It has now been a year since I started a Kickstarter fundraising campaign for my second album, Emuna. Im very grateful that the campaign was successful, raising over  $5700  from 103 backers, and the album is finished and ready. With this said, it  was definitely not easy to reach our goal, and without a ton of boldness, leg work and creative  thinking, we wouldn’t have ever made it happen.
As we prepare to officially release Emuna this week,  I thought it would be useful to share some key points and tips to running a successful Kickstarter campaign. These are all ideas and concepts that worked for me, and although every project is essentially different, I believe that these points will prove helpful.

1. Create an interesting, compelling, and entertaining video.
If you can’t put in the time or money to create a cool video that explains what you are fundraising for, how can you expect people to back you up?  A good video is vital. People need to see you, and hear what it is that you are pitching!

2. Create an attractive rewards program.
I don’t think that people decide to contribute based on the rewards,
but they will usually  upgrade and add more to their contribution if you offer some cool rewards. I’m not much into the personal rewards (like cooking dinner, having coffee or drawing a picture for your backers), but whatever you think will catch their attention, do it!

3. Learn to ask for support  – (this one is tricky)
I can’t stress how hard it was for me to continue emailing, posting and personally calling on people to contribute. Many artists look at this as a form of begging or asking people or money. You’re not begging for anything! What you are doing is giving people the opportunity to be a part of a unique artistic endeavor, and they should feel proud and privileged.
I had to change my way of thinking in regards to fund raising, and when I did, money started to come in.

4. Try to get featured / shared / talked about
In Kickstarter, as in many other platforms, the key is exposure and hype. You need to break out of your social circle and get people who don’t know about you to find out and take part in your project. Get your backers and other friends/fans (guilt the ones who didn’t contribute) to share your project link and get you more visibility. Ask Kickstarter and other blogs to feature your project.
If your video is really good (like I urged you before), they will proudly do so.

5. Have a product that you really believe in –
I guess this point should actually be the first, because there’s absolutely no use in trying to fund a project that you, the artist, don’t believe in 150%.
People will only take part in something that is big and promising, so you should wait until you feel that way about your project.

I hope this helps, good luck!

Comments?

Be sure to check out my new album, Emuna , on iTunes/Cd Baby/Amazon
Here’s a link to the promo video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3ok0okqKWI