Kickstarter Promotion Services: Are These Legit?

[BASHMAN]

Hey, I've noticed I've been bombarded with messages lately by people saying they will bring traffic to my KS project ( http://www.tinyurl.com/IntriguingOptions if you'd like to take a look). Has anybody here ever used a service like that? If so, did it help? And if so, which one did you use? And are there any I should avoid?

 

[Ben from Periapt Games]

I got a lot when I launched my Kickstarter. I assume that they're a grift - their messages were mostly written like spam - but I'd be interested to hear if some are legit.

 

[ReadyComicsRoll]

Curious about this myself, as advertising is just as important, if not more, than word of mouth on our own

 

[Morrus]

So, whenever we launch a Kickstarter we get bombarded with these--there are dozens of these companies.

I can't speak to any individual outfit's veracity (and frankly I report the Kickstarter inbox spam as it's incredible intrusive and tiresome) as we've only used Backerkit's promotion service. That one I can vouch for--we use it frequently, Backerkit is a known entity, and the results are positive. I would caution that these things aren't magic wands--we tend to get about a 10% boost in funding through advertising via Backerkit's service. It's not going to make a $5K Kickstarter into a $100K Kickstarter. But they do know what they're doing, it does work, as long as your expectations are appropriate.

But like I said, there are many of these companies, and Backerkit is the one we use. So that's the only one I can vouch for. Generally, I wouldn't want to work with a company which spammed me and which clearly knows nothing about my campaign or my company (one asked "Is this your first Kickstarter?"--dude, you clearly haven't even bothered looking at the page, have you?)

So yeah, some might be legit, others might not be, but if you are going to use one, Backerkit is the one I feel comfortable vouching for.

 

[ReadyComicsRoll]

Backerkit seems to be a common name I see popping up around many different circles, and one I intend on looking more into. Obviously they need to get something out of it, so I'm guessing it's a percentage of whatever is being asked for. I wonder if what they offer is dependent on that upfront cost or percentage, but that's more of a question for Backerkit.

 

[Morrus]

Backerkit seems to be a common name I see popping up around many different circles, and one I intend on looking more into. Obviously they need to get something out of it, so I'm guessing it's a percentage of whatever is being asked for. I wonder if what they offer is dependent on that upfront cost or percentage, but that's more of a question for Backerkit.

So they pay for your advertising, and you pay them back plus their fee when your Kickstarter funds arrive.

They track pledges generated by the ads they run for you, and ask for a percentage on those pledges only. Not of the whole Kickstarter fund, just the ones generated by their ads. I can't remember the exact percentage off the top of my head, but it's not onerous.

The way they manage it is they constantly track your ROAS (return on ad spend) and keep it above a level you specify. For example, you might decide that your ROAS needs to be 2 or higher--that means for every dollar you spend on ads, you get $2 in Kickstarter pledges. They track that and report it to you via a dashboard. So you can't lose money; at worst, the ads just cost the same as they raised, making it a wash. But they are generally able to maintain a ROAS of 2 or so. If the ROAS drops below your specified level, they stop the ads that aren't cutting it, so they make sure to keep you safe.

Once your Kickstarter ends, you can see clearly how much you spent on ads and how much was pledged from them. BK send you an invoice, and you pay it after two weeks, when your Kickstarter funds arrive.

Like I said, it's not a magic want. We tend to get a 10% boost or so in funding. But that's 10% we wouldn't have otherwise.

 

[pawsplay]

There are legitimate ones. The ones who send you messages when you launch a new Kickstarter are fly-by-night operations and scammers.