Whether you are a new screenwriter, producer and/or director, you may be looking for that one chance to make a difference in your life and the lives of other people, but Hollywood has said no to you.
That’s okay, because more and more companies are coming out to support new filmmakers and you may be looking for them while they are looking for you.
The average Joe isn’t interested in many of the movies that come out on the big screen like you assume. Instead, he is more interested in what is happening in his own neighborhood and his wife is just as interested. Why is it your family movie hasn’t been shown at the local high school gymnasium, church or your R rated movie at the neighborhood bar? What about working with the owner of the neighborhood video store to get it in his or her store? Why don’t we see fliers promoting your movie? How come you haven’t bothered to employ your local college students to help you get the word out about your movie?
Some filmmakers have no professional affiliations and that causes many obstacles for them as well. How do filmmakers know how to successfully market their movies when they don’t bother to put into action what they observe others are doing?
Twelve marketing strategies filmmakers are presently using in their marketing campaigns include:
1) Creating a website about their film.
Filmmakers provide a simple teaser that draws the viewer into the film wanting more than they cut it, leaving you wanting for more. Every site has contact information which is easily found and all links are fully functional.
2) Maintaining blogs about their film.
Everyday someone is posting something on the site related to the synopsis of the film, photographs, the company or individuals involved with the production, or some other related information.
3) Registering with social networking websites.
Whether they are adding friends, keeping the “about me” section current or discussing related topics to the film in the chat rooms, they are keeping communication live about their film.
4) Sending press releases to Internet and local media outlets.
Every local media outlet that bothers to print a press release has received something about the film whether it is a short, a poster, or something else that promotes their new film.
5) Distributing fliers to local movie, book and music stores.
The information is professionally designed and easily accessible in the store. Sometimes it is located next to those free neighborhood newspapers.
6) Purchasing email lists.
The filmmaker has an idea of who his or her target market is such as what gender, age group, background and general film interest of the person who may be watching the film. With this information he or she knows what kind of email list to buy.
7) Professional memberships related to the film industry.
He or she is networking with other people who may be able to assist him or her with the film. The bigger the circle the more opportunities to meet the right person or group.
8) Getting listed in internet movie databases.
The average Joe should be able to get online and find your movie in someone’s database, if he or she can’t find you somewhere, then you know you have a lot of work to do. Try this, type the name of your film in the search engine window, if it doesn’t show up on the first page, this is a good indication that you haven’t been doing a good job marketing it. Find someone who can write an article about you, your company and the film. Then have an article distribution service distribute it to other article websites (this tactic is called article marketing.) Once you get this done, watch how easy it will be to locate information about your film online when someone searches for you.
9) Hosting screening parties.
No more partying for the pure joy of it, filmmakers use every opportunity to party as a way to get their film out there. Change the typical way you host parties.
10) Uploading movie stills to photography sites.
Look at what other filmmakers have done with this, just type in an independent film you really like and see what kind of presence they have on the photography site.
11) Uploading trailers to video sites.
Once again, see what your competitors have done with this, then go to a site that offers books on the subject rather than visiting someone’s freebie site. You will want to get the instructions on doing this right the first time. Wasted time is money lost, learn from professionals.
12) Offering freebies such as t-shirts and posters advertising their film.
People love free stuff, so if you can give things away related to your movie, do it, in time you will get something in return for your efforts, fans!
All of these tactics take time to implement. Take a task each day from this list and work on it until you have completed all twelve. Once you have finished these duties, start looking for other ideas you can accomplish within a certain deadline you have set for yourself. Without a deadline, you won’t get anything done. To your success!
