10 Best Kickstarter Strategies: How to Crowdfund Your Creative Projects

My secrets for success

Aug 07, 2023

blue wake up kick ass repeat neon sign — Photo by Justin Veenema on Unsplash

Crowdfunding is still a rewarding way to activate creative projects big and small. I’m not an expert, but I produced three successful Kickstarter campaigns for my California Eating zine in the site’s publishing category, most recently in March. I also helped to manage a winning campaign for the renowned hip-hop DJ/producer Rob Swift when he released a collection of rare songs in 2015, so I must be doing something right in this general crowdfunding area.

Kickstarter isn’t the only game in town, but it’s still the biggest and the only one I know fairly well. The following advice is based on my four Kickstarter experiences and may work best when using that platform, but there are some strategies that should be helpful elsewhere.

Understand the power of being personal

It’s not the easiest or most enjoyable task, but your chances for pledges increases when you ask friends and colleagues directly to support you. This can be face to face, over text, DM or email. If you choose this route, be sincere and brief. Emails sent in small, targeted groups (with the recipient’s addresses hidden) can also be effective.

Over-promote on social media

You may get sick of the sound of your own self-promotion, but the algorithms of each social media app are basically little haters who make sure that only a small slice of your network hears you each time, so you aren’t actually bugging people as much as you think. Though some of these apps are becoming rapidly less relevant by the damn day, lean on all the ones you’ve got until the wheels fall off.

Consider a shorter campaign

Everything I’ve ever read about Kickstarter campaigns suggests that selecting a 30-day time period is what works the best, but they can be shorter or longer. My first two campaigns were 30 days long, as was Swift’s, and the one I did earlier this year took place over 21 days. All were successful, and the 30-day projects yielded more money.

There are good reasons to consider a shorter campaign, though, like wanting to get paid faster or thinking that self-promotion for a whole month is too intimidating. It takes about two weeks after the close of a successful campaign to be paid by Kickstarter. Processing fees approach 10%, with 5% earmarked for Kickstarter and 3-5% sent to Stripe for credit card processing.

My first two campaigns were planned over a month or more, while the third one was spontaneous and created in one evening, so it makes sense that the planned ones did better than the flash mob one. But I am still so happy I did the 21-day campaign, which is helping me make some cute limited edition print zines and e-books on food, music and culture that will be available later this year; more on that soon!

Set a low goal (or don’t)

This is considered controversial advice, but if you set a relatively low financial goal that you think you can reach quickly, you won’t have to spend the entire campaign worrying if it is going to get funded. I’ve seen way too many cool projects, especially restaurants, not get funded because they asked for too much money, and they didn’t have supplemental sources of funding.

I don’t recommend this tactic for everyone across the board, because setting a low goal can bite you in the backside if you really need significantly more to fulfill your project/rewards and have no other way to fund it. You also want to keep in mind that you’ll be paying taxes on this payout. But this low-goal strategy went especially well in my second campaign for my food zine California Eating in 2019, which was over 1000% funded!

Be imaginative with your rewards

In 2015, Swift offered pledge rewards such as digital and physical versions of his album, rare singles and shirts from the early years of his career as well as DJ workshops and the opportunity to go record-digging with him in New York City, and they generated a lot of excitement and action. We launched his campaign with only a few rewards in place and unveiled more during the month, announcing them with campaign updates, which are like blog posts. I still think this is a good strategy to consider following, even if it’s on a smaller scale. Keep in mind that people can only pledge for one reward tier at a time (though they can upgrade).

It’s worthwhile to consider offering at least one imaginative reward that you can reasonably fulfill, just in case it works out! I experimented with offering bespoke digital cookbooks as a premium reward in my March campaign and I didn’t think I would necessarily get any bites, but it turned out to be really popular and generated the most money.

I have been having so much fun creating these recipe collections. Each has the theme of the pledger’s choice. Some of the themes I’m working with are The Wire, regional rap rivalries, Indian spices, the color green, Bay Area rave history, Tori Spelling and gay rainbows.

Cover of the custom Gay Rainbows digital cookbook I made for Broadway producer and DJ CherishTheLuv

I would like to offer this service on a bigger level. The general idea has attracted the interest of some of my clients, who are considering commissioning them for their companies, and I’m certainly open to offers from businesses with a budget, if you know of any!

Write a few updates

Don’t overlook the power of making updates, which are like blog posts that are sent to those who have already pledged. Besides keeping your supporters excited and thinking about sharing your project with others, writing an update will generate a unique URL that you can use on social media instead of hammering your original campaign link too much. These can be of any length, no pressure. Think about sending one in the middle and one towards the very end of the process, or any time you have new developments to share or feel like the overall momentum may be slowing.

Toot your horn at events

If you are able to throw or participate in a live or virtual event where you have time or space to promote your campaign, you have a chance of signing people up to pledge on the spot. Yes, this is hard for a lot of us to do, but trying can only help.

Star in your campaign video

I haven’t followed this common Kickstarter tip myself, but posting a campaign video where you speak about your project can help draw supporters. Making videos worked really well for Swift in 2015. In the above video, his personal tone draws you in and makes you feel like you’re part of the team to get this project done. And you get a sense of what you can learn if you bid on this premium reward of a DJ workshop.

Be aware of new policies

As of Aug. 29, Kickstarter has a new AI policy that still allows some use of artificial intelligence in projects, but requires a new level of explanation and disclosure. Author Analyst breaks it all down.

Know when to call a pro

For companies looking for a crowdfunding expert for high-level projects, I recommend San Francisco’s Plinth Agency, which offers services like campaign coaching, complete campaign management, social media, press and promotion. Founder Desi Danganan, who is one of the most positive change-makers in the city, shared lots of crowdfunding insight with me that helped in the hip-hop campaign.

Good luck and have fun with your crowdfunding project! Please come back and let me know in the comments if this nudged you to start one, or if it helped you with your existing plans, so we can celebrate your achievement.