Once your project is live, it’s time to find the most effective channels to promote it. When it comes to crowdfunding promotions, there are various channels to consider. One incredibly effective channel is a service called Kickbooster. Let’s dig into the platform, how to get set up, and why it has become a crucial tool for crowdfunders.Here’s my honest Kickbooster review.
What Is Kickbooster?
Kickbooster helps creators run and manage their affiliate, referral, and influencer marketing programs all in one integrated platform. They do this by automating the referral process for crowdfunders.
Within these referral programs, crowdfunders are able to reward Boosters (the community of affiliates) for securing backers for the campaign. Boosters can participate by sharing projects and getting rewarded when people end up pre-ordering through their affiliate link.
According to data from Kickbooster, the average campaign gets between 3,000 and 4,000 visitors sent directly to their campaign through Booster links.
Kickbooster Review: A Case Study
In a previous campaign that I worked on, we made sure to use Kickbooster to spread the word. Here are the results from the end of that campaign.
By the end of the project, the Booster links amassed over 6,000 visits to the Kickstarter page and raised a whopping $14k for the project. This amounted to 3.5% of the total funds raised during the campaign. Mind you, this all done with zero cost except for the fees associated with the Kickbooster platform.
Excited yet? I sure am! Let’s continue!
How Kickbooster Works
Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy where you encourage your backers, media partners, and brand advocates to refer their network to your crowdfunding campaign in exchange for a reward when that referral leads to a pledge.
For A Creator
The platform automates the complicated and headache-inducing parts of a referral program. You’re tasked with building relationships with your audience, while the technical items like tracking, validating, reporting and commission management goes to Kickbooster. There, you’re able to customize the referral program to suit your needs. The most important factor here is the commission rate: how much affiliates are paid upon a successful pledge.
For A Booster
Kickbooster boasts a community of over 30,000 Boosters. Once signed up, Boosters gain access to all live campaigns on the Kickbooster Marketplace. They’re able to see the commission offered for each campaign, and choose which campaigns they’d like to promote. Each Booster has access to a private Booster Dashboard that showcases the number of referral link clicks, funds raised, and commissions earned.
The Secret To Kickbooster Success: Online Publishers
Ever since their early days, Kickbooster has heavily invested in relationships with online publishers. The premise is simple, online publishers write an article about a crowdfunding campaign and get paid a percentage of each sale that comes from the article. This incentivizes publishers to write about projects on Kickbooster — giving the creator both additional sales and the credibility that press provides. And really, they already have a group of excited crowdfunding enthusiasts on their list, why not create additional revenue promoting to them?
To go back to the case study from earlier, here are the Top Boosters from the same campaign. As you can see below, the top 4 Boosters from the campaign are all large online publishers.
How To Set Up Your Project On Kickbooster
Now that we’ve reviewed how Kickbooster works, let’s get you set up on it to get the exposure you need to reach your crowdfunding goals!
Step 1: Click Get Started on the homepage
Hit the Get Started button to begin the process.
Step 2: Choose Campaign Owner
Since we’re learning how to set up a Booster account as a creator, be sure to click Campaign Owner.
If you’d like to come back to join the affiliate community as a Booster, you’ll need to go through all of these steps again with a separate email address.
Step 3: Choose Referral Marketing
Be sure to click on Referral Marketing. We’re here to get you the most visits and pledges to your live campaign, not work on your pre-launch.
If you want to set up a successful pre-launch page, check out this free online video course that I’ve created here.
Step 4: Choose your platform
Choose the right platform for yourself, depending on which platform you’ve decided to launch on.
Step 5: Insert your crowdfunding campaign URL
Fill in your crowdfunding campaign URL. It can also be your preview or draft link if you’re still getting set up.
Step 6: Fill in your project information
Pretty straightforward here, fill in your name and where you’re based.
Step 7: Create your account
You must have an account with Kickbooster to run a referral program so fill in this information. Make sure you agree to their Terms of Use before continuing.
Step 8: Click Get Started once you’re in
And now, you’re in! Click Get Started to configure your referral program.
Step 9: Fill in your project details
- Fill in the rest of your project details.
- Connect Kickbooster with your Google Analytics (the Connect Now) button. This will allow Kickbooster to more accurately track pledges to your project.
- Follow instructions to invite Kickbooster to be a project collaborator.
Step 10: Decide your Booster commission percentage
This is probably one of the most important parts of your campaign setup for a few reasons:
1. Some Boosters sort campaigns by “highest commission” and only choose to share campaigns that provide the largest kickbacks.
2. The commission you choose must be appropriate for your cost structure. You only want to offer a reward that you are comfortable with, rather than one that will bankrupt you.
Step 11: Design your Booster signup page
In this step, some creators choose to invest a ton of time and energy into it. However, I would recommend sticking with most of the preset offerings from Kickbooster.
There’s really no benefit to spending time and effort in designing the signup page or adding much more information. This is because people who typically sign up to boost the project will already know what the project is about (i.e. your backers who already love your project) or have a different endgame in mind (i.e. the online publishers who are looking for exciting projects to drive revenue).
Step 12: Activate your referral program
And finally you’re here! Click “Yes” to activate your referral program. Be sure to hit Save and Continue.
Step 13: Share your referral program link with everyone
Once everything has been set up, it’s time to share your referral program. I’d recommend you to start with your backers; they’re your superfans and the ones who have been supporting you since Day 1.
Kickbooster Pricing
Kickbooster fees are as follows:
- $29/month
- Commission on funds raised through Kickbooster (3% goes to Kickbooster + whatever commission rate you decide to pay boosters)
How Does Kickbooster Compare To Other Paid Channels?
According to research done by Kickbooster (See chart below), it’s actually one of the most affordable ways to drive traffic to your campaign.
This makes complete sense due to the type of audience that would use a Booster link. For one, Booster links are typically shared by passionate backers to their own networks. And from what we know, people who are passionate about one thing have a group of people they converse with about the topic; that’s why services like Meetup are so successful.
Second, Booster links are also picked up by online publishers and shared to an audience primed to support exciting crowdfunding projects. Since that audience already expects to see and back innovative projects, they’re much more likely to click through to the page.
Is Kickbooster Worth It?
Kickbooster has become a no-brainer tool for crowdfunding creators looking to get additional exposure to their campaign. With their affordable pricing and expansive network, Kickbooster will easily help you get additional funding at minimal cost.
To get started, head over to Kickbooster to create an account.
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