In the aviation business, pilots go through a series of tasks at the beginning of every flight. It’s called the preflight checklist and it all happens before the plane ever leaves the tarmac. The idea is to ensure safety and make sure that nothing is accidentally left undone. Other industries could definitely benefit from the checklist mentality, and I consider crowdfunded board games to be among them.

For my own use, I’ve created something that I call the launch sequence. The launch sequence is a list of things that have to happen in order immediately after the Kickstarter campaign launches. I came up with this idea during the Highways & Byways Kickstarter campaign, and while the campaign itself didn’t work out, I still consider following a launch sequence to be best practice.

For your use today, I’m going to share a generic launch sequence checklist that you can use so you know what to do in the hours immediately after your Kickstarter launches.

First 10 minutes:

• Hit the launch button.
• Copy the URL.
• Set up a redirect link on your website to always go to either a landing page or the campaign.
• Tweet the campaign link with a call to action.
• Pin the campaign tweet.
• Make a Facebook post with the campaign link with a call to action. (Bonus points if you use your personal page as well).
• Pin the campaign post.
• Post on any other social networks you use.
• Ask a few friends to retweet/share your social media posts. This increases visibility quickly, which can help you break through social media noise.
• Update your social media bio links.

Next 20 minutes:

• Send an email to your mailing list with the campaign link and a clear call to action.
• Update the home page of your website with the campaign link and a clear call to action.
• Text your family.
• Text your friends.
• Post the FAQ – which you have hopefully pre-written.

Next 30 minutes:

• Send any last-minute press releases.
• Monitor and respond to comments and questions.
• Update any old Kickstarter campaigns.

Hours after launch:

• Post to relevant Facebook groups.
• Post to relevant parts of Board Game Geek.
• Post to relevant subreddits on Reddit.

This is a generic launch sequence. When you create your own, you’ll invariably add items to this. You might even take some away. For example, my own launch sequence involves immediately posting the Kickstarter campaign link on my Discord server to over 2,000 other game developers. In the past, I’ve also used other large social media accounts and even text message alerts to spread the word. So don’t be afraid to get creative!

Lastly, while this checklist will be wonderful on launch day, if you have time before launching, check out this page to learn more about what goes into launching a game. It’s kind of a lot!