Tell us a bit about yourself and Epoch!

I’m Marc Neidlinger, a branding consultant, graphic designer, and designer of Epoch: The Awakening, which is a study in the concept of heroism. The narrative of the game is that you begin the game a guilt-ridden scumbag, thrown overboard your ship for a life of cruelty and corruption. Moments before death, you’re discovered by a traveler. In the near-death experience, you decide to restore your lost honor and rewrite your tarnished past.

Your first campaign for Epoch failed. Why do you think that happened?

My first campaign might have funded by whimpering over the finish line, and I pulled the plug early because I thought we could do better. In retrospect, I could have done a better job building community (specifically on BoardGameGeek and certain Facebook gaming groups). I also think my shipping could have been thought through better, and the timing of our launch put us against 2 mega-games that pulled budgets away from our target audience.

What did you do to build up a following before you launched the first time?

I built up nearly 1400 Instagram followers, nearly 1000 on our email list, and studied crowdfunding for 18 months. To be honest, I felt prepared. The micro-adjustments made a huge world of difference in our second launch.

Did you do anything different when you were building an audience for the second time?

Yes, we became extremely active in the community and asked questions that we were willing to respond to. We listened. It has made all the difference.

Why do you think you succeeded in your second attempt?

The second attempt gave people less reason to be on the fence…a clearer understanding of the game, a lower funding goal for momentum, more attractive shipping, and fewer mega-brands to compete with.

What is your best marketing tip?

Build relationships organically, one-by-one, and value the feedback of every person. No crowdfunding effort can succeed without a crowd who believes in the product AND the creator.

If there was one thing you wish you knew before you launched the two campaigns, what would it be?

I wish I knew how important it was to saturate the community with pre-campaign exposure to the game, it’s story, and it’s uniqueness. Fielding questions and applying feedback from the online community is more efficient than local play-testing.