Brian Clark is a recovering lawyer, serial entrepreneur and founder of Copy Blogger, RainMaker Platform, and several other successful companies. I met him in Cebu during Tropical Think Tank (notice a theme?), and I was able to ask him how he started out before there was crowdfunding and how he grew Copy Blogger to 8-figures with zero paid ads.   In this interview, Brian and I discuss the importance of validating a product before launching, and why having an audience is so critical, not just from a backer perspective, but for live feedback.   In this episode you will learn:    How to have these conversations with your customer: “Will it sell?” or “Will people buy it?’, as well as “Do people want it?” Always, “audience first”; find out what they want, and how to sell it to them. It’s your job to find out what people want to buy. How to ask someone to give you feedback on your idea. People love to complain: a complaint is a product waiting to be made, or it is an improvement on an existing product that is not living up to customer expectations. Validation has nothing to do with your ego. 
   Resources mentioned:   copyblogger.com my.copyblogger.com rainmaker.fm rainmakerplatform.com   Click to Tweet    “Luck is not a strategy.” 
  “Content marketing is how we do things. Content marketing is not something we just preach. It is something that we do.” 


54 – Using your audience to shape your idea and validate the need before you crowdfund | feat. Brian Clark

The show consists of Khierstyn Ross' in the trenches experience raising more than $2MM on Indiegogo and Kickstarter. We interview successful creators that have started from NOTHING and build multi-million dollar companies off the success of their crowdfunding campaigns. This is the real, uncut, show for entrepreneurs that want to launch their product online.

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In this final episode of the Crowdfunding Uncut podcast, we explore what's next and how you can keep us in your earballs. Visit launchandscale.crowdfundinguncut.com to learn more.

CFU 134 -- The final Episode

What if you could launch your project and have a super-engaged audience lining up to buy your product? So many blogs, and guru’s harp on having a big email list before you launch. What if it wasn’t about that? What if it was about how engaged they are?  "90% of the people who sign up for my Giveaways end up reading their email, and about 50-60% respond to that email", Timothy Moser, MasterOfMemory.comThis rings true for a lot of things. If you have a tiny list of raving fans, I guarantee you will convert higher rates, and get MORE sales from that list then you would have if you only focussed on the quantity.   Using a Giveaway Strategy in another niche has helped Timothy Moser get an almost unheard of 10% conversion rate (from lead to sale). This unique selling strategy focused on nurturing your leads, and getting them super engaged, and ready to buy anything you’re selling.   Before Timothy Moser started Master of Memory, a website that offers free information and courses on how to memorize anything, he was a lot like many people trying to get their start on the internet.   He had been listening to podcasts and reading blogs on how to start a business online.   Memorization and learning had always been a passion of Tim’s. One day Tim was googling around for more information to improve his own skills....   But he didn’t find much.   He mostly found forum posts, but certainly no central hub to learn the best techniques for remembering someone’s name you just met, or Spanish verb conjugation.   So Tim threw up a website for fun hoping to make some beer money with banner ads…   When Timothy’s website, MasterOfMemory.com, blew up!   Even though he decided early to focus his brand around giving away ALL his information for free, he was still able to monetize the site within 3 months by selling a course on learning Spanish where enrollees get personal attention from native speakers online.   His Unique Selling Proposition for that course was to use the advanced memorization techniques he had learned and apply it to learning “boring” vocabulary and grammar.   This podcast isn’t on how to memorize anything… Go to MasterOfMemory.com for that info…   You will learn:    Why Timothy spends hundreds of hours offering free, one-on-one teaching to people who haven’t bought yet even though he knows it is not likely that the people he helps will actually buy his course Why you need to focus on a BIG first day for your launch How to set up your own Giveaway with nothing more than a Gmail account and a spreadsheet How sometimes making people do MORE work is better for sales than making a task as easy as possible. The psychological difference between a “launch” and “drawing :) ”, and how it can drive sales 
 Contact Khierstyn at www.khierstyn.com  Show Notes: MasterOfMemory.com  The Ultimate Guide To Use Hangouts On Air For Webinars - By Pat Flynn of SmartPassiveIncome.com

CFU 133 - [Reprise] How Timothy Moser uses giveaway contests to build up an engaged audience that is hungry to buy on DAY ONE

Gareth Everard ran a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign when he launched the first product that led to the founding of Rockwell Razors. He used that first campaign to launch several other successful product lines and made the transition to make it a sustainable brand. But his road to success was not an easy one. In today’s episode, Gareth shares his story of the manufacturing problems he ran into and what he did to keep those troubles from causing his product to fail. If you’re launching a product, or even thinking about it,  you’ll want to join us and learn all you can from Gareth’s experience. What made Gareth Everard’s crowdfunding campaign so successful? Gareth Everard’s first crowdfunding campaign exceeded its goal the first day and made 12 times that goal by the end of the campaign! In this episode, Gareth talks about how he chose his product, how an online community made a huge difference in the success of his campaign, and how he navigated the challenges that came his way. Listen in to gain some great tips and ideas for a successful crowdfunding campaign. When your crowdfunding campaign becomes a series of unfortunate events As Gareth Everard describes it, his crowdfunding campaign became a series of unfortunate events when he discovered that his manufacturer had massively misled him regarding their capability for producing a quality product. In this episode, Gareth tells me about how he overcame this huge obstacle in a way that allowed him to keep his backers and customers and successfully launch additional products. It wasn’t easy. Listen in and learn from Gareth’s experience how you can prevent your crowdfunding campaign from ruining your life.  The one factor that made Gareth Everard successful turning his campaign into an actual business Are you wondering how to create a business out of your crowdfunding campaign? Do you want to learn from someone who did it well? Gareth Everard was successful in turning his campaign into an actual business. In this episode, he talks about the one factor that played the biggest part in his success. And it’s not what you might think. Listen to this interview to learn what you need to do to keep your backers and customers receptive to new products. Is Kickstarter or Indiegogo the better creator for my crowdfunding campaign? Are you trying to decide which creator would be the best for you to use for your crowdfunding campaign? In this episode, Gareth Everard provides some insight into Kickstarter and Indiegogo and which one will likely best serve your needs, based on where you are in your product development. Listen in for some great advice that will help you make a good decision about the platform you want for your campaign. Outline of This Episode  Introducing one of my favorite humans, Gareth Everard, founder of Rockwell Razors. How Rockwell got started, in Gareth’s senior year of college. How Gareth chose what product to go after. To what did Gareth Everard attribute his overnight success? When your crowdfunding campaign becomes a series of unfortunate events. What Gareth did with the new manufacturer to make sure the same problems didn’t happen again. Gareth’s advice on manufacturing and fulfillment. Setting pricing and shipping and customer perception. The one factor that made Gareth Everard successful turning his campaign into an actual business. How Backer Kit helped Gareth decide on new products. Using backerKit to recover transactions that are lost due to Kickstarter. Is Kickstarter or Indiegogo the best creator for my crowdfunding campaign? Two words of advice for anyone launching a campaign. 
 Resources Mentioned  RockwellRazors.com Gareth’s E-mail - Include “Crowdfunding Uncut” in the subject...

CFU 132 - [Reprise] How Your Kickstarter Campaign Can Ruin Your Life | feat. Gareth Everard

Rachel Pedersen is a Facebook marketing strategy specialist. In this episode, she helps you dig deeper into Facebook advertising and shares her most helpful tips and insights into how to do it well. Rachel provides solid answers to detailed questions. Listen to this interview to learn how to use Facebook ads in a way that will stand out, engage your audience, and lead to a successful product launch. Targeting: Who is your potential market, and what message will resonate with them? The first step in preparing for your product launch is to identify your potential audience and find out what message will resonate with them. In this episode, Rachel Pedersen explains how vital this step is to your entire Facebook marketing strategy, and details the ways you can test your market so that you don’t spend money on ads that may be ineffective. Listen to this interview to find out how to set yourself up for success by knowing ahead of time what is going to attract your market. How to write good copy for Facebook ads Good copy is essential to effective Facebook marketing strategy. As Rachel Pedersen says, “If your copy isn’t explaining the benefits of your product very well it doesn’t matter what audience you send it to.” In this episode, Rachel provides instruction on what good copy includes, how to find examples to base your copy on, and how to then test your copy to be sure it resonates with your market. Listen to this podcast to get a head start on writing great copy for your Facebook ads! How e-mails and Facebook ads work together for a successful product launch Your e-mail audience is your warmest audience. They have already indicated interest in your product. In this episode, Rachel Pederson talks about the importance of communicating with them, and gives tips for targeting Facebook ads to your e-mail audience so that they see your product launch everywhere and don’t forget to be part of it. Listen in to learn about using your e-mail audience as a vital part of your Facebook marketing strategy. Tips for creating a lookalike audience on Facebook Is the best Facebook audience a lookalike audience based on your e-mail list? The answer to that question depends on several factors, including the size of your e-mail list. In this interview, Rachel Pederson explains what is needed to create an accurate lookalike audience, and how to make adjustments as you gather more data. Listen in to learn about creating a lookalike audience and to gain other helpful tips and insights from this Facebook marketing strategy expert. Outline of This Episode  Introduction to Rachel Pedersen and this episode on Facebook marketing strategy Figuring out who your market is and how your message resonates. Why is the testing and validation part so important to not skip? Defining online sales funnels. How and when to test your audience, copy, and creatives.   How to write good copy for Facebook ads. Taking into consideration the flow of how someone reads a Facebook ad. How and when is the right time to boost a post when you might get more traction with it, based on having social proof already? The relationship between engagement and social proof. Is there a default objective that people should start with? Thank you to our sponsor: BackerKit How can we apply re-marketing to future campaigns? How e-mails and Facebook ads work together for a successful product launch. The importance of communicating with your crowdfunding audience. Driving a cold audience to your Kickstarter campaign. Remember to use gifting holidays that fall into your campaign dates. Tips for creating a lookalike audience on Facebook. Is there any easy way to import Kickstarter conversion data into FB or a third party tool to make it easy to calculate cost per acquisition? What Rachel Pedersen...

CFU 131 - [Reprise] A Deep Dive Into Facebook Marketing Strategy | feat. Rachel Pedersen

"The smartest thing we did was reject old fashion, old media, old world advice of how to trick people into giving you their money" - Max Temkin  If you are becoming frustrated, depressed, and disillusioned learning about how to raise money to fund your project, then this podcast will inspire you. Max Temkin has directly raised, or advised in a number of projects that have raised over $10 million total on Kickstarter.  You MAY have heard of them… In December, 2015, Max raised $1,479,046 for "Secret Hitler", a social deduction table game based in pre World War 2 Germany. Players have to help or hinder the beautifully illustrated Junta-Komodo-Dragon-Adolf-Hitler from taking over the government. His goal was $54,450 and he raised over $100,000 in the first 24 hours. But that is not where he started. His first project was Cards Against Humanity, one of the first games in the early days of Kickstarter, raised "only" $15,540 but since exploded and has been #1 Best Seller on Amazon for Toys and Games for as long as we can remember. (...and is a staple at every games night I host with friends!) In fact, Cards Against Humanity, as of publishing, occupies 3 - WOW! -  of the top 20 spots on the Amazon.com Best Seller List including the TOP 2, besting classics like Jenga and Connect 4. Max also helped advise his friends who made the Most Backed Game in Kickstarter history,  Exploding Kittens, which raised $8,782,571. Max understands Kickstarter, the Kickstarter Community, and his audience, probably better than anyone on the planet. But Max is not a "marketer". He hates "gimmicks" and "tricks" and "gurus who don't know what they are talking about". If you are feeling jaded by the Kickstarter Marketing World, and think that in order to fund your project you need to sacrifice your vision, then listen now. It will be the best 38 minutes of your day, guaranteed!   You will discover  The number #1 Trend in Kickstarter Today Why Max still has the "fear to launch" and it never goes away, even after millions of dollars raised Why it is important to ignore the temptation to look for "tricks" and "gimmicks" to hit your goal and "focus on the art" Why no one knows really knows what the future of your project, or any project, holds What it means to "front load" your project, and why it is absolutely critical to the success of your project (...and also when it isn't!) Why “failing a project is a gift”...and how to embrace failure so "you are not on the hook to build something nobody wants" Why you should never take the money if you don't reach your funding goal on Indiegogo Why you should "Show don't tell" to sell your project The importance of "user testing" and "iteration" to produce the best product possible before you launch your campaign (Max took a year and over a hundred iterations to get Secret Hitler just right The importance of knowing your market better than they know themselves The difference between "a good project and a good life" Why your story is so important and why you need to be crystal clear communicating what it is about Your page should clearly explain why a backer should not fund your project How crushing his funding goal on Cards Against Humanity set the project delivery back 
   Famous last words: "Finally, I am not the funniest guy in the room" -Del Close   Resources Mentioned: Connect with  Max on Twitter Secret Hitler  Secret Hitler Website...

CFU 130 - [Reprise] "Stay True to Your Art": How Max Temkin Raised or Helped Raise $10 Million on Kickstarter with NO Paid Advertising, Rejecting "Marketing Tricks", and Ignoring "Guru Advice" (Like M

54 – Using your audience to shape your idea and validate the need before you crowdfund | feat. Brian Clark

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