Thanks for the comment, Enjgine! I absolutely agree with you that having a pre-existing community of people who are interested in your work makes a huge difference; You’re completely right that I don’t spend nearly enough space talking about the importance of building that community in advance of launching the Greenlight campaign.
I wouldn’t discount the importance of the trailer, though; far, far more people found my game’s Greenlight page through Greenlight (or through other media coverage) than found it through my community. To my mind, having a really tight trailer is the most critical element out of all the tips presented here, even more than having a pre-existing community.
Maybe someday I’ll show folks my early trailer drafts. Those early drafts were shocking. Really make you appreciate what a difference editing and pacing can make.