To Reiver Games: a proposed place to, well, restart

Being brand new, this blog is quite inconspicuous. It is interesting that I enjoy the unremarkable nature of this blog because I am reading the blog of another individual who is having the exact opposite problem. His name is Jackson Pope, and he runs his own startup, a board game publishing company, Reiver Games. He has been running his company for over 3 years and cannot get the attention (and more so, the sales) to sustain his business. He has been upfront about that on his blog at http://creationandplay.blogspot.com/. So, I have been thinking, "what would I do if I were in his position?" Being a regular listener to a podcast called This Week In Startups and given that I am in a entrepreneurship class right now, the subject fascinates me.

Here is the grand plan I have devised were my name Jackson Pope:

(I have to admit that this post may--or may not, who knows?--be affected by the fact that my name is not Jack, and I have a day job. Entrepreneurship can be scary. You have to face risk and charge toward it with battle and conquest in mind. As Jason Calacanis would say "Watch just the fight scenes of Gladiator a few times.")
Okay, without further digression...
(keep in mind I have no experience to back these claims, they are just my observations)

When I hear about brick and mortar stores' success, I typically hear "location, location, location." The more I think about it, the more I think it is true in all cases.

- Go to a super market. Companies pay big dollars to be on the end-caps. There they are more noticeable and more likely to get that impulse buy.

- Selling online? Having it just on your own website is not sufficient for a small company until you can drive people to your site. So, you need to get on the places that they are already going.

So, maybe instead of asking how to get people to notice your products, maybe you need to ask how to get your products out in front.

So, if you are aboard game company like Reiver games, what are you doing to get that spot on Boardgamegeek? What are you doing to get that end cap or demo table in the game stores?
Can you do something that will get your game(s) on the top of BGG's news section? Can do something to get a game at the register of a game store, waiting for that impulse buy?

* I think Reiver Games needs some new life-blood. Reading through the blog, it seems like the games are stagnant or at least to close to stagnant. Reiver Games is trying to push the same 3 games without enough success. So,

Here's how I would start:

First place makes
you both money.

1) Announce a design contest on BoardGameGeek to get you to the top of that news and/or forum lists (location remember). You will need to offer a decent sum to the winning designer as well, of course, as a portion of the profits (as you normally would).
- That game needs to fit some criteria.

- It needs to be a small game in terms of production cost. It should be a small box that has a small price tag. (I would say it needs to be under 20 US dollars.)
- It needs to be a quick filler game.

2) Get that game next to the register at your game stores

Purpose: You simply want to get your name out there. You want this game to get your name in households. It should be the type of game that in-between playing others, they want to pull it out a play a quick game or two. It should be a game great for filling that time at conventions where you are waiting for another table's game to finish.
Do not hide your company's name on that box. Make it prominent. Here is what you want people do:

Oo, Gum. I'll take that too.

1) See your contest, getting your company and the resulting game some buzz
2) See the game in the store and say "$10- $15 (US) for a quick filler game, sure I'll give it a try"
3) Play the game and enjoy it (obviously), and then say "hey I like this game I wonder what other games they publish" (hence the prominent name of your company on the box)

Making it a small quick game will also make it more likely to come out a conventions or other gaming gatherings, which (once again) gives customers a chance to see your brand.

One would really have to work hard to make it work. Here's why:

1) The contest cannot take too long. You have to work hard to build the buzz (whether it be with forum posts, YouTube videos, advertisements, or probably all 3) for the contest. Then, once it gathers attention, it will lose it if it takes too long.

2) The game needs to come out shortly after the contest ends. If you wait too long, people will have forgotten about the game.

3) The game needs to be accessible; so, you need to sell it on your website and Amazon where anyone can get it. If you have any buzz but people can't play it, they will forget it.

4) If it does work and you build buzz, you are going to have to work hard to keep it. That may mean advertising new games you have coming or doing tournaments/contests with your current games. Whatever you do,you want to make sure you drop that company name often. You want to build a brand, not a single game.

This was a novel, but that's how I roll.
I guess the plan spoken of above is going to require some dollars. One would have to assess the risk. Nevertheless--eventually--to make this a business one to live off of, my understanding is that a founder usually has to find a cash source (like maybe a loan) and take a risk.

Of course, that is easy for me to say, sitting here with a day job...