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Be a Crowdfunding Success: An Alternative Way to Raise Capital for Small Business Owners
caseydsibley.com
A BRIEF HISTORY
Started a handmade business in 2012.
Began wholesaling my products with retailers in late 2013 (knowing very little about wholesale).
caseydsibley.com
A BRIEF HISTORY
Started a handmade business in 2012.
Began wholesaling my products with retailers in late 2013 (knowing very little about wholesale).
Grew retail stockists to more than 20 stores worldwide by mid-2015, currently at 35 stores and growing.
caseydsibley.com
A BRIEF HISTORY
Started a handmade business in 2012.
Began wholesaling my products with retailers in late 2013 (knowing very little about wholesale!).
Grew retail stockists to more than 20 stores worldwide by mid-2015, currently at 35 stores and growing.
Launched campaign in early 2016 to attend NY Now Trade Show to grow wholesale sales.
caseydsibley.com
KICKSTARTER GOALS:
1. cover exhibit costs for NY Now 2. increase brand awareness through campaign outreach
caseydsibley.com
KICKSTARTER GOALS:
1. cover exhibit costs for NY Now 2. increase brand awareness through campaign outreach
3. refine brand messaging and product line
caseydsibley.com
AFTER KICKSTARTER + NYNOW:
1. double retail stockist count to 70+ stores
caseydsibley.com
AFTER KICKSTARTER + NYNOW:
1. double retail stockist count to 70+ stores 2. PR push for national press exposure
caseydsibley.com
AFTER KICKSTARTER + NYNOW:
1. double retail stockist count to 70+ stores 2. PR push for national press exposure
3. increased brand awareness for more web sales
caseydsibley.com
PLANNING STAGE
caseydsibley.com
Make a great video. and be really clear early on about the goal of the video
PLANNING STAGE
caseydsibley.com
Budget be honest with yourself (and your backers) about how much money you really need
PLANNING STAGE
caseydsibley.com
Budget be honest with yourself (and your backers) about how much money you really need
and how you plan to use the funds
PLANNING STAGE
caseydsibley.com
Rewards no need to reinvent the wheel!
and be sure to give yourself plenty of time to fulfill them.
PLANNING STAGE
caseydsibley.com
Create a very clear campaign BUILD TRUST WITH YOUR BACKERS!
PLANNING STAGE
caseydsibley.com
Use great imagery Make it easy to understand the campaign without having to read too much.
PRE-LAUNCH
caseydsibley.com
Make a list of contacts reach out to more personal connections early to let them know what’s coming
PRE-LAUNCH
caseydsibley.com
Make a list of contacts reach out to more personal connections early to let them know what’s coming
(you don’t need a massive list of connections to make this work!)
PRE-LAUNCH
caseydsibley.com
Pre-schedule everything. EVERYTHING!
social media posts
PRE-LAUNCH
caseydsibley.com
Pre-schedule everything. EVERYTHING!
social media posts kickstarter updates
PRE-LAUNCH
caseydsibley.com
Pre-schedule everything. EVERYTHING!
social media posts kickstarter updates
have images ready to go
PRE-LAUNCH
caseydsibley.com
Tell people how to share the campaign give specific instructions
PRE-LAUNCH
caseydsibley.com
Share snippets on social media tease the campaign launch, but don’t be obnoxious
PRE-LAUNCH
caseydsibley.com
Share snippets on social media tease the campaign launch, but don’t be obnoxious
(you don’t want to fatigue followers before you even launch)
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
Let everyone know touch base with pre-launch people
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
Let everyone know touch base with pre-launch people
share on all social platforms
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
Let everyone know touch base with pre-launch people
share on all social platforms add links to campaign on email signature and social profiles
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
People will forget or put it off for later
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
People will forget or put it off for later
or not fully trust crowd funding at first
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
People will forget or put it off for later
or not fully trust crowd funding at first share often and openly about the process to remind them
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
People will forget or put it off for later
or not fully trust crowd funding at first share often and openly about the process to remind them
talk about the Kickstarter platform (again, build trust)
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
People will forget or put it off for later
or not fully trust crowd funding at first share often and openly about the process to remind them
talk about the Kickstarter platform (again, build trust) tell them precisely HOW to support you
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
Encourage sharing! maybe even more than contributions
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
Provide frequent updates don’t beg for money—let people know how it’s going
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
Provide frequent updates don’t beg for money—let people know how it’s going
save some rewards for midway through the campaign
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
Provide frequent updates don’t beg for money—let people know how it’s going
save some rewards for midway through the campaign let people know about any exciting press
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM
caseydsibley.com
Provide frequent updates don’t beg for money—let people know how it’s going
save some rewards for midway through the campaign let people know about any exciting press
THANK YOUR BACKERS and SHARERS OFTEN!
AFTER THE CAMPAIGN
caseydsibley.com
Let everyone know the next steps reward fulfillment timelines
AFTER THE CAMPAIGN
caseydsibley.com
Let everyone know the next steps reward fulfillment timelines Kickstarter money logistics
AFTER THE CAMPAIGN
caseydsibley.com
Let everyone know the next steps reward fulfillment timelines Kickstarter money logistics
surveys!
AFTER THE CAMPAIGN
caseydsibley.com
Let everyone know the next steps reward fulfillment timelines Kickstarter money logistics
surveys! use both Kickstarter updates and social media
AFTER THE CAMPAIGN
caseydsibley.com
Let everyone know the next steps reward fulfillment timelines Kickstarter money logistics
surveys! use both Kickstarter updates and social media
you may have to email people personally
AFTER THE CAMPAIGN
caseydsibley.com
Keep backers updated about reward progress
OTHER LESSONS LEARNED
caseydsibley.com
know your audience consistency (and planning) is key
OTHER LESSONS LEARNED
caseydsibley.com
know your audience consistency (and planning) is key
have a really clear brand and story
OTHER LESSONS LEARNED
caseydsibley.com
know your audience consistency (and planning) is key
have a really clear brand and story ask for help!
OTHER LESSONS LEARNED
caseydsibley.com
know your audience consistency (and planning) is key
have a really clear brand and story ask for help!
work with passionate people
RESOURCES
caseydsibley.com
kickstarter.com (FAQs + Creator Handbook + Dashboard)
RESOURCES
caseydsibley.com
kickstarter.com (FAQs + Creator Handbook + Dashboard) Green Inbox - use with discretion
RESOURCES
caseydsibley.com
kickstarter.com (FAQs + Creator Handbook + Dashboard) Green Inbox - use with discretion
Google Drive
RESOURCES
caseydsibley.com
kickstarter.com (FAQs + Creator Handbook + Dashboard) Green Inbox - use with discretion
Google Drive Yet Another Mail Merge (Google Sheets)
RESOURCES
caseydsibley.com
kickstarter.com (FAQs + Creator Handbook + Dashboard) Green Inbox - use with discretion
Google Drive Yet Another Mail Merge (Google Sheets)
Vanessa Vancour + Luka Starmer (Video Production)
THANK YOU!
caseydsibley.com
bit.ly/CDStoNYNOW
everything social @caseydsibley
WHY KICKSTARTER? 1. Trust.
○ Kickstarter is a wellknown platform and the rules are simple: Get funded fully or get nothing.
○ Other platforms that I found offered much more flexible requirements, but that has turned me off from contributing to campaigns on other platforms in the past.
2. Incentive. ○ Because it’s an allornothing platform, I knew that would incentivize people to
donate. ○ If people don’t feel truly needed, they will more easily forget or talk themselves
out of contributing, especially if it looks like you are really close to your goal. 3. Accountability.
○ Running a crowdfunding campaign is a lot of work and there are ebbs and flows over the course of the campaign. It would be easy to say “Okay, I am close, and I am tired, and I feel like people are tired of hearing about this…” And just coast without getting fully funded. The truth I is, I needed every penny and wanted to take it all the way.
4. Creativity and product focus: ○ many of the projects on Kickstarter have a creatively driven and product
focused mission. Since I run a product based creative business, I thought it was a natural fit.
○ a lot of companies launch new products on KS, without having a philanthropic mission for the campaign. I didn’t want to run on a platform that might be more charity focused, which might mislead my backers about the mission of my campaign.
○ I decided early on to focus on the product launch and business growth, and get my backers involved in my growth story, while providing them with a physical product for their contribution.
5. Reciprocity. ○ I liked that Kickstarter allowed me to offer “rewards” for backer support. ○ I structured my campaign as a presale of my fall collection. ○ I didn’t want to approach the campaign as a charity drive, but more as a way for
current followers to be a part of my business story and help me spread the word to new potential future customers. I also like how Kickstarter helps to build brand loyalty early in a business's growth by allowing customers to be a part of product development and expansion.
PLANNING STAGE:
1. Start Early ○ (I started planning and reaching out for help about 5 months in advance)
2. Tap Your resourcesask for help!
○ I had some very talented friends help me create a great video ○ hired a friend for PR help. We worked together on a consulting basis, since I
couldn’t afford to hire her for more than a few hours a month. ○ I also reached out to people who I knew that had run successful campaigns
for their feedback and advice. This was hugely helpful (although not all the advice was applicable to my experience, so take advice, even my own, with a grain of salt!).
3. Make a great video ○ and be really clear early on about the goal of the video with your team. ○ Use your campaign as an opportunity to educate your followers and
supporters about your business. It’s okay to get a little sappy too! ○ Keep the video short and engaging. We kept our video to 2 minutesmost of
the videos I saw on kickstarter were 3 minutes, but I noticed that I lost interest about halfway through.
4. Budget for your ideal, big, scary, audacious funding goal ○ and be sure to calculate all expenses (kickstarter fees, material and labor costs
for reward fulfillment, shipping costs) 5. Rewards
○ Do an early brain dump of all your potential rewards ○ aim for easier to fulfill rewards at lower levels and exclusive, limited edition
rewards at higher levels 6. Plan plenty of time for reward fulfillment.
○ Make sure you create realistic reward fulfillment timelines and share them with your backers.
7. Talk about it! ○ Don’t be afraid to say it out loud and get feedback from those close to you. ○ Share bits and pieces of the process as you develop your content for the
campaign (I shared occasional and brief snippets of the video making process for ex)
8. Create a campaign that clearly and concisely illustrates exactly what you are trying to raise money for
○ WHY it’s important. ○ Creating this campaign really helped me clarify a lot of the brand and goals
for my business because I had to say them over and over and articulate the things that are important to me and make sure that my audience would understand it.
○ BUILD TRUST with backers. ○ Tell them how the money will be usedillustrate it!
9. Use imagery in your campaign page design.
○ I created an infographic with “quick stats” and lots of images of the rewards so people could scan through quickly.
PRELAUNCH:
10.Make a list of every single possible person that you want to tell about your campaign.
○ I created a “prelaunch” list who I emailed about a week before the campaign launched to let them know it was coming and prime them to share when it officially launched.
○ I reached out to roughly 120 people via email before the campaign, and started telling acquaintances and followers in the online and local business community about it leading up to the campaign.
○ I was also in a number of business groups on Facebook filled with people that I had built genuine relationships withthese people will be your advocates during the campaign.
11.Schedule of all the potential correspondence and social imagery you will send out during the campaign:
○ launch emails, ○ milestone emails, ○ thank you emails, ○ updates, etc. ○ Have these drafted and ready to go so that you are not creating them on the fly
as the campaign unfolds. 12.Share the campaign on all of your social media channels. 13.Provide guidelines for sharing your campaign:
○ draft an exact statement that people can copy and paste if they don’t know what to say when they share. You want to make it really easy for them to copy, paste, click, and share.
14.Share a draft with your contacts. Let those same prelaunch contacts look over the campaign for everything from spelling and grammar errors to things that are not clearly presented in the campaign copy or imagery. I also asked people for feedback on the rewards, which helped me strengthen my reward offerings.
15. I also shared the draft campaign with my email list for caseydsibley.com, which was around 250 people at the time.
16.Use social media. I was sharing little snippets about the campaign development in the weeks leading up to the campaign, without getting too specific. Then a week or so before the campaign launch, I started talking specifically about Kickstarter. I didn’t want to over share about it too early on with my followers, because I knew I’d be focusing pretty heavily on it for a full month and didn’t want to fatigue my followers!
LAUNCH + MOMENTUM: 1. Let everyone know. I touched base with all of my contacts, including my email
lists, on the day of the launch to let them know that it had officially launched and included all of the sharing guidelines again.
2. USE SOCIAL MEDIA! I talked about the campaign a lot on social. I had images and a loose posting schedule mapped out strategically to keep the momentum going throughout the campaign. I also boosted posts on Facebook just about twice a week to make sure they were getting seen. I really promoted the videos, as those were what I felt were the top trustbuilding pieces of media in the campaign. People responded very positively to the videos and I think those helped propel my campaign forward and made the whole thing seem super professional.
3. People will forget. Funding for my campaign came in bursts, which I had anticipated. With that in mind, I structured my reminders to coincide with and encourage those bursts. I didn't want to endlessly inundate people with updates or beg them to contribute. So I schedule periodic, more exciting and informative, updates that I pushed harder, with smaller less aggressive posts more frequently throughout the month.
4. Do not abuse your personal contacts. I sent a pre launch email, a launch email, and a very short reminder email (to the ones that had not yet interacted with the campaign) about a week before the end of the campaign.
5. Encourage sharing just as much as contributions (maybe even more than contributions).
○ I stressed throughout the campaign the importance of telling friends and family who might like what I am making.
○ Getting many eyes on the campaign was important for both reaching the funding goal and building brand awareness.
○ having several people sharing the campaign updates helps build your social credibility and trust with potential backers.
6. Provide frequent updates (not begs!) about the campaign progress.
○ Thank people for helping you get to certain milestones in the campaign. ○ Let people know about any exciting press you get during the campaign.
7. Don’t show all your cards (rewards) on the first day. ○ Save a handful of rewards to add later in the campaign. ○ This serves mostly as a way to give an update without talking about the same
thing over and over, but can also get people excited all over again about the campaign.
AFTER THE CAMPAIGN
1. Thank your backers 2. Let backers know the next steps
3. Send Reward surveys 4. Remind about reward surveys (may have to email people personally) 5. Keep backers updated on reward fulfillment milestones
OTHER LESSONS LEARNED
1. Know who you are talking to 2. Consistency is key 3. Sharing is caring 4. Ask for help 5. Work with passionate people
