Goals Are Relative

Gladly, I made my goal a few days ago.

I bemoan my ignorance of web analytics, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing. I had a full two weeks to go and could have really made a strong promotional push, but I don't know the works. When I ran a campaign five years ago, I had cancelled the first try for Steel Ice & Stone. 

I then pounded social media daily for three months. Daily. Multiple platforms. And, two, sometimes three postings on the blog every week. Users were directed first to the KS then to the website, then back to the KS. I was relentless. However, that goal was much larger, and for a highly experimental piece. 

I underestimated the appeal of a salient issue to sell/promote an idea/project. It's all in the marketing. 

Interestingly, four--count'em--crowd funding marketing services wrote to me offering their services to help me surpass my expectations. One even offered a $50 pledge to my project. I paid them no mind. 

Another thing I have to say, however...I came up with the design and immediately planned and launched the campaign--in a week. It took KS longer to approve the project than it did to prepare the campaign. Maybe that could be the issue. More planning next time.

A little easier this time around....or so I thought...

Today's posting in KS.

As I worked my strategy in the past, I launched a Twitter announcement that day between 11:00 - 1:00. I already posted on FB last night, but at the moment didn't get any hits. I got more attention for posting my new profile photo. Go figure.

In less than 12 hours, my project was almost 50% funded on Kickstarter. While I was requesting a $5.00 pledge for a postcard,a number of people pledged $ 25.00, which is awesome.

The funding came to a abrupt halt a few days later. I mean abrupt. I didn't get a single pledge. For a week. Flipping as usual, I made some changes, and a few more pledges came in.And then, another stop. It's possible that the Robert Indiana similarity isn't resonating. A trusted colleague emailed me to warm that his estate is very strict about the LOVE use; I didn't get back any objections. So, just about 90% funding, I'm calculating my next move. I'm thinking about a voice-over video.

I'm almost there and just might make it. I need a knight in shaping armor. Keeping a positive attitude, the minute I make the funding goal, I'm thinking of printing even if it's in advance of the closing date. 

This is quite unlike the other KS I did a few years back, because the amount requested is so much smaller and the rewards are so much more manageable. But, I'm learning, without the major marketing, it's an uphill battle, doesn't matter how much or how little the goal.

Kickstarter--Yet Again

Without any nail biting and tapping on my experience and that of others, I launched a Kickstarter this evening to fund the printing of the VOTE Postcard I designed. 

I'm printing-on-demand, and my goal is large enough for me to print and mail the first batch and have a little left over to print a 22 x 17-inch letterpress of this image, and small enough to hopefully make goal.  

Allow me to explain: The idea of making a postcard--a mailed item--and using an image inspired by Robert Indiana's piece on a postage stamp--is the concept of the piece. 

I swiped the image to the left from an ETSY vendor who is offering 10 unused stamps for sale on their site. At such close range, it's fun to see the imperfections in the perforated tear; even in its reduced image state, the colors still vibrate after all these years.

Within minutes of launching I had two backers. Very exciting. 

What this has taught me, yet again, is how much text needs to be considered and edited when launching any kind of campaign. 

Parading it by colleagues, there was a bit of confusion about the meaning and purpose of the work;  others were concerned that I was encouraging people to participate in a system that just might lose their vote. I saw it as a way to send out a message relating to voting safely--by mail. 

Hope I make my goal. At $ 5.00--the price of a pledge--at a time, it could be a long road to $ 250.00. Yet another chapter in this journey.

Here's the postcard: