Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

I know the prices of ads, but I don't know whether ads bring in extra sales compared to cons.

We will be going through distribution plus some direct sales.

Based on this information, I think you would be better off attending a convention. Places like GenCON allow you to meet multiple distributors and retailers, not to mention show off your product to consumers from around the WORLD. Not sure what you have to spend on advertising/marketing, but I would suggest trying to attend a "popular" con (like GenCON), then follow up your convention debut with an ad in a major magizine. Obviously this is not easy when money is limited, but sadly you need to keep your game in the publics eye as much as possible in order to create a interest/desire/demand.

I would also listen to what Darke stated, you just never know how well an ad is doing until you see the sales start coming in. At a convention you will see the interest and sales first hand. Now with that said, conventions like GenCON can make you feel like a small, small, ok tiny fish, last year my company got lost in the middle of MANY big players. Our booth was surrounded by Decpher, nVidia, Nintendo, Dreamworks for starters and boy did they engulf our little booth with all of their eye candy.

I guess what I am trying to say is that conventions are good, because you can learn so much first hand, not to mention sell the game on the spot. Which advertising just cannot do. But you also have take into account everything a convention has to offer, if you are promoting a board game, make sure you figure out how to give a few demos over in the board game area (well at least at GenCON). It will help get your game name out and word of mouth advertising is the best advertising!

Another small piece of advice that I was told my many other exhibitors at GenCON... take it slow. You need to build up over time, not many people have the money to show off like a big player. But some smaller companies have done this, and one year they are there, the next gone!

So take it slow, make a plan that you feel happy with carrying out and do it!

While I agree that you need to think about the bigger CONs, you also should consider which CONs your product best fits. Not everytime of game is good to exhibit and sell at GenCON and Origins. So keep that in mind since you need to make sure you have the correct CON audience thus increasing your potential sales.

Again this depends on the audience you need for your game. I have not been to SoCal, but Indy is great and the hype is actually worth it, IMO. But of course I was there helping to promote the RPG I helped to co-develop. So GenCON was great for our audience, but the cost was not easy to overcome. With so many new products at shows like GenCON you cant expect to hit a home run at your first convention, though I have seen it happen to other small shops.

My best advice to you is to research various conventions and find one that meets your needs. Find one that helps to target your needed audience, and then figure out what one you can honestly afford. It might take a little work, but I think any exposure you get at any convention will help you in the long run. Another thing I did not mention about my learning experiences at GenCON is that consumers that see you there year after year start to take you seriously. It also helps to builid your company name and/or game name. Companies that can attend shows like GenCON year and year start build a serious rep of being "for real". You are also showing stablity and building a rep that you are there to truely bring a great game.

Not sure I am really helping you at all, but you need to really plan what you feel is the best business direction for you game. Only you can figure this out, since it might be online, it might be convetions, it might be distributors and retailers. In ever case you need to look into many options for promoting to your targe audience and also figure out how to keep your cost low, if possible.

Best thing I can say, targetting your game audience in any way will help. You just have to figure out the best way. Which honestly can be very daunting.