't everything, shares are just as important because they can lead to more monetary contributions.