The Virtuous Cycle of Kickstarter Marketing

It's become an inside joke for us because we mention it so frequently. In fact, we have a dedicated podcast episode on this subject:

The Virtuous Cycle Levels Up Your Marketing

If you were to ask us what would be the most valuable thing you could implement into marketing your stuff, we would answer with the Virtuous Cycle. 

This concept, derived from the video game's "positive feedback loop" concept, describes a system that encourages players to continuously gain rewards, making progress in a way that incentivizes doing more of the reward-gaining stuff (like leveling up in a video game). 

The Virtuous Cycle usually begins with a small commitment, such as someone visiting a landing page and leaving an email. Once they're in, the VC leads them through a series of commitments that increase in value, like them spending time engaging in your board game Facebook group community and finally becoming a rabid fan ready to tell everyone about your project!

At the core of this system is community building. Business empires rise and fall based on how they leverage the virtuous cycle, so let's get into what this concept is really about and how you can master it.

The Basic Breakdown

The Virtuous Cycle is a system of capturing an email through a landing page or website, guiding the potential customer to a community across several platforms. The goal is to win the right to communicate with a potential backer across as many mediums as possible. 

Using automation, the Virtuous Cycle ensures that a potential backer enters the system at any point- such as through a Facebook ad, which leads them to a landing page where you can capture their email. Each component operates in a continuous loop. 

Open the loop by gaining an email, then close by bringing them into your community. Open the loop by bringing them into your community, then close by gaining the email. You'll earn the right to communicate across many different mediums along this road, but the "loop" always begins with a method of communication you have achieved and ends with something new!

Components of The Virtuous Cycle

While simple to a prospective backer, there are many essential components within this system that you have to pay careful attention to curate, such as:

• Guiding interested leads to your landing page through paid & organic advertising
• Winning the right to communicate with that person across several platforms by engaging with and maintaining a community across said platforms, and
• Using an optimized, automated system to guide the whole process.

If carefully implemented, the Virtuous Cycle will help you get to your desired result on your launch day by building a community of rabid fans! 

The All-Important Email

The cycle starts with the all-important email. 

Using clever marketing, you can find and guide an interested potential backer to your landing page to capture an email and introduce your new fan to your community across multiple connected platforms. 

One critical benefit to email is that it is not social media dependent, so if one platform changes, you can take the email with you. Also, an engaging email has high conversion rates (10% is a safe bet). 

Platforms 

When it comes to the platforms that you grow your community of fans on, you can take several time and budget-dependent approaches. 

Suppose you are a first-time creator and have a modest budget. In that case, you can build an engaging community by zoning in on a platform you feel most confident about and can manage effectively, such as a Facebook group. 

However, if you have a reasonable budget and time to spend, spread the net wide with the platforms you grow your community on- Facebook groups, Discord servers, and Youtube channels are some of the most useful. 

Make sure to invest time in each to grow your community and keep them inter-connected using your automated system. 

Your community can even do the marketing for you by sharing your content and inviting friends to join!

Our article on setting up a Facebook group for Kickstarter campaigns will show you how to capture emails through your Facebook group, funneling new joiners into your system. 

Automating Systems 

Automation is the key to optimizing the whole process of marketing your crowdfunding campaign. 

The goal of using an automated system is for your message that you're live to spread far across your entire community and beyond on launch day at the push of a button, all leading to your campaign page! 

So what do you need to include in this system? 

The basic components you need to consider are:

• A website/landing page to capture an email
• Email marketing services such as Mailchimp or MailerLite that funnels the email into your system
• Strategically capturing emails through a mix of paid and organic marketing, funneling potential backers into the cycle, and
• Using email marketing to grow and engage your fanbase. 

Benefits of Automation

Automation removes the human element and helps optimize your marketing by freeing you from manually setting up a system. 

An automated system will connect your captured email with your community and makes sure you're reaching your fanbase by staying connected through emails and notifications across all these platforms. 

Ultimately, this automated system will bring your interested potential backer straight to your Kickstarter page on launch day!

However, make sure to schedule audits and check that the system is running smoothly; otherwise, an error can easily find its way into your system. 

The Virtuous Cycle Example With A Facebook Group 

Check out this example below to see how you might use the Virtuous Cycle in your campaign:

• Direct fans to your landing page to capture emails using Facebook ads and share links to your site in comments on relevant Facebook groups (a mixture of paid and organic marketing)
• Using Mailchimp, your system takes over by sending an automated welcome email, sending your new fan to your own Facebook group (winning the right to communicate and introducing your community)
• Your Facebook group has member questions that ask for their email, so if a new fan invites a friend to join, you can also capture their email here (entrance into the system at any point). 
• In your Facebook group, link to other platforms such as a Discord server or a Youtube video you made (reaching and growing your fanbase across as many platforms as you can manage)
• Use the most engaging posts in the Facebook group as the spine of your email updates, so you know you're sending your community engaging content that will feed the loop. 

You Need A Crowd To Crowdfund

This system develops your community so that they will not only back your project on launch day but will be so involved that they will tell their friends and family too! 

If you are ready to get serious about launching your project, reach out to us for a free consultation! 

We will also happily answer any questions in the comments below!