This July, I’ve launched my first Kickstarter campaign for the Mermaid Type project. In this post, I share a little of what I’ve learned so far in the process. I’m incredibly impressed with the Kickstarter website and happy to report that the project is already halfway to reaching the funding goal. I hope you will support this project, rewards start at $1, and every backer makes a world of difference.
To start with, Kickstarter provides a budget google sheets document that links to the actual campaign page. This document helps track and plan all the expenses. Also, it gives transparency to anyone who backs the project. I’ve already adjusted my estimates based on the backer activity.
budget graph
This dynamic graph is displayed on the Kickstarter campaign page. It is optional.
Another feature that impressed me was their prompt to provide environmentally friendly methods in the project. They break down the ways a creator can choose more sustainable packaging and long-lasting designs, for example. Sustainability is an integral part of my work and appreciated how naturally they offered this information in the process of creating the campaign—the data displays at the bottom of the campaign page. In my project, I decided that USA based manufacturing and eco-friendly materials were a priority. While I love the foil and glitter effects, I would need to do significantly more research before using them in my projects.
The last topic to mention here is the marketing. Mermaid Type Tarot is my second crowdfunding campaign, and based on my previous experience, I planned not to pay for any additional marketing. The last time I launch a product, the backers were all people from my network. So, I was surprised that a couple of the marketing emails I received after launching the campaign convinced me to try paid services. Unfortunately, in my novice state, I didn’t provide unique URLs when I submitted my content. If I had provided the individual URL links, it would be possible for me to see what traffic came from each source. I have wised up to this, and the campaign dashboard does make this feature extremely clear, so I can’t blame anyone but myself. Ultimately, I have been pleasantly surprised to see backers and editorial support for this project already.
I conclusion, at this point in the process, I’ve been impressed with Kickstarter and the community surrounding it. I would encourage you to explore some of the projects on their site and consider launching something yourself.