I was pretty astounded by the in depth and thoughtful response I got from Fiona and the Penny Black crew to my normal “do you have any tips for newbies” question. So good in fact, I thought I should devote an entire blog to sharing em!
Fiona’s tips
Don’t be afraid to ask people to pledge. Even if they only pledge $5 you need the support as well as the $. And try not to be too crushed when the people you are sure will help don’t…
Give lots of info about your project. You can’t not have a video, and make sure your video is good quality as it represents your project.
Think about what kind of rewards would motivate you to pledge. Would ‘mention on our facebook’ really be something that you’d be interested in? Think about what kind of value you’re offering. If they have to pledge $100 for a video, that they could wait and get for $20 when it’s released is that fair? They are paying up front for something that doesn’t even exist yet. We set our DVD at $25, which was low, but we thought it was fair since they were taking a leap of faith that there’d even be a DVD in the end.
Sending something personal was great (postcards) and it didn’t cost much. I was surprised at how many people were actually excited about receiving the postcards. Glad, because it turned out to be more work that I’d expected.
Think about the best time to run your campaign. Before your project starts might not be best, perhaps waiting til you have work to show, footage or whatever, and people will feel more inclined to be supportive.
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Want to check out their successful project? Click here.
