Having an ad budget is key to Kickstarter success but…
Most founders just don’t have huge piles of cash they can tap in to.
Well this creator turned a smaller ad budget into $60K in funding.
Here’s how.
Meet Kevin Craford – the founder of Humbra and creator of the Firefly.
Kevin’s journey didn’t start in a garage or a fancy tech incubator. It began in the scorching heat of Death Valley back in 2020. As he planned his solo trip to the hottest place on Earth, he realized he needed some serious shade.
But not just any shade would do.
Drawing on his 15 years of experience in custom metal fabrication and design, Kevin took matters into his own hands. He purchased the largest umbrella he could find and built his own hitch prototype. Little did he know, this DIY solution would evolve into a game-changing product and a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Fast forward to Summer 2021, and Humbra was officially born. For the next few years, Kevin obsessed over reimagining what his product could do. He absorbed customer feedback and leveraged his expertise to drive the evolution of a new design – the Humbra Firefly.
What makes the Firefly special? It’s not just a canopy, it’s freedom on wheels. In less than two minutes, it transforms your truck into a mobile oasis, providing instant shelter whether you’re battling the Death Valley sun or hosting a tailgate party.
The product was ready to launch, but Kevin didn’t have a massive ad budget to promote it. So he turned to my team at LaunchBoom to learn how get the highest return on his ad spend.
And on November 7, 2023, with the help of my team at LaunchBoom, Kevin launched the Firefly on Kickstarter. The response was immediate and overwhelming. He raised $47,606 in just one day, blowing past his initial funding goal.
This wouldn’t have been possible without a well-executed pre-launch marketing strategy.
Let’s dive into what that was.
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Humbra Firefly’s pre-launch marketing strategy
Kevin made $47,606 in one day. That’s 80% of his total funding! This was only possible because he understood the importance of pre-launch marketing. And not just any pre-launch marketing, but building an email list of superfans before he launched. Here’s how it worked.
1. Humbra Firefly drove traffic with Meta Ads
Meta ads are the first step to build a pre-launch email list. This is how Humbra Firefly drove traffic. They tested many different variations of copy and imagery, but here was their best performing ad.
2. Humbra Firefly collected email addresses on a landing page
The landing page is where they explained their product and collected email addresses. The landing page looked like this:
By the way, this is a screenshot from our LaunchKit software that all LaunchBoom Creators get access to.
3. Humbra Firefly collected $1 reservations
This is an optional step that creators can take if they want to understand who on their email list is most likely to buy. It requires creating a “VIP Offer” where you give something valuable to the backer in exchange for $1 in the pre-launch.
Here was Kevin’s VIP offer:
- A guaranteed 30% discount
- An invite to their VIP Facebook group
The most important thing to know is that people who put down the reservation were way more likely to buy.
Humbra Firefly got funded on day one
Leading into the launch, Kevin had 218 people who had put down a $1 reservation deposit. We’ve found that “number of reservations” is one of the best predictors of how successful a launch will be. And just as predicted, the campaign took off.
On the first day, he made $47,606.
By the end of the campaign, he had driven $59,679 in revenue from 56 new customers.
This was all possible because he followed the LaunchBoom system, which is laser focused on getting creators the highest return on their investment.
Because at LaunchBoom, our goal is not to launch a successful product, but to launch a successful business.
Do you have an innovative product like Kevin?
We can help you turn it into a real business (or dramatically grow your existing business).
We’ve worked with over a thousand product creators.
If you want to be the next one…
Click here to talk with a LaunchBoom expert.
