Britney has previously released an EP and a full length album in addition to an extensive amount of touring and appearances over the past 5-6 years. This experience shines through in her Kickstarter project, a well done example of story, outreach, and consistency throughout the project.

+ STEAL THIS

• Call to action
• Clarity and focus of project
• Project Description

– FIX THIS

• Use Official/Unofficial Goal strategy
• Package Price Points
• Don’t abandon the mailing list

// VIDEO (3 min 19 secs)

Gotta good, solid video here folks, one which exploits the important elements of film: artistic shots and quality audio partnering together in an inspirational/emotional manner.

At about 54 seconds, Britney goes right for the heart by communicating the vision of this project. She leaves nothing on the table in this regard, which is commendable, and is very clear about the reasons for her artistic endeavor.

Just after her vision, at about the 2 minute mark, Britney delivers her call to action. She definitely gets credit for doing this (a Launch + Release best practice) but she could take it a step further and be even more clear by including the 3 key elements in her call: who will do the action, what is the action, and when should the action be taken. For example:

I would love for YOU to partner with me in making this dream become a reality [this is where she stops] BY CHOOSING A PLEDGE PACKAGE and supporting this project TODAY!

// PACKAGES

Britney scores BIG points here for her upper tier packages ($250 to $2000).  These weren’t silly packages.  They each had a real world value that seemed to align well with the actual price.

She clearly lists out all that is included with each package even if it includes everything from the previous packages.  We often see bands saying “+ ALL ABOVE” which makes the package description shorter and more succinct, but it adds confusion and uncertaintly and burdans the backer to read all of the above packages and add up the contents. Potential backers want it spelled out for them.

I was left confused by the $1 “song download”: what does that even mean? What song? Is it new or old?  She did such a great job explaining the other packages, so this stood out to me.

In this project, the user can pledge $25 or $50 and that is it. There are backers out there who would’ve spent $35 over $25 or been willing to spend $75 but not $100. Be creative and offer those packages that fill the gaps.

// PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Britney is clear and focused in what this project is about and what the needs of this project are. She gets extra points for high quality images that convey her level of professionalism as well as the costs associated with the project and what she is trying to accomplish with it.

She uses images, audio and video in the description area and she spells out the costs of the project.  It’s been proven time and time again that images increase readability and conversion rates (conversion is when viewers “convert” to buyers).

// GOAL AMOUNT

She reached her goal, although not by much.  I think she could have added extra flexibility and insurance by implementing the Low Road/High Road approach. In her case, she would have gotten the same result, but with added protection, just in case she couldn’t quite hit the $15k mark.

Here’s how:

Set an official Kickstarter goal for the recording costs plus or minus mix and mastering ($7700 for Britney) and, simultaneously, set an unofficial goal for the total project amount ($15000 for Britney).

BE CLEAR about both the official goal and unofficial goal from the very beginning and also be clear in letting backers know how the project is increasing its value as they increase their total funding.

// CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE

Britney has over 5000 fans on her personal Facebook page as well as a couple thousand likes for her Facebook artist page. Her plan for engaging her Circle of Influence (COI) revolved around exploiting Facebook.

She also has some major ammo in her pocket in a mailing list numbering in the “thousands”. This should allow her to reach a MAJOR audience but there is a problem.

When we interviewed Britney, she said “for my fan base, I realized I had more luck on facebook actually getting people to read updates. I used to have thousands of people on my mailing list but it actually hasn’t been active in a couple years.”

Judging by her video (not to mention her young’ish age!), Britney’s fan base is very young. And she may very well be right that fans read her updates on Facebook. But Facebook isn’t in place of email lists, it’s in addition.

If you are out there developing your COI right now in anticipation of a Kickstarter project, DO NOT abandon your email list. Those fans have entrusted you with a piece of personal information which (perhaps ironically) they are less likely to do than simply “liking” your FB profile.

You are connected. Work with this. Engage your fans on a consistent basis, be sure your content is valuable (not just a brain dump), and you will benefit from maintaining these relationships.

To get a more in depth look at how effective email can be compared to Facebook, read The Surprising Truth About How Facebook Fans Affect The Success of Your Kickstarter Project.

// THE TAKEAWAY

At the time of writing, this project is closed and was successfully funded at just over $15,000 (FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS Y’ALL YEEEHAWWWW!). Congratulations to Britney on that.

If you are getting ready for your own Kickstarter, you would be well served to create a project that looks this professional in terms of video and, especially, project description (use those images!). Also, providing your fans with an emotional connection to the project with a clear Call To Action is very important.

You can also improve by providing a more even distribution of packages for under $100, stay active with your mailing list and consistently engage those fans in the months leading up to your project as well as on a weekly basis during your project.

Finally, depending on your mood for risk, you can consider taking the low road/high road strategy to decrease the chances of a failed project while maintaining the possibility of reaching your ultimate funding goal.