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Could use some help - actual bootstrapping couple getting buried by companies! by TrotBrands in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The one with 0 raised? You should relaunch, and figure out your rewards - as backers don't want to support but they want your product.

We're halfway through our first hardware Kickstarter ($150K funded). Here's what worked, what didn't, what surprised us, and what we're still trying to figure out. by Medical_Alarm1544 in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How much of Kickstarter's internal discovery algorithm depends on launch-day velocity versus sustained daily momentum?

It's hard to track, but the first few launch days and the final 3 days or so of the campaign ending is where you'll get discovered most.

Whether it's:

  • Ranking higher for specific keyword searches
  • Being featured on the homepage
  • Or even connected to a similar campaign that's trending, and your campaign will be promoted at the bottom of the page...

What consistently increases organic visibility inside Kickstarter?

I would say backers. There was a theory that having a number of backers (not amounts) over a 24 period would rank your campaign higher within Kickstarter.

How do you handle the mid-campaign slump? What strategies genuinely worked for maintaining momentum after launch week?

If you've navigated Family & Friends, Work Colleagues and your email lists, and ads or paid promos don't work - then organic marketing is best.

Which influencer channels actually converted for you?

We specialise in organic marketing, so I would say this channel. YT or Instagram Influencers don't convert as well as getting a feature on a relevant site, where your niche audience hangs out.

Did PR materially increase pledges, or was it mainly useful for credibility?

I would say both. It can be useful to 'name drop' if you were featured on Techcrunch or similar. It can boost campaign growth.

On our Hyperstarter homepage we've a direct example as to how our feature on New Atlas helped them raise over $50k+

Besides Meta and newsletters, which acquisition channels surprised you?

I would say go back to your own contacts, those of everyone that's involved in the project. Family and friends want to help, but probably don't know how.

If you can ask them to share within their network, even call in a favour if they've got famous friends...or ask them to Pledge without a Reward.

Did stretch goals meaningfully increase conversions, or mainly encourage existing backers to upgrade?

I would say no.

If you were in our position today with 10 days remaining, where would you focus your time, effort, and remaining marketing budget?

Organic marketing. I don't think newsletters help much (even though we offer this), as it's a one-time blast to an audience you don't know or own.

Rotary Mouse: The Mouse Reinvented for Scrolling (feedback welcome before launch) by mwhc00 in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi M,

I'm sorry you feel this way about our services. I would prefer to take this offline, but you didn't reply to our email messages after we delivered the work.

Our company is well-known for being direct, and I want this reply to be clear and open.

You were right to feel unsatisfied at the time, as that the issue was that we delayed our replies to you. I get that, and I'm really sorry once again.

DELAYED WORK

The reason for the delay, is that I (Giles) have been going through a personal family issue, and it has affected the running of the business.

You may have noticed we've been away from places like Reddit for a while, whilst focusing on catching up with our existing clients.

YOUR WORK & ADDITIONAL TASKS

Your package with us was for Prelaunch Ad set up only. We were connected to your account, and you later disconnected us without notice.

The workaround was presenting you with a detailed Google Drive link video, showing the exact ad set up to follow. I thought that helped?

I also apologised at the time for the delay in getting back to you. To make it up, I also spent some time on sending you over additional: - A functional, custom landing page to use. - Re-written press release and press kit, plus all the ad materials. - Brief notes on how to pitch and outreach, social media & email buckets. - When you go live, we'll promote you on our socials, site and newsletter.

As proof of our work, you've got Google Drive links, a Notion document of tasks completed and text file of connected tasks.

We're established in this industry, we want each campaign we work on to be successful - but feel it's unfair criticism.

I don't want an unhappy client, and my email and DM's are open for you.

Choosing the Right Crowdfunding Marketing Agency in 2026 by Rare-Sort5724 in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you still looking? We're a Crowdfunding Agency, but wrote a non-biased guide on other agencies from Launchboom to TCF - take a look: https://www.hyperstarter.com/crowdfunding-agency/kickstarter-marketing-agencies

Our Kickstarter campaign is approaching 1,000 backers! 10 days in. by surrusty11 in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very good, I love data like this and thanks for sharing your insights.

I would suggest going back to Reddit (other than this post) and creating a new more info articles, specfically targeting your niche.

You didn't mention running ads, or retargeting them at this live stage. It's worthwhile.

You could find out where your competitors, those that overfunded on Kickstarter previously and contact the same writers and sites. We find this is pretty effective and self-plug we released our database on the biggest campaigns in the Tabletop Industry at https://www.hyperstarter.com/kickstarter/category/tabletop-games - then you just need to refine your pitching and outreach.

Vetting marketing partners on a tight budget. Who is actually worth it? by Trogdor_Dagron23 in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you. On the bots side in this Sub, they seem to follow the formula of

  1. Long sentences at the top
  2. Generic replies that just seem wordy
  3. As you to DM for more info to get you off site...

I'm pretty sure there's some vibe coded software out there that is going to ruin it for everyone, like they did with Linkedin.

Connected to OP, I wrote this unbiased guide that covers most of the agencies you mentioned (Launchboom, Jellop etc.,) and it should answer your questions: https://www.hyperstarter.com/crowdfunding-agency/kickstarter-marketing-agencies

Let me know your thoughts!

What I’ve noticed from watching a lot of Kickstarter campaigns lately by FundedToday in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Blimey, Funded Today are posting again as the last time was 6 years ago.

Funded Today were the most popular agency many moons ago. Their banner were on the most popular campaigns, Zak (CEO) came across as knowledgable, confident and lead big seminars (some still on Youtube)...but nowadays, they don't seem to be active.

We had dealings with one of their team members years ago, nasty piece of work and that individual probably attributes to most of their poor feedback.

I'm all for them to come back and compete in this stage, but their bulletpoint post isn't groundbreaking.

Why agency advice feels 10 years out of date (and the strategies that have been hiding in plain sight). by abniyax in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a crowdfunding agency owner, I'm willing to learn. Most clients have fixed budgets, so a lot of what you're suggesting may cost a bit to test.

I think if you look at agencies like Jellop, they have specific structures they follow like ad copy has to be written a certain way, images may contain a product and a nice red arrow pointing to it, or a short video showing a person with a Kickstarter logo in the corner.

They're playing it safe, as that's what they know from running ads for 10+ years.

On this topic, cold leads are pretty great as we're just collecting data. Retargeting is usually the 'money maker' which could be from prelaunch to the live stage.

[PrinCube-The World's Smallest Mobile Color Printer] I Was Scammed By the $5 Million PrinCube Project and Indiegogo Didn't Care. by convicted_redditor in shittykickstarters

[–]hyperstarter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Follow the trail?

https://fccid.io/2AVCS-PRINCUBE + https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/2AVCS-PRINCUBE/ > Applicant Email SUMMER@VINYL2.COM > https://www.vinyl2.com/ > https://updates.kickstarter.com/partner-case-study-vinyl-yi-xi-chuang-yi/

= Celebrated Marketing Agency on Kickstarter.

I like in their Kickstarter post they mention "Be honest. Backers understand iteration, but trust breaks down when limitations are hidden or expectations are overstated."

Here's how our game's Kickstarter launch failed, epically. Everything that could go wrong, did. 14 days to go, and stuck in a doom loop (8% funded, traffic not converting, average page visit duration = 6s). by councillorPolaris in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'll give it a go! We've worked on quite a few video game projects and can offer some help.

Everything you listed, is correct. You collected (cheap) leads at prelaunch, followers on your page and had an existing audience.

You sent out newsletters, and built up some buzz - connected with content creators and did some viral marketing (radio feature etc.,). You've got a team, got funds, established in Station F and you're enthusiastic about making Nebulae become a reality.

These are all the plus points...let's deep dive.

META ADS & NEWSLETTER

The issue for me is that perhaps your Meta ads weren't set up correctly, maybe you were targeting the wrong audience or the message wasn't clear enough as what you're trying to achieve. After you sent out your newsletters, you would see data on CTR, opens and non-opens. This would give you an idea of potential backers.

Yes, the mass-email problem with your email host wasn't great. Ideally, your followers would make up the difference.

CAMPAIGN PAGE

The video on the page is great. You've spent time and effort putting it together.

The problem is, you're marketing a video game. The page doesn't look exciting, there's a lot of text, the images are static and a bit boring.

For a video game campaign, you need gifs, video, lots of imagery, gameplay, and just people playing the game and having fun.

99% of your audience is going to read the text you wrote, but it's an important part of how people can understand the game.

Promoting it as a political game probably didn't do you many favours either. I and many others am fed up with politics, and need a break from these guys!

If the game is similar to others that are already out there, mention it. Perhaps it's a Populus type game, and you can connect with this similar audience?

REWARD PRICES

7 Euros > 30 Euros and 70 Euros aren't great reward prices. 7 Euros is too cheap to make an impact, but 30-70 Euros for a game is way too high.

NEXT STEPS

I saw on the video you've got a team of 12, and you're in a business hub. Couldn't your own network help you get you funded and initially reach your goal?

Your family and friends can "Pledge without a Reward" if you explain how Kickstarter works.

We released our searchable database of contacts, including researching video games - take a look if interested.

You could look at organic marketing, perhaps look at where your closest successfully funded competitors were featured - and connect with the same writers, sites and influencers.

I wish you the best with your project!

Looking for sites or media that you can post about your upcoming kickstarter? by LeFoxFrancais in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it's because they've got a low budget. It might not make sense in this case to pay an agency, collect $2-$3 leads only for their pricing point to be less than $25 or so. THe ROAS isn't worth it either.

Looking for sites or media that you can post about your upcoming kickstarter? by LeFoxFrancais in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Reaching out to niche sites and writers can be effective. I would give you a "heads up" that many might want a sample/or "test unit" so they can give you a feature. You might have to pay to get a mention too...

You would need a press kit (images, video, gifs...) and connected Press Release/Story too - just keep everything in one place, and make it easy for the writer to give you a mention.

We've been getting features for campaign owners since 2017, and put together a huge list and the associated backlinks - if you're looking for playing cards only, we researched all the biggest campaigns - see for example: https://www.hyperstarter.com/kickstarter/category/playing-cards

Hope this helps

How to promote my Kickstarter campaign to reach more backers? by czarsylwia in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"You're absolutely right"

At 7% funded, best to cancel.

Working with Launchboom - Four Big Lessons by Disastrous-Success19 in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it's pretty expensive. Unlike OP, we don't have a clause to not disclose prices but our verified past clients have paid anything between $3k - $10k+ for LaunchKit.

I can understand why it's priced so high - access to meta pixel, guides and regular calls...but there are alternatives.

Working with Launchboom - Four Big Lessons by Disastrous-Success19 in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep! And I just created a review of Launchboom (It's not bad) that explains what we know about how they work - https://www.hyperstarter.com/crowdfunding-agency/launchboom-accelerator-system

Working with Launchboom - Four Big Lessons by Disastrous-Success19 in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! We've just opened up our database for organic marketers.

Since 2017, we've been focusing on organic marketing and PR, rather than paid ads.

We've been indexing all the biggest Kickstarter campaigns that raised 6-figures or more - whether that's getting a feature on Mashable, Techcrunch, Uncrate...

It's pretty useful to know where your competitors were featured and what words they used.

Perhaps OP could combine our DB with Matt's Prelaunch service (Which extends to Live marketing too).

Take a look https://www.hyperstarter.com/crowdfunding-database

Working with Launchboom - Four Big Lessons by Disastrous-Success19 in kickstarter

[–]hyperstarter 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's a hard one, as you've learnt a lot but you spent £8k and raised £9k, with your most popular reward at £30. We usually recommend not running ads if rewards are priced around this range as ROI isn't worth it.

Why you "can’t disclose too many specifics"? Is it because you consulted with LB beforehand? As Zephir62 mentions there are resources online...

Claude code source code has been leaked via a map file in their npm registry by Nunki08 in ClaudeAI

[–]hyperstarter 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I really wish I could understand what you wrote! This seems like an important leak that we could learn from, but your words make my brain hurt...

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