When you launched your Kickstarter campaign, it was like someone blew open the flood gates. A waterfall of donations rushed your way and made you think, “man, what a cake walk meeting my funding goal will be.” Then something happened. That beautiful, gushing waterfall quickly turned into a sad trickle and left you fretting whether you’d lose everything after 30 or 60 days. The key to keeping your fundraising momentum strong is continued marketing. Here are four tips to avoid a Kickstarter fundraising slump.

4 Tips to Avoid a Kickstarter Fundraising Slump

Set Periodic Goals
Your ultimate goal is your funding goal, but with only one goal, how will you know whether you’re on track before it’s too late? The best way to monitor the health of your fundraising activity is to set periodic goals. Try to set weekly or bi-weekly goals. As you decide each goal’s value, keep in mind values shouldn’t be the same as it’s easier to raise funds during periods of high momentum near the start of your campaign, than at the end.

Meet Periodic Goals with Mini Drives
Let’s borrow a page from public radio’s book, because if anyone knows how to do fundraising, it’s NPR. Instead of holding giant fundraisers, NPR has found success in mini drives. Why not do the same for your Kickstarter campaign? If it’s looking like you’re not going to hit a periodic goal, kick off a mini fundraiser. Encourage contributors to participate with mini fundraiser-specific rewards. The more creative the reward, the better. Be sure to promote your mini drive and the associated rewards to your audience through social media, email, forums, blog, etc.

Praise Big Contributors Publicly
Let’s face it, we donate to feel good about ourselves. The more thanks we get for our good deed, the better we feel. Your contributors are no different. Praising people who contribute larger amounts publicly will not only help your contributors’ egos, it may inspire them to give more and others to give. Reserve public praise for larger donations, otherwise it will become commonplace and no longer incentivize donations.

Update Regularly and Energetically
The best way to keep your fundraising momentum going is through constant community updates that are exciting and engaging. Focus your attention on your Kickstarter page, but do not neglect your game’s blog, social media channels, forums, etc. Update the community on things like the game’s progress, your fundraising goal, new game developments…anything that shows you are excited about and are moving forward with your project. Seeing this constant activity and progress gives contributors the confidence to donate and the incentive to come back for more.

Above feature image was taken by Corpitho.