Proven Tips for Making a Kickstarter Pitch Video That Converts - Part 2: Story & Content

Read the first part of this article here.

Build a narrative 

The word ‘storytelling’ is thrown around a lot in articles about video, and the advice that ‘you need to tell a story’ is definitely overused. The simple truth is that people engage more with content that has some kind of narrative. It doesn’t have to be a hollywood level festival of tears and laughter. Having just a simple story, to put the benefits and features of your product in context will make viewers stick around longer, and more likely to take action after watching.

For the Arcido bag, we chose to incorporate two narrative elements. Visually we decided to create the loose story of young professional leaving work for the weekend in London, then heading off for an adventurous short break somewhere sunny. This allowed us to showcase most of the benefits of owning the bag much more organically than in an isolated studio setting, simply by highlighting the moments they naturally happened.

The second narrative happening in our video is the founding story. In his pitch, Arcido founder Will takes us through his own frustrations travelling, and what lead him to create the product. Letting potential backers know why you set out on the journey to create your product, in a way they can relate to their own problems, helps get them on board.

Show the product in use 

Following on from the previous point, the whole purpose of video is to show, not tell. That doesn’t mean that you can’t tell your story as the founder of the company, or give extra explanation for features, but the focus should always be on finding ways to show your audience what your product can do to solve their problems and improve their lives.

We concentrated on finding ways to naturally show the bag’s features as part of Frank (our model)’s journey. I tested this approach to its limits in London, when I attempted to sneakily film the bag going through the x-ray machine, showing off the removeable laptop harness feature. I ended up being ordered to delete the footage by airport security! So I certainly don’t recommend doing anything that could potentially get you detained at the airport. However I do think it’s important to show real world usage of your product.

There is a time and place for using more staged shots. In the Arcido video, we created a tabletop setup to show how easy it is to pack the bag. While most people probably don’t pack their bags on a perfect white backdrop, we decided it was the most effective way to show off features like the clear washbag, and re-sizeable laptop compartment, without having too many visual distractions in the frame.

Show your face

As an entrepreneur or product designer, getting in front of the camera isn’t your number one skill. It might actually seem quite intimidating, knowing that your face is going to be seen and judged alongside your product, by thousands or even millions of people.

The main reason that it’s important for potential backers to see your face is very simple. Trust. The crowdfunding industry is full of stories of people not delivering on promises, or even running away with backer’s money. It may sound obvious, but showing your face on camera is an extremely effective way to build trust with your audience.

Yes, being on camera is hard, and a little scary. However, top performers learn to do things in spite of their fear. Pushing the limits of your comfort zone is essential for success in anything, and success on Kickstarter is no different.

Don’t take this to mean that your entire video should be filled with a static shot of you looking down the lens. In fact, we only need to see your face for a short while. Any more than 30 – 45 seconds (in a 3 minute video) is probably going to get boring for people watching.

The key is to establish who you are, then allow your voice to flow through the rest of the video, adding context and explaining features where necessary. For the Arcido video, we shot Will’s pitch on location close to where we filmed the other travel shots, to make sure the look was consistent. This also saved on costs compared to spending an extra day filming in a studio or traveling to the Arcido office in Edinburgh.

Part 3 coming soon