We’re teaming up with Panda Game Manufacturing to help set you up for success when designing your next board game. 

Could your board game design use 25 wooden cubes instead of 50? What are some of the least expensive components to customize? How can fewer components increase sales? Join Panda Sr. Project Manager & Prepress Specialist Tyler Lipchen and Sr. Project Manager Stephen Wren as they present Game Design with Manufacturing in Mind, a presentation on optimizing your tabletop game design for mass production.

The 20-minute presentation will be followed by a live Q&A. This show is for game designers, publishers, and anyone interested in the inner workings of board game manufacturing!

Expect to Learn:

* Expert guidance on how to design your game

* How to optimize your game designs for mass production

* Insider board game manufacturing tips and best practices

* How your plans will affect your crowdfunding strategy

Hosted by:

Jason Furie – Senior Community Manager, BackerKit

Presentation by:

Tyler Lipchen – Sr. Project Manager & Prepress Specialist, Panda

Stephen Wren – Sr. Project Manager, Panda

*Be sure to stay for the LIVE Q&A with BackerKit and Panda!

SPECIAL OFFER: Attendees and viewers of the show are eligible for Panda’s new client discount of $500+ on new projects! Details of the offer will be given during the presentation.

The post Livestream: Game Design with Manufacturing in Mind appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.

Every crowdfunding project needs a landing page well before they launch.

There’s one pattern across ALL crowdfunding campaigns that helps creators launch with confidence—gathering emails of interested people who are ready to back on day 1. Your landing page is a crucial element on your path to success and BackerKit is here to help you create one that expertly showcases your product.

Expect to learn:

• The core non-negotiable elements that make up an expert landing page
• Best practices for creating compelling content on your landing page
• Key DO’S and DON’TS when creating your landing page
• The anatomy of some of our favorite landing pages
• How you can start making a landing page right now

Landing Page Examples:

• Pizza Pinz by Jason Furie
• Houseplant Oracle Deck by AG Oracle
• Return to Dark Tower RPG by 9th Level
• Blade Runner RPG by League

Create YOUR landing page today FREE with BackerKit Launch

BackerKit Launch is a marketing and analytics tool specifically designed for crowdfunding creators of all sizes. Build your community, launch with confidence.

Who should register for this event?

Anyone who wants to learn what it takes to craft an expert-level landing page to help build community before your next crowdfunding project launch.

Hosted by:

Jason Furie (Senior Community Manager, BackerKit)

RSVP and mark your calendar for:

Thursday, May 26th at 10 AM PST

The post Livestream: Crowdfunding Landing Page Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.

 Expert crowdfunding creators know that the best way to launch a campaign with confidence is to gather emails from potential backers well before launching and pointing them to an expertly crafted campaign page that converts.

Your community-building work and your campaign page are two pieces of a puzzle that will lead you to success. We’re here to help you with both of these elements. 

With BackerKit Launch, you can create a landing page to start collecting emails now and then send strategic messages to your audience before and during your live campaign. To make sure your campaign page tells the story behind your project in a compelling way, we will be hosting a live Kickstarter Campaign Page Review on Thursday, March 31st at 10 AM PST. 

During the presentation, we’ll cover key elements, including:

• How ready your audience is to back you on day one
• Project Title, Description, Images, Videos, and Copy
• Funding Goal and Reward Tier Structure
• Timeline, Budget, and Shipping Strategy
• Stretch Goals, Add-Ons, and Social Proof

Who should register for this event? 

Anyone who wants to learn what it takes to have a successful launch. You DO NOT need to submit your project to attend this live stream.

How do I submit my project to get reviewed live?

1. Sign up for BackerKit Launch right now before you register.
2. Register for this livestream and answer ALL questions.

Submission details:

• We review your Kickstarter “Draft Page” NOT your “Preview Page”
  • Instructions can be found HERE
• To be chosen, we need to confirm your BackerKit Launch Account URL during registration.
  • Example: https://www.backerkit.com/organizations/276

We will prioritize submissions based on:

• Those who fully completed the BackerKit Launch Onboarding.
• If BackerKit Launch identifies you as ready to launch based on emails gathered.

Hosted by:

Jason Furie (Senior Community Manager, BackerKit)

RSVP and mark your calendar for:

Thursday, March 31st at 10 AM PST

The post Live Kickstarter Campaign Page Reviews By BackerKit appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.

The Studio Midhall team launched their first Kickstarter project — a tabletop game called Beast — in 2021. It was an instant success, funding in 16 minutes and ultimately raising $600K. Getting your first project funded in and of itself is something to be celebrated, but to have this kind of success as a first-timer is remarkable and rare. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to chat with them and learn about their process.

If you’re a first-time creator or even an experienced creator who is looking to increase their funding goal for an upcoming project, join us as we take a peek behind the scenes of Studio Midhall. Not only will they be answering your questions, but we’ll also be covering the following topics:

• How to set yourself up for first-time crowdfunding success
• Strategies on how to build your email list before launching
• Expert campaign page design tips
• How to properly build a team and manage your budget
• How BackerKit Launch can help

Studio Midhall:
Based in Malmö, Sweden, Studio Midhall is a board game publisher that loves games with asymmetrical gameplay and little to no randomness. They aim to make games filled with amazement that offer gameplay that is both exciting and deep.

Hosted by:
Jason Furie (Senior Community Manager, BackerKit)
David Perlmutter (Account Executive, BackerKit)

RSVP and mark your calendar for Wednesday, March 16th at 10 AM PT.

The post Livestream: How To Get Funded on Your First Try appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.

Having a great-looking Kickstarter campaign page is important, but that alone isn’t enough to get you funded. Expert crowdfunding creators know that the best way to launch a campaign with confidence is to gather emails from potential backers well before launching. 

Your community-building work and your campaign page are two pieces of a puzzle that will lead you to success. We’re here to help you with both of these elements. 

With BackerKit Launch, you can create a landing page to start collecting emails now and then send strategic messages to your audience before and during your live campaign. To make sure your campaign page tells the story behind your project in a compelling way, we will be hosting a live Kickstarter Campaign Page Review on Thursday, February 24th at 10 AM PST. 

During the presentation, we’ll cover key elements, including:

• How ready your audience is to back you on day one
• Project Title, Description, Images, Videos, and Copy
• Funding Goal and Reward Tier Structure
• Timeline, Budget, and Shipping Strategy
• Stretch Goals, Add-Ons, and Social Proof

Who should register for this event? 

Anyone who wants to learn what it takes to have a successful launch. You DO NOT need to submit your project to attend this live stream.

How do I submit my project to get reviewed live?

1. Sign up for BackerKit Launch right now before you register.
2. Register for this livestream and answer ALL questions.

Submission details:

• We review your Kickstarter “Draft Page” NOT your “Preview Page”
  • Instructions can be found HERE
• To be chosen, we need to confirm your BackerKit Launch Account URL during registration.
  • Example: https://www.backerkit.com/organizations/276

We will prioritize submissions based on:

• Those who fully completed the BackerKit Launch Onboarding.
• If BackerKit Launch identifies you as ready to launch based on emails gathered.

Hosted by:

Jason Furie (Senior Community Manager, BackerKit)

RSVP and mark your calendar for:

Thursday, February 24th at 10 AM PST

The post Get Your Kickstarter Campaign Page Reviewed By BackerKit appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.

There truly is an art to designing an effective Kickstarter campaign page. It should tell your project’s story in a way that’s both succinct and compelling. The page needs to be eye-catching but also informative. There’s a lot to consider — but we can help! We’re excited to announce that BackerKit is hosting a series of Kickstarter Project Draft Page reviews where we’ll be identifying what it takes to have an expert-level project page that converts while we take a look at real pages submitted by viewers.

We’ll review key elements including:

• Project Title, Description, Images, Videos, and Copy
• Funding Goal and Reward Tier Structure
• Timeline, Budget, and Shipping Strategy
• Stretch Goals, Add-Ons, and Social Proof

Who should register for this event?

Anyone who wants to learn what it takes to have an expert-level Kickstarter project page. You DO NOT need to submit a Kickstarter Project Draft page to attend this livestream. All are welcome to watch, learn, and ask us questions.

How do I submit my project to get reviewed?

• Simply register for this event by answering ALL registration questions as accurately as possible.
• Be sure you give us the correct link! We need your “Draft Page” not your “Preview Page.” Instructions can be found here.
• Make sure you answer YES to the question asking us if you want to be chosen to share your Kickstarter Project Draft page live.
• We will choose 3 projects per monthly session. You only have to register once to be considered for all 3 sessions.

We will prioritize Kickstarter draft pages that:

• Register for this livestream first.
• Are not currently live.
• Are planning to launch within the next 3 months.

Can I just register to watch and learn?

Absolutely! Please join us and watch live as these tips will help give you a head start when it’s time for you to make a draft of your own.

RSVP and mark your calendar for:

Session 1 – Thursday, November 11th at 10 AM PST

Session 2 – Thursday, December 2nd at 10 AM PST

Session 3 – Thursday, January 13th at 10 AM PST

You only need to register once to be considered for all 3 sessions and to have full access to all 3 session livestreams. If your project is not included in Session 1, it will still be up for consideration during the next session.

The post Get Your Kickstarter Project Page Reviewed By BackerKit appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.

You can leverage your social media following for crowdfunding success. But it’s going to take more than simply sharing a link on Twitter to start seeing those pledges roll in. Community-building is a foundational part of crowdfunding. And when it comes to social media — where the best practices are rapidly evolving and follower count is no guarantee of engagement — there are very specific tactics that you’ll need to use in order to mobilize your audience.

So how can you turn your social media followers into crowdfunding backers? To answer that question for you, BackerKit alongside guest speaker Laser Malena-Webber from Laser Campaigns will be sharing expert tips, tricks, and advice during our upcoming webinar.

Join us and learn:

• How to build a dedicated following on social media.
• What social media platform is right for you?
• How to nurture and engage with your community
• How to expertly share your crowdfunding project with your social media following.
• Some myths about social media and crowdfunding.

Laser Malena-Webber is a musician and crowdfunding coach who has raised over a million dollars on Kickstarter for independent musicians, writers, artists, and filmmakers. They have Kickstarted 4 Billboard-topping albums and raised over $100,000 on Patreon for their band, The Doubleclicks.

Hosted by:
Jason Furie (Senior Community Manager, BackerKit)

RSVP and mark your calendar for Wednesday, October 20th at 10 AM PT.

The post BackerKit Webinar: Turn Social Media Followers into Backers appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.

Have you started thinking about how you’ll promote your crowdfunding campaign? Even if your launch day is months away, it’s important to start developing your strategy as soon as you decide to run a project. The earlier you start planning, the earlier you’ll understand how much money you’ll be able to invest in promotion, who you can team up with to spread the word about your project, and the steps you’ll need to take to have the biggest impact. 

Marketing and advertising can be mystifying and a challenge even for the most experienced crowdfunding creators. You have to be able to grab potential backers’ attention, connect with the right audience, and then grow, nurture, and leverage your community of supporters. It’s a lot of work — and that’s on top of everything else you have to do to get your project off the ground. 

To help you get started, we’re hosting a new webinar, Crash Course in Marketing and Advertising. Join BackerKit for an in-depth discussion on everything you need to know about promoting your campaign before you hit that launch button. 

Expect to Learn:

• The importance of building an email list long BEFORE you launch
• The different benefits of running pre-live ads vs. live campaign ads
• Exactly who should be spending marketing dollars running ads
• How BackerKit marketing services work and how they can help you
• Key terms breakdown, ad copy/image strategies, and DIY solutions
• How to ensure you reach your funding goal with or without ads

Presented by:

Jason Furie (Senior Community Manager, BackerKit)

Alex McGuire (Associate Marketing Manager, BackerKit)

RSVP and mark your calendar for Thursday, September 30th at 2 PM PT

The post BackerKit Webinar: Crash Course in Marketing and Advertising appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.

Are you trying to figure out the best way to promote your next project? Facebook Ads can be a powerful marketing tool. However, there are special considerations that crowdfunding creators must be mindful of if they want to optimize ad performance and drive more pledges to their campaigns. 

The BackerKit team has helped develop the ad strategies for some of the most successful creators in the crowdfunding community. In our next webinar, we will be sharing the marketing secrets behind these million-dollar projects. 

Join us for an in-depth discussion, followed by a live Q&A, on everything you need to know before using ads, including:

• • How to determine if running ads makes sense for your campaign
  • Why super-efficient returns can be misleading
  • How to drive traffic in the middle of a campaign
  • What makes a strong advertising image or video
  • How to optimize your Kickstarter campaign
  • How to use your ad budget throughout your campaign. 

Hosted by:

Robert Wickham

Account Executive, BackerKit

Justin Hannigan

VP Operations, BackerKit

RSVP and mark your calendar for Thursday, September 24th at 11 AM PT.

Follow us on Crowdcast to get details about all of our upcoming webinars, and click the links below to check out our past presentations:

Jul 31, 2020 – Gen Con Online 2020: Crowdfunding Your Game

Jul 16, 2020 – Go-to-Market Best Practices w/ Indiegogo

Jul 2, 2020 – We’re Building This Together w/ Laser Malena-Webber (The Doubleclicks / Laser Campaigns)

Jun 25, 2020 – Crowdfunding Your Game in 2020

Jun 3, 2020 – We’re Building This Together w/ Daniel Zayas (Tabletop Backer Party)

May 20, 2020 – We’re Building This Together w/ Julio Terra (Launch Studio)

May 7, 2020 – Crash Course in Game Manufacturing w/ Panda

Mar 24, 2020 – Expert Crowdfunding Pre-Launch Do’s and Don’ts (Part 1/2)

Jan 21, 2020 – BackerKit Launch – Harness the Power of Your Audience to Get Funded Early

Dec 12, 2019 – How to Build Your Tabletop Games Email List

Oct 3, 2019 – Tabletop Games on Kickstarter 101

Sep 26, 2019 – How to Think Outside the Box on Kickstarter

Sep 5, 2019 – Why “Failing” on Kickstarter is Actually “Winning” on Kickstarter

Jul 18, 2019 – Are you ready to launch on Kickstarter?

The post BackerKit Webinar: Performance Marketing Secrets appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.

When you look at the top tabletop creators on Kickstarter, and see them hitting — and even surpassing — their funding goals quickly, it’s inspiring. Like them, you can bring your great game idea to life through crowdfunding. But in order to succeed, it’s important to pay close attention to what those experienced creators are doing. From building a happy community of supporters to manufacturing your game to handling fulfillment, there are a lot of steps that you will have to take to run a successful campaign — some steps that you may not even be aware of. 

Over the past year, we’ve been hosting webinars to introduce creators to crowdfunding pros and deliver expert Kickstarter campaign tips. We’re excited to announce our next livestream will be a part of Gen Con Online’s four-day virtual gaming convention. To help you prepare for your tabletop game launch, we’ve teamed up with Justin Sirois of Severed Books for a special webinar covering all the do’s and don’ts of crowdfunding. Justin has launched more than 20 successful Kickstarter campaigns, including Sickest Witch and Massive Gelatinous Cube. During the webinar, he will walk viewers through a presentation titled “Five Kickstarter Secrets from Keeping it Fun to Killing the Fulfillment Game.” Afterwards, you’ll have a chance to ask questions during a live Q&A. 

In this webinar: 

• Get updates on the state of crowdfunding in 2020 and beyond
• Find out how to build a strong community around your game
• Hear Kickstarter campaign tips on finding your niche and developing your brand
• Learn the importance of providing an excellent backer experience and getting fulfillment right
• Discover how BackerKit can help you succeed

About the presenters:

BackerKit is the leading expert when it comes to crowdfunding your game on Kickstarter. BackerKit tools and resources, including Pledge Manager, Add-ons, Launch, and Performance Marketing, set creators up for success, help them run strong campaigns, and assist in delivering a trustworthy backer experience. 

Severed Books publishes fiction, games, and RPG modules. Since 2012, they’ve had a series optioned for television, expanded into tabletop gaming, and have run 20+ successful Kickstarter campaigns. They believe that RPGs are at their best when they are DIY – you can create the world you want. Creativity is freedom.

*Hosted by David Perlmutter

Tabletop Creator Outreach, BackerKit

Check out our past webinars for Kickstarter campaign tips, and join us Friday, July 31st at 11 AM PST for our special Gen Con webinar on crowdfunding your game.

The post The Secrets of Crowdfunding Tabletop Games appeared first on Crowdfunding Blog & Resources | BackerKit.