SKYRIM, 32 Years Old Me, and Kickstarter Touch Points
In previous posts (like this one about tamales) I have talked about leading your ideal customers (also known as your “Target Audience”) down a sales funnel.
With this brief post I want to focus on one of the specifics of that marketing model: TOUCH POINTS.
What are touch points, exactly? And how do they matter for your board game kickstarter?
A touchpoint is anytime a customer comes into contact with your brand, whether that be before, during, or after they purchase from you.
Let me elaborate with an illustration from Skyrim. Specifically, the fact that I just started playing it.
Oh…
Wait…
I’m sorry…
I forgot to finish my sentence…
Specifically, the fact that I just started playing it FOR THE FIRST TIME.
That’s right: I am a weekly TTRPG devotee, love exploring fantastic worlds (so much so that I devoted a TON of time elevating that pillar of DND 5e… here is one post of nine) and big time medieval retreivalist…
And yet somehow, despite my brother buying the game and loaning it to me when he got rid of his xbox…
It has taken me THIRTEEN YEARS to pop it in the disk tray and become the Dovahkiin.
…
Thats a liiiittle misleading. A big hiccup for me was the combat, which looked boring as I observed others.
But while my experience with Skyrim is kind a irrelevant to the marketing purpose of this post, here are some of my thoughts:
Exploring and discovering random caves is SO FUN
I love how optional the plot is…
Because talking to the NPCs is boring as hell…
But the regions/atmosphere-ics are distinct, breathtaking, and enchanting.
I’m playing archetypical sword and board
Why are bandits harder to kill than dragons?
And it took me maybe 5 hours to figure out how to get rid of the damn vampire state thing.
…
Anyways, back to the tabletop games marketing purpose.
The question right now is now “Why did it take me so long to play?”
A better question is:
“How did they manage to get someone to play for the first time after 13 years?”
Well, one of the reasons is simple:
It is a genuinely good game.
Unlike the vast swaths of good, average, and bad games that I will definitely never play, Skyrim is a quality product that has stood the test of time.
Which is important. Sometimes people forget that good marketing is not a substitute for a bad product/service. And doing so is a great way to ruin customers trust in your brand.
But because Skyrim has stood the test of time, I have “interacted” with the “brand” in a lot of “different ways”:
tv ads when it first came out
cinematic trailers on youtube
seeing friends play it in the dorm
memes galore of the opening scene
posters and other merch
blog content about best single player games of the 2010’s
Youtube videos comparing it and the Witcher
Youtube videos mocking its extensive character customization
hearing DnD podcasts talk about it as an inspiration
hearing friends throughout the years talk about their different play-throughs
hearing its soundtrack more times than I can remember
reading about it for dungeon design tips
new ads every time they did a re-release
seeing friends jaws drop when I say I haven’t played it
infinite tweets, instagram posts, and tik toks
watching gameplay videos
And many, many more…
All of these “interactions” are “touch points”.
And all of them… little by little … influenced me to finally give the game a try on a cold January winter day in 2025.
When you have a TTRPG or board game product and are running a kickstarter, there are a few things important things you have to understand about touch points:
1) You need more than one
It takes an average of seven interactions with your brand before a purchase will take place. Which means you can’t just have some Instagram ads and expect everyone to suddenly want to back your kickstarter. They need to interact with your brand multiple times, ideally via multiple channels.
Remember: touch points are the pieces in a funnel; as you provide more touch points, the potential customers learn more about your kickstarter, and will discern if it is right for them. You lose people along the way, but the people that remain are much more likely to purchase.
2) They are not 100% in your control
In my list of examples, you’ll notice that some of it was watching friends play Skyrim, or various memes or videos my third party content creators.
While “rogue touch points” comes with some risks, there is a positive side to this double edged sword. If you do your kickstarter marketing right, then you can build enough excitement and get subscribers to create touch points on your behalf.
3) They need to be GOOD
This might seem obvious, but random touch points are not a good strategy… this is not a “the more the merrier” situation. You can have quantity, but you always need QUALITY.
A quality touch point is outlined perfectly in this post:
“Appropriate (e.g. that both the context of the interaction and the cultural tone of the interaction meet the needs of the customer or user)
Relevant (e.g. that the function performed by the interaction meets the utility requirements of the customer or user)
Meaningful (e.g. that the interaction was perceived as important or purposeful by the customer or user)
Endearing (e.g. that the interaction created some form of bond with the user or customer for example through desirability, creating delight or a playful tone)”
4) They need to be CONSISTENT
If you say your kickstarter is about one thing in an instagram ad, and it grabs their attention and stirs their curiosity, but then they go to the kickstarter page and the content is about something totally different, they are going to be confused and not become a supporter.
This is why I insist on clients having a brand messaging packet: every message they see from you should be part of one cohesive strategy. It should feel like a single voice saying different things depending on the funnel stage of the customer. When people are considering spending, the last thing they want to be is confused or frustrated by lack of clarity.
5) When strategy is done right, their performance tells you A LOT
Lets say you take the time, money, and effort to create a robust kickstarter marketing strategy… one that has dozens of touch points across multiple marketing channels and intentionally encourages and involves others to share about the kickstarter. But then some of those channels/touch points REALLY fail to perform… does that mean they are failures and you never should have done them in the first place?
No! When you are aware and intentional about your touch points, their purpose, and their consistent messaging, then the ones that fail COMMUNICATE something to you about your brand and your target audience! Survey Monkey articulates it well, explaining that touch points tell you what messaging works and doesn’t work, places in the sales funnel that customers are getting stuck, and guides your next steps for improvement.
Its a lot of work… but it can PAY OFF
I am a testament to this fact.
Despite having reservations about the combat, I love escaping to a fantasy world where I can explore and be an adventurer. In many ways I was the target audience for Skyrim, and I was stubborn and resisted giving it a try.
But over years…
With hundreds (if not thousands) of touch points…
Skyrim was able to overcome my first impression objections…
And get me to make it my game of the 2024-2025 winter.
