After we determined to develop and launch BackerKit Crowdfunding, we had very formidable objectives.
We wished to reimagine what crowdfunding may very well be and construct that future along with creators, develop a rapidly-evolving platform that saved tempo with creators’ wants and uncapped creativeness, and ship a creator and backer expertise that was higher each time.
We would like creators to stay their greatest inventive lives.
And while you begin pondering when it comes to the lifetime pursuit of a creator, and the lifetime worth of a backer, you start to suppose within the very long run and much exterior the one-month, one-campaign-lifecycle field that’s contained crowdfunding platforms, instruments, and experiences for the reason that very starting.
We constructed BackerKit Crowdfunding from the bottom as much as essentially break away from this mildew – one which creators had lengthy outgrown. I’m proud to share that we’ve made important strides in direction of this imaginative and prescient and these objectives in little or no time.
In underneath two years of providing BackerKit Crowdfunding for creators in beta, we’ve launched instruments and options which have already begun to reimagine and redefine key areas of the crowdfunding journey, successfully altering what it means to run a marketing campaign right this moment.
Beneath are these instruments and options that illustrate our imaginative and prescient of contemporary crowdfunding. Among the most profitable creators have wielded them to realize their greatest campaigns so far and even break some {industry} data within the course of.
Construct early buzz and followers with the mighty Teaser Web page 🌟
After over a decade of working with fellow creators, I’ve discovered that the commonest reason behind unsuccessful initiatives isn’t the shortage of funding – it’s failing to launch in any respect.
And I get it, as a result of I’ve been there myself. Sharing your undertaking to the world is a leap of religion. It’s nothing in need of a brave act. However the easy act of claiming your objectives out loud carries energy, and we imagine asserting a undertaking is the only most impactful first step a creator can take in direction of their aim.
What was lacking was a better and quicker strategy to do it.
This perception is what impressed us to develop the BackerKit Teaser Web page – a web page that asserts your marketing campaign forward of your launch date and presents a sneak peek of your undertaking to construct pleasure round your crowdfund. It additionally serves as a vacation spot web page that:
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- Informs your present viewers of your marketing campaign launch date.
- Counts right down to the precise second your marketing campaign goes stay.
- Invitations new and present followers to comply with your marketing campaign because it unfolds.
- Affords present audiences (by way of e mail, social, and many others.) a web page they’ll comply with and share.
- Gauges curiosity and demand previous to launch.
- Lists your undertaking alongside upcoming BackerKit Crowdfunding campaigns.
We’ve discovered this Teaser Web page to be a easy but highly effective software to take our creators from zero to launch, and we’ve got the information to show it:
80% of creators who publish a teaser web page comply with via to launch their marketing campaign on BackerKit.
Since releasing BackerKit Crowdfunding, we’ve labored alongside creators to make publishing a BackerKit Teaser Web page simpler and quicker than ever by seamlessly integrating Teaser Web page creation into the marketing campaign setup workflow. Now you’ll be able to go from signing up for a BackerKit account to publishing your teaser web page in minutes.
Strive it out – begin a brand new draft undertaking now. Want inspo? View stay teaser pages which can be launching quickly on BackerKit.
Flip each launch into a celebration 🥳
Envision your launch date: Your backers crowd the gates. They depend down the ultimate seconds when your marketing campaign goes stay and so they can lastly do what they’ve been ready to do for months – click on that pledge button.
The marketing campaign launch is a uncommon and highly effective second. It may generate sufficient vitality to hold momentum for the whole marketing campaign and may imply the distinction between having good or a ridiculously nice crowdfund.
But when the launch is so essential, why has the marketing campaign launch expertise – primarily watching a web page refresh – gone just about unchanged for the reason that daybreak of crowdfunding?
We wished to reimagine the standard launch to replicate what it actually is – an occasion. In its greatest type, it’s a celebration.
On BackerKit, creators can now host a Launch Social gathering web page and expertise to drive and construct upon the vitality you and your backers already carry to your launch day and prolong it effectively into your marketing campaign, and past.
Right here’s what prime creators did to compose a few of the greatest BackerKit Launch Social gathering pages and experiences up to now:
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- Collect and activate your followers looong earlier than launch. Like with any large occasion, you’ll want time to unfold the phrase. Plan your outreach months prematurely and share your distinctive Launch Social gathering web page hyperlink for each channel – e mail, social, and even adverts.
- Enhance followers with follower-exclusive content material. Flip web page guests into followers by providing immediate entry to unique content material to anybody who opts into following your marketing campaign. It is a built-in characteristic for Launch Social gathering pages that builds your e mail record, follower depend, and viewers pleasure. Brandon Sanderson’s Dragonsteel is dropping follower-exclusive content material proper now.
- Arrange dialog starters. Your backers are right here to mingle with you and fellow followers of your work. Heat up the gang by posting polls, discussions, and updates in your Launch Social gathering web page to maintain your viewers engaged and coming again for extra as you close to the launch date.
- Stream the ball drop. Make your launch day a memorable occasion by stay streaming the countdown instantly out of your Launch Social gathering web page and experiencing the glory going from T-minus to launch collectively along with your backers. Mini Museum remembers their livestreamed launch because the “most enjoyable I’ve had interacting with our backer group ever.”
Personal, attain, and construct your viewers from one central hub 💗
The magic of the crowdfunding campaigns lies in its finite nature. It has a starting, an finish, and between is that this fleeting second that injects urgency spurring your backers into motion. It’s a robust factor.
So highly effective that this finite and fleeting nature of crowdfund campaigns dictated the best way crowdfunding instruments had been developed for creators. This typically led to tedious and damaged processes that went unaddressed for years.
One instance is how creators needed to begin from zero contacts with every new marketing campaign, leading to hours of exporting and importing contact lists from their final marketing campaign to the following and generally from one platform to a different. A nomadic, guide, and unsustainable strategy to construct and handle an viewers.
This is the reason lengthy earlier than we developed BackerKit Crowdfunding we supplied an alternate – a streamlined e mail and backer administration software to which creators might:
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- Import contacts from wherever.
- Centralize viewers constructing in a single place.
- Talk with backers immediately.
With BackerKit Crowdfunding, we’ve integrated these instruments and options into the platform and made enhancements that flip viewers constructing and outreach right into a semi-automated course of. Immediately, BackerKit creators like you’ll be able to:
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- Personal and handle your whole crowdfunding viewers. By no means begin from zero contacts once more. Not like different platforms, BackerKit Crowdfunding robotically retains the e-mail lists you’ve gathered from one marketing campaign to the following, effortlessly managing and constructing your viewers with every new undertaking. Simply attain new and previous supporters and monitor pledges to be taught what number of are new or repeat backers. And in the event you’ve used BackerKit Pledge Supervisor, your viewers is already right here, saved to your profile, and ready to listen to about your subsequent marketing campaign.
- Deliver your viewers, we’ll assist get them to pledge. Cease drafting emails that may very well be notifications. With a one click on you’ll be able to allow the BackerKit platform to inform your backers in your behalf as quickly as you’ve reached key undertaking milestones, resembling reaching your funding aim. Your backers are immediately alerted, and you’ll watch the web page visits, pledges, and applause emojis roll in.
- Highly effective, actionable insights via enhanced analytics. Know who’s backed you and who wants one other nudge. BackerKit not solely supplies strong reporting on which channels and messages are driving probably the most pledges, however it will probably act on this information by robotically sending your undertaking updates to followers who’ve but to again, delivering well timed, noteworthy reminders to hitch your rising marketing campaign.
Your viewers is your viewers. Now with BackerKit, they’ve a central dwelling from the place you’ll be able to preserve them heat and invite them to your subsequent occasion, undertaking, or marketing campaign.
Don’t simply run a marketing campaign – ship an expertise 🤩
Within the age of Amazon, AI-generated product photos, and same-day transport – crowdfunding is a subversive act.
It’s the place folks pledge a undertaking that would possibly be made and, in that case, ships a lot, a lot later. It defies the market forces dictating how issues are produced, purchased, and delivered right this moment (ideally as quick, faceless, and low cost as doable).
However crowdfunding endures as a result of it’s essentially completely different. And it attracts those that are completely different: creators and backers who imagine within the indie, collaborative, and affected person strategy to creating one thing distinctive, beloved, and lasting.
Your backers aren’t right here to purchase and bye. They’re right here to assist a imaginative and prescient, join with you, and belong to a gaggle of fellow followers.
They’re right here for an expertise. So let’s give them one to recollect.
Right here’s how one can ship enjoyable, interactive BackerKit experiences all through your marketing campaign to maintain backers engaged, entertained, and anticipating what’s subsequent.
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- Gamify your marketing campaign with locked Achievements. Arrange group objectives round funding, variety of backers, and even actions you need your backers to take. BackerKit tracks all of it, unlocks your achievement when a aim is reached, and notifies your backers to share the newest win.
- Empower backers with “select your individual journey” polls. Invite backers to share in your inventive course of. Polls with photos will let you get direct suggestions on any side of your marketing campaign. You management who will get to weigh in – be they your diehard followers or most of the people.
- Stream the dream, and stream it typically. There’s nothing extra superior than getting to hang around stay with a creator you like. That’s why we constructed some superior YouTube Stay and Twitch Streaming integrations that allow you and your backers to work together in actual time on BackerKit. You’ll be able to name out and thank backers as they pledge and reply viewers questions as they chat them in. You’ll be able to even schedule streams and BackerKit will robotically notify your followers when it’s time to go online.
- Spark discussions that fireside up your followers. Make your marketing campaign web page right into a homebase the place your followers can collect and converse round their shared fandom of you. Pose a thought-provoking query, or let backers speak amongst themselves and drop a remark to maintain the dialog flowing. Apart from maintaining your viewers heat all through the marketing campaign, discussions enable backers to floor essential questions, serving to you catch and tackle project-related points earlier than they flip essential.
- Immediately reward Backer-Unique Content material. Give backers a present the second they pledge. Whether or not it’s a short demo, a preview pdf, a customized wallpaper, or a reduction code – Backer-Unique Content material can ship that first of many wow moments for backers, providing a peek of what’s to come back and fast thanks for supporting you.
The above are BackerKit-only options and levers you’ll be able to pull to customise your marketing campaign and amp up engagement. However BackerKit additionally powers some impactful built-in experiences that preserve your backers backing, together with:
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- A Backer Practice nobody needs to cease. This BackerKit pledge prepare alerts back-to-back pledges made to your marketing campaign, and the prepare retains rising so long as a brand new backer pledges inside 10 minutes of the final. A easy however extremely efficient nudge that retains the pledges coming. What’s the longest Backer Practice up to now? It might shock you.
- A entrance web page powered by your backers. On BackerKit, it’s not about whom you recognize; it’s what your backers try this will get you listed on the entrance web page. Initiatives with nice discussions, rousing polls, and useful communities are those that get highlighted, whatever the measurement of your undertaking.
- The most effective advertising you’ve by no means completed. Posting marketing campaign updates retains backers knowledgeable and engaged. However on BackerKit, your updates may also set off automated notifications to followers who haven’t backed but. This is likely one of the handiest and environment friendly methods BackerKit creators are driving pledges and turning extra followers into backers. Entrepreneurs name this fancy magic “viewers segmentation” and “advertising automation,” however at BackerKit, that is merely the built-in advertising technique you’ll by no means should “do” – as a result of we do it for you.
Associated: Get the complete BackerKit expertise. Comply with and again a stay undertaking right this moment. >>
Professional-tip: Stack experiences like a boss 😎
Story Engine had deliberate for a 90-minute livestream Launch Social gathering however spontaneously modified their plans on air: they vowed to finish the livestream provided that their Backer Practice stopped or as soon as they hit their funding aim.
However the Backer Practice saved chugging alongside, propelling Story Engine to hit their funding aim in simply 4 brief hours. It’s a masterful instance of how one can wield instruments and experiences collectively to maximise the second and make it memorable.
Crowdfunding constructed on prime of BackerKit’s best-in-class choices 💫
We’ve solely lined a few of the many game-changing options out there on BackerKit Crowdfunding right this moment.
And while you join a BackerKit creator account, you get entry to all of the above plus the suite of choices which have set BackerKit aside for over a decade, together with our industry-leading BackerKit Pledge Supervisor – the primary and premiere pledge administration software program constructed for crowdfunding.
As a BackerKit creator, you’ll additionally get pleasure from:
All you’ll want to make it actual. Uncover BackerKit for your self. Enroll and publish your Teaser Web page in lower than 5 minutes. >>
