How to Partner with Influencers to Better Promote Your Tabletop Games Backerkit Campaign
Why You Should Partner with Social Media Influencers for Your Board Game Kickstarter
This post is part 4/6 in a series on customer acquisition for board game Kickstarter, Backerkit, and Gamefound campaigns. Other posts include:
What crowdfunding does/doesn’t do for customer acquisition (read here)
Marketing channels NOT to use (read here)
The necessity of both organic and paid social media (read here)
Unless they do it for funsies, an influencer is a form of content marketer. Because in order to be an influencer, you must create content.
That said, it is not the same as content marketing. Because the heart and soul of their business … the value they offer viewers and followers… is not a product or service.
Instead, it is their brand.
A brand is essential for any business. But for influencers, IT IS THE BUSINESS. And for reasons beyond the scope of this blog post, that brand is very, very attractive for niche audiences.
Since marketing is the process of making the right offer to the right target audience at the right time, influencers solve some of your biggest marketing hurdles by doing three things:
1)They have an Audience that Trusts Them: Quality influencers have spent countless hours over the years producing content with one goal in mind: informing and/or entertaining a niche group of viewers. They have already earned the trust of thousands of passionate tabletop gamers because they have not been trying to sell something. They have provided and provided and provided without taking anything.
2) They Have an Audience Waiting to Hear from Them: Influencers post regularly. And while sometimes they will show up in doom scrolls, they also have a dedicated group of people who follow and subscribe. These people get regular alerts whenever newer content is released. In other words, they are always ready to hear what the influencer have to say.
3) They Generate Hype and Urgency: Many influencers produce professional-level photos, videos, and gameplay content. Whether it's a preview video, a playthrough, or a first impressions reel, their content builds excitement and gives potential backers a sense of “I want to be part of this.” This excitement creates urgency to act now, rather than later.
But all of these benefits stem from one important quality unique to influencers…
There is a reason influencers solve the “right audience” and “right time” problem for marketing.
And that reason is something your crowdfunding game desperately needs in order to make a splash on Kickstarter, Backerkit, or Gamefound.
And I want to drive the point home with a quick story from a family vacation last summer…
I Can Help Connect You with the Right Influencers to Promote Your Kickstarter Campaign
My Ignorant Family’s “UFO” Sighting
Last year, my parents got serious about leaving their Bay Area CA home of 40 years.
So they invited my siblings and their spouses for week stay at cabin up in Coeur d’Alene ID. The idea was to make sure everyone liked the potential location enough that it would be worth a plane flight and a visit.
If you are unfamiliar with the lake, don’t worry: its ugly and sucks and is stupid and no one likes it so you don’t need to bother visiting or anything.
jk it’s loooovely.
One night, we were out on the deck chatting, when suddenly there appeared in the night sky a line of lights.
While none of us had ever seen anything like it, none actually believed in aliens.
And yet, we had no explanation for what we were looking at:
They were too close to be a planes…
Yet too big to be a drone…
And too coordinated to be natural…
So… technically speaking… we were staring at a group of UFO’s.
And given that we were staying in the Idaho panhandle, WHO KNOWS what kind of weird-compound-boonie thing it could be!
Now, we could have speculated for hours, or fumbled on Google with weird keyword phrases like: “line of lights night sky aliens?”
But thankfully, we had my sister’s husband just in the other room.
He came out, looked up, and without a moment’s hesitation said:
“Oh yeah, those are Starlink satellites being launched, making their way to the upper atmosphere.”
His answer immediately settled things. There were some follow-up questions, but no more speculations or push back.
And given how… “discussion-oriented” (ie “argumentative”) my family can be, that is quite the compliment!
Why did we immediately believe him?
Because Mr. Runyon is a literal space scientist.
I (and maybe he!) wish I could say “literal rocket scientist,” but technically he is not an engineer or physicist.
His official title is “Planetary Geologist”:
He has a PHD in planetary geology
Has worked with NASA
He currently works for the planetary science institute
He is a voice in the space tourism industry
He leads tours in New Mexico to show people what the surface of the moon and Mars are like
Has an estimated 1/100 chance of becoming an astronaut
(10,000 people apply every year, and he’s not a pilot or former military, so the odds aren’t super in his favor, but it definitely could happen!)
Mr. Ruyon has been obsessed with space since he was a child, and devoted every moment of his professional life into space, rockets, planets, gas clouds, gravity… etc.
If it’s a space term or space-themed… including Star Wars and Star Trek… then he knows about it.
Which is why it took him about 0.076 seconds to know exactly what we were looking at in the sky.
And which is why none of us doubted his explanation for a second.
He was an authority on the matter, so we trusted him.
This, my reader, is why you want to harness the power of good influencers…
Foundation of Influencers enefit 1-4: They Are an Authority Figure in the Industry: When an influencer creates content or associates their brand with your crowdfunding campaign, their authority becomes YOUR authority. You gain credibility. And the more credibility you have, the more potential backers will trust you. Every promise you make, every benefit you claim, will be exponentially more effective.
Unfortunately, no influencer you find will ever be as cool as this one…
“What should I ask influencers to do?”
Simple: to create content about your game!
This can be in the form of a review, or a playthrough, or interview… anything!
Even just a shout-out at the beginning of their videos is great!
However, I need to set expectations here for a second…
Because unless they were instrumental in the creation of your game and have shared their entire email list with you…
An influencer’s job is NOT to be the driving force behind your crowdfunding campaign.
They can help with the “mid-campaign slump”, but they won’t be the reason you reach your goal in less than 5 minutes.
I have worked on several campaigns with some HUGE influencers behind them. And despite their massive following, I was stunned how little each piece of content directly contributed to crowdfunding backers.
Don’t get me wrong, they definitely brought some backers! But not the legions that you would think when you added up all their followers.
One reason for this is the nature of influencers; the followers are mostly there for the brand, not for what they promote. But another reason is that, being social media, an influencer is NOT responsible for customer conversion!
An influencer gets the attention of otherwise unreachable potential backers.
They get the attention of customers you are not reaching, and it’s effective because their audience is the right audience for your game. And that audience is paying attention to them!
Not my best sentence there, but you get the point. Like social media, an influencer is supposed to capture the attention of potential customers and lead them to your website or crowdfunding campaign, which does the heavy lifting of converting the potential customer into a paying customer.
What do influencers need from me to help?
RESOURCES AND DIRECTION.
That last thing they want to do is get a huge document they have to sift through. They are busy people like you, and they are doing you a favor by helping. So make it as easy for them as possible to promot your tabletop games crowdfunding campaign.
You’re going to ou will need to create a condensed, couple-page document. It should include a summary of the game, any instructions for using it, who it is for, and any of the key benefits it offers. You should provide key phrases you would like them to repeat, and the necessary images and graphics.
Do I need to pay influencers?
You don’t need to. And unless they have a massive, million strong subscriber base, you probably shouldn’t.
Most influencers who demand payment for even the smallest promotion have a terrible ROI. In my opinion, there remains a “bubble” around influencer marketing that has yet to pop. And until then, their rates are way too high for what they provide.
If you have to pay an influencer, that money is better spent on ads before, during, or after their content, rather than sponsoring content (of course, THAT is a different kind of marketing than what I have been speaking about in this blog post!)
You want an influencer who is excited about the game you are making.
Their natural enthusiasm will show in the content they make and make it more compelling to their followers and subscribers.
This might seem like a raw deal, but keep in mind that influencers are ALWAYS looking for quality content
That said, there are ways to compensate and thank them for their support. Here are some smart value-based partnership options:
Offer Free Prototypes: Give influencers early access to your game. Let them test it and share their honest ideas with their followers.
Create Exclusive Rewards: Whether it be a stretch level or add-on, let them create something for the game that is exclusive to the Kickstarter campaign.
Profit Shares: Set up a deal based on roi. The influencers will get a percentage of the funds for their help, and their followers/subscribers will be the first to know about it.
Working with influencers without paying up front can work well if there is trust and you both get something out of it. Want to go all in on organic marketing? In our next section, you’ll see how to connect with forums!
