Mind Map Gallery Every Kickstarter project should have the following

Every Kickstarter project should have the following

This mind map is about "Every Kickstarter project should have the following". Start to use a mind map to express and organize your ideas and knowledge right now.

Edited at 2020-09-29 03:50:03

Captain O Captain

Every Kickstarter project should have the following

Captain O Captain

Recommended to you
Outline

Every Kickstarter project should have the following:

Creator Handbook

Telling your story

A project page with a video anddescription that clearly explain the storybehind your project

Who are you?

Introduce yourself, your team, and anysimilar work you’ve done (show someexamples!).

What are you planning to make?

The more details, the better. Sketches,samples, prototypes — it all helps backersget as excited as you are.

Where did this project come from?

Tell people how you got the idea, andhow much you’ve accomplished so far.Sharing the project’s history helps othersunderstand the kind of work you do, andhow you go about it.

What’s your plan, and what’s yourschedule?

Lay out a clear, specific timeline for whatbackers can expect.

What’s your budget?

A simple breakdown lets people knowyou’ve thought things through and have aworkable plan, so they can trust you to usefunds wisely.

Why do you care?

Tell people why you’re passionate aboutyour project and committed to making ithappen.

Building rewards

Once you’ve decided on your rewards,you’ll find plenty of tools and optionsthat let you organize them so they fityour schedule and budget.

What should you offer?

You know better than anyone what yourcommunity wants. Think of things thatwould get you to back a project. Offercopies of your work in different formats,from digital downloads to limited editions.Consider custom work and chances to be apart of the process. Need inspiration? Trythis list we made of 96 reward ideas.

What should you not offer?

There are a few things we prohibit,including offering financial returns andreselling items from elsewhere.

How to price.

Be fair. When people think aboutbacking your project, they’re askingthemselves whether your rewards are agood trade for what they’re contributing.The most popular pledge on Kickstarter is$25 — it’s handy to offer somethingsubstantial around that level.

Offer a range of rewards.

Some backers can spare $100, some$20, some $5. Every one of those backerscounts. Make sure there’s somethingworthwhile at every level — even simple $1rewards. You’ll need to produce anddeliver every reward, though, so thinkthrough each tier and make sure yourbudget works!

Updates that share the creative journeyas the project comes to life

Itemize or limit your rewards.

Our itemization tool allows you togive titles to your reward tiers, clearlylist out what you&#39;re offering, and specifyexact quantities. You can also limit theavailable quantity of any reward tier toa certain number of backers —because, well, if you were planning tohand-knit twenty scarves, you might notwant pledges for 2,000 of them!Quantity limits can also createexcitement around special-editionrewards or signed copies. Limited“early bird” rewards, where a certainnumber of backers get something for aslightly lower pledge, can also helpbuild momentum during the project’searly days.

Estimated delivery dates.

These are your best guesses forwhen you expect to deliver rewards tobackers. For each tier, choose a dateyou’re confident about hitting, anddon’t be afraid to give yourselfbreathing room — it’s definitely betterto underpromise and overdeliver. Forcomplex projects, it can be useful tostagger the estimated delivery dates fordifferent reward tiers, sending outrewards in batches over a period oftime. More on this in the “Funding”section.

Shipping.

As you add each reward, you’ll beable to specify whether the iteminvolves shipping, which locations youcan ship to, and the shipping costs.(You can get very specific, if you needto. See our FAQ for more.) Shippingcosts can sneak up on you, so makesure you have them covered — thecosts you set will be added to backer&#39;spledges as they check out, and counttoward your goal. Here are somesuggestions from other creators on howthey handled shipping.

Don’t forget the survey tool!

You don’t need to build separatereward tiers for different styles of thesame item. Once your project issuccessfully funded, you’ll be able tosend backers a survey to collectinformation like their shippingaddresses, sizes, color preferences, andso on.

Remember: once your project is live,you can add new rewards any time —but once someone has pledged to areward tier, you can’t change itanymore.

Funding

Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing fundingmodel. If your project doesn’t reach itsgoal, then funds don’t get collected, andno money changes hands. This minimizesrisk for creators — imagine ending up withonly $5,000 and a bunch of peopleexpecting a $50,000 film! All-or-nothingfunding makes it easier for backers topledge to your project with confidencethat you’ll be able to get the job done.

Your funding goal should be the minimumamount you need to make what youpromised and fulfill all rewards. The firststep to setting that goal is figuring out abudget.

Make a list.

Write down every possible expense —even less obvious ones, like shipping tapeand bubble wrap. For larger expenses,research the best price. Total everythingup. It’s okay if the number is bigger thanexpected: even if your project feels simple,it’s best to make sure every step isaccounted for.

Consider your reach.

Kickstarter is a great way to share yourideas with new people. Still, most of yoursupport will come from your core networks,and the people most familiar with yourwork. Consider the audiences you can tapinto, from friends and fans to onlinecommunities, and make a conservativeestimate of how many backers you canrealistically bring in.

Give yourself a cushion.

If your project is successfully funded,Kickstarter applies a 5% fee; there are alsoadditional fees for our payment processors.Every project’s tax situation is different, butthat may affect your needs as well — learnmore here. More than anything, you’ll wanta little padding in case of unexpectedcosts or emergencies.

United Kingdom

If your project is successfully funded, thefollowing fees will be collected from yourfunding total: Kickstarter’s 5% fee andpayment processing fees (between 3% and5%). Please note we do not withhold VAT. Iffunding isn’t successful, there are no fees.

Kickstarter fee

5% of total funds raised

Payment processing fees

3% + £0.20 per pledge

Pledges under £10 have a discountedmicropledge fee of 5% + £0.05 per pledge

Kickstarter and Taxes

A guide for your accountant.

What is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a funding platform forcreative projects. Everything from film,games, and music to art, design, andtechnology. Kickstarter is full of ambitious,innovative, and imaginative projects thatare brought to life through the directsupport of others.

How does it work?

Every project creator sets their project&#39;sfunding goal and deadline. If people likethe project, they can pledge money tomake it happen. If the project succeeds inreaching its funding goal, all backers&#39;credit cards are charged when timeexpires. Funding on Kickstarter isall-or-nothing. If the project falls short of itsfunding goal, no one is charged.

If a project is successfully funded,Kickstarter applies a 5% fee to the fundscollected.

Why do people support projects onKickstarter, and what do they get in return?

Backers pledge money for differentreasons. Some backers are rallying aroundtheir friends&#39; projects. Some are supportingpeople they&#39;ve long admired. Many arejust inspired by a new idea. Others areinspired by a project&#39;s rewards — a copy ofwhat&#39;s being made, a limited edition, or acustom experience related to the project.

Project creators keep 100% ownership oftheir work. And Kickstarter cannot be usedto offer financial returns or equity, or tosolicit loans. Some projects that are fundedon Kickstarter may go on to make money,but backers are supporting projects to helpthem come to life, not financially profit.

You can learn more about Kickstarter andhow it works in our FAQ.

How do taxes work on Kickstarter?

We can’t give tax advice, but we havecompiled this guide for US-based financialprofessionals who may not be familiar withKickstarter. This information is not intendedto be used, and cannot be used, by anytaxpayer for the purpose of (1) avoidingtax-related penalties under the US InternalRevenue Code or (2) promoting,marketing, or recommending to anotherparty any tax-related matters. Thisinformation is just a start.

In general, in the US, funds raised onKickstarter are considered income.

In general, a creator can offset the incomefrom their Kickstarter project withdeductible expenses that are related to theproject and accounted for in the same taxyear. For example, if a creator receives$1,000 in funding and spends $1,000 ontheir project in the same tax year, thentheir expenses could fully offset theirKickstarter funding for federal income taxpurposes. If a creator receives funding inone year and spends money on theirproject in a later year, consider whethertheir expenses can still offset theirKickstarter funding using the accrualmethod of accounting.

Creators who have passed over thethresholds established by the IRS (currently$20,000 in gross volume per year and 200or more transactions) will receive a form1099-K from our payment processor,Stripe, in January following the year inwhich their project was successfullyfunded.

Beyond deductions, a creator may be ableto classify certain funds raised onKickstarter as a nontaxable gift, and notincome. A gift is something given out of“detached and disinterested generosity”for personal reasons and without theexpectation of getting something in return.

Sales tax may also be applicable in certaincases depending on the local rules. Ingeneral, sales tax applies only if the creatorhas sufficient connection to the location ofthe backer.

For project creators outside the US, pleaserefer to your local tax authorities:

United Kingdom:https://www.hmrc.gov.uk

Set a deadline.

Your funding period can last anywherefrom one to 60 days. Statistically, though,projects lasting 30 days or fewer have ourhighest success rates. Shorter periods set atone of confidence, help motivate peopleto back, and let you make a planned,concerted push to spread the word.

Stretch goals.

You can’t change your funding goal onceyou’ve launched. But once that goal hasbeen reached, some projects addincentives — like new features, colors, orgifts to backers — to hit even higherfunding milestones. These stretch goalscan work for some — but they can also bechallenging. They’re a better idea whenthey improve the work (like adding morelevels to a video game), instead of creatingsomething entirely new. Here are somethings to think about before adding stretchgoals.

Think Before You Stretch

Yancey Strickler

Tips

Aug 13 2013

Share this post

Over time we’ve seen a growing number ofcreators adding “stretch goals” —unofficial targets beyond a project&#39;sfunding goal, with promises of newrewards or other incentives if they arereached. Stretch goals are seen as a way tokeep pledges coming in after a project’sfunding goal has been reached. But arestretch goals a good idea?

All-or-nothing funding is simple and clear:a project has a single goal, and backerssupport the project in its pursuit of thatgoal. Stretch goals muddy the waters.What if someone got in early and helped aproject reach its funding goal, but now thecreator is focused on stretch goals? What ifsomeone backs a project for a stretchgoal-related reward, and that goal isn’tmet? Both are bad experiences forbackers.

And if your project suddenly explodes?

Unexpected popularity can be a niceproblem to have. But when you designed abudget to make 100 of something, it’stricky to suddenly have 10,000 pledges! Ifyou feel like you’ve hit your limit, you canalways cap your rewards. You can alsostagger release dates — cap the originalreward at a number you can handle, thenadd more with a later delivery date, so youdon’t have to do everything at once. Letbackers know in advance that the demandmight affect your schedule.

Your Tools

The creator dashboard.

Your project’s dashboard gives you anat-a-glance view of everything that’shappening: your funding progress, wherevisitors to your project page are comingfrom, a breakdown of which rewardsbackers are choosing — even a completefeed of all project activity.

Introducing Google Analytics — and aninside look at the creator dashboard

The backer report.

Your backer report is where allinformation about your project’s backerswill be neatly organized. Everything fromthe reward that they chose to anymessages that you’ve exchanged will bedocumented here. And once you send outreward surveys, backers’ responses willALSO be documented here. The report caneasily be downloaded as a CSV file.

Analytics.

Google Analytics opens up a whole newworld of trusted, powerful tools, fromcustom reports and dashboards to theability to track how many visits to theproject page are converting into pledges.

Kickstarter for iPhone, iPad, andAndroid.

The Kickstarter mobile app can help youmanage communicating with backerswhenever you want, wherever you are! Useit to send messages, post updates, and getat-a-glance looks at how your project isdoing.

Promotion

How will you tell the world about yourproject? Promotion should be part of yourKickstarter campaign planning from thevery beginning. Read on for tips onspreading the word about your idea andgetting people as excited about yourproject as you are.

Make a list

While an exceptional project can findoutpourings of support from all over theweb, much of your support may still comefrom people who already know your work.

Begin by making a list of everyone youplan to reach out to about your project.For example, think of the last 50 peopleyou&#39;ve emailed or texted—these are likelythe people who&#39;ll support your project onday one. Collect email addresses, socialmedia handles, and phone numbers in asingle place.

Next, segment your contacts into a fewgroups—think friends, family, fans,coworkers, and industry contacts—anddraft specific messaging for each group.For example, frame your message tofriends around specific reward tiers thatyou think might appeal to them and why.

Create a calendar

Think through your campaign holistically:How will you promote your projectpre-launch, on day one, on week two, andbeyond? Put together a week-by-weekcalendar to schedule emails, social mediaannouncements, project updates, andmore.

For example:

At least one week before: Draft socialmedia posts, newsletters, and othercontent to announce your project. Shareyour Pre-Launch and/or Preview Page with10 friends.

Week 1: Announce to your mailing list,social media followers, and friends andfamily.

Week 2-3: Plan two strategies that you&#39;lluse to push through the very commonmid-campaign “plateau.”

Anytime: Draft a project update,including never-before-seen photos orvideo of your project.

Before you launch, prep an outreach plan

Early on in your planning process, thinkthrough how you’ll promote your projectonce it’s live. Lining up pre-launch supportgives you a great head start; securingfirst-day backings can help boost yourproject’s long-term chance of success.

Make a list

While an exceptional project can findoutpourings of support from all over theweb, much of your support may still comefrom people who already know your work.

Create a calendar

For example:

At least one week before: Draft socialmedia posts, newsletters, and othercontent to announce your project. Shareyour Pre-Launch and/or Preview Page with10 friends.

Week 1: Announce to your mailing list,social media followers, and friends andfamily.

Week 2-3: Plan two strategies that you&#39;lluse to push through the very commonmid-campaign “plateau.”

Anytime: Draft a project update,including never-before-seen photos orvideo of your project.

Build some buzz

A week or two before launch, share yourproject with your community to give theman early heads up. Here are two tools thatcan help:

Preview Page

Just click “Preview” at the top of yourproject overview

Your shareable Preview Page shows yourfull project as it will appear once it’s live,including your title, video, description, andrewards. Share this page with closecollaborators for feedback on everythingfrom copy to images to reward tiers.Viewers of your Preview Page can alsochoose to be notified once your projecthas launched.

Pre-Launch Page

Once your project has been approved byour Trust &amp; Safety team, you’ll have accessto your Pre-Launch Page. This page allowsyou to tease your project by sharing yourproject image, title, and description. Fromhere, potential backers can choose to benotified once your project has launched.This is a useful way to build momentumaround your project before launch withoutgiving away all of the juicy details.

Announce with a bang

Once your project is live, let people know!

Send personal emails to your friends andfamily, and follow up with folks whoreceived your Preview or Pre-Launch Page.

Alert your wider mailing list that yourproject is live, making sure to share a fewkey details about why you’re excited aboutit.

Share your project on social media witheye-catching visuals and custom referraltags to help you track where your pledgesare coming from.

How do I track referral stats?

Here are some additional tips for spreadingthe word:

Recruit some help. If your goal isambitious, you might need more than justyourself to get the word out. Tap yourcollaborators, peers, or pals to help. Draftsome simple messaging that yourcommunity can easily repurpose whensharing your project with their networks.

Don’t spam. When you’re in promotionalmode, it’s easy to unintentionally comeacross as a spambot. Try not to overwhelmpeople with e-blasts and group texts.(Sticking to your outreach calendar canhelp space out your messaging.) Visit ourCommunity Guidelines for moreinformation on spamming.

Community Guidelines

How to pitch your project to press

A well-placed piece of press can place yourproject in the cultural conversation, andhelp you reach a wider network of peopleinterested in your idea.

If you plan to reach out to the press, makesure to include the essentials: who, what,where, when, and why. Journalistsappreciate concise messages that respecttheir time and give them exactly theinformation they need. Put yourself in theirshoes, and tell them why your idea is worthcovering. Some tips to remember:

Twitter is your friend.

Many reporters list direct contact infothere.

Keep your contact lists targeted.

Reach out to people and sources youknow are interested in topics like yours.

Mention who’s available for interviews.

That goes double if prominent folks areinvolved in your project.

Offer any content you can.

Put together a folder of hi-res images topromote your project, including portraits ofyourself and your team. Bonus: Show off asample, a trailer, or a preview.

Be thoughtful about timing.

When will it be most relevant to coveryour project? Consider how long do youthink each media outlet will need toprepare a piece.

Use Kickstarter resources.

You can provide press contacts with alink to our Pressroom for information onKickstarter itself.

Be considerate.

Avoid being pushy—bothering peoplecan have negative consequences for yourproject.

Keep working.

Getting press for your project isn’t aguarantee. While you wait to hear back,continue to put in the work to let peopleknow what you’re doing—your own effortswill pay off regardless.

For more tips on PR strategy, read “Howto Get Press for Your Creative Work” byCommunications Strategist Kate Bernyk onThe Creative Independent.

How to get press for your creative work

Prelude

Hey there, I’m Kate Bernyk and I’ve beenworking in communications and mediarelations for a little over 15 years now.Throughout my experience, I’ve seen thatwhile most people would absolutelybenefit from the media paying attention tothe Very Cool Thing they are doing, thosesame people often feel super awkward,confused, or unequipped to do anythingabout it. The good news is, it’s really notthat complicated to learn the basics of howto pitch your work to the press. The badnews is, much like creative work, it’s notalways a sure thing that those pitches willresult in positive stories about your workbeing published. You could invest a lot oftime reaching out to journalists who youthink might like to write about you, andstill, it just might not happen. That sucks.But when it DOES work, press coveragecan be a super helpful way to expand yourreach and audience.

Sections

First things first: Who are you talking to,and what do you want them to do?

The first question I ask when puttingtogether a communications and mediaplan is: Who am I trying to talk to, andwhat do I want them to do?

Hone your story

Find the right place(s) to pitch

Craft your pitch

Follow-up etiquette

When all else fails...

In summary...

Additional resources for promotion:

A project promotion pep-talk

Before you launch, build a list

Ready, set, share your project

How to get featured on Kickstarter

How to get press for your creative work

How to get through your project’s“plateau”

A creative person’s guide to thoughtfulpromotion

How to use custom referral tags to trackyour progress

Before you work with a marketingservice, consider this

How to get press and spread the wordabout your Kickstarter project

Communicating with backers

Throughout your project, you’ll becommunicating with backers and keepingthem informed of your progress. Projectupdates, your spotlight page, KickstarterLive, and our messaging system will helpyou keep backers in the loop.

Updates.

Think of these as your project’s blog.Keep backers engaged through interestingand shareable updates, and encouragethem to spread the word about yourprogress, like this project did. Backersaren’t just looking for updates on whentheir rewards will show up — most of themlove a look at the details of how work likeyours is actually made. Show them!

Update options.

You can post text-only updates, or youcan include images, video, and even soundclips. (Check these out!) You can markupdates as public or for backers only.Updates can be emailed to all yourbackers, or just to specific reward tiers.And after an update is posted, you evenhave 30 minutes to edit it.

Messages.

You can use messages to communicatewith backers one-on-one. Remember tocheck your messages and commentsregularly, and respond to any questions. Ifyou find that you’re frequently gettingquestions about the same topic, considermaking it the subject of your next update.

Spotlight.

Once your project is successfully funded,use the Spotlight feature to customize yourpage, highlight images that show yourplans coming together, and direct youraudience to where they can see yourcurrent work. Looking for inspiration? Visitthis page.

Backers appreciate regular, insightful, andhonest updates. Don’t be hesitant tocommunicate delays or changes to youroriginal plans — or to just check in. (Ifbackers don’t hear from you for a while,they worry that you may be having troubledoing the work you promised.) Curioushow other creators have approachedupdating their backers? Here are some ofour favorites.

Fulfillment

Fulfillment: that means completing yourproject, getting rewards to backers, andcommunicating with them to make sure theprocess goes smoothly. Like every otherstep, this one requires planning andbudgeting. But fulfillment can be fun, too,and we’ve got quite a few tools andsuggestions to help.

The Backer Report &amp; Surveys

Surveys let you collect information frombackers — their shipping addresses, sizes,choices of colors or flavors, or anythingelse. You can start drafting backer surveysany time after you’ve launched a project,but they can only be sent out once yourproject is successfully funded. They canalso only be sent once — so think throughall the questions you’ll need to ask in orderto provide rewards, and prepareaccordingly.

If you designated that a reward requiresphysical shipping, the survey willautomatically ask backers for their mailingaddresses.

Although you can only send surveysonce, you can allow backers to makechanges to their shipping addresses untilyou’re ready to actually ship rewards. Onceyou indicate that you’re ready to ship,backers will be notified that they have 48hours to finalize their addresses.

We run the addresses that backersprovide through a validation check to makesure they exist and are properly formatted.If a backer hasn’t answered your survey,we’ll show them a reminder on Kickstarternext time they visit.

You can mark a survey question asoptional if it doesn&#39;t pertain to everyone.

All survey responses end up neatlyorganized in your Backer Report, which youcan export as CSV files and open in prettymuch any spreadsheet program.Remember: you’re responsible for usingbackers’ information responsibly.

Fulfillment Partners

If managing all the logistics of your projectstarts to feel a little overwhelming, or youwind up with more backers than you wereprepared for, don’t worry: you don’t needto do everything yourself. There arebusinesses that specialize in things likemass mailing, warehousing, packaging —you name it. If there’s a part of the processyou feel comfortable outsourcing, and youcan find a partner you trust, it can helplighten the load and create a better, moreefficient experience for you and yourbackers. With the help of many Kickstartercreators, we’ve compiled this list of servicesthat help with everything from packagingand shipping to manufacturing, gamesdistribution, and vinyl pressing. Check themout and research which partners will workbest for your project and your backers.

Fulfillment from A to Z