You create incredible enamel pins. If only your customers know about it.Starting a
Kickstarter campaign can be a daunting process. Where do you begin? Do you produce the pins first, or do you only work with the digital design?
Don’t worry. We’re here to help!In this post, we’ll outline the steps you need to take to have a successful Kickstarter enamel pins campaign.Let’s dive in.
1. Prepare For Your Campaign
I know you’re eager to start your campaign. But planning is key to any Kickstarter campaign.
This step in the process can sometimes for months. So, patience is key if you want to succeed.
Below are the two key areas you need to plan for your campaign.
● Niche Research
Being clear about your niche is crucial. It will give you a better understanding of what to sell, who to sell it to, and how.
Knowing who you are selling to is essential to designing your pins.
You want to determine if you are creating hipster, superhero, children, or sports pins. Also, you want to keep in mind what colors, styles, and graphics your audience is interested in.
Say your customers are children. Then you might want to create a whimsical, colorful design. If your target audience is hipsters, then you’ll want to go for simple and minimalistic.
To get a better idea of your audience, you can create a
customer avatar. This customer is your ideal customer.
Once you have your avatar, everything you design should be aimed to entice your avatar.
● Convert Your Designs Into Pins
Once you have finalized your niche and design, it’s time to bring it to reality. You don’t need to
mass produce your design before you launch Kickstarter. But having a sample of the enamel pins in final form is a good idea.
Real physical products tend to perform much better than electronic versions.Images of the actual pin are more enticing, and your audience is more likely to pledge.
Also, when taking your photos, keep your audience in mind. Place them in the same locations that your audience would.
2. Keep Track of your Finances
You don’t want to run a successful Kickstarter campaign to find out that it’s not enough.
Understanding your finances will help you establish your goals.
● Design
First, determine if you will incur any cost in designing your pins. If you are creating the pins yourself, you typically don’t have any design costs.
If you’re hiring a designer to help you create your pin, you must account for this cost.
● Production
Once you have your design, you can determine the cost of producing your pins.
As a reference, you can use our pricing tool here at Vivipins. You can follow our
online ordering system’s steps to gauge how much your enamel pins will cost.
Remember that enamel pins get cheaper the more you produce. Track the cost of making your pins in different quantities. This will help you play out different scenarios when you are setting your goals.
● Shipping Costs
Shipping costs are commonly overlooked when planning for a Kickstarter. These costs can rack up quickly, so you must account for them.
Enamel pins are small and lightweight, making it easy to calculate shipping costs.
Once you know your target, you can determine the shipping cost to achieve that goal.
● Other Costs
It’s essential to account for any other cost while you are running your campaign. If you will be using paid promotions, you would want to include that cost here.
Remember that Kickstarter is not free. Kickstarter will keep a part of your goal.Factor this into your cost to avoid a loss on your Kickstarter campaign.
3. Setting Goals
Don’t set your goals too high. Kickstarter is not a platform for making money but a platform to gain exposure and support.
Experts advise you should set your goals close to your margins. You are more likely to get backers if your product is reasonably priced.
Use stretch goals to improve your margins.
Be modest when you set your goals. This is important for two reasons:
First, If your campaign is not funded 100%, you do not receive any funds. So, set a reasonable goal to ensure that you reach your goal and keep the funds.
Second, Kickstarter is not a platform to become a millionaire. Kickstarter is a way to establish an audience for your product and increase growth.
4. Use Stretch Goals
Most successful pin campaigns are successful when they run stretch goals.
Stretch goals are goals that only become active once you hit your previous goal.
For example, the initial goal may include two different pin designs. Once you reach this goal, the stretch goal will give your backers access to two more designs or colors.
Even if you don’t get funding for all your designs, you should get funding for your first designs.Stretch goals also entice backers to invest more so that they can have the entire collection of pins.
Remember to track the potential cost of the stretch goals. It’s important that the stretch goals make financial sense as well.
5. Set-up Your Rewards
Your reward system is essential because it will determine who backs your campaign.
You want to make sure you have a reward system to accommodate different types of backers.You want to have a low reward for those who want to support your project but can’t afford higher rewards.
This can be a thank you note or small custom stickers.
Next, you also want to have a mid-tier reward. This should be the most common reward people will receive.
For this one, you want to include one or two initial enamel pin designs.You may also want to include a higher- reward for those who want to invest more.
You can include extra items such as custom thank you notes, more pin designs, or personal customizations with this reward.
6. Promoting Your Campaign
Promoting your campaign is one of the most important parts of any Kickstarter.
Successful Kickstarters don’t reach their goal by accidents. They drive potential viewers to their site by promoting their campaign.
You can promote your Kickstarter in various ways:
●Word of mouth – friends and family
●Your website, youtube, or social media accounts
●Paid promotion such as Facebook or Google ads
●Contacting forums or other blogs in your niche
To promote your campaign, you can use our friends and family to drive traffic to your campaign.
You can also use paid sources such as Google or Facebook ads to drive an audience to your campaign.
● Before Your Campaign
You want to start promoting your Kickstarter campaign before it’s active. Let people know what your Kickstarter is about and when it will become active.
Promoting beforehand will improve the performance of your launch.
When plenty of people visit your campaign on the first day, it will boost your position on Kickstarter. The higher your natural position, the better your campaign will perform.
● During Your Campaign
It would be best if you continued promoting your campaign after it’s active.It’s best to continue promoting for as long as the campaign is active.
This will help you get as many backers as you can. Don’t stop once you reach your original goal.Advertise your stretch goals to entice new and old backers to invest in your enamel pins.
Conclusion
Starting a Kickstarter campaign can be scary. But, if you break it down into smaller steps, it becomes much easier.
You now have all the steps you need to have a successful Kickstarter campaign. With enough focus and dedication, you know you’ll eventually get there.
Don’t wait any longer. Get out there and bring your customers the incredible enamel pins they deserve.
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