In this episode, host Nalin talks with Alex Lu, creator of Dogs BOND, a family board game about rescuing dogs that promotes dog adoption. Perfect for all dog lovers out there. He talks about how he prepared for launch, where did he find his audience, and how he kept engagement and excitement up during the live campaign days.   We discuss: [01:22]: Alex tells us about him and about where the inspiration came from for his first game “Dogs BOND”, which goal is to be a game that includes the whole family, and raises awareness about dog adoption. [05:34]: How Alex chose the dog breeds he included in the game, and how diversity is also something that he also took into consideration when creating his characters. [09:35]: While Alex looked for and found his audience, and how he partnered with animal shelters to create more conversations about the importance of adoption, as a way to promote his game and his awareness message further. [17:56]: Alex talks about how he created his first game prototype for his team to try out, all the way to how launch day went. [23:37]: How Alex kept being proactive during the 30 days of the campaign, and how he engaged with his audience and included their suggestions on the game. [26:45]: The main advice Alex has for first-time creators is to do the incredible amount of work there is to be done before launch, but also be prepared to jump into a live campaign knowing your campaign won’t be completely perfect. [30:09]: How to approach and help first-time backers who are not used to crowdfunding platforms. [32:59]: For Alex, the knowledge of when his project would be ready to launch depended on the dates he knew would work better for his audience and niche, and working backward starting from that point to build everything needed to be ready for launch. [36:00]: How you can get a copy of Dogs BOND! [37:11]: Alex used pre-launch emails and messages to educate the audience on the importance of early backing for the complete success of a project. And he did the prep ahead of time by having many of the live-campaign messages pre-written for when they got to their funding goals.   Thanks for listening to the Board Game Marketing Podcast! Dogs BOND campaign on Kickstarter Dogs BOND  Website Dogs BOND on Facebook Dogs BOND on Instagram Dogs BOND on Twitter For more information on how to market your game, be sure to check out the Meeple Marketing Blog.