Creating an amazing board game is just the first step. Getting people excited about your game and driving sales is a whole different ballgame.
In this post, as a professional custom board game manufacturer, I’ll share my top tips for promoting board games in 2025, whether you’re crowdfunding on Kickstarter or trying to boost sales for an already published game.
How to Promote Board Games
Start By Understanding Your Target Audience
You probably designed your game with a specific type of gamer in mind. Before developing your promotion strategy, dig deeper to really understand your target audience.
Ask yourself questions like:
- How old are they?
- Where do they hang out online?
- What other games or hobbies are they into?
- Where do they get recommendations for new games?
Creating detailed buyer personas gives you valuable insights into how to best reach your audience.
Identify their pain points and desires. Map out where they spend their time online. This level of insight is incredibly valuable for shaping an effective promotion plan.
Leverage Social Media to Raise Awareness
Once you intimately understand who you’re trying to reach, leverage targeted social media marketing to get their attention.
Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and niche forums allow you to engage directly with your audience. Use high-quality images and videos to showcase your game’s components and hook them in.
For example, Tokyo-based game publisher Oink Games saw fantastic results when they started actively posting previews of their games on Twitter:
Post consistently across multiple platforms to generate buzz and intrigue leading up to your campaign or product launch.
Use Paid Ads Strategically
With so much organic content flooding social feeds, cutting through the noise can be a challenge. This is where small investments in paid social ads enter the picture.
Facebook and Instagram provide highly targeted advertising options to reach very specific demographics and interest groups — like tabletop hobbyists who enjoy strategy games.
You can control your budget to discover which audiences respond best for the lowest cost-per-result. As your following grows organically, paid ads help accelerate awareness with laser targeted promotions.
Build Relationships With Influencers
Influencers with engaged audiences can be tremendously powerful amplifiers for raising awareness.
Identify reviewers, streamers, and content creators who align closely with your target customer. Reach out to gauge their interest in featuring your game with a free advance copy.
Big publishers spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on influencer promotions. But as an indie publisher or crowdfunding creator, you can still benefit tremendously from nano and micro influencers in a niche like tabletop games.
The secret is finding creators who genuinely love playing and discussing new games with their audience. Even a short positive mention from the right influencer can spark a wave of interest.
Optimize Your Crowdfunding Page
If you’re launching on a platform like Kickstarter or Gamefound, optimizing your campaign page is crucial for conversions.
Use stunning visuals to highlight your game components and mechanics. Emphasize what makes your game unique from others in the market. Share the story behind your creation process to build an emotional connection.
This Gamefound campaign page checks all the boxes: clean branding and design, high-quality product photos, engaging copy, clear call-to-action pricing breakdown.
Treat your campaign page like a masterpiece of marketing art for maximum impact.
Forward Momentum Is Crucial
Launching a crowdfunding campaign or new product without an existing audience makes success infinitely more difficult.
Start building your following at least 2-3 months (or more) before your campaign goes live using the strategies outlined above. Generate momentum and have key influencers primed to help spread the word on launch day.
Hype before launch has an exponential impact on funding potential thanks to Kickstarter’s algorithm and popular tabletop sites.
Bonus Tips for Ongoing Success
Launching a successful Kickstarter campaign or selling through your first print run is an amazing feeling. But promoting your game doesn’t stop there.
Here are three essential tips for ongoing success:
1. Continue Engaging on Social Media
Keep showcasing your game on social media and stay active in relevant groups. Share photos of fans enjoying your game. Give regular development and business updates to keep your audience looped in.
2. Build a Retargeting Strategy
Collect email addresses and Facebook Pixel data to easily market to previous supporters, backers, reviewers and super fans with future releases. Lookalike audiences also help you find similar potential buyers.
3. Rinse and Repeat
Immediately begin laying the groundwork for promoting your next release. Ideally you already have your audience cultivated and primed for what’s coming next from day 1.
Sustained success as a board game creator requires true passion along with a smart long-term promotional framework. By mastering audience understanding and community building, your efforts will compound with each new release.
Ready to Promote Your Passion Project?
Bringing an engaging board game to market and nurturing its long-term success requires meaningful relationships with fans. Dedication, sincerity and smart marketing is the key.
I hope these essential promotion tips for tabletop creators helps you navigate your journey as you share your amazing new game with the world. Just remember to enjoy yourself along the way!
Have you launched a successful tabletop Kickstarter or product line? I’d love to hear your stories and lessons learned in the comments below!
