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Naming Your Kickstarter Project

I bet you already have a name for your project, but do you have a title? Titles are a little different from names. You can name your project anything you like, but it might not make a good title when viewed on the web.

Try to imagine how the title of your project will look when someone posts it on Facebook or Twitter. Will it make sense? People get hundreds of links each day, so a good title can help them understand what your project is about quickly. Take the title of this project for example: A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter. From this title I know exactly what the project is about. I know that it is being written by someone who has used Kickstarter and the outcome is an e-book.

Good titles capture people’s attention and bring them into your project. Titles can be a little mysterious, but they should provide enough information to pique someone’s interest. If your title is too generic, people won’t be able to tell what you are doing. For example, “The Green Project” is not a great name because it says nothing about your project. Is the project about saving the earth or building a replica of The Green Monster?

Don’t worry if you can’t come up with a catchy title just yet. You have until you launch your project to change it. Write down some ideas, test them out, and see which one you like best. Ask your friends or co-workers to see which one piques their interest the most. Naming is hard; so take your time and don’t settle on anything too quickly.

A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

What is this damn thing about?
Simplify your project for success
Is your project a Purple Cow?
Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
Reward The Patrons
Naming Your Kickstarter Project

How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

Introduction
Understanding Kickstarter: The Basics of Kickstarter; Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model; Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!; Make sure your project has an ending
Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project; Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful; Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
Brainstorming Your Project: What is this damn thing about?; Simplify your project for success; Is your project a Purple Cow?; Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story; Reward The Patrons; Naming Your Kickstarter Project
Doing Your Homework: Before you launch, do your homework; No one cares about you; Some People Care About You; Who is Your Audience?; Where is Your Audience?; Resonating With Your Audience; Crossing Chasms; What Will it Cost?; Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
Setting Your Goals: Make or Break Decisions; Running the Numbers; Focus on what you need; Reasonable funding goals; Why be Reasonable?; How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum; 30 days or less; Managing Deadlines; Going for the BIG bucks; The Allure of a Large Backer; Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards; The Paradox of Choice
Crafting Your Pitch: Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project; Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.; Show some credibility to get more backers; Clarity is your friend; How to ask for Support; Kickstarter is a video-driven site; Examples of great pitch videos
Launching Your Project: Launching your project; How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign; The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
Conclusion: How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

Is your project a Purple Cow?

Once you come up with some specific goals and outcomes, start thinking about all the creative things you can do with your project. You want to make the idea of what you are doing as interesting as possible. Remarkable ideas have a much easier time getting funded. Spend some time to think about how you can make your project as wacky, zany and fun as possible.

There are so many people that want to make films, albums, books, games, etc. that you need to do something to make your idea stand out. But what makes an idea remarkable? It depends on the people who are going to like your project. If they think it’s cool, then they will talk about it. I will talk more about audience in the next section. For now, just think about all the different ways you could spice up your project.

I won’t pretend to be a master at creating remarkable ideas. I’m still learning myself. If you really need help making your idea cool, check out Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow. It’s all about how to make your product, idea or business remarkable. I’ve read it several times and each time I learn something new.

A great example of a “purple cow” was a project to build a statue of Robocop in downtown Detroit. The idea was so remarkable that it got featured on high profile blogs and was overfunded by $17,000. The project was very successful even though the project video was nothing more than a ten-minute recap of the movie. Remarkable ideas spread on their own and don’t need a lot of help to catch people’s attention.

Detroit Needs A Statue of Robocop! by Imagination Station Detroit — Kickstarter

Making an idea creative and interesting is very hard and you may not get it right the first time. I know I didn’t. Just keep working at it and getting feedback from friends. When people start to say “Hey that’s a neat idea!” then you might be on to something.

A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction

How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website

What is this damn thing about?
Simplify your project for success
Is your project a Purple Cow?
Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
Reward The Patrons
Naming Your Kickstarter Project

How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

Introduction: A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction; How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
Understanding Kickstarter: The Basics of Kickstarter; Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model; Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!; Make sure your project has an ending; Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project; Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful; Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
Brainstorming Your Project: What is this damn thing about?; Simplify your project for success; Is your project a Purple Cow?; Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story; Reward The Patrons; Naming Your Kickstarter Project
Doing Your Homework: Before you launch, do your homework; No one cares about you; Some People Care About You; Who is Your Audience?; Where is Your Audience?; Resonating With Your Audience; Crossing Chasms; What Will it Cost?; Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
Setting Your Goals: Make or Break Decisions; Running the Numbers; Focus on what you need; Reasonable funding goals; Why be Reasonable?; How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum; 30 days or less; Managing Deadlines; Going for the BIG bucks; The Allure of a Large Backer; Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards; The Paradox of Choice
Crafting Your Pitch: Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project; Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.; Show some credibility to get more backers; Clarity is your friend; How to ask for Support; Kickstarter is a video-driven site; Examples of great pitch videos
Launching Your Project: Launching your project; How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign; The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
Conclusion: How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

“What is this damn thing about?” ~ Steven Pressfield

In Do the Work, Steven Pressfield talks about the challenges of taking on creative endeavors. He says we often get off track because our ideas aren’t refined enough. One way around this is to constantly ask yourself: “What is this damn thing about?”

This is a great place to start with your Kickstarter project. Can you clearly state what your project is about and what the outcome will be? The most successful projects on Kickstarter can. If you are having trouble, then your idea or project might not be ready for launch. That’s OK. You don’t need to rush it. I wish I had taken more time to think things through during my first project. It would have made everything much easier.

One great way to get feedback about your idea is to tell some friends. Friends are great because they’re honest sounding boards. If they can’t understand what you are trying to do, then how is a stranger going to? Ask them what they like and dislike about your idea. You don’t have to follow their advice, but you should at least listen.

Often projects are unclear because they are too big and complicated. Next you will need to figure out what the outcome of your project will be. This is going help you refine your idea and get the project into a form that works well on Kickstarter.