Anyone know of, or use an outside marketing service for their Kickstarter campaign?

Consider making marketing your strong point. Running a KS is just the tip of the iceberg, so the more you know, the less you have to outsource. As GI Joe once said, knowing is half the battle.

The problem is that many companies that offer such services just blast spam out into the world with no evidence to prove how many people backed due to their efforts.

You are better off asking random people at BGG for help. If you go this way, please research the company in detail and ask questions if you have to.

You should also drop by the Best Practices Kickstarter group on Facebook.

Joe makes a very valid point. Both http://stonemaiergames.com/ and http://www.jamesmathe.com/ are extremely helpful for game designers, hopefuls and also for launching a successful KS campaign.

Another resource that you should consider would be to utilize http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/ for their insights and interviews with KS creators (Jamey Stegmaier being one of them).

Stonemaier references NOT hiring out people to help market (It's about Passion of the developer): http://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-138-should-you-hire-someon...

Others mention that a targeted advertisement for a KS on BGG to KS will cost $750 plus for the clicks but can increase the presence of the KS drive.

(Edited as I went off topic for a moment. ;) )

First I would like to preface my answer with the following two things:

1- Please read the following two links that explain the advertisement research both mathe and maier did: http://www.jamesmathe.com/myth-busters-kickstarter-referrer-page/ and http://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-26-paid-advertising-and-ho...
2- I am in sales and I am a believer that advertisements assist in the sales process if you have a good sales person.

That said, :) , the reference I made above was a article I read a bit back. The article referred the amount was for pay per click. The users clicked on the graphic (which should be non-flash/non-movement graphic) and were taken to the KS campaign.

There was no guarantee that the viewer would be converted to a purchaser. I do not remember it referencing a time frame, but as I read a lot from both stonemaiergames.com and jamesmathe.com, I would assume it was form one of their sites, an associated site or from when I was heavily doing research two months back.

I hope that helps. :)

Remember just one form is not going to drive all sales, you have to be your CEO/Sales Organization/Customer Service etc. Exploding Kittens (LOL Love the name/Concept) had an awesome ground swell due to pre-planning (blogging/Tweeting/etc.) from the 3 creators. Between them they were able to prep/communicate to over 15K people at the get go.

There is no need to rush your product to KS (per maier), take your time build your following, get your name out in the local area (stores, conventions, etc), blog, tweet, etc do what is necessary to build your brand. Add them all up that’s 20% and if you just consider the blog vs. BGG ad it was 108 vs. 81. :) So prep work and sharing your vision passionately in combination with other marketing will pay off in dividends. According to this a 29% upswing. :)

Another thing to consider is backer levels that incent others to help you build the BUZZ. Others like w/ Gamlin Games put in freebies when they hit levels on FB/Twitter/Blogs/etc. It build’s an additional buzz. Please note all of this is theory from what I have read and believe from reading as I have not run my own KS at this time.

I hope this helps. :)