10 Marketing Methods Used at Stonemaier Games (2024 Edition)

As the head of marketing at Stonemaier Games, I love finding ways to let people know that our products exist and to help them decide if our games are a good fit. The marketing process includes the product design itself, the launch, the retail release, and the entire lifecycle of the game that follows.

I wrote the original version of this post in 2017, and today I’ll update the list (including some thoughts on techniques I’ve changed over time). In my opinion, it’s the combination of these methods that forms the strongest marketing strategy.

1. Excitement and Accessibility. My golden goal is to give people compelling reasons to easily get our games to the table. The more often a game hits the table, the greater the chance that someone will play it for the first time and will be compelled to invest in a copy for themselves. We do this through game anniversary celebrations, promos, expansions, downloadable variants, and support of fan-created content.  We’re now more focused than ever on providing a smooth onboarding experience for each game (some combination of the rules, quick-start cards, tutorials, teaching aids, rules videos, Dized digital tutorials, and digital versions of our games). I believe that accessibility has a huge impact on a games’ chances of success.
2. Reviewers: Reviewers are one of the best ways we can reach a diverse array of people to help them learn about our games and decide if they’re a good fit, so we send thousands of games to reviewers each year. I write more about this here. Also, whenever a content creator reaches out to me to request an interview, no matter how big or small they are, I always say yes. There’s always a good chance the interview will reach someone who has never heard of Stonemaier Games, or it may reignite curiosity in people who already know who we are.
3. Content marketing: Content marketing is attracting, building, and cultivating an audience by creating regular content about a specific topic, whether it’s this blog (or its accompanying podcast), the game-design YouTube channel, Instagram, etc. This gives me a way to share my personality, my love for the gaming hobby, and things I’ve learned during my design/publishing journey to add value to others. While I mostly talk about games from other publishers, these platforms also provide me the opportunity to occasionally share information about Stonemaier Games.
4. Newsletters and Memberships: In my opinion, e-newsletters are still the most effective way to share information with people, as the people chose to subscribe. When you send an e-newsletter, you know–unlike social media algorithms–that everyone will actually receive the newsletter. We have our general monthly newsletter, our Stonemaier Ambassador newsletter (for people who want to actively improve our games and welcome people into our games), our Champion newsletter (a paid membership program that provides a 20% discount on every Stonemaier webstore order), and most recently several brand-specific newsletters (Scythe/Expeditions, Wingspan/Wyrmspan, Apiary, and Rolling Realms).
5. Information hubs: In addition to this website, we host a Facebook group for each of our games, we have a Stonemaier Discord server, and we subscribe to (and help maintain) our products on BoardGameGeek (BGG). Not only are these places for people to discover and learn about our products–with our website and BGG boosted by search-engine optimization–but they also provide communities for people who love or are interested in our games to talk about them, share photos, ask questions, etc.
6. Retailers and Localization Partners: We want people to have access to our games through a variety of sources–after all, only around 10-20% of people buy directly from our webstore. Retailers and localization partners can be amazing advocates for our games, and Susannah works closely with them to provide the resources they need (e.g., professional-grade photos from Tim Chuon and language-free versions of our teaser trailers from JC Trombley).
7. Prelaunch and Launch Spotlight: When we release a new product–especially a new game–I try to shine a huge spotlight on the game. It starts with the game announcement (along with a way to sign up for ongoing updates) and press release, then there are a series of videos and design diary articles posted on our website, Facebook, and BGG, followed by reviewer content and playthroughs. A few weeks later we launch the game on our webstore and begin shipping it to customers right away, and we follow up with subscribers with information during and after the launch. A few weeks after that is the retail release of the game. The result is a 3-4 month span when the spotlight is entirely on that game, creating what we hope is a strong foundation for the game to reach tabletops worldwide for years to come.
8. Live Engagement: I think there’s something special about being able to interact with our community in real time. Nearly every week for the last 6 years, I’ve hosted a 1-hour weekly livestream on our Facebook page where I share Stonemaier Games news, discuss random topics with viewers, and answer dozens of questions. Now that I use StreamYard, the livecast also happens simultaneously on YouTube, where the video remains for people to watch later too. I also host Rolling Realms liveplays every 3 weeks.
9. Sponsored Content and Advertising: We have a very specific and minimalistic approach to sponsored content. We sponsor The Mill, which is a YouTube channel specifically about Stonemaier Games, and we sponsor rules videos for our games from Watch It Played and Meeple University. On very rare occasions if we get requests for a specific type of video (e.g., a solo playthrough) that content creators haven’t made independently, I may seek someone to provide that content. We also dabble in paid advertising, including ads on BGG, Facebook, and Instagram (most recently with the help of Andrew Cook).
10. Conventions: We get a fantastic return on investment on play-and-win sections at conventions. That’s when people can check out a game from a specific section of the library and write down their name on a piece of paper associated with that specific game. At the end of the convention, one name is drawn for each game to win it. We often see that hundreds of people invest their time in learning and playing play-and-win games, so the chances they’ll purchase the game (if they don’t win it) are significantly higher than before. Here’s my latest article about this technique. We also now have a convention coordinator, Dave, who is providing an increased presence for Stonemaier Games at some conventions.

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