Gearing up for a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign? Considering hiring a crowdfunding consultant? As you’re vetting crowdfunding consultants and crowdfunding marketing agencies, it’s important to ask the right questions in order to find someone to work with that you can trust to do everything possible to help you surpass your crowdfunding goal and successfully bring your product to market. Below we’ve outlined four of the most important things to consider when you’re researching and comparing crowdfunding consultants.
What is the consultant’s track record?
When evaluating a crowdfunding marketing consultants track record, consider three different aspects:
- How many projects have they done? Generally, the more projects the consultant or marketing agency has worked with, the better. This means they’ll be familiar with the intricacies of Indiegogo and Kickstarter, what elements are needed for a successful project, how to deal with different challenges that may arise and much more. As with most things, experience counts for a lot. Make sure you’re looking at not just how many they’ve done, but also what types of projects they’ve worked with. If they’ve worked with 100 music projects, but you’re crowdfunding a new piece of technology, they’re probably not a good fit; what makes a music project successful is not the same as what makes a tech project successful.
- What is their success rate? Consider not just how many projects they’ve worked with, but also how many were successful. For example, if they’ve worked on 100 projects but only 3 are successful, they may have the experience you want to see, but they probably aren’t a good choice.
- How much have they raised? A consultant may have worked on more than 100 successful projects, but perhaps they were all smaller projects raising a few thousand dollars. If you’re hoping to raise $50,000, this crowdfunding marketing consultant isn’t going to be a good fit. Consider now just how much they’ve raised, but what the goals were for the projects they’ve worked on.
As you’re getting answers to these questions, make sure you’re examining the right thing; consider not just how many projects they’ve raised money for, but what types of projects they’ve worked on. This is arguably the most important part of examining a team’s track record.
Who is on the consultant or marketing agency’s team?
Before you begin, make sure you know what types of crowdfunding marketing help you need. Do you need someone to manage your whole campaign from start to finish? Do you just want someone to build your campaign page? Do you just need someone to handle PR and media outreach? Are you only looking for someone to manage Facebook ads? Do you only want someone to answer a few questions you have?
Once you have a handle on the type of consulting you need, you can begin to look for crowdfunding consultants. If you are most interested in a full-service crowdfunding marketing team, you’ll want to make sure your consultant or agency has the following people:
- Someone to handle PR: This person will be responsible for writing and distributing press releases, reaching out to journalists and securing media coverage. This person should ideally have a large network of contacts to tap into when trying to get an outlet to cover your project.
- Someone to manage Facebook ads: This person will write copy, create ads and manage your budget in order to generate leads and drive people to your page while achieving a high ROI. It’s important that this person has experience with Facebook ads specifically, not just PPC in general.
- Someone to oversee social media: This person will work with the Facebook ads person to manage all organic social media. We always recommend that crowdfunding projects have a presence on Twitter and Facebook, but other social networks, such as Instagram, may also be useful, depending on the project.
- Someone to take care of all copywriting: This person will write copy for the crowdfunding page, in addition to landing page copy, updates and emails.
Note that in many cases, crowdfunding teams don’t need four different people to handle these tasks. For example, a PR person can often handle all copywriting, and one person may be able to manage both paid and organic social. It’s most important to make sure that all of these roles are covered, especially if you’re looking for a full-service crowdfunding team.
What is the consultant or agency’s pricing structure?
Some agencies charge a set fee, while others just receive a commission of sales. Others use a combination, charging a small upfront management fee, with commission due after the project is over. Some work off commission, but charge a different percentage depending on how much you raise.
When it comes to comparing pricing among different crowdfunding agencies and consultants, there is no right or wrong answer; it simply comes down to what you are comfortable with. However, as you decide what types of payment structure you’re most interested in, be sure to consider how much you want to raise, what your profit margins are, how much you’ll owe to the platform after the campaign is over and how much work you’ll receive in exchange for payment.
Does what they’re offering seem too good to be true?
Kickstarter and Indiegogo consultants often like to guarantee that you’ll fund when you work with them, but sadly, there are no guarantees in crowdfunding. If the services, price or guarantee they are offering seems too good to be true, it very well may be. As you’re looking for, vetting and comparing crowdfunding consultants and marketing agencies, make sure you’re doing your due diligence. Look for reviews online, ask others on Quora or Reddit about their experience working with the agency or consultant and don’t be afraid to ask for references. Hiring someone to help with crowdfunding isn’t cheap, so it’s important that you know what you’re paying for.
If you’re gearing up for a crowdfunding campaign and need some help sorting through your options, contact us today, and don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast.
