Welcome back to part 2 of “what I learned from my first Kickstarter”. As I write this, I’m prepping for my second Kickstarter for D&D Dress Up. It seemed like a good time to gather all my notes on my first attempt and bundle them all into a write-up for both your benefit and mine.
Yesterday, I covered what I’d learned regarding “before”. Today, I’m going to note 3 tips for “during”.”
During: make your campaign last by highlighting tidbits on social media.
I can be a long-winded person. I want to make sure you know ALL the details before making the decision to back, because that’s how I like to make my decisions. But what made promoting the Kickstarter a lot easier for me was highlighting a tidbit from the Kickstarter every day, instead of trying to explain everything at once, over and over again.
It seems so “duh” now, since we regularly see other ad campaigns do the exact same, but sometimes it takes a while for something to sink in. Let that be this moment for you, future Kickstarter campaign host! Pick one thing to tell, and tell it. Leave the whole story for your Kickstarter page.
Some examples of social posts I wrote for a Kickstarter:
“Have you tried out the free version of the D&D Dress Up app yet? If you liked it, you can purchase the packs to get more options to play with. More outfits, more hairstyles, more eye colors and more weapons!”
“A tier I’m very excited about is the personal D&D Dress Up tier! I’d love to create a full wardrobe for someone’s character 0_0 Perfect for style-conscious characters who want to switch up their look for every session :’D”
“Did you know I also have packs for male and female Elf Rangers? They’re bundled with the human fighter pack on certain tiers, or available as an add-on!”
“The human fighter pack is also a really cost-effective way for DMs to create multiple NPCs!”
During: make commercial tier/be clear about usage
I had one backer who came to me afterwards and told me that they were going to use the packs for their company. Even though I’m clear in the downloads and regular store listings that these packs are for personal use (at this price point), I realized I hadn’t been clear enough about this in the campaign. I ended up offering this person either to send them an invoice for the remaining amount for a commercial license, or a refund. They ended up taking the refund.
For the next campaign, I’ll either have a commercial tier or have companies send me an email instead to discuss licensing outside of the Kickstarter.
If you don’t anticipate people using this for commercial work, or if you don’t want people to use it for commercial purposes - be clear about that in the campaign text and/or FAQ to avoid misunderstandings.
During: streaming is a fun way to engage and have fun with your audience
I did two streams during the campaign, one somewhere in the middle and one on the last day of the stream to watch the campaign end together. We had some fun during the stream and I really felt like it helped with some people to make the decision to pledge and it helped me have some extra content to showcase during the campaign and have an excuse to talk about it. Will probably do that again during the next campaign!
Tomorrow I’ll share the third and final part: some tips for after the campaign and a breakdown of my financials for the Kickstarter :0 After that I’ll be sharing mostly art again!
Thank you for supporting my work. As always, if you want to have a chat, feel free to leave a comment or email me.
-Rengin