In my last post, I talked about the difference between your web traffic and your targeted web traffic. Today, I want to talk about the fact that basic marketing principles are getting lost in all of the talk about grassroots marketing and social media marketing.

There have been many articles, seminars and blog posts covering the “how to” of marketing. “How to leverage the power of social media marketing,” “how to use Twitter to market your film,” “how to design websites that attract your customer.” The part being forgotten, or maybe it is already assumed you know, is the “who,” “what,” and “why” of your marketing strategy. Who are you trying to attract? What are you trying to sell? Why would anyone buy it? In marketing terms, this comes down to correctly positioning an offering and building effective messaging. The best website design, ad campaign, or social media campaign will fail if the “who, what, and why” are wrong. These questions are generally answered in a marketing plan which should be set before you ever make the film. It is a typical mistake of filmmakers to not have a marketing plan in place from the start and, upon realizing that a distributor isn’t necessarily ready and waiting to take on the film, they start on the ”how to’s” without knowing where they are headed. A really bad move.

One quick way that will help you discover your strategy is called a SWOT analysis. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. Use it as a brainstorming tool and a strategy formation tool. The first pair of categories — strengths and weaknesses — refer to your company’s INTERNAL nature, while the second pair of categories refer to EXTERNAL opportunities and threats.

Examples 

Strengths: experienced producer, experienced director, well known actors, strong artistic team, access to capital, presale or distributor already in place, etc.

Weaknesses (be honest!): areas where your team lacks experience, lack of proper planning, no known talent, disorganization in the chain of command, etc.

Opportunities: addressing what film subjects are lacking in the marketplace, trends that are forming that could be further developed, possible cross promotion or affiliate programs, possible alternative streams of revenue such as soundtrack, merchandise, etc. , ability to self distribute using various up and coming platforms.

Threats: number of similar films competing for the same audience, lack of low budget traditional distributors leads to the need and additional work of self distribution, economic conditions make raising needed capital difficult

The most important goal of this exercise is to apply this knowledge to your film idea. Take all necessary actions to reduce the threats to your production and position yourself to take advantage of the opportunities. When you have a clear understanding of your strategy, then you can build your message and all of your tactics around that.

There are many seminars and programs that are trying to attract you to enroll (for a fee) with promises of driving traffic to your website and social media pages. These “marketing” proponents say they can teach you to harness the power of the internet to get your film buzzed about and sold. But what is the difference between “traffic” and “targeted traffic?” Does having a lot of “fans” on Facebook and MySpace do anything for your film really? Does having a million hits to your website mean anything in terms of sales?

Website traffic and fans of your page on Facebook do not mean anything in and of itself. It is targeted traffic that seeks your film out, attends a screening or buys a DVD or download. Building your site with your target audience in mind, using highly descriptive keywords to attract them, being visible on only the sites or in the places they are interested in are all elements that will build your audience and get your film seen and sold. So what if you have 2,500 “friends” on MySpace if most of them are there to promote their own films or products. So what if members of your crew become a “fan” on Facebook if your film is a period drama and they are personally interested in horror films and so are most of their friends. It will bulk up your friend list and traffic, but it will not automatically lead to an audience for your film. It is better to have 500 highly targeted “fans” who are interested in your film, want to see it or buy it, than a million hits to your site.

So, how do you build a targeted audience for your film? First, you must decide on your target. A key mistake of not just filmmakers, but small business in general, is not determining your target from the beginning. It is not enough to define your film’s genre with statements like “Saw” meets “The Exorcist.”  Define the group of people who will be interested in seeing your film.  The more specific you are, the more effective your marketing will be and the better you can determine what methods will be most cost effective. In building your website, you will know what information to include, what style you should speak in, what navigation will be appropriate and how much content will be required.  You will also find that you have different segments of audiences and you will need to determine to what extent to handle them differently while still adhering to your core message. It is reasonable to keep your segments at no more than three, preferably one or two. More than three reduces your ability to stay focused, effectively communicate your message and do it in an economical way.

Answer these questions. What are the characteristics of your audience? What are they interested in? Where do they congregate? What is their gender, age, occupation, income level, geographic area? Look for elements that bind this audience together into a cohesive group. Often you will find the answers give you a broad audience with very general characteristics. Try segmenting them into subgroups, identifying mini audiences within your main one. Each of these mini audiences will respond to a different theme within your core message.

Determining your target market is one of the elements of a marketing plan and all filmmakers need a marketing plan before they start production. The best way to decide which marketing methods will work best for your film and help it achieve success is to work with a marketing professional. This person has the knowledge and expertise to set a strategy and determine the most cost effective way to reach your audience.

I see a lot of filmmakers using social media sites to solicit funds for their projects. The tag lines usually read “Funds needed for film production” or something like this. Did you know that there are a myriad of laws and regulations that must be complied with when someone buys a security (invests) in your project? SEC registration is required, a time consuming and costly option, unless you qualify for an exemption.

Exemptions that are most commonly available to low budget producers of entertainment are covered under SEC Regulation D. These exemptions are intended for private or limited offerings, rather than offers made to the general public. The regulations prohibit the use of advertising in the offer and sale of the securities. Guess what using the internet to solicit funds is considered? Advertising.

I came across an article written by entertainment attorney Gordon Firemark that clarifies this process and why you must be careful in using the internet to attract financing.

Here is the link to his site with the article. http://tiny.cc/rKkWC It will probably make you think twice before using this method.

Today, I landed the gig to handle the marketing for the LA Shorts Fest. I will be doing all I can to promote the festival and its filmmakers. As such, you will be seeing many updates on my blog as details become available. If you are one of those lucky participants, please contact me so that we can start working together to boost attendance at the festival and at your screening.

For those unfamiliar with the festival, LA Shorts Fest is the largest short film festival in the world. The Festival is accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and winners in the primary categories are eligible for Academy nomination. The festival boasts an outstanding past record of 33 Academy Award-nominated films, including 11 Oscar winners. It has honored some of Hollywood’s legends of the past: Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Robert Wise; along with actors Martin Landau, James Woods, Gary Oldman and directors Jan de Bont, Tim Burton, Bryan Singer and Paul Haggis.

The Festival annually attracts more than 10,000 moviegoers, filmmakers and entertainment executives looking for the hottest new talent as well as brand name sponsors looking to connect with the trendsetters in Hollywood. The Festival runs from July 23-31 and opening night guests will be actress and screenwriter Scarlett Johansson (“Lost in Translation,” “Iron Man 2″) and Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith (Executive Producer of “The House Bunny” with Anna Faris and co writer of the upcoming film “The Ugly Truth” with Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl).

Have you ever thought you had the greatest idea for a film and only could envision its (and your) ultimate success? Probably you even gave it a try, scraped all your money and a bunch of other people’s money together, hired the best talent and crew you could afford and, despite your best efforts to achieve world recognition, you ended up with 1,000 copies of your film in your garage, gathering dust. What might have been different if your vision of success for the film had been smaller?

Instead of a premiere at Sundance, six figure distribution deals, screenings at national and international multiplex chains, and shelf space at Walmart, your vision had started out with building and capitalizing on success at small festivals, building audiences one city at a time, screening in whatever local venue would allow it and selling DVD’s wherever you went and through whatever reputable online venues would have you? Not as glamorous for sure and not an overnight success, but a slow and steady build. Each success helping you gain the momentum to keep going until you can reach the ultimate.

As an independent filmmaker, you must stop defining your film’s success by trying to compete with the studios, the multimillion dollar films distributed worldwide. That cannot be your only vision of success. You will try and try to best that level until you get so frustrated that you quit. Instead look at your success as a series of small wins, festival acceptance and competition wins, building an audience from your closest inner circle to 500, 1,000, 10,000 etc., receiving serious inquiries from reputable distributors instead of chasing them. Each small success will build upon itself, create some buzz and finally a sense of inevitability that you can’t help but be a success.

An article in the LA Times about the upcoming film District 9 had me researching this multifaceted campaign from TriStar which has been going on for about a year, first posters hit the ComiCon convention last year. For those unaware of the film thus far, District 9 is produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp as a feature adapted from his short “Alive in Joburg.”  The plot comprises of aliens landing on earth and humans being so fearful of anything different, force them  to live and work in segregated, slum-like conditions. The “Non Humans” are  supervised by the Multi-National United (MNU) Corporation. The MNU is tasked with keeping the  “Non Humans” in line while utilizing their technology for human consumption.

The centerpiece of the campaign is the main website www.D-9.com which features an interactive map of Johannesburg, where the story takes place, with a section called District 9. The map is ostensibly a “Local Alert System” that provides updates about non  human crime in the area and rules and tips for relations with non humans. Users are allowed to enter as a human or a non-human (the non-human site is in alien language, but instructions can be translated into English). It eerily conjures up images of a police state and apartheid.

The fictitional corporation MNU has its own site with a nice propaganda video explaining how the corporation is working to make lives better for both humans and non humans. An offer for employment is included for those thinking of joining its ranks and it sends you to the career page where you will find descriptions of positions available. There is also a resistance movement site headed by an alien blogger who is trying to create an uprising for equal rights.

The trailer was released a little over a month ago on all the major video sharing sites and there has been some “interview” footage released as well, but critics of the campaign have complained that the footage should have been released much earlier to pump up the buzz before everyone knew exactly what was going on. I am not sure they are right, see my note below on successful viral video practices.

Other methods being employed include traditional outdoor advertising (billboards, bus shelters, park benches), posters in comic book stores, a blog about District 9 on Blogspot and outreach on blogger sites devoted to sci fi and horror films. Plenty of buzz is building on this film. They have a Facebook page (but the fan created one has more members!) and a Twitter account, but the Tweets thank you for following and just ask you to go to the Facebook page. They could be utilizing the tweets better than this. They have a toll free number set up to collect reports on illegal alien activities (it really works!) which has received over 33,000 calls and over 2,000 sighting reports. A great way to get the audience interacting and anxious to see the film.

Now most of my indie film brethren do not have the millions that this kind of campaign is spending, but there are elements of it that can be fairly low cost and still be effective. Say you too have a sci fi or horror genre film and you would like to utilize some of the viral and social media elements of this campaign. Using Twitter is a great way to send out cryptic messages from your characters, soliciting help from danger or asking for sightings of the antagonist. Fans of these genres love to be in on the game.   If the messages are sent relatively often, but not so much as to be completely annoying, fans will interact with your brand, retweet your message or make up their own tweets for their friends.

The posters the D-9 campaign is using are fairly basic in design, but effective because they are cryptic and they have been positioned in key places where their target audience would congregate, like ComiCon. Film blogs are easy and free to set up, so utilizing a blog from the characters’ perspective allows you to build a world and backstory around your film that engages the fans early on.

The “interview” footage tactic is easy to employ, but tricky to achieve viral status.  Be sure to put popular keyword tags on it so if someone searches “alien,” “monster,” “zombies,” etc. your footage comes up. It is a good idea to search YouTube, Flikr, Vimeo etc. to see what other footage you will be competing with so yours can be unique and more compelling to watch. I like the toll free number approach and there are many services available that charge about $10 a month for a number. You could have this option for the run of your marketing campaign. It is a fairly low cost tactic and great for tracking response. Your answering message would have to be believable and interesting enough for someone to want to leave a message.

With regard to viral video marketing techniques in general, think about this.  When it comes to viral video, you need to make sure 1) you create something people will spread and 2) that the video carries a message about your film. Fail on point 1 and your video won’t spread. Fail on point 2 and you’ll be a hit, but it won’t help your film sales. There has to be a tie in to your film for you to see the ROI. It’s a very difficult balance to achieve and you should only attempt it with an experienced marketing or advertising expert to guide you.

Ok, so I may sound like a magician or an idiot (thanks Nurse Jackie), but here is my new site design. It was a bit of a long time coming and it will continue to be a work in progress, as all websites should be. I will be wandering around all of my new functionalities for the next few days and try not to mess up what has just been accomplished.

I am working to get a few perspectives from some trailer editors on why using a professional is best for your film’s marketing trailer and what they have to offer you, the filmmaker. This is NOT meant to be a self help guide. Whenever possible, I truly believe that you should find a specialist in whatever task needs doing and rely on that person’s knowledge and expertise to get the job done correctly. When you spread yourself too thin, nothing outstanding will result.