You’re reading edition #31 of the LaunchBoom Newsletter, which is sent every other Tuesday to thousands of product creators.
Here’s what I have for you today:
- How Polycade made $1M in 24 hours.
- Why your marketing should be more absurd.
- I’m now a YouTuber.
Enjoy.
Contents
1. Short Story
Only 0.12% of Kickstarter campaigns ever hit $1M.
This creator hit that milestone in 24 hours.
Here’s how he did it.
Meet Tyler Bushnell, the creator of Polycade Sente – the modular arcade system.
Growing up as the son of Atari’s founder (yes, that Atari), Tyler was surrounded by classic video games and video game systems.
But as time went on, these games and systems either broke, were foolishly sold or simply lost.
Tyler wanted a solution to play these retro games forever.
After a year of research, design and testing, he launched the original Polycade Lux on Kickstarter in 2015.
It was a hit, raising $125,276.
But Tyler wasn’t done launching products.
Even though the Polycade Lux was selling well, he had an idea to make the design even better… and more modular.
It would be called the Polycade Sente (which was a nod to one of his father’s brands after he sold Atari).
With the upgraded Polycade Sente ready to launch, Tyler also wanted to upgrade his marketing strategy.
So, he joined LaunchBoom in August of 2023.
And two and half months later, Tyler pressed launch on Kickstarter.
Within 24 hours, he made over $1M in revenue.
Joining the ranks of the top 0.12% of all Kickstarter campaigns ever.
Here’s how he did it.
Polycade’s pre-launch marketing strategy
How in the world do you make $1,000,000 in one day?
Well, you have to get the pre-launch marketing strategy right.
And getting the pre-launch right is all about building an email list of people who can’t wait to buy your product.
Tyler was able to do that by using LaunchBoom’s Reservation Funnel System.
Here’s how it worked.
1. He drove traffic with Meta Ads
Meta ads are the first step to build a pre-launch email list. This is how Tyler drove traffic. He tested many different variations of copy and imagery, but here was his best performing ad.
Quick expert tip 🤓
This is an example of a User Generated Content (UGC) ad template that we recommend you test.
2. He collected email addresses on a landing page
The landing page is where Tyler explained his product and collected email addresses. The landing page looked like this:
By the way, this is a screenshot from our LaunchKit software that all LaunchBoom Creators get access to.
3. He collected $1 reservations
This is the most important step and why we call this funnel the Reservation Funnel. Polycade had this exclusive VIP offer for putting down a $1 reservation deposit:
- A guaranteed 50% discount
- A limited edition game with artwork by a modern artist
- An invite to their VIP Facebook group
The most important thing to know is that people who put down the $1 deposit were way more likely to buy (30 times on average, in fact).
How Polycade got funded on day one
Leading into the launch, Tyler had 2,362 people who had put down a $1 reservation deposit. Remember, there’s no better predictor of launch success than the reservations.
And just like we thought, Tyler’s launch was very successful.
On the first day, Polycade made $1,050,872.
By the end of the campaign, he had driven $1,658,958 in revenue from 969 new customers.
But most important of all, Tyler had a 25.47x return on pre-launch ad spend.
This was all possible because Tyler followed the LaunchBoom system, which is laser focused on getting creators the highest return on their investment.
Because at LaunchBoom, our goal is not to launch a successful product – it’s to launch a successful business.
Do you have an innovative product like Tyler?
We can help you turn it into a real business (or dramatically grow your existing business).
We’ve worked with over a thousand product creators.
If you want to be the next one…
Click here to talk with a LaunchBoom expert.
Catch Tyler’s featured interview on the Masters of Crowdfunding podcast here:
2. Marketing Tip
Make your product demonstrations absurd.
Infomercials get made fun of for being over the top, but there’s a reason why they work.
They are masters at “absurd product demonstrations.”
Which prove the product does what it claims to do with a captivating and over-the-top demonstration.
For example, there’s no reason to cut a penny in half, but it sure does a good job of proving the sharpness and durability.
How can you prove your claims with an absurd demonstration?
3. Favorite Content
I’m now a YouTuber.
About two months ago, I decided to start making video content every week. Well, my first videos have finally been released. I’m happy with the first batch, but they are going to get a lot better!
Check out the video that dropped last week here and let me know your feedback.
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