Launch Day Needs Preparation

A proper crowdfunding campaign doesn’t start with launching the page; in fact, the launch should only come at the last step of a campaign that lasts multiple months. A crowdfunding effort is where you’re going to get the money to produce your game; do you really want to leave any of it to chance?

The most important day of your campaign is the first 48 hours after launch. Many successful campaigns receive the majority of their funding within the first two days, with funding slowing down after the launch and only picking up again during the last 72 hours before the campaign closes.

Additionally, early success on your campaign provides credibility, making it easier to attract more backers. You can’t expect to gain momentum over time after the campaign has gone live—you need to have started with the momentum already built.

What Goes Into a Crowdfunding Campaign

A proper campaign requires at least four avenues of preparation: email, social media, website, and in-person. There are other avenues that may enhance your campaign’s impact, but without these four, your crowdfunding efforts are dead on arrival.

However, additional measures can make the difference between 100% funded and 300% funded. There are myriad ways to build community, from Board Game Geek and Discord to your chosen crowdfunding platform itself. Google and social media ads can help you direct newcomers to your campaign. But it really all comes down to four elements—with three main aims.

Building Community

The first step towards a crowdfunding launch is to build a community. If you’ve done this before, then you may have a community already invested; however, if it’s your first time, you’re going to need to start from scratch, which can take up to a year.

Don’t assume that people will be coming to you. You’ll need to go to them. That includes attending conventions, joining community groups, and—counterintuitively—backing other game designers’ campaigns. Interacting directly with potential fans is a great way to make them aware of you, which is the first step to catching their interest. If other game developers know and trust you, then they might promote your campaigns in return.

Website and Landing Page

You need to have a website long before you ever start promoting your game. Before your campaign goes live, everything needs to go through your website. Without one, you lose out on email, blog, and paid advertising campaigns—there will be nowhere to collect the emails, no blog, and nowhere for the paid campaigns to direct to. In short, without a website, you’re leaving huge amounts of marketing momentum on the table.

A landing page is what takes all that potential attention and turns it into actionable, useful actions. With a website, you’re telling people who you are. With a landing page, you’re directing them to the specific project, asking for their email, asking for that first commitment. And that first commitment is the first step to everything else.

Collecting Emails and Social Media Following

Keeping your fans updated on the progress of your campaign is critical to its success, and you need to be prepared to do that long before the “coming soon” page goes live. There are two ways that are recommended to update people on the progress of the campaign: email and social media.

The benefits of social media are easier to see, but email’s impact cannot be ignored. According to Backerkit, an email list is the foundation of your campaign—a campaign lives or dies on the size of the email list. It’s the easiest and most effective way to inform potential backers of the campaign and any updates you make; you can usually tell how many backers you’ll get simply by looking at your email list and counting on 1-5% of them, a number no other method can match. In fact, you should be able to tell exactly how much you’ll need from each pledge to get funded just by the size of your email list.

Meanwhile, social media is an excellent way to obtain that email list. It lets you narrow down your audience, directly connect with people who are interested or have questions about the campaign or the game, and generally establish trust and personable feelings.

Get Your Email List, Website, and Social Media Done Ahead of Time

If you’re not ready in advance of the actual launch of your crowdfunding effort, you’ll get drowned by the extra work needed to even break even. Game Brands can help you plan your campaign and set up everything you’ll need long before launch day. Ready to work with us? Click here to get started.