Board Game Marketing Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Ross Thompson about everything you need to know when you’re thinking about different distribution channels and retail for your game. He explains the tiers involved in the distribution organization and gives you tips on how you can get prepared to go into retail even before getting fully funded.

 We discuss:

• [01:36]: Ross tells us who he is, a bit about his experience, and how the different tiers of fulfillment and distribution work together.
• [04:19]: Why and how you should contact distributors and retailers before your campaign finishes.
• [08:11]: Ross talks about how to manage and think ahead with quantities so you’re ready to go into retail after getting funded. 
• [10:17]: What a retailer kit for retailers is, how does it affect your PR strategy, and why is it important.
• [16:24]: Your energy and resources should be invested depending on the main goal you want to achieve with your game. Is it quantity? Quality? Mentions?
• [18:55]: How distributors think about price, and who you should be partnering with to distribute your own game.
• [24:38]: What is the difference between a crowdfunding audience and a retail audience, and how you should think about it if you want to create a brand after crowdfunding. 
• [28:52]: What makes a customer come back to buy from you? How to promote your games and produce new fresh content. 
• [33:56]: The difference between thinking just about a local or regional market, and an international market, and how that can make or break your brand.
• [38:30]: Being involved in the publishing and board game community online can only help you grow as a creator. You should be getting informed about what’s going on in the community and forming relationships with other creators, publishers, and everyone that can be a part of your creative journey.

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

Game on TableTop Website

Game on TableTop on Facebook

Game on TableTop on Instagram

Game on TableTop on Twitter

Game on TableTop on Youtube

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Alex Lu, creator of Dogs BOND, a family board game about rescuing dogs that promotes dog adoption. Perfect for all dog lovers out there. He talks about how he prepared for launch, where did he find his audience, and how he kept engagement and excitement up during the live campaign days. 

 We discuss:

• [01:22]: Alex tells us about him and about where the inspiration came from for his first game “Dogs BOND”, which goal is to be a game that includes the whole family, and raises awareness about dog adoption.
• [05:34]: How Alex chose the dog breeds he included in the game, and how diversity is also something that he also took into consideration when creating his characters.
• [09:35]: While Alex looked for and found his audience, and how he partnered with animal shelters to create more conversations about the importance of adoption, as a way to promote his game and his awareness message further.
• [17:56]: Alex talks about how he created his first game prototype for his team to try out, all the way to how launch day went.
• [23:37]: How Alex kept being proactive during the 30 days of the campaign, and how he engaged with his audience and included their suggestions on the game.
• [26:45]: The main advice Alex has for first-time creators is to do the incredible amount of work there is to be done before launch, but also be prepared to jump into a live campaign knowing your campaign won’t be completely perfect.
• [30:09]: How to approach and help first-time backers who are not used to crowdfunding platforms.
• [32:59]: For Alex, the knowledge of when his project would be ready to launch depended on the dates he knew would work better for his audience and niche, and working backward starting from that point to build everything needed to be ready for launch.
• [36:00]: How you can get a copy of Dogs BOND!
• [37:11]: Alex used pre-launch emails and messages to educate the audience on the importance of early backing for the complete success of a project. And he did the prep ahead of time by having many of the live-campaign messages pre-written for when they got to their funding goals.

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

Dogs BOND campaign on Kickstarter

Dogs BOND  Website

Dogs BOND on Facebook

Dogs BOND on Instagram

Dogs BOND on Twitter

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Peter from Top Tale, about the marketing strategy and learnings from the re-launch campaign for this game. What can creators learn from listening to their audience and the consequences of spreading too thin when it comes to trying to cover each and every social channel and marketing strategy. This is a great episode for all of those creators thinking about re-launching their own campaigns! 

 We discuss:

• [1:40]: How Peter has gone from being an engineer working with HP Inc. to designing a card game; and what Top Tale is all about.
• [07:15]: What is Top Tale storytelling component? And how it played a significant role in the marketing strategy pre-launch. 
• [13:30]: How Peter created his campaign video and how he adjusted the edition according to the data from the first round of ads.
• [17:50]: Re-launching a campaign is always a challenge. The secret is in listening to the audience and making the necessary adjustments.
• [23:05]: How Top Tale will evolve outside of Kickstarter with volumes and spin-off games, revolving around the same topic of “getting to know your fellow human”.
• [28:21]: Peter’s business strategy to eventually create a big games brand.
• [29:54]: What Peter would do differently in marketing. Trying too many things at the same time doesn’t work as one might expect it to. So It’s a great learning experience to know what works best for this project and where he should invest his resources in the future. 
• [36:25]: Which manufacturer did Peter work with.
• [37:25]: Where can people get a copy of Top Tale.

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

Top Tale Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/topthat/top-tale-tell-epic-tales-to-win-the-top-tale

Top Tale Website: https://www.yubnubgames.com/

Top Tale on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yubnubgames/

Top Tale on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yubnubgames

Top Tale on Twitter: https://twitter.com/YubNubGames

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Matt Holden from Indie Game Alliance, a service that helps crowdfunding creators bring their games to life. Their approach is to help creators with whatever they need help with! This means for him and his team that they need to wear many hats, but in the end it’s all worth it. You cannot miss this one!

We discuss:

• [1:24]: How Matt went from video games to tabletop games, to working to make other creator’s launches easier, more easygoing, and successful, and how their plans work for every project size and individual member’s needs. 
• [07:39]: Indie Game Alliance is all about making things easier for the creator, helping them with marketing, playtesting, shipping, etc. And they have a net of people all over the world who demo and teach new games at game stores. 
• [11:41]: How the volunteer net works. You can sign up for free!
• [17:13]: How the IGA system works, and how the creators feel less overwhelmed about everything that is going on with their launch.
• [19:14]: The challenges of an online world this year inspired IGA not to create their own online convention, but to help all of the people launching and promoting to create their own online events and get a push through that.  
• [24:24]: New things coming for IGA members!
• [27:44]: The first objective of IGA is to help creators with whatever they need help with. This means they do a lot of different things and offer different services to help creators make their ideas a reality.  

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

Indie Game Alliance website: https://www.indiegamealliance.com/

Indie Game Alliance on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/IndieGameAlliance/

Indie Game Alliance on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dina.ramse

Indie Game Alliance on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndieGameAllies

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Dina Ramse about everything related to social media marketing strategies for board game creators. From how to figure out what platforms work best for you, to the specific content you should be tailored for each one. How to be a part of conversations starting from scratch and what your goals should be regarding social media growth. Check it out!

We discuss:

• [1:29]: What Dina does as a community marketing specialist and the importance of knowing which platform works best for each brand and how to start building communities there. 
• [06:24]: How the dynamic conversations happening on Twitter are great for board game creators and designers. Some insights on the content you can create for this platform and other actionable things you can learn to be a part of the conversations. 
• [15:43]: It’s crucial to create constant updates during the pre-launch phase, getting the right time to each platform and not forgetting to post updates to your campaign page. 
• [20:23]: One of your goals on your social media strategy is to get people to engage more with your content. For that, you can start by commenting on people’s relevant content. Engagement is one of the most important things for the algorithm, so you want that in order to get your content in front of more eyes and direct more people to your campaign page or to sign up for your newsletter. 
• [24:51]: The challenges you face when hitting different follower amount goals. 
• [27:17]: The importance of creating specific content for each platform so you can get the most out of each algorithm. 
• [33:38]: How first-time creators should go about starting in social media and creating the first strategy. 
• [37:19]: What your main goals should be on your social media strategy, and how you should be adjusting them depending on how you grow.
• [39:25]: How Dina helps creators figure out the best social media strategy for them and how you can get in touch with her. 

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

Twitch: 

Dina Ramse on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dina.ramse

Dina Ramse on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dinasaidso1

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Peter Hoang about marketing for Alien Puppies. Although he had a background in product development, being a first-time creator in crowdfunding got him to learn and experiment with digital marketing and audience building. He learned the best way to communicate his message to his leads and to directly answer any questions about his first project. Check out how he did it! 

We discuss:

• [1:33]: What Alien Puppies is about and how Peter transitioned from developing digital products to creating his first physical product.
• [05:15]: Choosing to launch through crowdfunding as a way to get early adopters for the game and as a validation platform.
• [7:43]: Creating a Facebook group made the community building experience easier as it created a direct way to listen to the audience and use their input in the actual game. 
• [12:32]: Using Facebook ads to try targeting different audiences and learning what would work best for this campaign to get the leads necessary to get to the funding goal.
• [17:01]:  Using a Messenger chatbot and its high delivery rates to connect with leads and answer questions from first-time backers. 
• [24:13]: The best marketing strategy was to use Facebook ads manager to know what was working and was not in terms of creatives and ads, taking data from people who did convert into backers.
• [26:08]: Advice for people considering working with a marketing agency.
• [27:23]: Where you can get Alien Puppies and get in contact with Peter.

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

Alien Puppies website: https://www.alienpuppies.com/

Alien Puppies Kickstarter: https://bit.ly/2N0zSY5

Alien Puppies Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealienpuppies/?hl=en

Alien Puppies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alienpuppiesgame/?ref=py_c

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Brian Rauch about marketing for Pets Gone Shady. With his background in marketing, Brian had the opportunity to try out different strategies to promote the second version of his first game “Shady Pets”. His approach let him create an engaged audience that converted into backers nicely. He talks about the key work with Facebook leads and about collecting phone numbers.

We discuss:

• [1:29]: What Shady Pets and its second version, Pets Gone Shady, are all about and how it can be enjoyed by children and adults.
• [03:46]: After testing different marketing approaches, Brian started working with Facebook leads, collecting not only email addresses but also phone numbers, which cost more per lead but ended up creating more useful data.
• [8:45]: At the end, each backer had a conversion cost of around $12! This might have been because of the timing (the advertising costs probably went up) and the 2020 covid crisis.
• [12:20]: 70% of the backers came from the text message strategy. Brian explains what the approach was all about.
• [17:12]:  The key to getting great leads is to create good audiences on Facebook and let the algorithm do its work. You can choose from many variables including people who are interested in games alike or re-targeting people who have interacted with but not clicked on your first ad. 
• [21:03]: What’s coming up with Pets Gone Shady and where can you get the games.

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

Shady Pets website: https://shadypets.com/

Pets Gone Shady Kickstarter: https://bit.ly/3pOydTt

Shady Pets Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petsshady/?hl=en

Shady Pets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shadypets/

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Gabe Lawson about marketing for The Escape Box. As a first time creator, Gabe gives many insights on what can be accomplished with good market research and organic engagement; and how starting with the goal of creating a sustainable business can payout once you get fully funded. Check out everything he learned and shared with us!

We discuss:

• [1:29]: Gabe’s transition from creating real-life escape rooms into creating his board game version, and how he had to figure out who the audience for this new concept really was. 
• [05:33]: Taking his experience in real escape rooms along with the covid global situation as an opportunity to put this game out there for people who like escape rooms but couldn’t access them anymore; as well as reaching out to the puzzle games audience. 
• [8:36]: How market research is key when you have no experience creating a crowdfunding campaign page. Looking into other successful campaign pages in the same niche really helps to get an idea of what people are looking for and what works for marketing. 
• [15:51]: From other campaigns, successful and not so successful, they learned the shipping approach they wanted to do, how other creators were keeping their audiences engaged, the FAQ for day one, and reviewer/promotion options. 
• [20:31]:  How to balance the mystery side of the game, with the gameplay experiences and the updates showing people the pieces to keep the audience engaged and intrigued by it.
• [26:36]: As a first-time creator, Gabe learned the importance of having your preview page live weeks ahead, of putting in the work to find your audience, and the reality of how much time it really takes to have a successful campaign.
• [30:19]: As the main marketing strategy they used Facebook groups and Instagram. Mostly organic engagement, and almost no paid advertisement!
• [32:40]: The strategy they’re working on how to grow as a business and go into retail.
• [44:19]: How to get in touch with Gabe Lawson.

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

Escape Room Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHgl0OFhxAg/

Escape Room Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theescapebox/the-escape-box-mysterious-puzzle-adventures

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.

In this episode, host Nalin talks with James Faulkner about the creative process and marketing for board games. James talks about how he incorporates his personality and personal experiences with games in the products he creates with his team. He takes great pride in the time they invest in having a good customer experience and the organic relationships they’ve built with their audience. Check it out!

We discuss:

• [2:03]: How James’ passion for board games became the initial impulse to work on launching board games professionally.
• [10:24]: The best marketing strategy is always creating a good product that people enjoy, so you can expand more on the same resonating idea.
• [13:46]: The best communication tool for them was Facebook groups, to get in touch with the first audience about the second launch, and to look for look-alike audiences.
• [19:29]: Marketing is not one size fits all and the weirdest things might work for your campaign. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box.
• [26:52]:  How they integrated the reviews in their marketing campaign, and chose which review would resonate better with which audience.
• [32:39]: Each reviewer is different and there’s no one and only protocol to follow to get reviews. 
• [35:50]: Investing in Facebook ads is for sure great to find new audiences, but it should go together with the organic relationship-building part as well.
• [38:42]: Investing time in creating a great customer service tradition will get you far. One of the greatest things in the board game community, is the community itself. The people who form it.
• [44:32]: How to get in touch with James Faulkner.

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

Stone Sword website: https://www.stoneswordgames.com/

Stone Sword Games Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stone_sword_games/

Stone Sword Games Twitter: https://twitter.com/StoneSwordGame1

Hogs of War Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hogsofwarcardgame/

Hogs of War Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stoneswordgames/hogs-of-war-the-card-game

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Sam and Tyler from Ejected Planet about the creation and marketing process for Dice Command and how they’re planning on growing their brand. How they converted people they met on Instagram through playtesting experiences into backers and fans. Check out their whole experience launch and getting fully funded! 

We discuss:

• [01:37]: Launching a board game experience through Tabletopia.
• [06:37]: Using playtesting and social media organic relationships as a pre-launch marketing strategy.
• [11:19]: Most of their backers came from the “notification follow” subscriber. This method was extremely effective although publishing it months in advance. 
• [18:17]: Getting reviews and promotion from small and medium-sized influencers and YouTubers can help your game reach out to a smaller but more tight together community.
• [23:14]: It’s absolutely possible to DIY your campaign page, but the most important thing is to research thoroughly what other campaigns in the same niche have done. 
• [26:21]: Never leave a page and social channels without updates! Try to keep people hyped up by the upcoming launch the weeks prior to it.
• [28:47]: Using conventions offline and online throughout the middle days of the campaign and how it converted to actual backers.
• [35:03]: Organic reach out was the best marketing strategy: giving people the chance to actually play the game and get feedback on it. 
• [39:04]: How they’re planning on moving forward with the brand and what they’ve learned from this first experience.
• [40:43]: How you can get in touch with Ejected Planet.

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

 Ejected Planet website: https://www.ejectedplanet.com/

 Ejected Planet Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ejectedplanet/

 Ejected Planet Twitter: https://twitter.com/ejectedplanet

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.