Chai with Connie and Dan Kazmaier

In this episode, host Nalin talks with Connie and Dan about the creation of Chai, a board game for people passionate about tea (and games).

They are a team dedicated to creating new memorable games, and nurturing an awesome communi-tea around them. They’ve sold over 15,000 copies of their tea board game so far, and here’s a bit of how they did it.

We discuss:

[1:11]: Connie and Dan tell us about their introduction to the game of tabletop games throughout their lives. And how they came up with the idea of Chai.
[08:56]: They started their marketing by making sure to not post too much about your game or trying to make a sale. But instead adding value to the market, sharing other people’s games and creating valuable content that people can relate to.
[11:43]: Creating engaging and AUTHENTIC posts and captions for Instagram, that invite people to engage and catch their attention, can be a lot of work and time investment.
[16:20]: Knowing which type of pictures and arts will work best for your brand is a bit of trial and error. But with a cellphone camera creators have more than enough gear to start creating quality content in different formats.
[18:58]: Starting out by finding out who their audience was through Facebook groups and playtesters that helped them realize exactly what demography the game was working best for, and perhaps adjust their strategy to better reach this exact audience.
[24:31]: Inviting people to be part of the Facebook group through a free print and play, and having a compelling document with all of the possible FAQs, helped them connect with new people and get valuable feedback on their game.
[34:31]: The second campaign Connie and Dan is an expansion to the original game and, although covid made it difficult to manage all of the logistics, it became a good reminder to backers of the game they already enjoyed, and it helped keep the community engaged.
[39:28]: Life after Kickstarter is full. Creators have to keep growing the relationships they’ve made, research their best option for getting into retail, keep promoting and getting your game mentioned by reviewers in the tabletop game world.
[32:03]: What’s coming up in 2021 for Chai and where you can get in touch with Connie and Dan.

Final marketing tip from Dan & Connie to new board game creators:

“You’ve done lots of hard work in advance, but your target audience knows best! Be flexible to what backers are saying, and don’t be afraid to change things on the fly. Stay true to your vision, but engage others who are just as passionate about the project as you are.”

Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast!

For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.