Kickstarter vs. Indiegogo: Difference and Comparison (Part 1)
Tags: Startup, Crowdfunding, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Crowdfunding Tips

Finally, you came up with a brilliant idea that is going to turn the world upside down. Now you’re getting somewhere! And, what you have to do now is to conceptualize your idea, accelerate it, and, eventually, materialize it. But, wait a minute, what about the money? If you don’t have your own capital or angel investor, your one chance out of the money problem is crowdfunding.

Many a little makes a miracle

Crowdfunding is based on the idea of microfinancing: you expose your project online and leverage collective efforts from a big number of people, who make relatively small donations to you. Put differently, you set your campaign, define a goal amount of money to be collected and a fixed number of days. After that, many people pledge you moderate amounts of money, and altogether these contributions help you get the target amount you need for realization of your idea.

As well, crowdfunding platforms allow to create an extremely effective community of users, receive valuable feedbacks, find out if your product fits the market and test the pricing strategy.

Three pillars crowdfunding leans on:

The crowd. Money comes from a large number of people. The coin. The average contributions are relatively small. The net. You leverage online platforms for a greater reach.

Roll up your sleeves

Here’s the checklist of steps you need to take to launch your crowdfunding campaign:

Make up your legend . Foremost, you need to have the solid concept of your idea, why you want to bring it to life, what pains you want to solve, and how you are going to make the world a better place with your product.

. Foremost, you need to have the solid concept of your idea, why you want to bring it to life, what pains you want to solve, and how you are going to make the world a better place with your product. Build an avatar of your customer . You need to become familiar with the people you design your product for. Do the research and gather actual data about those who you are targeting. Be sure to answer the questions: who are they? where do they live and work? how do the rest? why do they need your product? how are you going to make their lives easier?

. You need to become familiar with the people you design your product for. Do the research and gather actual data about those who you are targeting. Be sure to answer the questions: who are they? where do they live and work? how do the rest? why do they need your product? how are you going to make their lives easier? Do your homework research . Find out as much as you can about crowdfunding, mine for success strategies, and choose the right platform specific to your particular niche.

. Find out as much as you can about crowdfunding, mine for success strategies, and choose the right platform specific to your particular niche. Design your website or landing page . Here you can put together essential information about your product, teaser videos, short founders’ bios, how it works, testimonials and a call-to-action. The properly designed landing will help you collect email addresses to further connect with those interested in your launch, share updates with them, and offer some freebies and perks. The website may serve as a central hub of your marketing efforts, as well as confirm you are a legitimate company.

. Here you can put together essential information about your product, teaser videos, short founders’ bios, how it works, testimonials and a call-to-action. The properly designed landing will help you collect email addresses to further connect with those interested in your launch, share updates with them, and offer some freebies and perks. The website may serve as a central hub of your marketing efforts, as well as confirm you are a legitimate company. Write a video script . Take your time to think your video through to develop the sequence of scenes, plan your storyboard, and write down the narrative.

. Take your time to think your video through to develop the sequence of scenes, plan your storyboard, and write down the narrative. Shoot photos and video . Buy nice or buy twice. Be sure to involve professional video makers and photographers in order to make your story look compelling. However, try to research your network for people ready to help you for a discounted rate.

. Buy nice or buy twice. Be sure to involve professional video makers and photographers in order to make your story look compelling. However, try to research your network for people ready to help you for a discounted rate. Set goals . You need to know exactly how much money you require to make your dream real, so, define accurately your fund-raising goal and specify timelines.

. You need to know exactly how much money you require to make your dream real, so, define accurately your fund-raising goal and specify timelines. Submit . Make sure you know exactly the submission rules of the chosen crowdfunding platform and carefully check if your campaign complies with all the requirements. Otherwise, you’ll need to make some changes in the campaign during the approval process on the run.

. Make sure you know exactly the submission rules of the chosen crowdfunding platform and carefully check if your campaign complies with all the requirements. Otherwise, you’ll need to make some changes in the campaign during the approval process on the run. Build your media list . Inform relevant media resources, journalists, blog authors, youtubers and other influencers and thought-leaders about your launch and ask for covering it in their media.

. Inform relevant media resources, journalists, blog authors, youtubers and other influencers and thought-leaders about your launch and ask for covering it in their media. Outreach. Don’t reckon on an automatic noticing of your project by investors. Share your campaign as far and wide as you can. Leverage social media, friends and family networks, and work connections. The wider you spread the information about your crowdfunding campaign launch, the more chances you gain to get noticed and financed.

Same same but different

The biggest and the most popular crowdfunding platforms are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Both are fantastic, but which one to choose to get the needed investment?

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that provides businesses with a possibility to share their message and mission, expose their project, and collect funds. It is the best suitable platform for innovative thinkers: artists, designers, filmmakers, game developers, musicians, creative tech developers. Kickstarter’s mission is to “help bring creative projects to life”.

Kickstarter has all-or-nothing funding, which means that if you don’t reach your target amount within the specified timeline, you won’t receive any of the pledged funds. There are also no fees if your campaign is unsuccessful.

Continue reading: how to create your first campaign.

Halyna Sereda

Digital Marketing Manager at LaSoft