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INDIE EDUTAINMENT MARKETING
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MOVIE ARTICLESTable of Contents
GAME ARTICLESTable of Contents
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Make It Easy to Buy!
Is your goal to "develop, finance and produce a formidable slate of features?" If so, marketing needs to become a mission-critical part of every stage of your project. Why? Because business is about product PLUS money. Hobbies are about product and emotions.
But marketing isn’t about selling. Marketing is about making it easy to buy...and fun to tell your buddies about this great movie! Marketing starts before shooting starts...
As JM+A says...they can do the best job of publicity (and marketing) if they infuse the project with strategy BEFORE shooting begins. Not even a great publicist can pull a project out of the trash heap after it's character arc has been set!
FILM FESTIVALS aren’t for everyone! Indies have latched onto festivals as their ONLY marketing strategy largely because they haven't figured out a better way of getting their kicks...ah...I mean selling their project. Festival campaigns are platforms that support titles READY to go on the market for distribution. Only about 1% of festival films get distribution. Why? Most just aren’t marketable projects. They’re not ready for festivals. But who's going to tell you that?
Ouch! Festival organizers are going to hate me for telling you that the emperor is buck naked! Festivals are feel-good events. They preach to the choir. They cost the applicants hard earned bucks and they result in very little business. Does that make them a good deal? Yes, for a few people – but most indie producers are NOT included in that club.
Indie producers are grassroots artisans. They thrive when their close community supports their work. Locals. Family and friends. Friends of friends. Friends of friends of friends. Viral marketing is today’s grassroots strategy and when indie producers honor that tradition, they can ride the wave of grassroots development.
The arts field is a bifurcated market. (Like that big word?)
There's a grassroots market that succeeds. And there's a top-end market that succeeds. Not much in the middle succeeds. Why? They don't stand out. They don't have local supporters. They tell a disconnected message. They don't have the money to play with the big boys. And they get lost in the great Middle World.
Grassroots success can get supportive attention when you use the yearly years of your career to develop your skills and your vision – your unique voice. Once you have a unique voice hammered out in the community that surrounds you, PLUS a well-developed craft of filmmaking, you’re ready for the big time. Festivals. Markets. Distributors and studios.
If you’re a well-heeled rich kid who always goes first class, you can afford the entry price of gigantic mistakes, high-priced consultants and top-of-the-line equipment and crews and publicists. All those things that can mask mediocrity. If you’re a normal, average artist who wants a life sustaining, real career…you have got to find a saner pathway to that career. That’s how marketing can help.
Marketing is strategic thinking about what’s around the bend before you get there. Thinking about which actors will get you into distribution before you audition them. Thinking about product placements and locations that will get companies and communities to help you promote your picture. Thinking about production stills and behind the scene stories that will help you tell a colorful, personal story for the coming FIVE years…day after day, week after week…month after…
Marketing is about thinking of your project not as a one-time, stand-alone project, but part of the flow of your career and enterprise. It’s a mindset implemented with specific, strategic behaviors.
So here are some marketing ideas that fit into your movie making at EACH STAGE of the production schedule.
What script/story will attract viable ingredients: known stars for director and/or actors. Great locations. Financial supporters. Crews who have worked together before.
Sound is one critical element that is often overlooked.
Getting a known actor.
Shooting on high-def to balance cost with quality (and scalability to the big screen).
Which cinematographer will deliver the best quality visual impact.
How do you refine the script for easy editing, cost effectiveness, and genre appeal. Remember, you’re shooting for YOUR ONE SPECIFIC AUDIENCE…not everybody.
Marketing is really just a business term for building your community of loyal supporters...neighbors and fellow business people who all benefit from bringing good stories to our lives. But good stories are more than stories...movies take on a character arc all their own.
That's your stories's story and they're stickin' to it!
Join the discussion on LinkedIn...Serious Game Development
GREEN NOTE: If you produce environmental media, or use environmentally friendly production techniques, you're invited to add your free listing to Solutions For Green Directory
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