{"id":332,"date":"2014-11-28T10:05:29","date_gmt":"2014-11-28T10:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rachel.we-are-low-profile.com\/?p=332"},"modified":"2018-02-13T16:10:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T16:10:16","slug":"some-people-are-never-going-to-back-things-on-kickstarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rachel.we-are-low-profile.com\/blog\/some-people-are-never-going-to-back-things-on-kickstarter\/","title":{"rendered":"Some people are never going to back things on Kickstarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of a series \u20187 Things Artists Could Learn From Board Game Kickstarters<\/a>\u2018 where I highlight some of the lessons artists and arts organisations could learn from the world of crowd-funded boardgames\u2026<\/p>\n

\"KICKSTARTER_FOR_ARTISTS_Mousetrap_Patent\"<\/p>\n

<< PART 6:<\/strong> Use Kickstarter as a way to generate excitement about your arts practice<\/a><\/p>\n

If you have been following the series so far, you should now have lots of great ideas about how to develop an exciting, engaging and successful arts project that uses Kickstarter as an integral part of its funding and distribution. You might be brimming with excitement at the thought of launching your own project and making amazing things happen, and I don’t want to put a dampener on any of that! Instead, this post covers some of the practical and logistical things you can do to counter the fact that many interested people won’t back your crowdfunding project.<\/p>\n

Some people are never going to back things on Kickstarter<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are many reasons why some people will never back your project on Kickstarter. Although it has become far more mainstream, many people still haven’t got their head round how crowdfunding works (Kickstarter itself has only been around since 2009) and don’t necessarily feel comfortable using their payment details online. Some people will miss your project campaign or find out about it too late. Some people just won’t back things at their developmental stages, or give to online campaigns on principle.<\/p>\n

There are, however, a number of things I would suggest to counter this.<\/p>\n

Have an ‘exit strategy’ for your project<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In his extremely detailed and useful series on how to run board game Kickstarter campaigns<\/a>, Jamey Stegmaier writes:<\/p>\n

There is one other hugely important detail you should know about the final hour, something I didn\u2019t know until after my campaign ended: You can\u2019t change your project page after the project is over.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let that sink in for a minute. Your Kickstarter campaign runs for 20-40 days, during which time you can change the project page as much as you want. Then your Kickstarter project page will remain the same until the end of time.<\/em><\/p>\n

Just like your original Kickstarter page is your first impression, your final Kickstarter page is your last impression. So put the really important stuff at the top of the page for people who discover the page in the months and years to come. The most important detail is where they can find you (and possibly your product if you\u2019re giving it a life post-Kickstarter).<\/p>\n

Jamey Stegmaier – Kickstarter Lesson #34: The Final Hour<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Because Kickstarter’s SEO is really strong, the KS project page for your project may outrank your own web pages for the project when it goes live. This means that for many, it could be their first exposure to your project and you arts practice in general. For this reason, make sure that in the final hour of your campaign you have edited your KS project page so that it links through to an externally editable perma-page of some kind (ie on your own website).<\/p>\n