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| Frank Sinatra to Alicia Keys - If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere |
For most kickstart project owners, the toughest part of this entire process seems to be marketing. You tell countless numbers of people about it, tweet it, facebook post it, go to sleep dreaming about how many backers you might wake up to, or stalk your dashboard every hour (ok, ever minute...). It's hard work. And still, the question remains: How do you mobilize your social network to not only visit your page but to follow through and make that pledge. After lots of research, I read about the dreaded plateau you hit (between the initial launch buzz and the last few days till project deadline) It really does happen. I'm in the middle of mine right now. I've gone 3 days with no pledges and the fear and doubt starts to creep in. Will I make goal? Where are my friends?! Why hasn't (insert close friend here) donated yet? I thought (insert family member here) loved me?
I tried to lessen the blow of the plateau effect by releasing weekly eblasts or promos. A fun tactic I'm using currently involves releasing mixtapes. It's right in line with my project mission (painting to soundtracks/mixtapes) so I figured why not use this as a marketing angle? It allows me to generate some traction so that i'm not just saying "donate donate donate" but instead, "hey here's some free music - and by the way, i've got a kickstarter project going on - take a look." For my eblasts - which go out to my personal network of friends, family, and contacts, I promote the mixtapes but I also try to plug the countdown of days left. I know some people are just sitting on the fence deciding whether this is a success or a fail. It's a catch 22 in a way - it would be a success if they all just would back the project but alas, that is not the case. It's a psychological thing I assume - people like to back winners. I will do a marketing recap once the deadline has passed.
On the actual project front, I am trying to keep the mindset that this will be a winner. I've scouted materials and supplies and have already done some ordering. I'll be creating new work regardless of outcome so this is a good time to get started. A lot of my other commitments are pretty low-key so i'm using this time to my advantage. Will be posting some sneak peeks as I go. It's been crazy pushing work in all my creative outlets. From videos to art "installation" (pictured) to dj mixes (last summer I was practically a resident dj at the Smyth Hotel) so this project has thankfully brought me back to my tables to all-around creative work it's will be nice to look back on a productive summer.
Support my kickstarter campaign here: http://kck.st/OPjCh1
And its a wrap!! thank you everyone for helping me surpass my goal of $8000 to put on my solo show. I raised an astounding $10,686 from 137 outstanding backers.
Infinite love to my husband Prince Dockery and dad Karl Kindred and mom Josefa Kindred (in spirit) for their support and dealing with my constant checking of phone & laptop (to refresh pledge page) and worrying and Kickstarter talking 24/7 :)
Because of them and all of you who pledged or posted on your fb pages or tweeted about this dream of mine, I'm off to an amazing start.
Now it's time to get it in and work.
It's really crazy when you can have all your passions align and in this case I had the very amazing opportunity to DJ an event at my advertising job that featured two legends in the music industry: Niles Rodgers and Billy Mann. They are both writers and musicians who have written for everybody (Niles is of Chic fame - wrote Diana Ross's I'm coming out, Duran Duran, INXS, and Madonna's Like a Virgin album; Billy Mann: Pink, Kelly Rowland, John Legend, Celine Dion) or have been sampled by everybody. They spoke about being creatives and the "currency" of creativity in the business world. It was very inspiring and fun to hear all their anecdotes and backgrounds. It was even better that I got to DJ the event and play and mix their work. A few pics I could snag that day:
It came down to the wire, but in NCAA-like cinderella fashion, my team came from being the bottom seed in the playoffs to take the title for the league. We had an overtime win with only 5 players (so no subs), and a two clutch baskets in the last minute of the game. It was INSANE lol - I felt like it was the NBA finals albeit would only 5 fans in the stands and no life size trophy. It felt good though and i'm proud of team NeON!
This was me in the game before the championships - hitting two free throws to put us up by 5 and essentially locking in the win in the upset against the #1 seeded team. Ice cold!
