Marketing Strategy

At the heart of every great film should be a sound marketing strategy. A clear strategy will focus your efforts whether you are seeking traditional, hybrid or self distribution of your film. This should be established from the script stage, before seeking investment and before production starts. In today’s distribution landscape, only films with a clearly defined marketing strategy will be successful.

I will partner with you to:
-develop the overall objective for the film,
-devise a strategy to identify your target audience and a marketing plan to reach them,
-identify the unique selling points to be exploited in advertising and publicity efforts,
-researching key “influencers” who can help you reach audiences to whom they have access,
-identify the competition and how compare and differentiate from them,
-develop and implement an effective marketing plan

Film Festival Submission and Preparation

A pre-festival marketing strategy is critical to festival success and can lead to distribution success either with traditional distributors or a DIY approach to selling your film. Which festivals are right for your film? How can you make the most of your festival circuit run?

I will help you research and select the best festival fit for your film so that you can maximize audience screenings and increase online/ DVD sales. Once your film has been accepted, I will:

-identify and contact appropriate online publications, blogs and local media assigned to cover the festival to increase your publicity efforts,
-assemble all promotional materials to be used at each festival (posters, one sheets, publicity stills, clips, trailers, online press kits etc.)
-engage in various forms of social media that are targeted to your film’s audience to help increase screening attendance,
-maximize any competition wins by alerting various media and adding these accolades to marketing materials of the film.

Tactical Planning

Often confused with strategy, a tactical plan identifies the methods used to reach your audience. Without a clear strategy, time and money will be wasted on tactical efforts that do not maximize your efforts. Tactics I use, depending on the audience target, include:

-Launch of a well designed and functional website that captures visitor email addresses, updates with content regularly, and engages your audience with interactivity and community building aspects. Also will include social media menu bars for trailer sharing and news sharing.
-Establish key art to be used in all marketing materials for a cohesive brand message.
-Organize professional production stills and EPK material for use online by various media and for DVD special features. This will include interviews with cast and director, behind the scenes footage and outtakes if applicable.
-Set up and maintenance of social media pages to engage fans with regular updates about the filmmaking process as well as information catered to the interests of your audience.
-Set up and maintanence of a director’s blog during the production and post production process. Director or a member of the production team will be asked to keep the blog notes updated.
-Outreach to media, organizations, “influencers” and bloggers within the niche of your film for community building around your film that will later support screening attendance and DVD/download sales.

Nothing can be as costly to your film as a marketing misfire or not having a plan. Let me help you avoid these mistakes and make your film the success it can be. Contact me for a free consultation: info at shericandler dot com