A Bit of Background:
So over the past few months I have been stalling in terms of creation, I initially went through a phase of creation hibernation after joining college (freshers, partying) and followed through with a (relatively successful) online poker phase after an after-interview rejection from Oxford University. After a large amount of wasted time and relaxation I know that I am ready to start doing again - and I plan on creating on a large scale.
I am still at college and expect to have my last exam on Tuesday, after which I will be committed to making this happen alongside a tech internship, and will try and make this thread as informative and useful as possible (perhaps I should start a new INSIDERS thread with more numbers and details @MJ?)
Why Crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding, in my opinion, largely allows creators to design and market a product without a significant amount of capital or risk, which is perfectly suited for me right now. I.E you can get all orders in as the campaign essentially acts as a pre-order website.
My goal is to have this first campaign be a success, and to then branch out under a larger brand - yet for now my focus is on this campaign / product launch.
The audience of crowdfunding websites is also a huge plus as it is also focused highly on early adopters who will buy something because they want to be ahead of the curve, so any product that screams future, or technological innovation is likely to be successful just because of the audience that frequent Indiegogo, that is if they decide to promote it on, or near their front page.
Kickstarter or Indiegogo?
Now, this wasn't really a hard decision for me. After having attempted to get a number of service related campaigns approved through Kickstarter, it appeared to me that the regulation for posting on Kickstarter was way more limiting and highly enforced when compared to Indiegogo. Back then, think 2014-15, Kickstarter was the dominant platform, now I see them as being on par.
Another main reason for Indiegogo's use, for me, is that due to the fact that I am only modifying the product, and not creating my own from scratch, they are more likely to deny my product or have people flag it for "private labelling", which understandably is not allowed when crowdfunding.
My Process so Far
So over the past few weeks, I have been examining products on which I think I can make a big contribution to, in terms of both marketing, with my experience in social marketing and design - i.e. improve the aesthetic quality and also with regards to the offering of the product to general consumers.
I have decided upon a product which I think will perform well on the platform based on my research and have come up with a viral marketing campaign plan, which I am starting to initiate and will coordinate the main event later in the summer in synchronisation with my campaign launch, after adequate preparation has been done (I.e. securing a release in the press in a number of publications).
How I view crowdfunding is that there are two main areas I need to focus on:
1. The product: if marketing is spot on and I get a lot of exposure but the product is absolute crap, my efforts will be in a large part wasted.
2. The marketing: if the product is great yet the marketing is crap, it is unlikely to receive any exposure and as such will receive next to no sales. I have seen many indiegogo campaigns flop with what seems like a solid product and solid rewards, solely due to their lack of exposure on both indiegogo and related publications.
My Product Plan
As I am largely just taking an already established product, and adding some improvements in terms of aesthetics, my main focus will be on the marketing of the campaign, and that all rests on preparation, graphic design (which thankfully is one of my forte's, and PR - which I look forward to getting involved in).
I have already reached out to 20 or so manufacturers on Alibaba who manufacture the product I am interested in improving, and have had success in finding a few low-cost yet reliable suppliers that are compliant (or claim to be compliant) with the relevant directives (CE & FCC).
My next step will be to narrow down my choice to 1 supplier who can offer the best price and quality trade-off. I am currently in communication with one who supplies (or again, claims to) large stores in the EU and US currently, think Lidl, Target, WAL-MART etc. so I think this may be one that I will pursue a sample order with.
Although I have had experience dealing with China in the past through dropshipping and an attempt to middleman a wholesale order from a US online retailer - I am keen to learn a lot more. I currently have a course on importing from China, specifically Electronics, which I am vaguely familiar with after selling electronics in the EU & US for which I was required to learn about the FCC & CE, RoHS directives - but this technology is another sector so I will need it brush up on it in more depth.
My Marketing Plan
With regards to marketing, there are a few ways in which I believe I can drive this campaign forward:
1. Social Media
2. Press Releases / Exposure
3. Paid Advertising.
Social Media
Now, my main skillset is in Social Media, however the rate of conversion from follower/ engagement to purchaser is lower than ever before for me, in all domains of social media - so although it could be mildly successful through social media, I cannot be fully reliant.
My main social media channel is Instagram, however my recent acquisition of new twitter account with large followings should hopefully help to expand my reach across platforms once I am able to get automated processes in place for posting, following etc.
A HUGE place to get exposure if done right is Reddit, so that is definitely a place I will be looking to post my product on, yet enough customisation has to be done so as to not draw the haters in (and there are many on Reddit).
Press Releases
This is what I envision as having the largest potential for exposure for my product launch, yet it is also the one area I have the least experience in, apart from guest blogging for my previous projects, and a brief conversation with a charity PR person - I have literally no experience in website / reporter outreach at all so any insight would be useful
. Of course, this will be the most exciting part of this journey. My friend's mum also used to be in the press department for an NGO, so I may contact her to see if there's anything she could do.
Alongside my planned marketing event which should capture the attention of media such as the Daily mail, I also plan on creating a list of websites that are related to my target market and contacting them for both sponsored product reviews and suggesting content which includes my product.
Reporter outreach will be driven by my personal twitter account, hopefully showing them I have enough reach to be worth covering - whilst also potentially offering them value (i.e. free website creation, portfolio website etc.) which I can potentially outsource for basically free (through affiliate income on hosting and use of Upwork). I plan on taking advantage of my young age to add to the appeal of my product and "marketing event" and use that as an extra basis alongside a potential charity aspect to pitch to reporters.
Paid Advertising
Now, although I know a lot of you on here have a large amount of experience in paid advertising, I'm not too keen on using it as a primary source of traffic.
Primarily due to the fact that if a consumer is advertised something, they either want it NOW (particularly in the US) or don't want it at all. So for a crowdfunding campaign which requires users to wait before receiving the product, I dont think the conversion rate will be very high.
A second reason is that I would like to see how this project plays as a bootstrapped project, of course if I am close to reaching my goal, and there is huge demand for the product, it would be wise to capitalise on the hype and run some paid campaigns, for this reason I will set up Facebook pixels and the like on the website prior to launch however I do not see it being used as a primary source of traffic.
My Next Steps
Product:
- Finalise my logo design, order needed promo materials
- Continue discussions with suppliers, finalise product design and order sample units (color variations etc.).
Marketing:
- Code automation engagement bot for Twitter (python) using Tweepy
--- Outreach with reporters after rapport (via Twitter & email)
- Outreach with specific charity (donate 20% profits if can help promote me, they have relations with Sir Richard Branson)
- Set up General Brand (product design) website to explain what we're about, already have domain name - need to slap a WP theme on there and get things running
- Scout list of subreddits, niche websites to post project to and draft email
Finally
I know you're probably glad to get to the end of this post
!
Hopefully I wont spend as much time writing in the future xD, as it is seriously time consuming thing, but will update you in shorter snippets as this project takes shape.
If anyone has any recommendations on what I could add to my product or Marketing Next Steps please do let me know.
Also looking to post more details on prices, product and other things on the Inside @MJ DeMarco (just joined today, so I am excited to check out the value that is offered on the Inside later today (it's 1am xD)) if that is something people are interested in.
Cheers.
100Speed
So over the past few months I have been stalling in terms of creation, I initially went through a phase of creation hibernation after joining college (freshers, partying) and followed through with a (relatively successful) online poker phase after an after-interview rejection from Oxford University. After a large amount of wasted time and relaxation I know that I am ready to start doing again - and I plan on creating on a large scale.
I am still at college and expect to have my last exam on Tuesday, after which I will be committed to making this happen alongside a tech internship, and will try and make this thread as informative and useful as possible (perhaps I should start a new INSIDERS thread with more numbers and details @MJ?)
Why Crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding, in my opinion, largely allows creators to design and market a product without a significant amount of capital or risk, which is perfectly suited for me right now. I.E you can get all orders in as the campaign essentially acts as a pre-order website.
My goal is to have this first campaign be a success, and to then branch out under a larger brand - yet for now my focus is on this campaign / product launch.
The audience of crowdfunding websites is also a huge plus as it is also focused highly on early adopters who will buy something because they want to be ahead of the curve, so any product that screams future, or technological innovation is likely to be successful just because of the audience that frequent Indiegogo, that is if they decide to promote it on, or near their front page.
Kickstarter or Indiegogo?
Now, this wasn't really a hard decision for me. After having attempted to get a number of service related campaigns approved through Kickstarter, it appeared to me that the regulation for posting on Kickstarter was way more limiting and highly enforced when compared to Indiegogo. Back then, think 2014-15, Kickstarter was the dominant platform, now I see them as being on par.
Another main reason for Indiegogo's use, for me, is that due to the fact that I am only modifying the product, and not creating my own from scratch, they are more likely to deny my product or have people flag it for "private labelling", which understandably is not allowed when crowdfunding.
My Process so Far
So over the past few weeks, I have been examining products on which I think I can make a big contribution to, in terms of both marketing, with my experience in social marketing and design - i.e. improve the aesthetic quality and also with regards to the offering of the product to general consumers.
I have decided upon a product which I think will perform well on the platform based on my research and have come up with a viral marketing campaign plan, which I am starting to initiate and will coordinate the main event later in the summer in synchronisation with my campaign launch, after adequate preparation has been done (I.e. securing a release in the press in a number of publications).
How I view crowdfunding is that there are two main areas I need to focus on:
1. The product: if marketing is spot on and I get a lot of exposure but the product is absolute crap, my efforts will be in a large part wasted.
2. The marketing: if the product is great yet the marketing is crap, it is unlikely to receive any exposure and as such will receive next to no sales. I have seen many indiegogo campaigns flop with what seems like a solid product and solid rewards, solely due to their lack of exposure on both indiegogo and related publications.
My Product Plan
As I am largely just taking an already established product, and adding some improvements in terms of aesthetics, my main focus will be on the marketing of the campaign, and that all rests on preparation, graphic design (which thankfully is one of my forte's, and PR - which I look forward to getting involved in).
I have already reached out to 20 or so manufacturers on Alibaba who manufacture the product I am interested in improving, and have had success in finding a few low-cost yet reliable suppliers that are compliant (or claim to be compliant) with the relevant directives (CE & FCC).
My next step will be to narrow down my choice to 1 supplier who can offer the best price and quality trade-off. I am currently in communication with one who supplies (or again, claims to) large stores in the EU and US currently, think Lidl, Target, WAL-MART etc. so I think this may be one that I will pursue a sample order with.
Although I have had experience dealing with China in the past through dropshipping and an attempt to middleman a wholesale order from a US online retailer - I am keen to learn a lot more. I currently have a course on importing from China, specifically Electronics, which I am vaguely familiar with after selling electronics in the EU & US for which I was required to learn about the FCC & CE, RoHS directives - but this technology is another sector so I will need it brush up on it in more depth.
My Marketing Plan
With regards to marketing, there are a few ways in which I believe I can drive this campaign forward:
1. Social Media
2. Press Releases / Exposure
3. Paid Advertising.
Social Media
Now, my main skillset is in Social Media, however the rate of conversion from follower/ engagement to purchaser is lower than ever before for me, in all domains of social media - so although it could be mildly successful through social media, I cannot be fully reliant.
My main social media channel is Instagram, however my recent acquisition of new twitter account with large followings should hopefully help to expand my reach across platforms once I am able to get automated processes in place for posting, following etc.
A HUGE place to get exposure if done right is Reddit, so that is definitely a place I will be looking to post my product on, yet enough customisation has to be done so as to not draw the haters in (and there are many on Reddit).
Press Releases
This is what I envision as having the largest potential for exposure for my product launch, yet it is also the one area I have the least experience in, apart from guest blogging for my previous projects, and a brief conversation with a charity PR person - I have literally no experience in website / reporter outreach at all so any insight would be useful
. Of course, this will be the most exciting part of this journey. My friend's mum also used to be in the press department for an NGO, so I may contact her to see if there's anything she could do.Alongside my planned marketing event which should capture the attention of media such as the Daily mail, I also plan on creating a list of websites that are related to my target market and contacting them for both sponsored product reviews and suggesting content which includes my product.
Reporter outreach will be driven by my personal twitter account, hopefully showing them I have enough reach to be worth covering - whilst also potentially offering them value (i.e. free website creation, portfolio website etc.) which I can potentially outsource for basically free (through affiliate income on hosting and use of Upwork). I plan on taking advantage of my young age to add to the appeal of my product and "marketing event" and use that as an extra basis alongside a potential charity aspect to pitch to reporters.
Paid Advertising
Now, although I know a lot of you on here have a large amount of experience in paid advertising, I'm not too keen on using it as a primary source of traffic.
Primarily due to the fact that if a consumer is advertised something, they either want it NOW (particularly in the US) or don't want it at all. So for a crowdfunding campaign which requires users to wait before receiving the product, I dont think the conversion rate will be very high.
A second reason is that I would like to see how this project plays as a bootstrapped project, of course if I am close to reaching my goal, and there is huge demand for the product, it would be wise to capitalise on the hype and run some paid campaigns, for this reason I will set up Facebook pixels and the like on the website prior to launch however I do not see it being used as a primary source of traffic.
My Next Steps
Product:
- Finalise my logo design, order needed promo materials
- Continue discussions with suppliers, finalise product design and order sample units (color variations etc.).
Marketing:
- Code automation engagement bot for Twitter (python) using Tweepy
--- Outreach with reporters after rapport (via Twitter & email)
- Outreach with specific charity (donate 20% profits if can help promote me, they have relations with Sir Richard Branson)
- Set up General Brand (product design) website to explain what we're about, already have domain name - need to slap a WP theme on there and get things running
- Scout list of subreddits, niche websites to post project to and draft email
Finally
I know you're probably glad to get to the end of this post
!Hopefully I wont spend as much time writing in the future xD, as it is seriously time consuming thing, but will update you in shorter snippets as this project takes shape.
If anyone has any recommendations on what I could add to my product or Marketing Next Steps please do let me know.
Also looking to post more details on prices, product and other things on the Inside @MJ DeMarco (just joined today, so I am excited to check out the value that is offered on the Inside later today (it's 1am xD)) if that is something people are interested in.
Cheers.
100Speed
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