Post Campaign: Obstacles & Backer Communication
Lesson 19 from: Launch a Successful Crowdfunding CampaignChristopher Hawker
Post Campaign: Obstacles & Backer Communication
Lesson 19 from: Launch a Successful Crowdfunding CampaignChristopher Hawker
Lesson Info
19. Post Campaign: Obstacles & Backer Communication
Lessons
Class Introduction
07:56 2What is Crowdfunding?
32:23 3Is Crowdfunding Right for Me & My Project?
21:22 4How to Build & Manage a Team
12:23 5Choose a Crowdfunding Platform
11:44 6Create the Campaign Page
12:49 7Campaign Page Examples That Work
29:44 8Set the Campaign Timeline
08:18Determine the Perk Strategy
12:04 10Campaign Goal & Referral Strategy
11:31 11Produce a Campaign Video
02:23 12Campaign Videos That Work
46:59 13Pre-Campaign: Build Email List & Buzz
41:50 14Pre-Campaign: Social Media Strategy & PR
08:36 15Launch Your Campaign
07:57 16Live Campaign: PPC & Facebook Ads
12:08 17Live Campaign: Email Updates & Adjust Goals
18:32 18Post-Campaign: Workflow & Delivering Your Product
23:47 19Post Campaign: Obstacles & Backer Communication
07:01 20Your Crowdfunding Future
02:22Lesson Info
Post Campaign: Obstacles & Backer Communication
Let's talk about back communication this is the last major topic we're going to cover in this whole thing because it's after your campaign, it could become a huge topic because eighty five percent of product campaigns deliver late why I talked about it earlier because they're so it's a complicated process to take an idea and turned into a product in quantity from china shipped and delivered and especially for amateurs, they dramatically under estimate how long it takes and also having been in the products based, been involved in over ninety product launches with corporations big and small and individuals every single one of them is they're always late every time like delivering products and predicting how long it's going to take his extraordinarily challenging, considering the number of factors that are involved and there's so many possible moments where there could be a little hiccup that cost you some time. And before all these things happened in the background, no one saw some thing...
s came in on time, and bigger companies that have existing supply chains often have less problems because, like, you know, for night eyes, they already got, you know, five factories making little metal things, and they've already got a system in place for communicating well, if you're starting from scratch with someone you haven't worked with before, I mean, ideally, you've already got someone in mind but you may not even have someone in mind now you're scrambling around, looking for someone who you trust and that's hard to so thie time starts flying by in one of the things I say is in my business, two years is a season so like things take a long time, it's not like you like say that china hey, make an adjustment in the next day you get a sample back with an adjustment, they have to make changes to the molds, and then it's, not like you're their only client affect your their smallest, least important client it's, not like you're at the top of the key here at the bottom, you stand the bottom, you're a little fish, so now you've got to wait for them to you know, but they still want to service your I'm not saying they're ignoring you, but it takes him a minute, so bottom line is things ship late, and backers get angry, and then they send you hate mail, and I am a huge fan of the backers backers are why it's possible to crowdfund things it's, an amazing tool, an incredible platform for creation, the fact that there's people willing to donate their money to cause something to come into being, however, there's, a certain portion of that population who either backs campaigns that getting it thinks it's amazon and wants it now and doesn't get that they're going to have to wait. And there could be delays or there's this also a population of people who are trolls, and we've all experienced trolls, his trolls on amazon, there's trolls and every message board there's just trolls in the world, you know, haters will be hayden, they wanted, like, find some venue where they can be angry, and so you want to be an open communication with your backers, and I'd like to say any time there's a major development or every couple of weeks, ideally, you can do it too much, and then people say, stop spamming me, I don't want your excuses, I just want delivery, or you made, you know, or you do it to later on, then you're like, hey, I haven't you know, some people are like, I want to hear from you every week, so, like, you can't please them all, and what you want to do is follow your heart, be open as soon as there's issues communicate the issues and then people, you know, squawk and then I just refund their money people like, hey, where's my thing, sorry, we're trying our best here's your money back, like I don't want you know people's money if their don't you know I don't want money polluted with hate or anger like I don't need it and I'd rather not have it and so all we can do is like do our very best people who haven't done it in are you trying to do it, you know can make all kinds of judgments based on not knowing and you know, that's not their fault that they don't know but we can't you know you've got to have thick skin and for me, it's just like you know, someone handles the communication does their best to keep people happy and answer questions and refund money if people want to refund no problem that's my policy from someone wants their money back that can have a refund and other matt I literally just ignore it because I don't need to read a thousand word essay and why I'm a bad person because I was three months late on delivering a nine dollars qi which like literally we have people writing us like thousands and thousands of words of hate mail over a nine dollars case so I don't want to be labor too much for them to just say before warned that if you late there are some people who have become quite vocal in their anger and ultimately all you can do is do your best be transparent, be clear before throw right honor the requests and ignore the rest because you don't want to take it personally and you don't want to stop it or have it stop you from putting yourself at stake and taking a risk because you're taking a risk personally, I feel like people's just lighten up that's just me and no one should back anything that they're not prepared to lose their money for right back to numerous campaigns where I never got anything and still haven't gotten anything, and I haven't thought about it once like, oh my gosh, those people were robbing me or it was a scam, it wasn't a scam, I'm sure they're like sweating bullets, grieving, dying, trying to make it happen, it's just hard, they didn't know what they were getting into, and if I weren't backing them, other things would get to exist that are getting to is this because of this amazing platform? Did you have a question? You sort of answered, he said. The key took three months delayed how was thief? Liar delayed, but we're still we're getting ready to roll out the flier now were originally planning a shipping in december and we're just had our pilot run and then we're waiting for chinese new year and then we'll start manufacturing shipping, so we ran into the blaze because we had ended up we had to develop our own carbon fiber material, which we didn't realize we were gonna have to do, and that took several months and set us back. But we've been in open communication with people and similarly, like for the most of the vast majority of people super supportive, they get it, they're on board there helping, you know, support us and we're super grateful and some people are, like, inordinately upset, and we're like, sorry and like, you know, please take your money back and we're doing our best, but we think it would be thrilled with product and so that's, what we're working on is creating a great product and, you know, this is just the realities of bringing products to market and, you know, I wish I, you know, could be perfect and terms of delivery times, but I'm committed to making great things and you know, that requires taking risks. So that's, what it's about did want to read this one awesome troll email? Just cause I thought it was so funny. I'll be nice and wait three more days after that, you need to have money ready to go back in my account again if I want excuses, I'd call my ex girlfriend, which I just thought was very clear.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Dyan deNapoli
Really helpful class for anyone planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign! Christopher was a great presenter (very comfortable and relaxed), and he clearly knew the topic extremely well. His presentation was very thorough and well thought out. One thing I would've like to have seen is more questions taken from the virtual audience. There were quite a few on the thread, but the moderator only passed along a few of them to Christopher to answer. Another thing that would have been very helpful is advice about creating successful crowdfunding campaigns that are for projects or experiences or ideas, rather than for physical products (which this class was focused on). Maybe Christopher can do a short crowdfunding part II class?? But I still give this class an A+!
Elizabeth Best
This was very helpful. I feel like it answered so many of my questions. It made me realize what a huge commitment crowdfunding is! As an entrepreneur I can see how this video saves trident a lot of time on calls and emails explaining what needs to be done. Great idea! I am amazed at how much technology is involved and online or social media marketing. I better develop a stronger team with millennials who know how to make it happen. Thank you.
a Creativelive Student
I was fortunate to be part of the live audience for this course. It was truly amazing! Chris does a great job of providing tactical and strategic insight behind crowdfunding campaigns. One of my favorite tools was the spreadsheet he has developed to determine crowdfunding goals. I also think Chris is a very humble, knowledgeable guy who genuinely wants you to succeed in your crowdfunding efforts. I highly recommend this course of anyone who is serious about crowdfunding.