How I used Tinder to market my board game

This is a continuation of my first article, “How to use Tinder to find playtesters for your new board game.” If you haven’t read that article, I suggest you check it out first.

My Tinder profile at the time.

Since you clicked on this article, the words “Tinder,” “marketing,” and “board game” must have caught your attention. Which is great because that was exactly my intention with the title and contents of this post.

And that’s exactly the point with marketing.

You need something creative or catchy that will grab people’s attentions.

If you read the first article, you’ll understand that my initial attempt at using Tinder to find playtesters was not really a huge success. Yes I met one person who triggered the snowball that eventually led to the redesign of my game mechanics.

But from a marketing viewpoint, it was a dud.

But I didn’t lose out hope from the experiment. I knew that my story was interesting and unique enough that people would want to check it out. So I decided to write a blog post about it.

I posted the article wherever I could.

1. /r/boardgames — 109 upvotes, 38 comments
2. /r/tabletopgamedesign—121 upvotes, 29 comments
3. BGG forums—105 thumbs up, 29 comments
4. Board Game Design Lab Facebook group—18 likes, 8 comments

Exactly the kind of feeling I wanted to evoke from people, haha.

And thanks to my efforts, I was also able to get a guest post on the amazing Stonemaier blog.

My guest post on the super amazing Stonemaier blog.

Interesting content brings traffic and engagement

All that crossposting brought me a bunch of traffic.

According to my Google Analytics page, my Tinder blog post is the #3 most visited page on my website. (If you ignore the main page)

Even more popular than the /about or /howtoplay page!

I also have an automated email campaign for any new subscribers so that the article is sent to them a few days after joining my newsletter. At the time of me writing this article, it has just over a 50% open rate. That’s amazing.

I only wish I had decided to start the email campaign earlier than 2021. Well you know what they say—the second best time to plant a tree is now!

My email campaign for the Tinder blog post.

“But I don’t wanna do this silly stupid shit”

I know. I know. It’s not easy to put yourself out there and do silly stupid shit like making Tinder profiles for board game playtesting.

It’s awkward, I feel awkward, I feel judged. Just like a preschooler giving their first presentation in class.

But honestly? At the end of the day, it only took me a few minutes of awkwardly asking my brother to take the photos, a few minutes a day swiping right on everyone, and a few hours of playtesting with a stranger.

In the grand scheme of life, it was just a minor inconvenience that now I get to milk forever for content and marketing 🤣.

Thanks for reading! Want more tips?

This article is part of a series of marketing tips that I wrote. If it helped you in any way, please let me know in the comments or by email at 1min@unicornwithwings.com! So many people have helped me on my journey and I’d love to pay it forward. No strings attached at all.