Running a Kickstarter campaign isn’t easy. Running a successful one is even harder. Between handling marketing, customer service and fulfillment, there are a lot of challenges to take on. That’s why we talked to Cristy Hatter, VP of brand at Solo Stove, a company that produces sleek and compact portable fire pits and camp stoves.
Solo Stove has launched four successful Kickstarter campaigns, raising nearly $3,000,000 in total. From humble beginnings, the brand can now be found nationwide in retailers like Home Depot and REI.
We asked Cristy to share some of what their experience crowdfunding has been like, as well as any advice she’d give to someone thinking of launching their own campaign.
BackerClub:
What steps do you take to plan for your launch?
Cristy Hatter – VP of Brand at Solo Stove:
We treat launching a crowdfunding campaign just like we would a product launch independent of crowdfunding. We build the story around the product and the creative assets for the campaign (video, photography, text) and then decide on a budget for advertising spend as well as a budget number for our funding goal.
BackerClub:
How do you come up with your funding goal?
Cristy:
Normally we think about how many units we want to have pledged and then back into the funding goal in terms of revenue.
BC:
What strategies do you use to promote your project and which worked the best?
Cristy:
We do a lot of social media advertising and have found that to be the most successful at driving ROI. Also, from our experience, you have to have an excellent video that tells the story of your product.
“…from our experience, you have to have an excellent video that tells the story of your product.”
Cristy at Solo Stove
BC:
How does it feel when you reach your funding goal?
Cristy:
It’s always great achieving your funding goal but it’s just as exhilarating watching the amount funded go up each day. It is just another way to say that the process is just as fun (although crazy) as achieving a great outcome.
BC:
What’s the hardest part of fulfillment?
Cristy:
Organizing all of the pledgers and receiving their addresses to start shipping has always been the most challenging. We normally have 5-6 different levels people can pledge at, so getting them organized by what they pledged and then getting them to respond to our emails to provide their address has always been really time consuming.
BC:
What advice would you give someone thinking of launching their own crowdfunding campaign?
Cristy:
Crowdfunding isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of campaign. Some companies we have seen do crowdfunding really well and others just post projects and then cross their fingers and wait. You will have a really hard time being successful unless you do lots of prep work on the front end and then work on the campaign daily while it is up. Treat it like you would any other area of your business you are working on. Plan, measure and optimize throughout the process.
“Treat it like you would any other area of your business you are working on. Plan, measure and optimize throughout the process.”
Cristy at Solo Stove
BC:
Do you have any other crowdfunding projects in the pipeline for the future?
Cristy:
We will likely do something in the future but can’t share more than that at this time 🙂
We’d like to thank Cristy and Solo Stove for taking the time to share their experiences with us. If you’d like to learn about the flip-side and hear what’s it like to back 900+ projects, check out our interview with a superbacker.
Are you a successful crowdfunding creator interested in being interviewed? Send us a message at blog @ backerclub.co.
